Solano NewsNet opposes the "California Journalism Preservation Act"

A note from Solano NewsNet publisher Matthew Keys:

If you subscribe to a local newspaper or monitor a community-based news outlet, you will soon start seeing editorials urging you to support the California Journalism Preservation Act. Solano NewsNet strongly opposes this proposal.

The California Journalism Preservation Act would force major social media companies like Meta (Facebook, Instagram), Twitter and ByteDance (TikTok) to pay news publishers for the right to redistribute news content on their services. Lawmakers who have introduced the proposal say it is necessary to ensure community-based news outlets receive much-needed funding to support their journalistic endeavors, while requiring social media and other digital platforms to cut local publishers in on the revenue they generate from the redistribution of news content.

While this sounds good in principle, the reality is the California Journalism Preservation Act will do nothing to actually support or stimulate local, community-driven journalism. In fact, the proposal would only benefit the largest news publishers in the country — some of which are owned and operated by hedge funds and other investment firms — and could do more harm than good.

First, no news organization is required or forced to distribute their news on Facebook, Twitter or any other platform. They do so voluntarily, because it is good business for them. Social media exposure generates traffic, which helps improve advertising and subscription revenue for their products. It is wrong to say that Facebook, Twitter and other platforms have capitalized on the distribution of news content, without also recognizing that news publishers themselves — including Solano NewsNet — have long benefitted from the practice, too.

Second, the California Journalism Preservation Act would almost certainly cause major social media platforms to prohibit the distribution of news content from outlets based in or doing business in California. This week, Meta affirmed it will stop allowing California-based news publishers to distribute news content on Facebook and Instagram — two of the leading platforms that communities rely on to keep them informed — if the Journalism Preservation Act is enacted. Meta has made similar moves in other countries, so this threat is not unfounded; if it happens, people will be less informed as a result.

Third, even if Meta and Twitter paid for the distribution of news content on their platforms, there's no evidence that the money would be used to stimulate or support local journalism. Instead, the money would almost certainly flow to large corporate owners of media companies who have employed cost-cutting measures — including laying off hundreds of editors, reporters, photographers and other key journalists — in an effort to reduce expenses and increase profits. Some of these hedge funds own local newspapers that are right in your backyard.

You might not recognize the name Alden Global Capital, but you've almost certainly read some of their local news products. Alden Global Capital is the owner of Digital First Media, a Denver-based news publisher that owns the Vacaville Reporter and the Vallejo Times-Herald.

Over the years, Alden Global has laid off journalists, consolidated newsrooms — including two in Solano County — and trimmed local news output to the point that community newspapers are nothing more than a regurgitation of day-old press releases. In 2018, Nieman Lab wrote of Alden Global that it "is making so much money wrecking local journalism it might not want to stop anytime soon."

Two years later, Nieman Lab was proven right when Alden Global shut down the main newsroom in Vallejo and relocated staff to Vacaville. Recently, the Vacaville newspaper lost its long-time photojournalist Joel Rosenbaum and editor Kimberly Fu, both to government jobs. Those veteran journalists knew that their newspaper was not going to thrive under Alden Global, and that the worst was probably yet to come. Is Alden Global the kind of hedge fund California lawmakers want to support through the Journalism Preservation Act? Does anyone reasonably think that, if the act passes, it will do anything to support community-based journalism? Or will it enable Alden Global to grow even larger and kill even more local journalism?

Alden Global is just one example. The print and broadcast industries are littered with cautionary tales of bad business decisions made over the last few decades that have caused more headaches than anything. Broadcasters like Paramount Global, the Walt Disney Company and Comcast's NBC Universal ignored the shift to streaming television for too long, then injected tens of billions of dollars in creating and acquiring video content that failed to resonate with viewers. Now, each one of those companies has been forced to lay off hundreds of media and entertainment workers, including some journalists. The situation is so dire that a local CBS affiliate here in California recently posted a job listing for a full-time journalist, where the starting wage was $15 an hour — greeters at Walmart earn more than that. The woes of major media companies are directly linked to their problematic business strategies and significant missteps over the years, not because Facebook and Twitter distributed their news content (which, again, they benefitted from).

Solano NewsNet started during the coronavirus pandemic to provide an alternative, facts-first, objective community news resource to those who live and work in Solano County. We utilized social media platforms to distribute our journalism, meeting the community in the digital spaces where they already organize. Meta, Twitter and Google are large drivers of traffic and business to Solano NewsNet, and our ability to continue operating would be significantly impaired if a flawed proposal that claims to "preserve journalism" actually progresses to the point of law.

If Solano NewsNet succeeds in our business endeavors, it should be because the community supported it, not because a private business was forced to subsidize it. If so inspired, Californians should tell lawmakers that they oppose the Journalism Preservation Act, because it will do the precise opposite of its intention, and the consequences will be devastating for everyone who cares about facts-first, community-driven journalism.

Matthew Keys is the publisher of Solano NewsNet, a digital-first community news organization that provides facts-first, original reporting to the residents and businesses of Solano County, California. Solano NewsNet is owned by Solano Media LLC.