The California Democrat, who brokered a funding deal for local newsrooms with Google, defended the controversial partnership, arguing it was the best he could come up with during tough negotiations with the powerful search giant.
Rep. Buffy Wicks led the negotiations for the roughly $250 million truce, but critics say it allows Google and other big tech companies to avoid sweeping legislation that could force them to share advertising revenue with cash-strapped news organizations.
Some have accused California Governor Gavin Newsom, who has veto power over state bills, of being too close to Silicon Valley.
Wicks said bills aimed at forcing big tech companies to pay their fair share face “serious challenges” in the California Legislature and argued the Google deal is “the art of the possible.”
“Ultimately, the decision was, do we want nothing or do we want something?” Wicks said in an interview. Sacramento Bee“From my perspective, a framework of about $250 million is better than nothing.”
Governor Wicks himself introduced the proposal, called the Save California Journalism Act, and he and his allies have billed the agreement as a “first-of-the-nation partnership” that they say will help stave off continued job losses and revitalize news organizations for years to come.
Meanwhile, a prominent journalists’ union slammed the backroom deal as “disastrous”.
Critics are alarmed by key factors such as the direction of funding to vague “AI accelerator” projects at a time when many journalists worry the technology will cause further job losses, and the fact that more than a quarter of the overall funding is coming from taxpayers.
Wicks’ office told the Bee that of the total, $180 million will be donated to nonprofits serving California news organizations, $110 million will come from Google and $70 million will come from taxpayers.
The remaining $62.5 million will come from technology companies and will be used to fund AI accelerator projects.
Critics remain unconvinced that the agreement was the best outcome.
Matt Pierce, a former Los Angeles Times reporter and president of the Western Media Guild, who previously called the deal an “intimidation,” lashed out at Google.
“This settlement is a huge stay-out-of-jail-free deal for monopolies with illegal business models,” Pierce told the Bee.
Google, which earns more than $300 billion a year in digital advertising revenue, was recently found in federal court to be illegally monopolizing the online search market.
Pierce reportedly added that he had distanced himself from the union during negotiations, saying the $250 million figure was far less than what the tech industry would have been owed if advertising revenue sharing had been in place by law.
“An industry cannot be saved by policy proposals that are staunchly opposed by workers in that industry,” added Lorena Gonzalez, president of the California Labor Federation.
Gonzalez argued that Governor Newsom is partly to blame for being “infatuated” with big tech companies.
“I think the governor has always loved technology and innovation and Silicon Valley, and I certainly think he values those things more than the average worker,” Gonzalez said.
Some insiders worried that Governor Newsom would veto the bill if it passed the Legislature.
Newsom’s office referred to the governor’s statement on the deal, in which he called it “a major step forward in ensuring the survival of news organizations and strengthening local journalism across California.”
“This agreement will not only provide funding to support hundreds of new journalists, it will help rebuild a strong, dynamic California press for years to come and strengthen the vital role of journalism in our democracy,” Newsom said.
Notably, the announcement makes no mention of any involvement from Meta, which last year threatened to remove news articles for Facebook and Instagram users in California if the bill passed.
Mehta declined to comment.
