Don’t believe the political ads: Google is not a champion of local journalism in California | Opinion
Google, a court-declared monopoly, is among those behind advertisements now blitzing the California airwaves allegedly in support of local journalism. Viewers beware.
What’s really happening is that the California Legislature is very close to forcing the big social media platforms to share their journalism-related revenues with the outlets that produce them.
And the Googles of the modern Internet world simply don’t want to share what is rightfully not theirs.
Assembly Bill 886 by Buffy Wicks, D-Oakland, would create more local journalism. Period. That’s because if Google and the platforms are forced to share some of their news-related revenues, by law most of this money would go directly to newsroom budgets throughout the state.
Google and the other members of the Computer and Communications Industry Association don’t seem to want you to know what the bill actually does. It’s because the state is at a historic crossroads in its journalism future. Revenues of legitimate providers of news are shrinking. As news of what’s happening throughout California decreases, the public simply knows less.
Google is not on the side of the scribe at City Hall on deadline. The giant company is in a fight to maintain its market dominance in California and its monopolistic power throughout the nation and world.
Sometimes when a powerful interest is on the losing side of a policy argument in Sacramento, it pretends to be on the winning side. Whether this flood of advertising will influence some top Democrats in town, including Gov. Gavin Newsom, remains to be seen. The outcome could shape the news industry, both here and elsewhere, for a very long time.
Google and its trade association are portraying themselves as championing local journalism with the following advertising message:
“Our local news keeps us informed when others won’t. But it’s under siege from big, out-of-state media companies and hedge funds. Now California legislators are considering a bill that could make things even worse by subsidizing national and global media corporations while reducing web traffic local papers rely on. So tell lawmakers: Support local journalism, not well-connected media companies. Oppose AB 886. Paid for by CCIA.”
This is what AB 886, the California Journalism Preservation Act, is actually trying to do. It defines the large social media platforms that must share their journalism profits. AB 886 also defines the various journalism outlets creating news content in California. The bill establishes a voluntary path for sharing content-related revenues (journalism outlets receiving funds based on their number of journalists). And failing a voluntary settlement, AB 886 creates an arbitration process for a professional third party to identify the proceeds to be shared.
McClatchy’s California opinion team supports AB 886, as does McClatchy, the Sacramento Bee’s parent company. So does the California Newspaper Publishers Association and local news outlets up and down the state.
Why AB 886? Nationally, newspaper advertising revenue has decreased by about two-thirds in roughly a decade, according to various industry estimates.
Google, meanwhile, raked in more than $237 billion last year. In 2001, its revenues were a mere $70 million.
For a company the size of Google, this California legislation is a rounding error. The issue is more on principle and precedent. Google has fought similar efforts that are further along in Canada and Australia. And it has threatened to strip its site of California news if AB 886 becomes law.
But Google’s greatest adversary is not Wicks. It is United States Attorney General Merrick Garland and his Department of Justice. It has successfully sued Google, a federal judge recently ruling that the company is a monopoly. The Justice Department appears to be considering moves to break up the company. While such a court process could take years, Google’s standing to be on the side of the little guy, anywhere, is on the shakiest of ground.
AB 886, meanwhile, awaits a hearing in the Senate Appropriations Committee. If it clears the committee and the Senate and then a concurrence vote in the Assembly, it lands on Newsom’s desk.
Wick’s legislative effort is pioneering for a state to try to protect local journalism. Being first at something is always tough. But there is no doubt whether it is Wicks or Google who is trying to save local journalism throughout California. Hint: It’s not Google, no matter how much money the industry spends on misleading advertising to suggest otherwise.