SACRAMENTO, California: Google will soon give California millions of dollars to help pay for local journalism jobs in a first-in-the-nation deal, but journalists and other media industry experts are calling it a disappointing agreement that mostly benefits the tech giant.
The agreement, which was hashed out behind closed doors and announced this week, will direct tens of millions of public and private dollars to keep local news organizations afloat. Critics say it’s a textbook political maneuver by tech giants to avoid a fee under what could have been groundbreaking legislation. California lawmakers agreed to kill a bill requiring tech to support news outlets they profit from in exchange for Google’s financial commitment.
By shelving the bill, the state effectively gave up on an avenue that could have required Google and social media platforms to make ongoing payments to publishers for linking news content, said Victor Pickard, professor of media policy and political economy at the University of Pennsylvania. California also left behind a much bigger amount of funding that could have been secured under the legislation, he said.
“Google got off easy,” Pickard said.
Google said the deal will help both journalism and the artificial intelligence sector in California.
“This public-private partnership builds on our long history of working with journalism and the local news ecosystem in our home state, while developing a national center of excellence on AI policy,” Kent Walker, president of global affairs and chief legal officer for Google’s parent company Alphabet, said in a statement.
State governments across the US have been working to help boost struggling news organizations. The US newspaper industry has been in a long decline, with traditional business models collapsing and advertising revenues drying up in the digital era.
As news organizations move from primarily print to mostly digital, they have increasingly relied on Google and Facebook to distribute its content. While publishers saw their advertising revenues nosedive significantly in the last few decades, Google’s search engine has become the hub of a digital advertisement empire that generates more than $200 billion annually.
The Los Angeles Times was losing up to $40 million a year, the newspaper’s owner said in justifying a layoff of more than 100 people earlier this year.
More than 2,500 newspapers have closed since 2005, and about 200 counties across the US do not have any local news outlets, according to a report from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.
California and New Mexico are funding local news fellowship programs. New York this year became the first state to offer a tax credit program for news outlets to hire and retain journalists. Illinois is considering a bill similar to the one that died in California.
Here’s a closer look into the deal California made with Google this week:
What does the deal entail?
The deal, totaling $250 million, will provide money to two efforts: funding for journalism initiatives and a new AI research program. The agreement only guarantees funding for a period of five years.
Roughly $110 million will come from Google and $70 million from the state budget to boost journalism jobs. The fund will be managed by UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism. Google will also kick in $70 million to fund the AI research program, which would build tools to help solve “real world problems,” said Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, who brokered the deal.
The deal is not a tax, which is a stark departure from a bill Wicks authored that would have imposed a “link tax” requiring companies like Google, Facebook and Microsoft to pay a certain percentage of advertising revenue to media companies for linking to their content. The bill was modelled after a policy passed in Canada that requires Google to pay roughly $74 million per year to fund journalism.
Why are tech companies agreeing to this now?
Tech companies spent the last two years fighting Wicks’ bill, launching expensive opposition campaigns and running ads attacking the legislation. Google threatened in April to temporarily block news websites from some California users’ search results. The bill had continued to advance with bipartisan support — until this week.
Wicks told The Associated Press on Thursday that she saw no path forward for her bill and that the funding secured through the deal “is better than zero.”
“This represents politics is the art of the possible,” she said.
Industry experts see the deal as a playbook move Google has used across the world to avoid regulations.
“Google cannot exit from news because they need it,” said Anya Schiffrin, a Columbia University professor who studies global media and co-authors a working paper on how much Google and Meta owes to news publishers. “So what they are doing is using a whole lot of different tactics to kill bills that will require them to compensate publishers fairly.”
She estimates that Google owes $1.4 billion per year to California publishers.
Why do journalists and labor unions oppose the agreement?
The Media Guild of the West, a union representing journalists in Southern California, Nevada and Texas, said journalists were locked out of the conversation. The union was a champion of Wicks’ bill but wasn’t included in the negotiations with Google.
“The future of journalism should not be decided in backroom deals,” a letter by the union sent to lawmakers reads. “The Legislature embarked on an effort to regulate monopolies and failed terribly. Now we question whether the state has done more harm than good.”
The agreement results in a much smaller amount of funding compared to what Google gives to newsrooms in Canada and goes against the goal to rebalance Google’s dominance over local news organizations, according to a letter from the union to Wicks earlier this week.
Others also questioned why the deal included funding to build new AI tools. They see it as another way for tech companies to eventual replace them. Wicks’ original bill doesn’t include AI provisions.
The deal has the support of some journalism groups, including California News Publishers Association, Local Independent Online News Publishers and California Black Media.
What’s next?
The agreement is scheduled to take effect next year, starting with $100 million to kickstart the efforts.
