Danielle Coffey
Across the country, quality journalism is critical for sharing important news affecting our society. Through their timely reporting, journalists play a unique role in informing, engaging and empowering citizens. Without the dedicated work of journalists, corruption would remain undiscovered and unchecked. As crucial watchdogs, journalists are often the only stewards keeping a close eye on local institutions, governments and businesses.
Americans consume more news than ever, with news organizations reaching more than 135 million U.S. adults each week. But despite record audiences, news publisher revenue in the U.S. has dropped by more than 50% in recent years.
One of the biggest threats to journalism is Big Tech. Just two platforms, Meta (which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads) and Google, control access to news online. These platforms have unprecedented dominance over the digital marketplace and capture more than 70% of all digital advertising revenue. Big Tech is reaping the financial benefits of news publishers’ painstaking work, while publishers are left with scraps — not enough to continue reinvesting at the same level to provide high-quality content their users need, enjoy and have come to expect.
The Big Tech platforms have overwhelming market power, more than any one company should have. They are setting the rules for news publishers and determining how journalism is displayed, prioritized and monetized. Left with no choice but to play by Big Tech’s rules, lest they lose what traffic they still get to their sites, news publishers must hand over their valuable content without receiving compensation from the platforms.
Readers also lose in this scenario. The algorithms Big Tech uses to decide what content people see lack transparency and balance. Readers also lose the freedom to decide for themselves what they want to read based on what is important to them.
Meta’s actions in Canada provide a telling example of the risk here. The wildfires raging in Canada have been an emergency requiring the dissemination of important safety and evacuation information. Many people in remote areas affected by the fires don’t have a local news source, so they turn to Facebook — but they’re not finding the information they need to stay safe.
Because of legislation recently passed by the Canadian government to require the tech platforms to pay news publishers for use of their content, Meta has decided to remove all news from Facebook rather than pay publishers, thereby depriving its users of information they need and want in a time of great risk. Meta would let its users incur serious threats to their well-being just to make a point, putting its head in the sand.
Canadians and the American public deserve a free and diverse press, which supports a healthy and vibrant democracy. The Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (JCPA) is a bipartisan bill that will provide news publishers with the ability to negotiate with and be fairly compensated by Big Tech for their valuable content.
The JCPA is modeled after a law that was passed in Australia, which included Major League Baseball-style arbitration and resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars and newsroom growth with a vast increase in journalism jobs there. The need to save America’s newsrooms transcends party lines, garnering strong bipartisan support among voters. Seven in 10 Americans polled said they support Congress passing the JCPA.
Quality journalism is not a luxury. It is an absolute necessity in times of rampant misinformation online and increasing natural disasters and public health crises. Only quality journalism can keep communities informed with timely and accurate breaking news and coverage of events. Only quality journalism can report the truth about government activities being carried out on the public’s behalf with their tax dollars.
When COVID-19 arrived in the U.S., news publishers took their paywalls down on stories about the public health emergency so all Americans had free, unencumbered access to critical health and safety information as the country shut down, and as hospitals filled. News publishers do this because it is the right thing to do.
But without fair compensation from the tech platforms, newspapers will continue to disappear. The JCPA is our best bet to protect quality journalism. Now is the time for Congress to act and finally get publishers the compensation they deserve. Communities cannot afford to wait any longer.
Coffey is president and CEO of the News Media Alliance: newsmediaalliance.org.
