Washington, D.C. (06/15/2023) – As the Senate Judiciary Committee prepares to mark up the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (JCPA) in today’s hearing, CCIA’s Don’t Break What Works campaign urged the Committee to reject the legislation due to its misguided approach and its many, well-documented flaws.
“The version of JCPA that the Committee is due to consider today is a rehash of the same flawed approach that has plagued this legislation year after year. Rather than encouraging and promoting a healthy media environment, the bill fosters an array of unintended consequences such as the creation of a media cartel – which could then impose a new ‘link tax’ – and limiting digital platforms’ ability to remove extreme content,” said Don’t Break What Works spokeswoman Chandler Smith Costello.
“As experts have noted previously, the bill is unconstitutional. Further, the JCPA provides yet another example of the bad policy that can result when the federal government inserts itself into private business decisions – in this case, what is and is not news and how much that news should be valued. We encourage the Committee to seriously consider each of the bill’s many problems and spend the time necessary to adjust them, rather than send legislation to the Senate floor that does not in actuality work as intended,” Costello continued.
To read more about the JCPA and the objections senators have raised about the bill, click here. For a sampling of the concerns and issues experts have raised about the bill, read more here. CCIA’s analysis of the bill and why it doesn’t work as intended can be found here.
The Don’t Break What Works campaign is powered by the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA). Learn more here.