CA unveils $250M tech deal to ‘revitalize’ local news; critics call it ‘disastrous’

[LAUREN TAYLOR]

CALIFORNIA HAS LAUNCHED A GROUNDBREAKING $250 MILLION PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN TECH GIANTS AND NEWSROOMS – MARKING A SIGNIFICANT SHIFT IN THE MEDIA LANDSCAPE.

THIS FIRST-OF-ITS-KIND INITIATIVE AIMS TO REVITALIZE LOCAL NEWSROOMS AND ADVANCE A-I RESEARCH, COMBINING TAXPAYER FUNDS WITH CONTRIBUTIONS FROM GOOGLE AND OPEN A-I.

GOOGLE WILL CONTRIBUTE $110 MILLION, INCLUDING $50 MILLION FOR EXISTING JOURNALISM PROGRAMS AND AT LEAST $17.5 MILLION FOR AN AI ‘ACCELERATOR PROGRAM’ TO FUND EXPERIMENTS IN LOCAL NEWSROOMS.

THE INITIATIVE IS SET TO LAUNCH NEXT YEAR, WITH AN INITIAL INVESTMENT OF $100 MILLION.

GOVERNOR GAVIN NEWSOM CALLED THE DEAL A ‘MAJOR BREAKTHROUGH’ FOR CALIFORNIA’S NEWSROOMS, EMPHASIZING ITS POTENTIAL TO BOLSTER LOCAL JOURNALISM WITHOUT BURDENING TAXPAYERS… EVEN THOUGH CALIFORNIA TAXPAYERS WILL BE ON THE HOOK FOR $70-MILLION DOLLARS.

WHILE PROPONENTS HAIL THE DEAL AS A LIFELINE FOR STRUGGLING NEWSROOMS, OPPONENTS ARGUE IT’S AN INADEQUATE SOLUTION THAT COULD HARM INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM.

THE MEDIA GUILD OF THE WEST, A JOURNALISTS UNION, CALLED THE AGREEMENT A “DISASTROUS DEAL” AND CONDEMNED THE NEWS EXECUTIVES WHO AGREED TO IT.  

CRITICS CONTEND THAT THE DEAL ‘SERIOUSLY UNDERCUTS’ EFFORTS TO RESCUE THE LOCAL NEWS INDUSTRY, ARGUING THAT IT FALLS SHORT OF PROVIDING A LONG-TERM SOLUTION FOR INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM.

THE MEDIA GUILD OF THE WEST SAID IN A STATEMENT:

“NOT A SINGLE ORGANIZATION REPRESENTING JOURNALISTS AND NEWS WORKERS AGREED TO THIS UNDEMOCRATIC AND SECRETIVE DEAL WITH ONE OF THE BUSINESSES DESTROYING OUR INDUSTRY.”

THIS DEAL REPLACES PROPOSED LEGISLATION THAT WOULD HAVE MANDATED PAYMENTS FROM COMPANIES LIKE GOOGLE AND META TO NEWS PUBLISHERS – WHICH WOULD HAVE BEEN COSTLY FOR TECH COMPANIES.

ONE STUDY ESTIMATED THAT META AND GOOGLE COULD HAVE OWED U.S. PUBLISHERS NEARLY $14-BILLION ($13.9 BILLION) ANNUALLY IF THE ORIGINAL BILL HAD PASSED.

FOR STRAIGHT ARROW NEWS, I’M LAUREN TAYLOR..