Wicks said details of the agreement are still being ironed out. California Gov. Gavin Newsom has promised to include the journalism funding in his January budget, Wicks said, but concerns from other Democratic leaders could throw a wrench in the plan.
Google agreed to pay millions for California news. Journalists call it a bad deal
https://arab.news/p9mrk
Google agreed to pay millions for California news. Journalists call it a bad deal
World’s oldest Sunday newspaper, The Observer, for sale: UK owner
- “The Guardian’s parent company has announced that it is in formal negotiations with Tortoise Media over the potential sale of The Observer, the world’s oldest Sunday newspaper,” a statement said Tuesday
LONDON: The world’s oldest Sunday newspaper, The Observer, could be sold to an online startup media group, its owner of more than 30 years announced Tuesday.
The Guardian Media Group said in a statement that it is in talks to offload the weekly publication for an undisclosed amount to Tortoise Media, launched in 2019.
GMG added that a sale would see The Guardian, its flagship title, remain a 24/7 online offering but with greater global reach and funding by its readers.
“The Guardian’s parent company has announced that it is in formal negotiations with Tortoise Media over the potential sale of The Observer, the world’s oldest Sunday newspaper,” a statement said Tuesday.
GMG said the offer “was significant enough to look at in more detail.”
GMG chief executive Anna Bateson said a sale “provides a chance to build The Observer’s future position with a significant investment and allow The Guardian to focus on its growth strategy to be more global, more digital and more reader-funded.”
Founded in 1791, The Observer was bought by GMG in 1993.
“Since then it has coexisted with the Guardian, which will remain a seven-day-a-week digital operation regardless of the outcome of the negotiations,” the parent group added Tuesday.
X drops out of global media brands ranking
- Twitter’s brand value dropped from $5.7bn in 2022 to $673.3m in 2024
- Instagram is the fastest-growing media brand
DUBAI: Social media platform X, formerly Twitter, has dropped out of a ranking of global media brands by UK-based brand valuation and strategy consultancy Brand Finance.
The consultancy valued Twitter at $5.7 billion in 2022, falling to almost $3.9 billion in 2023 and further declining to $673.3 million in 2024.
Richard Haigh, managing director of Brand Finance, said the rebrand from Twitter to X was a “gamble” that had the potential to provide a “rebirth and propel it (the company) to new heights,” but now “the strategy seems to have been misguided.”
He told Arab News: “It is now evident that Elon Musk’s rebranding of Twitter, and abandonment of a globally recognized name, has resulted in a dramatic and abrupt decline in brand value and strength.”
Moreover, he added, Musk’s strategy to open up a free speech mandate lacked guardrails that would give advertisers confidence that their content would not appear alongside other content that did not match their brand values.
Haigh said: “These two decisions, intended to accelerate growth, ultimately resulted in a substantial loss of advertisers with ad revenue decreasing from over $1 billion per quarter in 2022 to around $600 million per quarter in 2023 — a steep decline for a brand where ad sales represent about three-quarters of total revenue.”
The report also found that X’s Brand Strength Index score, which measures the relative strength of brands based on factors such as marketing investment, stakeholder equity, and business performance, fell by 12.7 points from last year.
This drop is a reflection of the brand’s “weaker performance in familiarity, reputation, and recommendation metrics, underscoring a major reputational crisis,” Haigh said.
Although he is not optimistic about X’s rebound as a brand, he added: “X continues to be a relevant platform relied upon by millions, thanks to the long-term benefits of a user base and the critical mass it already has.”
He believes that “with careful management and a clear strategy, there remains potential for the X brand to recover and regain its strength.”
One such strategy could be rethinking the name because Twitter had a “distinctiveness that a single letter will struggle to match,” he said.
Secondly, he advised: “X is a business that requires consumers to use it, but also requires businesses to fund it. Trust is a key issue that needs to be addressed.”
Haigh explained that if brands are not confident that bullying, harassment and abuse will not be attached to their messaging, they will not have enough trust in the site to want to advertise.
The ranking saw Google maintain its No. 1 spot as the most valuable media brand for the fourth consecutive year, followed by TikTok in second place, Facebook and Instagram in third and fourth, and Disney in fifth place.
Instagram was the fastest-growing media brand, with an increase of nearly 50 percent in brand value, while Disney’s brand value dropped by 6 percent, compared to 2023.
Hollywood actors and screenwriters went on strike last year to protest about pay and working conditions which resulted in delays of several productions and loss of revenues for production companies.
Haigh said the strike “significantly impacted Disney’s revenue streams, contributing to its decline in brand value, but Disney+ (its streaming platform) has helped sustain its brand amid a rapidly evolving media landscape.”
The transformation of this landscape is evident in the ranking with Disney being the only traditional media company in the top 10.
The first Brand Finance ranking, which was published in 2015, was dominated by American broadcast media networks with Walt Disney ranking first, ahead of Fox, NBC, TimeWarner and CBS.
