NNA Supports JCPA Introduction
Tonda Rush
Apr 1, 2023
NNA Press Release — April 1, 2023
Contact: tonda@nna.org
National Newspaper Association Supports
Journalism Competition and Preservation Act Introduction
National Newspaper Association this week expressed its support for the reintroduction of the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act. Sens. Amy Klobuchar, D-MN, and John Kennedy, R-LA, brought the bill back to the 118th Congress after nearly completing Senate approval in the 117th Congress.
The legislation would provide a limited exemption from antitrust laws for news organizations to band together in negotiations with large social media platforms--like Google and Meta—to secure compensation for the platforms’ use of news and information culled from material produced by journalists. A similar system is in place in Australia. European governments, Canada and the United Kingdom either have such payment systems in operation or are expected to soon require them.
Similar bills, (S. 673 and H.R. 1735), were considered for enactment in December 2022 as part of the National Defense Authorization Act but were omitted after heavy lobbying by the social media platforms.
NNA Chair John Galer, publisher of the Journal-News, Hillsboro, IL, thanked the sponsors for their commitments to local journalism.
“The wisdom of providing local newspapers a path to secure payment for the news that others use to raise revenues is so obvious to me. If a giant tornado came through America and wiped out all of the newspapers at once, the federal government would jump right in with disaster assistance to protect Americans from losing its journalists. But Congress has given a blank check to the social media platforms to exploit the news we create and simultaneously put local journalism organizations at risk. Yet Congress has neglected to act to keep journalism alive. It is time to fix this problem. It really is,” Galer said. “We appreciate the continued support from Senators Klobuchar and Kennedy.”
National Newspaper Association represents small, local newspapers. Its members are generally family-owned weekly and community daily publications serving small towns and neighborhoods. NNA has served local newspapers since 1885.
