In response to the lawsuit filed today by the Department of Justice (DOJ) accusing Google of antitrust violations related to its search and advertising services, Alliance President and CEO, David Chavern, stated, “It is good that the DOJ is starting the process, but ‘search distribution’ issues are a small subset of the many issues presented by Google dominance. News publishers are particularly harmed by Google’s control of ad tech – and that doesn’t appear to be covered at all by the DOJ’s action today.
Local news is in an immediate crisis. Congress should act in the lame duck to make a very simple – and ultimately pretty narrow – fix; pass the Journalism Competition & Preservation Act – a bipartisan piece of legislation supported by broad array of Congressional leaders, including Leader McConnell and the House Antitrust Chair Cicilline, along with very diverse group of news publishers. Support for the bill is deep and broad. I think publishers need a chance to fight for their lives right now, rather than wait years for a long antitrust fight to resolve itself.”
David Chavern is former President & CEO of the News/Media Alliance. Chavern has 30 years of experience in executive strategic and operational roles. Prior to the Alliance, he completed a decade-long tenure at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
