The Philadelphia Inquirer recently published an op-ed that it has approved Alliance members to run in their publications, suggesting that the rise in closures of local news and problems with COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy can both be improved through government advertising in local news media.
Today the News Media Alliance sent a letter to the U.S. Economic Council Director, Brian Deese, and the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR)-Designate, Hon. Katherine Tai, to express serious concerns about a recent attempt by the USTR – in the very last days of the Trump Administration – to pressure the Australian government to suspend the country’s planned online platform bargaining code for news.
On December 28, National Review published a column by News Media Alliance President & CEO, David Chavern, discussing the recent lawsuit by ten attorneys general against Google for anticompetitive behavior, and the need for Congress to grant an antitrust safe harbor for news publishers.
We applaud all 10 states that have stepped forward to take action to address Google’s flatly anticompetitive ad technology business.
The News Media Alliance today sent recommendations to President-Elect Joseph Biden and Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris’s transition team outlining policy positions on regulations and existing laws that deter investment and limit growth in the news media industry.
While the straight revenue share between Google AdSense and publishers was clearly tilted in favor of the publishers, Google AdSense has become less relevant for publishers who sell through Google Ad Manager, an opaque marketplace. And Google benefits significantly more from that relationship than do publishers.
The News Media Alliance commends Senate Commerce Committee Ranking Member Maria Cantwell (D-WA) for the release of her report, “Local Journalism: The Threat to America’s Most Trusted News Source,” outlining how changes in the information marketplace and the dominance of online platforms pose an existential threat to local news publishers
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.
House Antitrust Chairman David Cicilline (D-RI) and the House Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial, and Administrative Law have released their long-awaited report on the anticompetitive behavior of the big tech platforms.
The News Media Alliance commends the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) for the release of the Draft News Media Bargaining Code, aimed at rectifying the imbalance of power between news publishers and digital platforms.
