U.S. publishers push for Australia-style legislation with Journalism Competition and Preservation Act

Efforts to compel tech giants to compensate news organizations for their content took centre stage again last week, as the U.S. Senate held a debate on the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (JCPA).

The Act is the American version of Australia-style legislation currently under review in Canada and the United Kingdom.

As reported by Press Gazette, several regional publishers wrote letters explaining why new laws are “urgently needed” to solve America’s local news “crisis”.

As it currently is written, the JCPA is solely focused on allowing “publishers of online content to collectively negotiate with dominant online platforms regarding the terms on which content may be distributed”.

But the News Media Alliance (NMA), News Media Canada’s sister organization in the U.S., which represents journalism companies across the country, wants the legislation to be strengthened so that the tech platforms could be forced into arbitration if they cannot agree on deal values with publishers.

We will continue to bring you relevant updates on how the proposed legislation unfolds in the coming weeks. You can read more about the importance of legislation like the JCPA on journalism’s future here.