| Friend,
A couple weeks ago, you heard from me about our narrowing window to pass SB 1327 to support local journalism in California. Many of you took action with us and contacted your representatives — thank you for stepping up!
Unfortunately, that window to act was unceremoniously slammed shut after lawmakers hosted closed-door negotiations with Big Tech and Big Media: SB 1327 is now apparently off the table thanks to Google agreeing to a flat contribution to a fund for local journalism — instead of facing a small tax on its immense ad profits.1
While some newsrooms will benefit from this new deal in the short term, the money involved is a mere fraction of the projected $500 million that SB 1327 would have distributed to California news outlets. Journalists, public-interest groups, labor unions and grassroots advocates (that’s you!) worked tirelessly to make strengthening local journalism a priority issue for lawmakers — and helped get SB 1327 over the finish line in the state Senate back in June. And then lawmakers didn’t prioritize them back once Big Tech came calling.
Now, I don’t know about you, but I think public policy should be, well, public. The process here is as disappointing as the outcome: People must have the right to witness and participate in their democracy, and public debate on this issue went on for a year and a half before abruptly ending this week.
Though an imperfect bill, passing SB 1327 would have been a meaningful step in the right direction and an affirmation that our representatives listen to the voices of everyday people. Instead, backroom dealing resulted in a Band-Aid-at-best when we need structural policy change to truly stabilize and transform our ailing media system.
Moving forward, it’s up to us to ensure that California lawmakers are committed to a much broader process to revive and transform local news.
Thank you for your efforts,
Alex and the rest of the Free Press Action team
P.S. This is a real setback, but we’ll never give up on good public policy. Can we count on a donation of whatever you can give to help us in the next stage of this fight?
1. “Closed-Door Deal Between Google, Gov. Newsom and State Lawmakers Sells Californians and Local News Short,” Free Press Action, Aug. 21, 2024  |
