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At least three biz news organizations received PPP money

At least three business news organizations received loans from the Paycheck Protection Program, according to the data released Monday.

Forbes magazine received a loan between $5 million and $10 million, as did Michigan-based Crain Communications, which operates weekly business newspapers in Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit and New York as well as industry publications.

KC Crain, president and chief operating officer of Crain, said, “The program did exactly what it was designed to do. It assisted Crain by covering the majority of our payroll and rent expenses, allowing us to maintain staffing levels and pay throughout the covered eight-week time period.”

Fortune magazine’s parent received a loan between $2 million and $5 million.

The U.S. Small Business Administration and Treasury Department released the data on Monday after news organizations sued for the information. The loans were created in March as a way to keep the U.S. economy going during the pandemic.

The loans are forgivable if the business uses the money for payroll, mortgage interest, rent and utilities, and the business maintains employee and compensation levels.

Fortune said that it retained 155 jobs while Forbes said it retained 25. Crain Communications said it retained 500 jobs.

In April, Fortune said it cut 35 jobs. The database says its loan was approved on April 15.

The loan database can be found here.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.

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