by Jon Schweppe
It’s no secret that local newspapers have been dying. Since 2004, the United States has lost a quarter of its newspapers — 70 dailies and over 2,000 weeklies. This has been devastating for communities across the country who depend on these newspapers to stay informed and engaged. There are many factors causing this decline, but one of the main culprits, especially as of late, has been Big Tech.
There’s a term to describe the actions of massive corporations manipulating the levers of state power to dominate their markets and pad their bottom lines at the expense of others. It’s crony capitalism. Under this system, crony capitalists flood Washington, DC with campaign contributions, pay-to-play experts, and legions of lobbyists to shape the laws and regulations that govern their industries.
Sound familiar? If you have observed Big Tech’s movements within the halls of power in our nation’s capital over the past decade, you know exactly what I’m talking about. It’s said that if you whisper “Section 230” to yourself three times while walking through the Capitol, a Big Tech-funded lobbyist will suddenly appear to explain why changing even one word in the arcane law might trigger the apocalypse.
Under crony capitalism, there are winners and there are losers. Big Tech corporations, like Google and Facebook, are clearly winners. And one industry appears to be losing big: local journalism.
Google and Facebook, in particular, have co-opted the distribution of the valuable news local outlets create and have monetized it for themselves. Worse, they do it without adequately compensating the outlets. Moreover, along the way, they pick and choose which voices will be heard, and it appears conservative voices are unilaterally silenced.
In a twist of irony, the nation’s antitrust laws protect the big media outlets from the much smaller ones. Naturally, the former like it this way, and use their lobbying army and their advocacy front groups to prevent any meaningful changes to the laws.
Enter the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (JCPA), bipartisan legislation that would finally make Big Tech pay for the news it aggregates for its own profits.
The JCPA allows publishers of all sizes, from big national newspapers to the local weeklies, to bargain collectively to receive fair compensation for their original content. Negotiations would occur under the authority of a federal arbitrator to ensure the platforms are operating in good faith. The bill has the support of conservatives, like Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colorado) and Sen. John Kennedy (R-Louisiana), as well as progressives, such as Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota).
Misconceptions about the bill have surfaced. Some claim the JCPA will discriminate against conservative outlets. This is inaccurate. In fact, the JCPA prohibits delisting for the purposes of demonetizing outlets, meaning the platforms will have to pay conservative outlets for the content they use. This is among the reasons why a number of conservative outlets have endorsed the JCPA, including Newsmax, National Review, Washington Times, Washington Examiner, and Daily Caller.
It has also been erroneously reported that the JCPA would allow big outlets to arrange special side deals with Big Tech. Again, this is untrue. Under threat of steep penalties, JCPA would prohibit companies from negotiating alone, excluding smaller local or conservative outlets, and from negotiating side deals.
Big Tech has used its power to manipulate laws and regulations to enrich itself. That’s how it’s maintained the sweetheart deal that is Section 230 and fought off any and all efforts to rein in their anti-competitive behavior. Fortunately, a growing number of brave Members of Congress are working to curb Big Tech’s power in Washington and across our economy. They can now help save diversity of opinion, the backbone of democracy, by saving local news by finally making Big Tech pay.
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Jon Schweppe is director of policy and government affairs at American Principles Project. Follow him on Twitter @JonSchweppe.
