Lawmakers drop journalism act from ‘must-pass’ defense spending bill under pressure from Facebook

An effort to add proposed journalism legislation to an annual “must-pass” defense spending bill was shot down by lawmakers after a public face off with Meta/Facebook over required payments to publishers for online news content.

The 4,408-page text of the National Defense Authorization Act, released Tuesday evening, did not include any reference to the journalism bill.

The Journalism Competition and Preservation Act would temporarily exempt newspapers, broadcasters and other publishers from antitrust laws to collectively negotiate an annual fee from Google and Meta/Facebook, which dominate the nearly $250 billion U.S. digital advertising market.

Introduced in the House and the Senate last year, the proposed legislation made it through the Senate Judiciary Committee in September but is running out of time to pass before the House flips to Republican control in January. Including it in the defense bill was seen as a pathway to approval during the lame-duck Congress session.

But reports of the legislative maneuvering Monday generated significant pushback from Meta, which threatened to “consider removing news from our platform altogether” if the act passed as part of the defense bill. That may have turned the tide against pairing the journalism and defense legislation, sources said Wednesday.

A Meta spokesperson declined to comment Wednesday, as did a spokesperson for Google.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., lead co-sponsor of the journalism bill, did not directly address the failed effort to add it to the defense bill, but issued a statement Wednesday reiterating the urgency of getting the legislation approved.

“Continually allowing the big tech companies to dominate policy decisions in Washington is no longer a viable option when it comes to news compensation, consumer and privacy rights, or the online marketplace,” Klobuchar said. “We must get this done.”

Proponents of the journalism bill say it will level the playing field with Big Tech and boost struggling news organizations, which have seen revenue and staffing plummet during the new millennium. Meanwhile, critics of the legislation challenge everything from the temporary antitrust exemption to the potential unintended benefit to large media companies.

A coalition of 27 groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, Common Cause, Public Knowledge and United Church of Christ Ministry, sent a letter to Congressional leaders Monday opposing the act and its possible inclusion in the defense legislation.

Re: Create, an organization that advocates fair use on the internet, was a signatory on the letter. It issued a statement Wednesday supporting the decision to exclude the journalism bill from the defense legislation.

“We thank the congressional leaders and Senators who successfully kept the Journalism Competition & Preservation Act (JCPA) out of defense legislation,” said Re: Create Executive Director Joshua Lamel. “The JCPA had no place in this bill, and it still has no place in any must-pass legislation.”

Despite the setback, sources said there are still pathways to getting the journalism bill approved before the 117th Congress wraps up business, including potentially adding it to the omnibus spending bill, which Democrats hope to pass by Dec. 16, when current federal funding authorization expires.

Danielle Coffey, executive vice president and general counsel of the News Media Alliance, a Washington, D.C.-based newspaper trade organization that has lobbied in favor of the legislation, said getting the journalism bill passed this year remains a priority.

“We remain grateful to our champions, and will support them to get the JCPA over the finish line this Congress,” Coffey said. “The future of quality journalism and a functional democracy depends on it.”

rchannick@chicagotribune.com