Editorial: Mitch McConnell must stand up to big tech and support local news

As the year winds to an end, journalists across the country are facing more layoffs, buyouts and furloughs. The Courier Journal is no different. While skilled journalists grapple with these hardships, Sen. Mitch McConnell and other congressional leaders have one last chance to save local journalism from the greed of Big Tech and their corporate lobbyists. 

Sen. McConnell can show his support by backing the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act in the forthcoming omnibus package. If this passes, it will force Technology giants like Google and Facebook/Meta to pay publishers for aggregating their content online.

Kentucky publishers across the state employ reporters who dedicate their careers to quality local journalism, writing about local issues with information readers cannot get anywhere else. From public records and obituaries to sports reports, metro council developments and school board meetings, Courier Journal reporters work tirelessly to serve Kentucky because the story of our community matters too.

Instead of being compensated fairly for our efforts, local journalism has struggled to get by as Big Tech has profited from our content. Google is the number one digital ad seller in the U.S. and Facebook/Meta is number two according to Insider Intelligence. Legislative action would also benefit local TV and radio broadcasters who produce original content online.

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Readers have migrated from print to digital and they have taken the advertising dollars that once funded America’s newsroom with them. Google and Facebook's hold on the digital advertising market has largely allowed them to dictate the terms of the entire online advertising ecosystem which has enabled them to shortchange small and local publishers.

Nothing is more devastating to a newspaper’s survival than the monopolistic practices of Big Tech. Here in Kentucky, we've seen publication after publication close while others continue to shrink. Online platforms that elevate divisive “click bait” headlines and feed users news and content that only serves to reinforce their existing beliefs insulates partisan echo chambers without as much as a fact check. It also divides our communities into an us versus them partisan feud. The primary goal of Big Tech to generate profits, regardless of whether they are undermining our free press and democracy.

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Recently a bipartisan group of senators and representatives recognized Big Tech’s stranglehold on small newsrooms. In an effort to safeguard our free press – which our Founding Fathers deemed so important to democracy that they enshrined it in the U.S. Constitution – they co-sponsored the JCPA – a bill that would allow struggling newspapers to negotiate a fair price for our content with the likes of Facebook and Google.

The JCPA specifically addresses Google and Facebook’s anti-competitive practices. It provides a temporary, limited antitrust safe harbor for small and local news publishers to collectively negotiate with online platforms with at least 50 million U.S.-based users or subscribers and owned or controlled by a person that has either net annual sales or market capitalization greater than $550 billion. Google and Facebook/Meta are the two entities that currently qualify.

The policy also incentivizes and rewards publishers who invest in their journalists and newsroom personnel, awarding outlets with demonstrated investments in their staff a larger portion of the funds that result from the negotiations.

Before Congress breaks for the holidays, Sen. McConnell and the rest of Congress, have one last chance to pass this lifeline for newspapers in the omnibus package.

If truth and democracy matter to you, stand up for the JCPA and contact Sen. McConnell. If you think Big Tech should pay for the benefits they get from your local journalists here in Kentucky, we urge you to make your voices heard and tell Sen. McConnell is time to stop the steal of local news and the dismantling of America's Free Press.

The News/Media Alliance and The Courier Journal Editorial Board