24 Requiring Big Tech To Pay News Organizations for News

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INTERVIEW ON THE PRICE OF BUSINESS SHOW, MEDIA PARTNER OF THIS SITE.

Recently Kevin Price, Host of the nationally syndicated Price of Business Show, interviewed David Dozier who is a leading media authority.

Pending legislation in California would require social media platforms like Meta and Google to pay news organizations for content that Big Tech takes from those organizations without compensation. The California Journalism Preservation Act, AB 886, is currently on hold for consideration in 2024. In 2021, Australia passed a similar law that has infused $200 million into Australian news organizations and spurred the hiring of more journalists. The management of news organizations—and especially newspapers—did not foresee the impact of social media on advertising. Big Tech aggregates news products that other organizations produce. Big Tech collects all advertising revenue that aggregated news attracts to their platforms. The California legislation would force Big Tech and news organizations into arbitration over appropriate news usage fees. Google, for example, calls usage fees a “link tax” that would create untenable financial uncertainty for Google. Google’s 2002 profits: $60 billion. Big Tech corporations have threatened to remove all news content from their platforms. They did so in Australia. But they caved in weeks later after winning some concessions. Critics argue that the bill will not achieve its goals of creating revenue and jobs for California journalists in smaller markets. The ACLU worries that the bill might infringe on the First Amendment (www.DavidDozierBooks.com).

The host, Kevin Price, had a different view. He argued that this was a situation in which the market could (and does) solve the issue itself. He notes that, “increasingly when you click articles on Google and other platforms that aggregate news it leads to the beginning of an article but if you want to read the entire piece you have to go through a paywall. There is an abundant amount of technology to mitigate this problem without government intervention.”

The Price of Business is one of the longest running shows of its kind in the country and is in markets coast to coast. The Host, Kevin Price, is a multi-award winning author, broadcast journalist, and syndicated columnist. He is Editor at Large for this site. Learn more about the show and its digital partners at www.PriceofBusiness.com.

David Dozier (DavidDozierBooks.com) is the author of the novel, The California Killing Field. He is a professor emeritus in the School of Journalism & Media Studies, San Diego State University. He’s an internationally recognized expert on communication management and public relations.

According to USA Business Radio, “David Dozier is a scholar of public relations and communication management, professor emeritus in the School of Journalism & Media Studies at San Diego State University, and author of The California Killing Field. He says fake news has become a phenomenon, political campaigns use the tactic to influence voters, and that it’s perplexing that a conspiracy-based group such as QAnon has gained national attention.

Kevin Price and David Dozier are doing a multi-part series on this important topic that will be on many different platforms, as well as on radio. Keep an eye out for the series throughout the Price of Business Digital Network and USA Business Radio.