Last week, NYSBA joined with the other state broadcaster associations urging the Senate Leadership to pass the Journalism Competition & Preservation Act “JCPA” (S.673). In today’s marketplace, “Big Tech” companies can take a station’s local news content without fairly compensating the station. As such, they take a station’s content, use it on their platforms, and then turn around a sell local advertising. This unfair practice has to stop.
This legislation creates an exemption from the antitrust laws and allows local stations and newspapers to bargain collectively with “Big Tech” to make sure they obtain fair value for their product. The letter noted:
“Broadcasters provide an invaluable resource to local communities around the country, serving as a trusted source for news and information. However, the major tech behemoths are threatening the survival of local broadcasters and other news publishers throughout American communities. These behemoths have grown to massive sizes, and have gained enormous market power. They have upended the advertising marketplace and, in many cases, have devised anticompetitive practices to protect it. Broadcasters and other news publishers are now competing with these massive platforms for advertising revenue, and these platforms often act as gatekeepers of online content – exerting power over what internet users access and how advertisers reach them.”
As we move into the lame-duck session of Congress, we hope to have this legislation attached to “must pass” legislation. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is doing his best to move this legislation forward.