Congress should pass JCPA to help local journalism – Orange County Register

Since the early days of the American republic, the press has played an important role in checking government power. The founders understood that a free press was essential to inform the public about excessive government access, which is why the freedom of the press was guaranteed in the Bill of Rights.

Technological advances over the past three decades have clearly affected the business models of journalism and the means by which stories produced in newsrooms around the country are disseminated widely. Out.

These changes have given significant power to big Tech companies like Facebook and Google, which could affect how stories are created and how revenue from digital advertising is distributed.

The consequences were predictable.

According to the California News Publishers Association, Big Tech’s asymmetrical power means that “for every dollar generated from digital advertising, these platforms account for up to 70% of revenue, making publishers only have 30%”.

Facebook and Google have positioned themselves to rake in hundreds of billions of dollars a year in digital ad revenue, while newspapers around the country have been forced to close or downsize dramatically. In California alone, at least 115 newspapers have closed completely since 2004, with more than a dozen counties in the state being served only by a local news outlet or no newspaper in the case of two. .

Against this backdrop, the Press Preservation and Competition Act was introduced in the United States Senate by Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota and Senators John Kennedy, R-Louisiana, and in the House of Representatives by House of Representatives David Cicilline, D-Rhode Island, and Representative Ken Buck, R-Colorado.

The bill would create a temporary “safe haven” from antitrust law to allow news publishers to collectively negotiate with tech companies like Facebook and Google for more reasonable terms related to the law. regarding the use of news content on such platforms and the distribution of advertising dollars.

We urge its passage.

As everyone knows, nothing is free. Newspapers across the country work every day to deliver news and information to the public. This requires employing professionals capable of doing their jobs correctly, ethically and responsibly.

The decline of local newspapers, especially around the country, has unfortunately left many Americans unaware of what is happening in their local communities, in their town halls, within their school district, their county government, and even within their state government.

This is unattainable in a free society.