Why We Need The JCPA Now
The Big Tech behemoths are squeezing local media for content, controlling the algorithms that reach broad digital audiences, limiting or denying monetization and withholding data, which in turn control who can see the stories we are working so hard to tell. The Journalism Competition and Preservation Act, which enjoys rare bipartisan support in Washington, is how local media need to fight back.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar on Wednesday blasted large tech companies for “taking” news organizations’ content without paying them. Her remarks came at a hearing on her proposed Journalism Competition and Protection Act, which would grant a four-year antitrust exemption to news organizations (including print, television and online companies) in order to allow them to negotiate collectively with online platforms that draw at least 1 billion monthly active users.
Australia’s bold move to force tech giants to start paying for the news appears to be reigniting U.S. efforts to hold Google and Facebook to account for the gloomy state of the local news industry. Momentum is building for a new version of a bipartisan bill first introduced in 2019 that would allow U.S. news publishers to band together to negotiate for payments by tech giants that link to their news content.
