Senators Strike Deal On Journalism Bill, Adding Protections For Conservative Media
(Worthy News) – Senators reached a bipartisan deal Wednesday on a bill intended to give news organizations bargaining power against Big Tech, agreeing to amend the bill to include protections for conservative media from online censorship, lawmakers confirmed to the Daily Caller News Foundation.
The bill, known as the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (JCPA), is intended to help media organizations negotiate with tech platforms like Google and Facebook for compensation over the use of their content by narrowly exempting smaller publications from antitrust laws if they form a collective bargaining group. Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Republican Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and John Kennedy of Louisiana struck a deal Wednesday to clarify that these negotiations with tech companies do not include discussions about content moderation, a provision Cruz pushed to be included.
The deal effectively places negotiations on how to censor or suppress content outside the scope of the bill, thereby preventing news organizations from colluding with tech companies to suppress or censor conservative voices, according to a copy of the amendment to the bill seen by the DCNF. The bill would also prevent media organizations in the collective bargaining group from discriminating against other publications, such as conservative or independent outlets, based on “size” or “views expressed.” [ Source: Daily Caller (Read More…) ]