California government officials and Big Tech are nearing an agreement to jointly provide at least $242.5 million in funding for journalism, including local and ethnic outlets.
Gavin Newsom has come out in support of the deal, saying in a statement,” This agreement represents a major breakthrough in ensuring the survival of newsrooms and bolstering local journalism across California — leveraging substantial tech industry resources without imposing new taxes on Californians.” The $70 million in state money comes at a tough time to find available government funds as the state barely closed a $47 billion budget deficit this year.
The new deal would see the California government pitch in $70 million and Google put up $172.5 million towards newsrooms.
As protest, Google stopped showing local California news organizations in its search results to some California users.
Under the California Journalism Preservation Act, which this agreement would stop from advancing, social media companies and search engines would be required to pay a share of their advertising revenue to news organizations based on how much organizations’ content shows up in social media feeds or search results.
“It’s a bit hard to know what that means, but based on what we’re hearing, it’s likely that means members of California’s ethnic press and outlets with fewer than five employees.” Media Guild West, which represents California journalists, has come out in opposition to the deal.
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