The $2.2 trillion Coronavirus economic rescue package contains some elements that could and should benefit journalists and their media organizations.
As Ken Doctor points out in Nieman Lab, the package gives incentives to news publishers both large and small to maintain their payrolls. Publishers and broadcasters with fewer than 1,000 employees are eligible for $350 billion in loans from the SBA.
Those loans will be forgiven if the news publishers keep paying their employees and use the money for essentials like rent and utilities.
Publishers with 1,000 to 10,000 employees will compete with other businesses for some $454 billion in loan guarantees from the U.S. Treasury. However the rules governing these loans have not yet been issued, so it is not clear how journalists will be affected.
Expanded unemployment benefits, also for freelancers
One part of the legislation makes freelancers and other self-employed people eligible for unemployment for the first time. Some may also qualify for disaster loans.
The package provides money to extend unemployment benefits from 26 weeks to 39, and to increase weekly payments by $600, which would double or triple the amount paid in most states. The federal money is in addition to what each state provides.
However, state unemployment offices reportedly are overwhelmed by applications and are having trouble meeting the demand. The number of new unemployment applications nationwide increased from 210,000 in the second week of March to 3.3 million the next week.
Finally, any person who filed a tax return in 2018 or 2019, and with income of less than $75,000 will receive a check for up to $1,200, plus $500 per dependent child. This benefit is reduced on a sliding scale for those earning between $75,000 and $100,000.