by Peter Weinberger | pweinberger@claremont-courier.com

Governor Gavin Newsom, who had been seen as a supporter for compensating news publishers in their fight with Google and other social media platforms, recently promised to veto any legislation to do so, calling it a “tax increase.” I didn’t realize a state could tax something stolen. This decision ended a long battle that big tech has won. Does this surprise anyone?

One might think when news organizations own the content their journalists write and edit. Not so, according to the owners of social media platforms who have not hesitated to steal this work without compensation. These stolen stories helped big tech — primarily Google and Facebook — build a huge online news and advertising machine that generated billions in profits for their owners and shareholders.

Every push by media companies large and small to right this wrong has been met with staunch opposition. Big tech has used its army of lawyers, massive political influence, and even misinformation generated in-house — dubbing these calls “an internet tax” — to block any and all legislation that would compensate news publishers. And Newsom’s threat is a line in the sand because of California’s influence on this type of legislation throughout the country.

Easy one, two punch

How Google and Facebook manipulate news stories large and small really is quite simple. To start, they take stories from websites like claremont-courier.com for example, and publish them on their own news feeds. They keep the links to our website, but we are not compensated for use of Courier original content. Two, big tech adjusts online algorithms pushing content to their own news feeds. This has a huge impact on the number of views that can be monetized. So they control how stories reach people, while not paying for the news content they publish. The Courier is left with breadcrumbs.

For more on how this impacts the Courier, search for my August 2 column, “Courier can stem tide of local news slide.”

What happens next?

Instead of an answer requiring legislation that fixes the problem, the state of California and Google have pledged most of $250 million over the next five years to news organizations, beginning with $100 million next year. Before you think the Courier won the lottery, we have not. Big tech will keep using news content to make enormous amounts of money. And although we appreciate the effort and resources, it does nothing to solve the problem of the theft of news publishers’ collective creative property, which is worth far than $250 million over a five year period.

Clearly, Newsom let big tech off the hook and at the same time patting himself on the back. “The agreement represents a major breakthrough insuring the survival of newsrooms and bolstering local news across California,” he wrote in a statement. Yeah, right.

State Senator Steve Glazer (D-Orinda) authored a bill for big tech to pay a fee based on how much data (stories) they published from other news organizations. Pretty simple, huh? Pay for what you use. And it focused on Google, Amazon, and Facebook. “The financial commitments from Google and other tech companies should have been more robust, given the substantial revenues they generate from the distribution of journalistic content,” noted the California News Publishers Association.

Newsom has three years left on his current term. It’s hard to believe he’s concerned about the long term health and stability of the local press. I realize compromise is part of the political game, and the Courier is grateful for the help. With only one real opportunity to fix this, it’s too bad the final decision didn’t address the real issues we face.

I think it’s important to remember the Courier remains financially solvent because of print edition advertising. Readers spend more time with our newspaper, both our editorial content and advertising. The perfect example are local realtors who use numerous marketing tools to find new customers, including the Courier’s print edition. But not every online news outlet is so lucky.

The Courier wants to thank the news organizations, the CNPA, and state legislators who put in the effort to fix a problem that is totally out of our control, yet has a big impact on Courier success. I lose sleep wondering what Claremont would be like without the Courier. In a world so split and fragmented, let’s not make Claremont just another number.