Local news is the next battleground as Congress eyes Big Tech's power

House Antitrust Subcommittee Chairman David Cicilline (D-RI) and House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Doug Collins (R-GA) reintroduced The Journalism Competition and Preservation Act, making the case that the legislation is needed to level the playing field between tech giants and local news publishers. "It grows out of a recognition that we need to do something to give local media, local news publishers the ability to survive," Chairman Cicilline said. He argues that as ad revenue shifts from news publishers to Facebook and Google, it's time for Congress to intervene. Under current antitrust laws, news publishers are barred from working together as they seek deals with the tech platforms. But under their proposed  bill, publishers would be granted a four-year safe harbor exempting them from those rules and allowing them to team up to negotiate better deals with tech companies. That could give publishers more power as they negotiate how their content is distributed, as well as better deal terms around such things as revenue splits or content licensing fees.