Grand Canyon Times

PHOENIX–Attorney General Kris Mayes joined a multi-state coalition urging Congress to pass the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act of 2023 (S. 1094). In a letter sent this week by Attorney General Mayes and ten other attorneys general, the coalition said the bill would address the power imbalance between local news outlets and large online platforms. Among other things, the bill would allow local news outlets to work together to negotiate fairer compensation from the large online platforms that profit from their work.

“As a former reporter, I know how important local journalism is to providing the public with transparency and holding the powerful accountable,” said Attorney General Mayes. “A healthy democracy depends on strong independent local journalism. It is no stretch to say that the increase in polarization over the past several years has been exacerbated by a news and information vacuum created by the ongoing collapse of local journalism. As local news organizations in Arizona and across the country continue to struggle because of years of media consolidation and significantly reduced revenues, now is the time for Congress to act and pass this critical legislation.”

According to the Center for Innovation and Sustainability in Local Media, almost 200 U.S. counties do not have a weekly or daily newspaper, creating a news vacuum for nearly 3.2 million Americans and the public officials representing them. And according to the Pew Research Center, newsroom employment at newspapers nationwide fell by about 40,000 between 2008 and 2020.

According to the sponsors of the bill, the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act would:

• Empower eligible digital journalism providers—that is, news publishers with fewer than 1,500 exclusive full-time employees and news broadcasters that engage in standard newsgathering practices—to form joint negotiation entities to collectively negotiate with a covered platform over the pricing, terms, and conditions under which the covered platform’s access to digital news content.
• Require covered platforms—which are online platforms that have at least 50 million U.S.-based users or subscribers and are owned or controlled by a person that has either net annual sales or market capitalization greater than $550 billion or at least 1 billion worldwide monthly active users—to negotiate in good faith with the eligible news organizations.
• Enable non-broadcaster news publishers to demand final-offer arbitration if their joint negotiation with a covered platform fails to result in an agreement after six months.
• Create a limited safe harbor from federal and state antitrust laws for eligible digital journalism providers that allow them to participate in joint negotiations and arbitration and jointly withhold their content from a covered platform as part of those negotiations.
• Prohibit discrimination by a joint negotiation entity or a covered platform against an eligible digital journalism provider based on its size or the views expressed in its content and provide a private right of action for violations of this prohibition.
• Prohibit retaliation by a covered platform against eligible digital journalism providers for participating in joint negotiations or arbitration and provide a private right of action for violations of this prohibition.

The legislation has bipartisan support and was originally sponsored by Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana. It passed the Senate Judiciary Committee last September with a vote of 15-7.

Original source can be found here.