Digital Updates – January

On January 23, the Alliance held a video conference call with Facebook concerning the company’s investments in journalism, the “Today In” feature and the News Page Index. During the call, Facebook provided members with an update on the development of the “Today In” feature that allows users to see relevant news related to their local communities. Members raised the important issue of increasing subscriptions and advertising revenue through this new product. The call participants were also briefed on the News Page Index that Facebook will be using in the future to exempt news publishers from the political ads archive. Facebook encouraged news publishers to register for the Index in the next few months. The Alliance’s hub for discussing developments in the digital marketplace, the Alliance Digital Advisory Group, organized the call. Anyone interested in joining or learning more about the Digital Advisory Group can email danielle@newsmediaalliance.org.

On Friday, January 18, the Council of the European Union canceled what was supposed to be the final negotiation meeting with the European Parliament and the European Commission to find a compromise agreement on the EU’s Copyright Directive. Article 11 of the Directive would create a Publishers’ Right that would, for the first time, give news publishers in the European Union the right to protect their original online content against unauthorized uses. The cancellation of the meeting came after the Member States were unable to agree on a new negotiation mandate for the Council, on an issue related to Article 13, which concerns online services such as YouTube. The Alliance continues to support Parliament’s version of the Publishers’ Right, which would provide a fair and clear standard that protects snippets — the Council must find an internal compromise to get closer to that standard. The trilogue negotiations are expected to be rescheduled as soon as the Council reaches a compromise on its position. In the meantime, the Alliance will continue to work for the inclusion and swift adoption of a strong version of Article 11.

On January 29, the House Judiciary Committee held its first hearing under the new Democratic leadership on H.R. 1, the “For the People Act of 2019.” The Act, addressing issues such as automatic voter registration, big money in politics, and ethics rules for public servants, also includes language replicating the “Honest Ads Act.” This subsection would require online platforms to maintain and make available for public inspection records of qualified political advertisements published on the platform. The Act does not include an exemption for news publishers, thereby imposing the same political record requirements on news publishers of a certain size who publish political ads. While the issue did not come up during the hearing, the Alliance will work diligently to either include an unequivocal exemption for news publishers or to revise the language so that the Act’s requirements do not impose undue burdens on news publishers. Read more about the bill here.

On January 29, Congressman David Cicilline (D-RI) recognized again the importance of ensuring critical access to trusted, high-quality news by committing to reintroducing the “Journalism Competition and Preservation Act.” The Act, originally introduced during the last session, would create a safe harbor for news publishers to negotiate together with the dominant tech platforms to find fair terms for the use of news content. Such terms would help flow earned subscription and advertising dollars back to the publishers, while preserving Americans’ right to access high-quality journalism. Considering the dominant role of the big tech platforms in the digital ecosystem, from digital ad markets to regulation of news, publishers need a stronger position to negotiate fair and equitable rules of the game. The Alliance published a press release in response to Congressman Cicilline’s announcement. Read the release here.

European Union negotiators are expected to meet for the last time on Monday, January 21, to reach a compromise agreement on the proposed EU Copyright Directive. The Directive includes Article 11, which would create a Publishers’ Right in the European Union, giving European news publishers the right to independently protect their content online. In advance of the January 21 negotiations, the Alliance sent out letters to the European Commission and the Council Presidency, as well as the European Parliament’s lead negotiator, to counter some of the claims and requests made by the tech community and to express support for the European Parliament’s version of Article 11. The Parliament’s version would create a clear and fair standard for the publishers and tech companies to follow, while the Council’s original position would undermine the Right considerably. The Alliance also recently published a rebuttal of Google’s misleading arguments Google is promoting as part of its “Together for Copyright” campaign. If the negotiators reach a compromise agreement, the Council and the Parliament are expected to vote on the measure by April, ahead of the European elections in May.

On January 15, the Alliance held a meeting between member news publishers and Google to find new ways of working together. Issues discussed at the meeting in Palo Alto, California, included the Google News Initiative, subscriptions, content distribution, YouTube and the future of audio news. The Alliance sought to find ways to flag and uplift original news content, both in search and AMP, and to achieve progress on Subscribe with Google and Propensity to Pay. Additionally, the meeting explored an economic model for news content on Google Assistant, YouTube monetization options for local content, and improved search rankings for news content. The Alliance’s Digital Advisory Group (the Alliance’s hub for discussing developments in the digital marketplace and finding collective solutions to common problems) helped to identify and prioritize these issues. This group will work on the common ground established at the meeting and update the working plan to find technical and monetary solutions for the news industry.