SACRAMENTO, California — California is the first U.S. state to free up millions of dollars from taxpayers and technology companies to fund journalism and AI research, a new agreement announced Wednesday.
Under the nation’s first agreement, the state and tech companies would jointly pay about $250 million over five years to support California news organizations and establish an AI research program. The initiatives would launch in 2025 with $100 million in the first year, with the bulk of the money going to news organizations, said Democratic Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks, who brokered the deal.
“This agreement is a significant breakthrough in ensuring the survival of newsrooms and strengthening local journalism across California — leveraging substantial resources from the tech industry without imposing new taxes on California residents,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement. “Not only does the agreement provide funding to support hundreds of new journalists, it also helps rebuild a robust and vibrant news corps in California for years to come, reinforcing the vital role of journalism in our democracy.”
Wicks’ office did not immediately respond to questions about the exact amount of government funding, which news organizations would qualify and how much money would go to the AI research program.
The deal effectively marks the end of fighting for a year between tech giants and lawmakers over Wicks’ proposal to companies need such as Google, Facebook and Microsoft who pay a certain percentage of advertising revenue to media companies for linking to their content.
The bill, which was modeled after a Canadian law aimed at providing financial assistance to local news organizations, was met with fierce opposition from the tech industry, which advertisements launched in the summer to attack the bill. Google also tried to pressure lawmakers to drop the bill by temporarily removing news websites from some people’s search results in April.
“This partnership represents a cross-sector commitment to supporting a free and vibrant press, and enabling local news outlets across the state to continue their vital work,” Wicks said in a statement. “This is just the beginning.”
California has tried several ways to stem the loss of journalistic jobs, which have quickly disappeared as traditional media companies have struggled to make a profit in the digital age. More than 2,500 newspapers have closed in the U.S. since 2005, according to Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. California has lost more than 100 news organizations in the past decade, according to Wicks’ office.
Wednesday’s agreement is backed by the California News Publishers Association, which represents more than 700 news organizations, Google’s parent company Alphabet and OpenAI. But journalists, including those from the Media Guild of the West, criticized the deal, saying it would hurt California news organizations.
Sen. Steve Glazer, who authored a bill that would give news organizations a tax credit for hiring full-time journalists, said the deal “seriously undermines our work on a long-term solution to save independent journalism.”
Senate President Mike McGuire also said the deal does not go far enough to address California’s dire situation.
“Newsrooms in this state have been hollowed out while tech platforms have made billions in profits,” he said in a statement. “We are concerned that this proposal does not provide adequate funding for newspapers and local media, and does not fully address the inequities that plague the industry.”