However, this year, “there has been a significant shift, with nine of the top 10 brands focusing on platforms other than traditional broadcasting, reflecting a growing trend toward media consumption through social media,” Haigh said.
He added that the media industry had evolved “from a broadcasting model to one centered around narrowcasting, where content is tailored to individual preferences.”
This has been accelerated by the rise of social media platforms that allow users to create and share content on a global scale, as well as technological advancements that enable platforms to provide “highly personalized and targeted media experiences,” he added.
Content that was once the domain of traditional TV channels — such as major sporting events and news — is now easily available online through social media or streaming.
Haigh said: “Despite widespread misinformation, more people are turning to social media for news as it provides diverse perspectives, short-form content, and allows for independent evaluation, unlike traditional media, which often offers a single, agenda-driven narrative.”
The 2023 Hollywood strike further accelerated the shift in the industry, causing a sharp decline in brand values for major US TV networks like CBS (28 percent) and Fox (26 percent), as well as UK networks Sky and ITV, he added.
Netflix, however, remained among the top 10 brands, ranking ninth, despite its brand value declining by 6 percent.
Haigh said: “To stay relevant, traditional media outlets must adapt to this new landscape, where engagement is driven by interactive and algorithm-driven content rather than broad, one-size-fits-all programming.”
German news media demand access to war-torn Gaza
- ‘Anyone who prohibits us from working in the Gaza Strip is creating the conditions for human rights to be violated. We know the risk. We are prepared to take it. Grant us access to Gaza’
- Signatories included editors and reporters from Der Spiegel, Die Welt, public broadcasters ARD and ZDF and the German Journalists Association
BERLIN: German news media outlets on Tuesday called on Israel to grant them access to war-torn Gaza, charging that the “almost complete exclusion of international media... is unprecedented in recent history.”
“After almost a year of war, we call on the Israeli government: allow us to enter the Gaza Strip,” a group of newspapers, agencies and broadcasters wrote in an open letter.
They also urged Egypt to permit them entry to the widely devastated Palestinian territory via the Rafah border crossing in the south of the Gaza Strip.
Israel has been at war with Hamas since the October 7 attack launched by the Palestinian militant group in a conflict that has brought mass casualties and destroyed swathes of the coastal strip.
The media organizations wrote that “anyone who makes independent reporting on this war impossible is damaging their own credibility.
“Anyone who prohibits us from working in the Gaza Strip is creating the conditions for human rights to be violated.”
The open letter was addressed to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and had been delivered on Monday, they said.
Signatories included editors and reporters from Der Spiegel, Die Welt, public broadcasters ARD and ZDF and the German Journalists Association.
They said they have decades of experience in conflict reporting and wrote: “We know the risk. We are prepared to take it. Grant us access to the Gaza Strip. Let us work, in the interest of everyone.”
The October 7 attack on southern Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Militants also seized 251 hostages, 97 of whom are still held in Gaza, including 33 the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 41,226 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, which does not provide a breakdown of civilian and militant deaths.
Israeli parliament to debate controversial bill on incitement to terrorism investigations
- Proposed bill would make it illegal to praise an individual who committed a terrorist act, not just the act itself
- Legislation to suppress free speech, target Arab citizens for political reasons, rights groups say
LONDON: A controversial bill that would allow Israeli police to investigate alleged incitement to terrorism without prior approval from the Office of the State Attorney is advancing through the Knesset.
Civil rights groups and opposition members of the Knesset have voiced concerns over the proposed legislation, warning that it could lead to abuses of power and restrictions on freedom of speech.
Currently, police must seek approval from the state attorney to investigate such cases, a safeguard intended to prevent broad interpretations of the law that could suppress free expression.
In July, State Attorney Amit Aisman revealed that police had initiated several investigations into incitement or speech-related offenses without proper authorization, accusing officers of “deliberately circumventing” his office’s directives.
The bill, introduced by far-right MK Limor Son Har Melech of the ultranationalist Otzma Yehudit party, passed its first reading in the Knesset in July.
Melech has since added a clause tightening the law, making it illegal to praise an individual who committed a terrorist act, rather than just the act itself.
If the bill is enacted, police could launch investigations based on formal complaints “or in any other manner,” expanding their ability to probe incitement to terrorism.
A scheduled hearing on the bill in the Knesset’s Constitution, Law and Justice Committee was postponed to accommodate scheduling conflicts, with a new date set for later this week.
Criticism of the bill has come from across Israeli society, with many arguing it could be exploited for political purposes.
MK Gilad Kariv of the Labor Party described the legislation as a “powerful takeover” of police powers by National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, an ultranationalist settler leader.
Kariv warned that the bill could lead to “endless investigations” aimed at intimidating political opponents.
