The parent companies of at least two Nashville media outlets appear to have received franchise tax refunds as part of the $1.6 billion in rebates signed into law last year. Despite covering the rebates, these outlets did not appear to disclose the windfall it offered their parent companies.
The Tennessee Department of Revenue made available the names of thousands of companies that received a franchise tax rebate via a data portal last week, which will remain active until June 30. The portal revealed that the parent companies of The Tennessean and Fox 17 Nashville each received more than $10,000 from the State of Tennessee.
Gannett Company, Inc., which owns The Tennessean and various newspapers nationwide, is listed in the portal twice, as noted by the Nashville Banner on Monday. Both entries show Gannett receiving refunds of more than $10,000. This represents the highest amount reported within the portal.
Despite its parent company receiving the money, The Tennessean did not disclose the receipt in its February article, noting that the cost of the refunds surpassed $1.2 billion. However, the newspaper did note that it had made multiple inquiries to the Department of Revenue about the status of the refunds prior to publication.
Notably, as Ganett also owns USA Today, The Tennessean subscribes to the USA Today Network Principles of Ethical Conduct for Newsrooms, which mandates, “We will provide appropriate disclosures, exercise transparency and avoid actual or implicit commercial endorsements by our journalists.”
Similarly, Fox 17 is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc., is the parent company of Fox 17, one of more than 150 television stations the company owns across the country. These stations appear to generally be managed through Sinclair’s subsidiary, Sinclair Television Group, Inc.
The data portal shows Sinclair Television Group, Inc. received a franchise tax refund of more than $10,000 from Tennessee.
Fox 17Â did not acknowledge that Sinclair benefited from the refund in its Saturday article titled, “Tennessee corporations receive $1.5 billion in refunds as residents shoulder high taxes,” which noted that companies including Amazon, FedEx, Nissan, Hankook, and Governor Bill Lee’s family business, Lee Company, also received tax refunds.
The article also did not include the perspective of a proponent of the tax refund, but did offer the prerogative of Public School Strong member Angela Wynn, who told the outlet the refund amounted to “more corporate giveaways” from Tennessee lawmakers.
Knoxville Central Labor Council President Beau Hawk similarly told the outlet, “We pay some of the highest taxes on groceries in the country and billion-dollar companies are paying nothing. And now they are getting tens of thousands in refunds. I can’t make that make sense.”
The Tennessee Star contacted Fox 17 via its publicly listed email address for media inquiries, as well as The Tennessean’s executive editor, Ben Goad, to confirm that the outlets did not disclose their parent companies’ receipt of the tax refunds, and to ask when the refunds were received. Neither outlet replied before press time.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
