Closed-Door Deal Between Google, Gov. Newsom and State Lawmakers Sells Californians and Local News Short

SACRAMENTO — On Wednesday, California lawmakers announced that they have reached an agreement with Google in which the state and the tech giant will jointly contribute to a fund for local journalism. The closed-door deal comes after a year and a half of public debate in the California legislature over the role that tech platforms should play in addressing the decline in local news.

Under the deal, the state of California and Google will both contribute to a newly created fund at UC Berkeley. While the state has released few details on the agreement, news reports indicate that Google would commit a minimum of $55 million over the next five years and the state would contribute a minimum of $70 million during the same time period. The deal also commits Google to contributing to a national AI accelerator program.

In exchange for Google’s commitments, the statehouse will shelve two local-news bills. Free Press Action was a supporter of SB 1327, which would have imposed a fee on major tech platforms to help subsidize local journalism. Free Press Action opposed AB 886 — also known as the California Journalism Preservation Act — which would have forced platforms to compensate journalism providers for accessing and sharing their content.

Since 2004, the state has lost 25 percent of its newspapers, total-news circulation has plummeted more than 50 percent, and many ethnic media outlets and nonprofit newsrooms have struggled to survive.

Free Press Action Co-CEO Jessica J. Gonzàlez said:

“We are disappointed in this outcome and this process. Good policy is made out in the open, where people can see and participate in the democratic process. This deal, meanwhile, was hammered out behind closed doors between media giants and tech platforms. While we’re awaiting final details, it seems clear that the result is an agreement that fails to meet the needs of California’s journalists and communities.

“While some newsrooms will benefit from this deal in the short term, the funding is far too meager, the time span far too short, the commitment to localism and diversity far too inadequate. Lawmakers must view this outcome as the first step in a much broader process to revive and transform local news, not as a viable long-term solution.

“Local journalism that helps people understand what’s happening in their communities and holds the powerful accountable is a public good. Local journalists, community publishers, public-interest groups, labor unions and grassroots advocates worked tirelessly to make this a priority issue for lawmakers. Going forward, we encourage lawmakers to continue working with these groups, look beyond short-term measures and begin envisioning the kind of structural policy change that’s needed to truly stabilize and transform our media system. That means putting community publishers, ethnic media outlets and nonprofit newsrooms at the center of any legislative intervention. These entities are closest to their communities and are doing incredible work to plug critical information gaps.”