On June 11, the Alliance President and CEO David Chavern will testify in front of the House Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial and Administrative Law on the need to protect high-quality journalism through granting news publishers a safe harbor to collectively negotiate with the big tech platforms for a fairer deal. The hearing, “Online Platforms and Market Power, Part 1: The Free and Diverse Press,” is the House Judiciary Committee’s first hearing in their investigation into big tech antitrust issues. In his written testimony, Chavern outlines recent changes in the news industry and the online ecosystem, including the dominant position of the online platforms. The comments also highlight a new study released by the Alliance, showing that Google generated an estimated $4.7 billion in revenue from news content in 2018, and calls on Congress to adopt the recently introduced “Journalism Competition and Preservation Act.” The Act was introduced in the House in April by Antitrust Subcommittee Chairman David Cicilline (D-RI) and Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Doug Collins (R-GA) and in the Senate in June by Senators John Neely Kennedy (R-LA) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights. Read the Alliance written comments here and watch the hearing live at 2pm here.
Members of the News/Media Alliance staff have contributed to this post.
