Cal Matters - Journalism preservation bill gives California newsrooms much-needed leverage over Big Tech
CJL Director Dr. Courtney Radsch discusses new legislation in California that may allow for newsroom advantages over Big Tech.
Historically, we have used government policies to structure competition in media markets and orient them in the public interest. California’s efforts to do just this is a step in the right direction.
The California Journalism Preservation Act is an opening salvo in the battle to rein in the power of Big Tech and establish a more equitable negotiation process with a fairer distribution of profits. The CJPA, formally known as Assembly Bill 886, makes a valiant effort to create new funds for hiring journalists and supporting media outlets that serve California’s citizens.
If Australia’s experience with similar legislation is any guide, we should expect hundreds of new journalism jobs to be created.
Google and Meta fiercely oppose this type of legislation, and have pursued heavy-handed tactics to derail similar laws, even prompting officials in Brazil and Canada to launch investigations to uncover the magnitude of interference in the legislative process.
These companies have also tried to buy off news outlets with grants, fellowships and participation in special news products. They also scare smaller publishers with the idea that they’ll lose out or be cut out of their products entirely, assuming they make good on their threats to censor news in California.
The paltry sums Big Tech has so far coughed up not only undervalue news but also leave news outlets with no leverage, while making them beholden to the “benevolence” of the tech platforms they must cover.
This is why the CJPA is so important. Collective bargaining and a regulatory framework that requires negotiation increases the power of local and smaller news outlets. An important yet often overlooked feature of the CJPA is that it creates a forum for negotiations to take place, in which California publishers can negotiate how these companies use their content to improve their services – as well as strip their content for the large language models underpinning the AI revolution.
Read full article here.