Putting Your Best Foot Forward: Presentation of Incentives Information to the Media

Companies receiving economic development incentives often have a great story to tell. The projects championed by those companies bring much needed jobs and investment to a local community. In exchange, the companies may receive various forms of economic development incentives, such as grants, tax credits, or loans. However, these incentives are not giveaways. Instead, the incentives are typically awarded on the condition that companies receiving them achieve certain metric commitments (i.e., jobs, payroll, and investment) to benefit the local community.

For the media, the coverage of an economic development incentive should make for an easy “win-win” story since both the company and local community are benefiting. But what happens when the media gets it wrong?

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