Arlington, VA – The California Journalism Preservation Act (CJPA, AB 886) passed out of the California State Assembly today in a floor vote of 55-6. The bill, which was introduced by Assemblymember Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland) in March, would require Big Tech platforms such as Facebook and Google to pay news publishers a “journalism usage fee” to use the content of eligible digital journalism providers, as defined in the bill. Currently, creators of journalistic and creative content are not adequately compensated for the use of their work that takes a tremendous investment to produce.

The CJPA would also promote the hiring of more journalists, requiring news publishers to invest 70 percent of the profits from the usage fee into journalism jobs. The bill is expected to advance to the California Senate next month, and then head to Governor Newsom to become law.

News/Media Alliance President & CEO Danielle Coffey stated, “We applaud the California Assembly for taking decisive and direct action to save journalism through passing the California Journalism & Preservation Act (CJPA). We are extremely encouraged to see this progress at the state level, which shows that Americans understand the importance and value of journalism to keeping their communities safe and informed and holding those in power to account. We look forward to the CJPA moving on to the Senate and working with policymakers there to pass the CJPA and restore fairness and balance to the marketplace.”

The News/Media Alliance has been vocally advocating for such legislation at the federal level since 2018. The Journalism Competition & Preservation Act (JCPA), which was reintroduced in the 117th Congress (S. 673 and H.R. 1735), passed through Senate Judiciary Committee markup in September and nearly passed into law in December before the Congress ended. Senate Antitrust Chairwoman Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Senator John N. Kennedy (R-LA) reintroduced the JCPA, which has strong bipartisan support, in the Senate (S. 1094) on March 31.

Coffey added, “We are encouraged by the support we’ve had for addressing the severe marketplace imbalance between tech platforms and news and magazine publishers and look forward to legislation moving through both California legislature and Congress. Between similar laws being passed around the world, and the positive movement in the U.S. at the state and federal level, I believe we are at a turning point, and we are seeing more and more support for getting this legislation passed country wide.”

For more information on the federal JCPA, visit  www.JCPABill.com.

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Media contact:
Lindsey Loving
Director, Communications
lindsey@newsmediaalliance.org

The News/Media Alliance is a nonprofit organization representing more than 2,000 news and magazine media organizations and their multiplatform businesses in the United States and globally. Alliance members include print and digital publishers of original journalism. Headquartered just outside Washington, D.C., the association focuses on ensuring the future of journalism through communication, research, advocacy, and innovation. Information about the News/Media Alliance can be found at www.newsmediaalliance.org.

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Arlington, VA – The News/Media Alliance applauds California State Assemblymember Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland) for today introducing the California Journalism Preservation Act (CJPA, AB 886), which would require Big Tech platforms such as Facebook and Google to pay news publishers a “journalism usage fee” to use local news content. Currently, creators of quality journalism are not adequately compensated for the use of their content that takes a tremendous investment to produce, and therefore, cannot reinvest enough in journalists and newsrooms.

“These dominant digital ad companies are enriching their own platforms with local news content without adequately compensating the originators,” Wicks said. “It’s time they start paying market value for the journalism they are aggregating at no cost from local media.”

In response to the bill’s introduction, News/Media Alliance Executive Vice President & General Counsel, Danielle Coffey said, “We applaud California Assemblymember Wicks for introducing this legislation and for recognizing the critical importance of high-quality journalism to ensuring informed and engaged communities. We hope Congress takes note and follows suit by reintroducing legislation at the federal level as well to give news publishers across the U.S. the same ability to be fairly compensated by the dominant tech platforms.”

The CJPA would also promote the hiring of more journalists, requiring news publishers to invest 70 percent of the profits from the usage fee into journalism jobs.

The Alliance has been vocally advocating for such legislation at the federal level since 2018. “The dominant tech platforms benefit tremendously from news publisher content, while not fairly compensating the creators of that content and reaping the vast majority of the revenue,” Coffey added. “Balance must be restored to the marketplace to allow for fair and equitable compensation. Otherwise, we will continue to see newspapers closing, creating larger news deserts around the country where misinformation quickly takes hold.”

Currently, Google takes up to 70 percent of every advertising dollar, leaving news publishers unable to reinvest in providing important investigative journalism and news to their communities.

A federal version of the JCPA, previously reintroduced in the 117th Congress (S. 673 and H.R. 1735), successfully passed out the Senate Judiciary Committee in September 2022. The bill nearly passed into law in December. At that time, Meta threatened to remove news from in the U.S. if the JCPA passed, further demonstrating their outsized power.

For more information on the federal JCPA, visit  www.JCPABill.com.

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Media contact:
Lindsey Loving
Director, Communications
lindsey@newsmediaalliance.org

The News/Media Alliance is a nonprofit organization representing more than 2,000 news and magazine media organizations and their multiplatform businesses in the United States and globally. Alliance members include print and digital publishers of original journalism. Headquartered just outside Washington, D.C., the association focuses on ensuring the future of journalism through communication, research, advocacy, and innovation. Information about the News/Media Alliance can be found at www.newsmediaalliance.org.

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