Opinion Journalism' s Bad Bargain HEAD TOPICS

Opinion Journalism' s Bad Bargain

10/22/2022 5:56:00 PM

U S legislation that lets media cartels collude is the wrong way to foster public-interest journalism

Source

Common Dreams

'As with other public goods like parks and libraries, high-quality local journalism requires public funding, and these funds need to be specifically targeted to invest in local reporting.' U S legislation that lets media cartels collude is the wrong way to foster public-interest journalism for midterm political-ad spending.The second camp consists of people focused on antitrust and includes Sen. Klobuchar. She and advocates like the American Economic Liberties Project see Google and Meta as possessing far too much power, particularly in digital-advertising markets. They believe the JCPA will helplevel the playing field between the platforms and news-media companies. The interest this second camp has in the JCPA is less about journalism than it is about reining in Big Tech.The third camp is a group of Republican lawmakers like Sen. Ted Cruz who want to stick it to the social-media companies for deplatforming Donald Trump and attempting to curb the spread of his Big Lie about the outcome of the 2020 election. There's no real substance behind their argument beyond that. It has little to do with saving journalism—but Klobuchar is ignoring all of the red flags and rhetoric to Read more:
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She and advocates like the American Economic Liberties Project see Google and Meta as possessing far too much power, particularly in digital-advertising markets. Johnson joined the Task Force after serving as URGE’s Executive Director and has a wealth of experience in organizational leadership and management, program development, youth leadership and reproductive justice. They believe the JCPA will help level the playing field between the platforms and news-media companies. The interest this second camp has in the JCPA is less about journalism than it is about reining in Big Tech. (Reuters) The foundation said that Hammad"strongly denies" that an additional Facebook post using"antisemitic language" was written by her. The third camp is a group of Republican lawmakers like Sen.S. Ted Cruz who want to stick it to the social-media companies for deplatforming Donald Trump and attempting to curb the spread of his Big Lie about the outcome of the 2020 election. There's no real substance behind their argument beyond that. It has little to do with saving journalism—but Klobuchar is ignoring all of the red flags and rhetoric to preserve the bipartisan coalition needed to ensure the bill passes. Lost in this mix are newsroom workers and the communities that have been hit hardest by the failed economics of news production."  Yael Halon is a reporter for Fox News Digital. A growing number of communities across the country lack access to the high-quality local journalism they need to stay informed and participate in civic affairs. That is the heart of the journalism crisis. The financial and technological headwinds faced by for-profit (and in most cases still profitable) news chains are certainly relevant, but they do not in and of themselves present a problem in need of a public-policy solution. Propping up cartels By presenting the journalism crisis simply in terms of news companies' lost revenues, JCPA proponents suggest that the government must prop up incumbent commercial publishers and broadcasters without considering whether this would help address communities' information needs. In a strategic sleight of hand, the large news-media companies want us to conflate the public importance of local journalism with their own bottom lines. But what's good for Gannett and Sinclair is not what's good for America. Local-accountability journalism—including coverage of city-hall beats and investigative reporting—is a public good that the commercial markets have been unable (or unwilling) to produce effectively or profitably. That's because today's local-news giants spent decades buying up local outlets, driven by the idea that consolidated ownership would create economies of scale and generate profits that could be extracted from local communities. Their buying sprees burdened many of these conglomerates with massive debts that they've had to service by laying off newsroom staff and downsizing daily editions. While they once dominated the distribution of news and information in local markets, news chains were reluctant or slow to adapt to a digital world that opened up audiences to numerous other ways to engage with information, newsworthy or otherwise. These companies responded to these changes in consumption by cutting costs further or shuttering operations altogether. Between 2005 and 2020, the United States lost more than a quarter of its newspapers, and the number of newspaper-newsroom employees shrank by more than half.  They're often depicted solely as victims of the big, bad platforms, even though consolidated news-media companies have played their own part in the demise of their brand of local news. Ironically, the companies that stand to benefit most from the JCPA are the ones that have slashed news production while continuing to .