Journalism Competition and Preservation Act is a good start

The Journalism Competition and Preservation Act was recently reintroduced by U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat from Minnesota, and John Kennedy, a Republican from Louisiana. The bill aims to help local journalism survive in an era when most Americans consume their news from online sources.

The decline of local journalism has been welldocumented. It’s also been well-documented that communities suffer when the providers of local news cease to exist.

The Journalism Competition and Preservation Act seeks to create a four-year safe harbor from antitrust laws for news content creators so that they can collectively negotiate with online content distributors about the terms on which their content may be distributed.

After an initial introduction in 2019, the bill was reintroduced in March of 2021 with bipartisan support in the Senate and the House of Representatives. The bill ultimately was not included in a larger package of legislation that was approved. Another effort is now underway to get the legislation approved.

If it does become a law this time around, The Journalism Competition and Preservation Act will be a good start to helping local journalism survive. But only a start.

Klobuchar has been a good advocate for local news. She clearly understands the importance of local journalism to our entire way of life.

When she reintroduced the legislation, Klobuchar said, “As the daughter of a newspaperman, I understand firsthand the vital role that a free press plays in strengthening our democracy. But local news is facing an existential crisis, from ad revenues plummeting and newsrooms across the country closing to artificial intelligence tools taking content. To preserve strong, independent journalism, news organizations must be able to negotiate on a level playing field with the online platforms that dominate news distribution and digital advertising.”

The Journalism Competition and Preservation Act would address a significant issue. Right now, Google, Facebook and other giant digital platforms don’t properly compensate local news agencies for their content. That makes it more difficult for these practitioners of local journalism to continue to do their work since the work can’t be accomplished for free.

The Founding Fathers knew the importance of the press, and they knew that people needed accurate information in order for democracy to survive. The federal government can play a part in supporting local journalism. Other countries have taken some modest, sensible steps to support local journalism, including subsidies in the form of tax credits for news subscribers, local journalists, and small business advertisers.

All these initiatives would help, and all should be supported at the local, state, and federal level.