Understanding the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act

Amid all the political turmoil in Washington, there are a lot of minor and less high-profile pieces of legislation that may have greater long-term impact on various reaches of society. One that may very well benefit the future of journalism is the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act. The bill, introduced by Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and co-sponsored by Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) is due to advance in the Senate sometime following their late-summer recess. 

The bill is still in its early stages so plenty of it is liable to change, but what exactly is it and why are we seeing attention to competition in journalism in Congress? 

The official summary of this bill is as follows:

“This bill creates a four-year safe harbor from antitrust laws for print, broadcast, or digital news companies to collectively negotiate with online content distributors (e.g., social media companies) regarding the terms on which the news companies' content may be distributed by online content distributors.”

In layman’s terms, the bill makes it illegal for content distributors like Twitter, Facebook, or other big tech companies to share publications for free to the public without the consent of and negotiation with the original journalists and newsrooms. As Facebook and the other aforementioned companies have captured up to 70 percent of ad revenue generated online, this has created fewer resources for local news outlets and is effectively putting them out of business.

But why save local news outlets? Simple: Americans trust their local news sources, but they do not trust the media at large. Bigger tech companies have essentially placed a chokehold over local news outlets and limited their resources by capturing and manipulating access to ad revenue. The bill would change this and make it so that local news outlets have negotiating power by allowing their news to be shared on these platforms as well as have a stake in the ad revenue.

Moreover, the support for this bill across the United States is overwhelming: 83 percent of Americans agree that local news outlets need to be saved. Six in ten Americans also said local news outlets gave them information they needed for daily life, and only two in ten Americans said national news or major cable news outlets like CNN did the same. Also, two newspapers per week have been closing (on average) since 2005, so Americans know the threat to their local news is very real. 

This has resulted in more than one-fifth of Americans living in news deserts, which also results in more and more people relying on social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter for their news. Unfortunately, Facebook and the like have a vested interest in any news that generates ad revenue, and misinformation generates more of that than local news, verified sources, or just about anything really. The bill would create a marketplace in which more local news outlets could satisfy these areas of the nation, while also combating misinformation within their communities. 

The bill also incentivizes publishers to invest in hiring new journalists and newsroom personnel by giving them access to more money the more they demonstrate their investment. This is an ample opportunity for newsrooms to diversify in all aspects—from identities of its participants to the kinds of content the newsroom is equipped to cover, all while receiving more federal funding to support new endeavors. 

The bill still has a long way to go in Washington, but with bipartisan support, it still has a chance to pass: contact your local representatives and senators to express your support (or opposition) to the bill in the meanwhile. If you are interested in tracking its progress, Congress.gov will update the status of the bill as it makes its way through the bicameral legislature.