Google, California Agree to Newsroom Funding Deal

After months of negotiation, California lawmakers finalized a $250 million public-private partnership with Google to fund local newsrooms, in place of a proposed bill. Most journalism groups criticized the deal, particularly its inclusion of an artificial intelligence program.

Key Quotes:

• “The California legislature embarked on an antimonopoly expedition,” Media Guild of the West president Matt Pearce told The Seattle Times (Center bias), “but now we’re looking at an unenforceable public-private partnership where taxpayers are more on the hook for funding local newsrooms than a literal monopoly whose own contributions appear to be tax-deductible.”
• “I think I’m dealing with the art of the possible,” said Buffy Wicks, a Democratic state legislator who proposed the original bill and led subsequent negotiations with Google. “This represents, to me, the best case scenario for the moment we’re in. And I would rather take a nearly quarter of a billion dollar deal than nothing.”

For Context: Canada passed a similar law last year, but that funding has yet to reach newsrooms. Google responded to Wicks' original proposed bill by removing links to California news sites for some users in the state, in what the company called a “test.”

How the Media Covered It: Many outlets left, right and center cast Google in a decidedly negative light. Breitbart (Right bias) ran a headline stating the bill would “force Google & Facebook to pay news orgs.”