Civil rights organizations have echoed these concerns. In April, the Adalah organization, which advocates for the rights of Arab Israelis and Palestinians, urged the attorney general and state attorney to block the bill, warning that it could be used to target Arab citizens for political reasons.
France uses tough, untested cybercrime law to target Telegram’s Durov
- France uses new law to prosecute Telegram’s Pavel Durov
- Durov denies Telegram is an ‘anarchic paradise’
PARIS: When French prosecutors took aim at Telegram boss Pavel Durov, they had a trump card to wield — a tough new law with no international equivalent that criminalizes tech titans whose platforms allow illegal products or activities.
The so-called LOPMI law, enacted in January 2023, has placed France at the forefront of a group of nations taking a sterner stance on crime-ridden websites. But the law is so recent that prosecutors have yet to secure a conviction.
With the law still untested in court, France’s pioneering push to prosecute figures like Durov could backfire if its judges balk at penalizing tech bosses for alleged criminality on their platforms.
A French judge placed Durov under formal investigation last month, charging him with various crimes, including the 2023 offense: “Complicity in the administration of an online platform to allow an illicit transaction, in an organized gang,” which carries a maximum 10-year sentence and a 500,000 euro ($556,300) fine.
Being under formal investigation does not imply guilt or necessarily lead to trial, but indicates judges think there’s enough evidence to proceed with the probe. Investigations can last years before being sent to trial or dropped.
Durov, out on bail, denies Telegram was an “anarchic paradise.” Telegram has said it “abides by EU laws,” and that it’s “absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform.”
In a radio interview last week, Paris Prosecutor Laure Beccuau hailed the 2023 law as a powerful tool for battling organized crime groups who are increasingly operating online.
The law appears to be unique. Eight lawyers and academics told Reuters they were unaware of any other country with a similar statute.
“There is no crime in US law directly analogous to that and none that I’m aware of in the Western world,” said Adam Hickey, a former US deputy assistant attorney general who established the Justice Department’s (DOJ) national security cyber program.
Hickey, now at US law firm Mayer Brown, said US prosecutors could charge a tech boss as a “co-conspirator or an aider and abettor of the crimes committed by users” but only if there was evidence the “operator intends that its users engage in, and himself facilitates, criminal activities.”
He cited the 2015 conviction of Ross Ulbricht, whose Silk Road website hosted drug sales. US prosecutors argued Ulbricht “deliberately operated Silk Road as an online criminal marketplace ... outside the reach of law enforcement,” according to the DOJ. Ulbricht got a life sentence.
Timothy Howard, a former US federal prosecutor who put Ulbricht behind bars, was “skeptical” Durov could be convicted in the United States without proof he knew about the crimes on Telegram, and actively facilitated them — especially given Telegram’s vast, mainly law-abiding user base.
“Coming from my experience of the US legal system,” he said, the French law appears “an aggressive theory.”
Michel Séjean, a French professor of cyber law, said the toughened legislation in France came after authorities grew exasperated with companies like Telegram.
“It’s not a nuclear weapon,” he said. “It’s a weapon to prevent you from being impotent when faced with platforms that don’t cooperate.”
TOUGHER LAWS
The 2023 law traces its origins to a 2020 French interior ministry white paper, which called for major investment in technology to tackle growing cyber threats.
It was followed by a similar law in November 2023, which included a measure for the real-time geolocation of people suspected of serious crimes by remotely activating their devices. A proposal to turn on their devices’ cameras and mouthpieces so that investigators could watch or listen in was shot down by France’s Constitutional Council.
These new laws have given France some of the world’s toughest tools for tackling cybercrime, with the proof being the arrest of Durov on French soil, said Sadry Porlon, a French lawyer specialized in communication technology law.
Tom Holt, a cybercrime professor at Michigan State University, said LOPMI “is a potentially powerful and effective tool if used properly,” particularly in probes into child sexual abuse images, credit card trafficking and distributed denial of service attacks, which target businesses or governments.
Armed with fresh legislative powers, the ambitious J3 cybercrime unit at the Paris prosecutor’s office, which is overseeing the Durov probe, is now involved in some of France’s most high-profile cases.
In June, the J3 unit shut down Coco, an anonymized chat forum cited in over 23,000 legal proceedings since 2021 for crimes including prostitution, rape and homicide.
Coco played a central role in a current trial that has shocked France.
Dominique Pelicot, 71, is accused of recruiting dozens of men on Coco to rape his wife, whom he had knocked out with drugs. Pelicot on Tuesday testified in court, admitting to his guilt and asking his family for forgiveness. Meanwhile, 50 other men are also on trial for rape.
Coco’s owner, Isaac Steidel, is suspected of a similar crime as Durov: “Provision of an online platform to allow an illicit transaction by an organized gang.”
Steidel’s lawyer, Julien Zanatta, declined to comment.
