Congress can preserve local news by backing Journalism Competition and Preservation Act

Editorial
The Greenville News building on E Broad Street in downtown Greenville, Thursday, Oct 18, 2018.

Quality local journalism is essential to creating an informed and engaged public and ensuring a thriving democracy. But local journalism has been a victim of Big Tech’s dominant practices for years. Google and Facebook use – and benefit from – our news content and audiences, but they don’t return value to news publishers. That’s why we’re asking Congress to support the “Journalism Competition and Preservation Act.”

Over the past 14 months, local journalism has been more important than ever. From COVID-19’s devastating blows to cities and towns of all sizes, to the reignited social justice movement and the explosive 2020 U.S. presidential election and its tumultuous aftermath, people have been turning to news publishers to keep them up to date on how the changes happening around the world – and in their own backyards – affect their daily lives. News has been more in-demand than at any other time in recent history. But the local news publishers that provide this invaluable information are struggling in an online environment dominated by a few big tech platforms.

The tech platforms have been allowed to get bigger and bigger, exerting their power and influence in ways that stifle competition and eat into news publishers’ revenue. The term “Big Media” is thrown around but, as of 2018, Google and Facebook had nearly four times as much revenue as the entirety of the U.S. news media (TV, print and digital), and those companies have grown tremendously since. Those two companies alone currently attract about 80 percent of digital ad spending and 45 percent of all ad spending in the United States.

The system is stacked against news publishers. Google and Facebook pay to license music and many types of content, but they have refused to fairly compensate the creators of critical journalism. Because of this, in the last two years, we have seen at least 300 news publications close, with more than 6,000 journalists laid off. A few of the big, national news outlets may be doing okay, but local news publishers, who provide the information that sustains communities, are getting pushed out. If we don’t find a solution for local journalism soon, there won’t be any left.

We have already seen what happened in Australia earlier this year when Facebook removed news from their feed in response to proposed legislation there that would require them to pay publishers for their content. In just two days, the void where news once appeared was quickly filled with misinformation and fake news. We cannot afford to learn what a world without quality journalism would look like. Fortunately, Facebook reinstated news and the legislation passed in Australia. Now, the rest of the world is following in its footsteps and moving toward a new and more equitable compensation system for publishers. After all, the platforms compensate music publishers and other creators. It’s now past time for them to compensate those who deliver real local journalism.

The government cannot regulate news under the First Amendment, but Facebook and Google are de facto regulators, deciding what content people see and when. They have undervalued quality news content and, as a result, the information ecosystem has become increasingly confusing and unhealthy. We have the solution that will give all forms of news media a decent shot at getting a fair return for their work and checking the power of government and Big Tech.

Local news publishers just want the ability to band together to fight for their future. Ironically, however, current antitrust laws actually protect Big Tech from publishers taking any organized action.

To help resolve this crisis, we are asking our members of Congress, Rep. William Timmons, Rep. Jeff Duncan and Sens. Lindsey Graham and Tim Scott, to support the “Journalism Competition and Preservation Act” (also known as the Safe Harbor Bill), which would give news publishers the ability to seek fair compensation for use of their content, and which would allow them to continue to invest in the critical newsgathering and reporting on which Americans depend.

With the passage of this bill, all news publishers, especially small and local publishers, would finally be able to ask the tech platforms for the compensation they need, and deserve.

We applaud those members of Congress across the country and on both sides of the aisle who have already shown their commitment to local journalism by co-sponsoring the “Journalism Competition and Preservation Act.” But we need support from every member of Congress. We hope our state representatives will agree that the quality reporting we provide for our community – and the future of all local journalism – is worth fighting for and will co-sponsor the Safe Harbor Bill today.