Today, the Senate Judiciary Committee marked up the “Journalism Competition and Preservation Act.” The bill proposes creating a “safe harbor” from antitrust law, allowing news companies to band together to negotiate compensation terms for their content with the largest digital platforms. The bill also allows publishers to restrict Google and Facebook from linking to their news stories, ultimately limiting the public’s access to credible information online.
Public Knowledge, along with dozens of other organizations, warns that the JCPA will do nothing to help preserve local journalism and, in fact, will likely compound some of the biggest problems in our information landscape today: consolidation and declining quality of information. The markup follows a letter sent by more than two dozen organizations warning Senate lawmakers against adopting the bill.
The following can be attributed to Lisa Macpherson, Senior Policy Analyst at Public Knowledge:
“The third time is not the charm for the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act, despite its passing through markup today. As in 2021 and 2022, the Senate has brought forward a bill based on an antitrust exemption, a legal maneuver that has a history of failing to achieve beneficial goals. Allowing the largest media conglomerates – like Alden Global Capital, Gannett, Sinclair Broadcast Group, and News Corp – to collude on the terms of access and value of their content will hurt competition and make our news landscape worse, not better. In a bill that is supposedly meant to encourage local journalism, there is no accountability for how the money is spent. Facebook and Google will fund more stock buybacks and executive bonuses than journalists’ salaries. It also introduces a precedent of payment for simply linking to information on the internet.
“This bill is also a threat to content moderation. The JCPA allows publishers to sue Facebook or Google for taking down content that the platforms find offensive or contrary to their community standards. It inhibits content moderation of harassment, hate speech and disinformation – and that is by design. The JCPA will not save local journalism. Instead, it will make a few billionaires even wealthier at the expense of a healthy and open internet and information environment for all of us.”
You may view our resources page to learn more about the problems with this bill, including how it jeopardizes local journalism and the open internet. You may also view our blog post, “Here We Go Again: Another Round of Changes Haven’t Solved the Problems with the JCPA,” for more information on why Public Knowledge warns Congress against adopting the bill.
Members of the media may contact Communications Director Shiva Stella with inquiries, interview requests, or to join the Public Knowledge press list at shiva@publicknowledge.org or 405-249-9435.