Letter asks Biden to call on Congress to pass the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act.
An antitrust suit that challenges Google’s dominance of online advertising offers hope for the survival of the local free press. Justice moves slowly, however, and in the meantime, Congress should take steps to help local news survive.
The Justice Department’s antitrust lawsuit, which a group of states joined, was the fifth against the company since 2020.
Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colorado: "Ensuring our free press has the financial strength to operate and fulfill its role as an unimpeded publisher of information is critical to keeping the marketplace of ideas open."
Congress had an opportunity this year to take an important step to support stronger communities, better government and civil discourse. Unfortunately, a heavy lobbying effort succeeded in derailing the bipartisan Journalism Competition and Preservation Act that would have given regional and small publishers the opportunity to negotiate fair compensation for the journalism that Google and Facebook host on their platforms.
OTTAWA - The House of Commons passed a Liberal bill on Wednesday designed to require web giants to compensate journalism outfits for reposting their content, and Meta is once again threatening to remove news content from Facebook in Canada.
It’s no secret that local journalism is in deep trouble. More than two newspapers are disappearing each week, on average, and more than a fifth of Americans live in “news deserts” — communities that have lost, or are in the process of losing, their local news providers. As a result, lies and other misinformation proliferate, damaging American democracy.