The U.S. Department of Justice’s latest antitrust case against Google has shined a spotlight on the tech giant’s role in America’s news ecosystem. Federal prosecutors argue that Google’s dominance over digital advertising harms advertisers and publishers who pay the company a share of their revenue for brokering their website ads.
However, while the result of this case could financially benefit the predominantly large media companies that rely on this practice as a major source of income, the impact on small, independent outlets is less certain.
As publishers of local newspapers, we join our media colleagues who want to be fairly compensated for the use of content we produce. But local news cannot rely on Big Tech alone to solve our industry’s ongoing financial crisis. It’s time to pursue policies that don’t rely exclusively on antitrust regulations to save local news.
This op-ed is part of The Hill’s “How to Fix America” series exploring solutions to some of the country’s most pressing problems.
Zachary Richner is a director at Richner Communications, Inc. Cameron Nutting Williams is the chief revenue officer of Ogden Newspapers and immediate-past president of the America’s Newspapers board of directors. Jeremy Gulban is the CEO of CherryRoad Media.
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