The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit news publication which has content partnerships with the New York Times, the Washington Post, and ProPublica, took full advantage of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) to the tune of more than $1 million dollars, potentially leaving less money available for struggling small businesses, according to a recent Twitter exchange.
“The Texas Tribune has written about five articles reporting how small businesses felt crowded out of the PPP by the larger companies, and how public companies who took the PPP came under fire then returned the funds. Yet they pulled from the same batch despite little or no real business interruption,” said Candy Evans, Founder & Publisher of CandysDirt.com and Forbes.com contributor
It’s not as if The Texas Tribune was short on cash when the coronavirus hit, according to ProPublica data. The media outlet is well funded by wealthy donors and corporations with most recent data from 2018 showing more than $10.9 million in revenue.
“Just today a reader on my site pointed out that the Texas Tribune is supported by Texas taxpayers dollars from the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts and sent me this screenshot,” Evans told the Lone Star Standard. “Since when do taxpayers support media without asking for their consent? This actually concerns me more than the PPP!”
The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, non-partisan journalism website that launched in 2009 with funding from benefactor John Thornton, according to its "About Us" page.
“This sounds to me like a company that had, as has been said of other PPP recipients, many other doors to knock on for capital,” said Evans in an interview.
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act allocated $350 billion to small businesses in forgivable loans through the Small Business Administration's PPP, which allowed businesses to apply for loans up to 2.5 times their monthly payroll.
When @FairParkRising asked the Texas Tribune’s editorial director on Twitter whether it had returned the PPP money, Stacy Marie Ishmael responded, "You can find the disclosure on any stories we write about the PPP.”
“All this public money gives the Texas Tribune an unfair advantage over other publishers,” Evans said. “It doesn’t appear that anyone at the TT was in danger of being laid off. The offices were closed but reporters were able to work from home.”
Ishmael’s tweet was tagged with the disclosure, which stated:
Disclosure: The Texas Tribune, as a nonprofit local newsroom and a small business, applied for and received a loan through the paycheck protection program in the amount of $1,116,626.
“It’s a drop in the bucket compared to the $56-plus million they have raised thus far,” said Evans. “I’m not sure the [$1.1 million] was entirely necessary because the digital news world exploded during the Covid-19 SIP as news consumers turned from print (no touching) to digital news. I am certain Texas Tribune had an even bigger audience than ever from which to cull donations.”
The CARES Act stipulated that the majority of the funds must be spent on payroll, and employers must bring back all of their employees by June 30 in order to have the loan forgiven.
"They have to use most of the PPP money they received for salaries, which means longer job security for their editors,” Evans said. “Of course, this way they can bank any surplus funds or use towards expansion. Or perhaps they may do what some other companies did: return it.”
According to media reports, expansion is on the horizon. The Texas Tribune plans to spin off a consulting arm.
“Now that we will be seeing who took the loans, perhaps the playing field will look more equal,” said Evans. “They may not have crowded out small businesses but they sure got ahead in line.”
