On March 12, News Media Alliance President & CEO, David Chavern, testified at the House Antitrust, Commercial, and Administrative Law Subcommittee hearing, “Reviving Competition, Part 2: Saving the Free and Diverse Press.” Watch his testimony.
The News Media Alliance will testify today at 10:00 a.m. ET at a House Antitrust, Commercial, and Administrative Law Subcommittee hearing, “Reviving Competition, Part 2: Saving the Free and Diverse Press,” on the need for the dominant tech platforms, such as Facebook and Google, to compensate news publishers fairly for use of their content.
The past nine months have been uniquely trying for us all; yet as we enter the holiday season, I am reminded of all that we have to be thankful for – yes, even in 2020. It may not be the year we envisioned back on January 1, but there have been some bright, shining moments for the news industry and for the Alliance in this strange, dark year.
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 Alliance has been working over the last six weeks to enhance the ability of newspapers to get recognition and relief during the COVID-19 pandemic – making sure that newspapers are recognized as “essential” businesses; fighting restrictions that would have excluded certain newspapers under the original CARES Act; and advocating for a delay in pension payments. We have continued to work over the last couple of weeks to expand the SBA loan program to more newspaper companies and to encourage the federal government to immediately direct current spending on advertising to local media outlets.
On June 11, Alliance President and CEO David Chavern testified before the House Judiciary Committee on “Online Platforms and Market Power, Part 1: The Free and Diverse Press,” a hearing about the impact tech platforms like Google and Facebook have on news publishers.
Alliance CEO and President David Chavern testified before the U.S. House of Representatives during a hearing on June 11, 2019, titled, “Online Platforms and Market Power, Part 1: The Free and Diverse Press.”
