A controversial deal between Google and California lawmakers to fund local newsrooms has drawn scathing comments from critics — with a key journalists’ union calling the deal a “shakedown” that would be “disastrous” for the industry.
Billed as a “first-in-the-nation partnership” to help publishers with money and save jobs, the deal allows Google and other Big Tech firms to escape legislation aimed at fixing the problem — such as a bill that would require them. to pay a portion of advertising revenue to the media.
The deal drew ire from the Western Media Association and state Democrats, who argued that a trade group of local news publishers, California Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks, Gov. Gavin Newsom and others who brokered the deal had let Google and its allies off the hook.
“California journalists and news workers oppose this disastrous deal with Google and condemn the news executives who accepted it on our behalf,” The Media Guild of the West said in a statement.
“Publishers who claim to represent our industry are celebrating a shady deal involving taxpayer funds, an obscure AI accelerator project that could very well destroy journalism jobs, and minimal financial commitments from Google to return the fortune that this monopoly has stolen from our newsrooms.” added the union.
The deal includes nearly $250 million in funding over five years — with $110 million coming from Google, $70 million from state taxpayers and the final $70 million from private donors to fund a so-called nonprofit “AI Accelerator” to develop tools to newsrooms, Politico reported.
Newsom described the agreement as “a major advance in ensuring the survival of newsrooms,” while Wicks said it “represents a cross-sector commitment to support a free and vibrant press.”
The California News Publishers Association said the agreement is a “first step toward what we hope will become a comprehensive program to support local news over the long term, and we look forward to seeing it grow in the coming years.” “.
Some California Democrats broke ranks to criticize the partnership. No state. Steve Glazer described Google’s offer as “totally inappropriate” and said it “seriously undermines our work towards a long-term solution”.
Glazer noted that Meta — which threatened last year to remove news articles for California Facebook and Instagram users if the legislation passed — was not included in the deal.
Elsewhere, State Senate President Pro Tempore Mike McGuire highlighted “concerns that this proposal lacks sufficient funding for local newspapers and media and does not fully address the inequities facing the industry.”
Wicks’ press release announcing the partnership refers to parent Google Alphabet and OpenAI as participants. The extent of OpenAI’s involvement was not immediately clear.
Meta and OpenAI did not immediately return requests for comment.
“This public-private partnership builds on our long history of working with journalism and the local news ecosystem in our home state while developing a national center of excellence in AI policy,” Alphabet’s president of global affairs said in a statement. , Kent Walker.
Google had aggressively lobbied against state legislation aimed at providing compensation to publishers — at one point going so far as to block some California news links within its search engine.
The company earned $307 billion from digital advertising last year alone. Earlier this month, a federal judge ruled that Google is a “monopolist” that illegally dominates the Internet search market.
The News Media Alliance — a nonprofit that represents more than 2,200 publishers, including The Post — said the deal “reinforces the need for federal legislation and possible court remedies to address this broken market.”
“Google is a dominant monopoly that reaps significant revenue from aggregating and repackaging quality news content, depriving publishers of the opportunity to monetize their content and reinvest in journalists,” the News CEO said in a statement. Media Alliance, Danielle Coffey.
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