Big Tech could be forced to pay for online news under legislation aimed at helping local publishers

By Robert Channick

Chicago Tribune

The newspaper industry, which has been struggling with deep ad revenue declines in the digital age, is backing proposed legislation that would force Big Tech to pay publishers for aggregating their news stories online.

The Journalism Competition and Preservation Act seeks to level the playing field by allowing local newspapers, broadcasters and other online publishers to negotiate collectively for an annual content fee from Google and Meta/Facebook, which dominate the digital advertising market.

The full text of the Senate bill, released Monday, cites a power imbalance that has benefited Big Tech at the expense of the shrinking newspaper industry, which has lost thousands of publications and tens of thousands of journalists during the new millennium, creating local “news deserts” across the U.S.

The proposed legislation would both recapture digital revenue and incentivize local news publishers to hire more journalists.

“There is a ton of revenue that the platforms receive from our content that is not paid back to news publishers,” said Danielle Coffey, executive vice president and general counsel of the News Media Alliance, a Washington, D.C.-based newspaper trade organization. “Once we move forward, we’ll be able to compel payment from the platforms, which would be transformative for our entire industry.”

A Meta spokesperson declined to comment, while a Google spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment on the proposed legislation.

The bipartisan legislation would cover thousands of local and regional newspapers, including those in the Southern California New Group. It excludes national publications such as The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal, which have more successfully navigated the digital transition through increased subscription revenue.

The bill also includes local TV and radio broadcasters that publish original digital news content and meet other eligibility requirements.

“Our bipartisan legislation ensures media outlets will be able to engage in good faith negotiations to receive fair compensation from the Big Tech companies that profit from their news content, allowing journalists to continue their critical work of keeping communities informed,” Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., one of the bill’s lead co-sponsors, said in a news release.

Source: Orange County Register