Reporters turning a critical eye to institutions is necessary for a healthy democracy to thrive, and local journalism such as this is in peril in Oregon today. To protect it, we are proud to support SB 686, by Senator Knanh Pham.
High-quality journalism has been under threat for years in Oregon, and the circumstances are now existential. During the pandemic, an average of two newspapers closed every week across the country, and the country has lost more than a third of its newspapers since 2004. This troubling trend leads to unchecked corruption and the further marginalization of vulnerable communities.
Studies have shown that communities without local journalism suffer consequences ranging from declining civic engagement and lower voter turnout to higher taxes and increased public corruption.
As news publishers, we refuse to accept this new reality without fighting back against shifting forces. As an industry, in good faith, we’ve watched and adapted as consumption trends have shifted to online platforms, becoming more focused on digital distribution online and on social media platforms. But the tech companies have outpaced us in their priority to make and keep the biggest share of the pie possible, and the situation is no longer tenable.
Big Tech, represented primarily by Google and Meta, has changed the way people consume news. Sixty-five percent of users who get news from Google never leave the site, and 95% of Facebook users never click over to the original publishers. This diverts revenue away from publishers in three critical ways:
- Big Tech advertises against our content on their platform, monetizing our content for themselves.
- Big Tech collects user data and gleans invaluable insights about search patterns and demographics, and they maximize the resale of that data without sharing it with the news publishers themselves.
- Big Tech takes up to 70% of the revenue from ads that news publishers serve on their own platforms.
But we do not accept this new reality as status quo. Facebook and Google have rigged the system in their favor without acknowledging the value we provide as content creators and bulwarks to a healthy society.
We’re in full support of SB 686, which will require that publishers return at least 70% of the proceeds received back to newsrooms to create jobs and sustain the critical work we do. SB 686 would also create a neutral arbiter to determine which organizations qualify and to allow full transparency to ensure that publishers are indeed returning funds to newsrooms and to job creation. Furthermore, the Act would apply to publishers of all sizes, with particular emphasis on small outlets that serve underrepresented populations.
We are determined to do our job, which is to report out the truth and educate Oregonians as to the goings-on in the world around them. SB 686 is the subject of a hearing in the Senate Committee on Rules [on April 9/today/Wednesday]. The bill is our best bet to protect journalism, and we ask for the support of Oregon’s legislators to make it into law.
