ASHEBORO N.C. – Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, is threatening to remove news from its platforms if the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (JCPA) passes.
This year, news reported on Randolph News Now has been read hundreds of thousands of times. Many of those readers came from Facebook, Instagram, and Google, but the future of local news, like Randolph News Now, is under threat more than ever as Meta the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, is threatening to pull news from its platforms if the JCPA becomes law.
What is the JCPA?
The Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (JCPA), is designed to ensure that news publishers will be fairly compensated for content. The bill would require that platforms (such as Facebook, Instagram, and Google) negotiate with the publisher and establish a model for how news companies are compensated for their work.
“The JCPA will provide a necessary lifeline for local news outlets, requiring platforms to compensate small and local outlets for the use of their content” says the News/Media Alliance (Formerly the Newspaper Association of America) which represents nearly 2,000 diverse publishers in the United States. “Since 2000, U.S. newspaper circulation has dropped by half, with 31 million fewer daily newspapers in circulation in 2020. The vast majority of U.S. counties with no regular newspaper – “news deserts” – are in rural areas. Despite record audiences, since news outlets transitioned to digital, revenue has drastically declined. Big Tech benefits tremendously from journalism content, yet they refuse to pay local publishers fairly for the journalistic content that fuels their platforms.”
Hundreds of news publishers have come out in support of the bill, including Vox, Newsmax Media, Inc., National Press Photographers Association, Emmerich Newspapers, and the Conservative Publishers Coalition.
“Community journalism holds a critical place in our democracy because it helps the American people understand and engage in civil society. Through our bipartisan legislation, we are opening the door for community newspapers to more fairly negotiate with large tech platforms that are operating in an increasingly anti-competitive space. This will help protect journalism, promote competition and allow communities to stay informed.
Doug Collins
Representative (R-GA)
View Source / Other Supporters
Australia passed a similar bill to the JCPA called the News Media Bargaining Code, for news publishers to bargain with Big Tech companies for compensation for their content which has produced revenue for hundreds of publications of all sizes creating jobs and boosting the news industry as a whole.
Meta’s Response
Andy Stone, Communications Director at Meta issued a statement on Twitter Monday, saying that Meta, rather than complying with the JCPA if passed, would pull all news from its platforms.
If Meta removes Randolph News Now
The JCPA seems likely to pass with many lawmakers saying that they would like to see the bill combined with the Joint Defense Authorization Act, which is must pass legislation. Meta will likely follow through on their threat as they did previously in Australia, So, if Meta removes news from its platform how can you get access to our local news and events?
Randolph News Now will remain online on our website www.randolphnewsnow.com, on Twitter, Google News, and will continue to maintain our RSS feed. You can find links to all these here: https://linktr.ee/randolphnewsnow
