Republicans and Democrats recently introduced a bill that aims to help a news industry decimated by the emergence of online ads. Google and Facebook don’t seem to be fans.
It comes as the news industry is hemorrhaging money and talent. From 2008 to 2019, U.S. newspapers shed half of their employees, according to the Pew Research Center. That happened as Google and Facebook captured 60 percent of all U.S. digital advertising revenue. According to a study by the News Media Alliance, which represents 2,000 publishers of primarily local newspapers, Google made $4.7 billion from news content in 2018 without paying anything for it.
Last week, Democratic Rep. David Cicilline re-introduced a piece of legislation that would help news publishers get paid for content used by Facebook and Google.
What’s in the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act?
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The Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (JCPA) provides news organizations safe harbor from antitrust laws, giving them a four-year window to collectively negotiate with companies such as Facebook and Google, who would have to share some of their subscription and advertising money.
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Any print, broadcast, or digital news organization with an editorial staff that publishes at least weekly would be able to negotiate, but at least 25 percent of their output has to be original content.
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When those news groups negotiate, the end result has to benefit publishers generally — not just a select few.
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The bill was first introduced — and later killed — in 2019, but this year’s version is slightly different. It includes broadcasters among the groups that can collectively negotiate, according to Reuters.
Who supports the bill
It has bipartisan support, including from Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and New York Republican Rep. Ken Buck. Even Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has indicated his support, according to Reuters.
“We must enable news organizations to negotiate on a level playing field with the big tech companies if we want to preserve a strong and independent press,” Klobuchar said in a statement. “This bipartisan legislation will improve the quality of reporting and ensure that journalists are able to continue their critical work.”
During a March 12 congressional hearing, Jon Schleuss, the vice president of the News Guild, said the guild “appreciates the bill’s focus on rectifying the power imbalance.”
“The [tech] companies should pay their fair share,” he said.
“We must enable news organizations to negotiate on a level playing field with the big tech companies if we want to preserve a strong and independent press.”
Advocates for the bipartisan bill, including the News Guild and the News Media Alliance, have been fighting for legislation like this for the past four years. David Chavern, the president and CEO of the News Media Alliance, testified on March 12 that Google and Facebook effectively regulate the news industry because the platforms dictate who and how content reaches its viewers, and then controls the advertising markets.
“The cost of inaction, in terms of the spread of misinformation we are all experiencing, is simply too great to ignore any longer,” Chavern said in a statement. “Quality journalism is key to sustaining civic society and we must ensure that the digital ecosystem returns value back to the people who create that journalism.”
Critics say it won’t help local news as much as it purports to, but many local news groups want it passed, too. Graham Media Group, a subsidiary of Graham Holdings Company, which owns seven local television stations, says the bill will actually help local news just fine. During her opening remarks for the hearing, Emily Barr, the president and CEO of Graham Media Group, said legislative action, including the JCPA, is “needed to preserve this essential cornerstone of our democracy.”
“If we do nothing, local, independent journalism will not thrive. Indeed, it may not even survive,” Barr wrote in her opening statement. “And what happens to our democracy if that happens?”
Who opposes the bill
Unsurprisingly, Facebook and Google, who would likely have to share their revenue if the bill passed, probably don’t love it. Google didn’t specifically mention the JCPA, but when Mashable reached out for comment on the bill, it pointed us to a blog post published last week. It said Google is “one of the world’s leading financial supporters of journalism” and said the company would spend $1 billion over the next three years for news licensing through Google News Showcase.
Facebook did not respond to Mashable’s request for comment.
According to Reuters, technology trade groups the Computer & Communications Industry Association and NetChoice also oppose the bill. Carl Szabo, the vice president and general counsel at NetChoice, a trade group both Facebook and Google are members of, told Mashable he’d like the entire bill eliminated.
“I do not think this legislation should move forward. Period,” Szabo said. “If it were to move forward, then it must be designed in a way to benefit those whom it professes to want to save. And the way to do that is to simply limit its effect.”
Instead, Szabo and other critics argue, the legislation should not help larger newsrooms and should, instead, be limited to smaller, local newspapers who might need financial support more than legacy papers like the New York Times.