California is making progress on a proposal that could force big tech companies to pay a “journalism usage fee” to publishers, including local radio stations, every time they utilize local news content and sell advertising alongside it.
The California Assembly passed the proposed California Journalism Preservation Act last week with a significant majority of 46-6. The bill, now heading to the state Senate, would mandate news publishers to allocate 70% of the profits from the usage fee towards journalism jobs.
The bill has garnered support from the California Broadcasters Association (CBA), which has been collaborating with sponsors during the development of the legislation. CBA President Joe Berry emphasized the criticality of the issue for the survival of local journalism in California. The bill is expected to be taken up in the California Senate this month and, if passed, will proceed to Governor Newsom for final approval.
A potential threat from Meta looms heavy as the company suggests that it would remove news from Facebook and Instagram if the bill becomes law, instead of paying into what it describes as a “slush fund” primarily benefiting large out-of-state media companies.
“The bill fails to recognize that publishers and broadcasters put their content on our platform themselves and that substantial consolidation in California’s local news industry came over 15 years ago, well before Facebook was widely used,” Meta Policy Communications Director Andy Stone said in a post on social media.
Bill sponsor Buffy Wicks thinks that is an “empty threat” with the Oakland Democrat saying during debate on her bill that she was “not interested in a debate between Rupert Murdoch and Mark Zuckerberg.”
The CBA and NAB are not alone in supporting the legislation, as other journalism organizations, including the News/Media Alliance and the California News Publishers Association, are also backing the bill. These trade groups argue that Google captures up to 70% of every advertising dollar, preventing news publishers from reinvesting in vital investigative journalism and community news.
At the federal level, the Journalism Competition & Preservation Act (JCPA) was reintroduced in the previous session of Congress and almost became law in December before the session ended. Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and John Kennedy (R-LA) reintroduced the JCPA in the Senate in March, but no companion legislation has been introduced in the House thus far.
If passed, the federal JCPA (S. 1094) would establish a limited safe harbor from antitrust laws, enabling news publishers and broadcast news operations with fewer than 1,500 exclusive full-time employees to form joint negotiation entities. These entities would collectively bargain with covered platforms over the terms and conditions of access to digital news content. The bill would also require large online platforms to engage in good-faith negotiations with eligible news organizations.
