LeGeyt Pushes for JCPA in Hill Column

NAB President Curtis LeGeyt urged lawmakers to address “the monopolistic power” of “tech giants,” in a column in The Hill Monday supporting the proposed Journalism Competition and Protection Act. “The economic foundation of local journalism is under assault,” LeGeyt said. The bill would allow an exemption from antitrust rules to let news organizations collectively negotiate with tech platforms over rights to their content. “News outlets have almost no leverage when dealing with tech giants regarding the terms for how online content is compensated or displayed on these platforms,” LeGeyt said. Tech platforms “can place a fact-checked story from a reputable news outlet next to flashy clickbait” or “set a minimum content length that exceeds a typical news segment before a video receives compensation,” LeGeyt said. The bill would “create a fair deal” to “benefit news consumers,” LeGeyt said. Meta and Alphabet didn’t comment.