The Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (JCPA) is a ridiculous bill, one that only could have been conceived of and written by legacy media hacks.
It would, under the guise of “competition” and fighting misinformation, give legacy media outlets a huge step up over up-and-coming media outlets that have capitalized on the lack of public trust in lying, obviously far left legacy media outlets.
The bill would, in its words, “This bill creates a four-year safe harbor from antitrust laws for print, broadcast, or digital news companies to collectively negotiate with online content distributors (e.g., social media companies) regarding the terms on which the news companies’ content may be distributed by online content distributors.”
What’s important is how the bill describes news content creators. It defines them as:
(A) any print, broadcast, or digital news organization that—
(i) has a dedicated professional editorial staff that creates and distributes original news and related content concerning local, national, or international matters of public interest on at least a weekly basis; and
(ii) is marketed through subscriptions, advertising, or sponsorship; and
(B) (i) provides original news and related content with the editorial content consisting of not less than 25 percent current news and related content; or
(ii) broadcasts original news and related content pursuant to a license granted by the Federal Communications Commission under title III of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 301 et seq.).
In other words, the bill favors those legacy media outlets that have risen to ever higher-highs over the past few years because of how much distrust Americans have in the corporate press.
Yet worse, by creating a safe harbor from anti-trust laws for those companies, the bill effectively gives the corporate press the legal ability to form a cartel and force social media companies to favor them, further crushing the little guys.
Why those media outlets need such a hand up if they’re trusted and telling the truth is left unsaid, presumably because the diea is ridiculous. If they were read and trusted, they wouldn’t need corporatist intervention to protect them. But they’ve burnt their credibility to a crisp, so now they’re asking for special favors.
Breitbart, reporting on the bill’s likely effects, notes that:
Publishers would be given the legal authority to form a cartel, usually illegal under antitrust law, to collectively bargain with Silicon Valley tech giants for financial handouts and special treatment, such as prioritization in search results, news feeds, and other core features.
[…]The likely losers of the bill are the new generation of independent journalists and content creators on Substack, YouTube, Twitch, and other platforms, creators that younger demographics increasingly turn to as trust in the legacy media fades. As they are not traditional media companies, this new generation of media creators would likely be excluded from the benefits of the bill.
Such a bill would be a massive blow to content creators, entrepreneurs, and the American public. It will crush the much more trusted competition to to the corporate press and be a massive handout to companies that lost all credibility due to their blatant lies during the Trump presidency.
By: Gen Z Conservative, editor of GenZConservative.com. Follow me on Parler and Gettr.
