Governor Gavin Newsom and Assemblymember Buffy Wicks announced a groundbreaking partnership to provide ongoing financial support to newsrooms across California and fund a National AI Accelerator on August 20, 2024. This first-of-its-kind collaboration brings together the State of California, news publishers, major tech companies, and philanthropy to invest nearly $250 million over the next five years. According to Wicks, $100 million in funding will be provided in 2025 with the majority going towards news organizations, especially those in areas with underserved and underrepresented populations. A portion of the funding generated will be also used to create an AI research program.

Assembly Member Buffy Wicks initially proposed the The California Journalism Preservation Act in 2023 and modeled it after Canadian legislation that aimed to help local new organizations stay afloat financially. Since the bill has been out, it has drawn criticism from several parties such as Sen. Steve Glazer, a Bay Area Democrat who authored a parallel bill seeking to sustain newsrooms by taxing digital ad revenue and stated that Google’s contribution was “completely inadequate” and warned the compromise “undercuts our work towards a longterm solution.” Many tech giants also campaigned against it because it would require internet search and social media companies Meta and Google to pay news outlets a portion of their ad revenue to the publishers for posting their content.

Bill AB 886 would “prohibit a covered platform from retaliating against a digital journalism provider for asserting its rights under the act by refusing to access content or changing the ranking, identification, modification, branding, or placement of the content of the digital journalism provider on the covered platform. The bill would require a digital journalism provider to spend at least 70% of funds received pursuant to the act on news journalists and support staff employed by the digital journalism provider. The bill would require an eligible digital journalism provider with 5 or fewer employees, to spend at least 50% of funds received pursuant to these provisions on news journalists and support staff employed by the digital journalism provider.”

The deal would also allocate $70 million in private dollars toward the development of artificial intelligence tools through a to-be-established nonprofit according to Wicks. The National AI Accelerator would be established to find solutions across industries, including journalism, where it could create tools like CalMatters’ Digital Democracy program that uses AI to track state legislation.

Assemblymember Miguel Santiago voiced his support for the bill stating, “Ethnic and community media outlets in California have a long history of serving as trusted messengers of culturally responsive news to historically underrepresented and underserved communities…These initiatives ensure that California is embracing private sector innovation while developing partnerships with and seeding investments from the public sector to empower local publishers and journalists that are vital to a healthy, thriving democracy.”

“This agreement represents a major breakthrough in ensuring the survival of newsrooms and bolstering local journalism across California — leveraging substantial tech industry resources without imposing new taxes on Californians,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement. “The deal not only provides funding to support hundreds of new journalists but helps rebuild a robust and dynamic California press corps for years to come, reinforcing the vital role of journalism in our democracy.”

CA Bill Advances Requiring Big Tech to Pay for News and Support AI Innovation