Google announced it will reduce its contribution to a fund supporting California local news outlets, paying $10 million instead of the initially promised $15 million. This decision comes after California Governor Gavin Newsom proposed reducing the state’s contribution from $30 million to $10 million due to a $12 billion budget deficit. The fund, known as the California Civic Media Fund, aims to sustain and enhance community news coverage across the state. It will be administered by the California State Library, which will set up a board to determine fund distribution among news publishers.
Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, who has been involved in setting up the program, stated that the fund is considered “seed funding” and is expected to attract additional donations from philanthropies. Google has committed to matching up to $5 million in any additional donations received. Jaffer Zaidi, vice president of global news partnerships at Google’s parent company Alphabet, expressed the company’s commitment to the agreement and appreciation for the leadership shown by Governor Newsom and Assemblymember Wicks.
According to CalMatters, the original agreement between the state and Google aimed to provide $125 million over five years to support local journalism. However, the current funding falls short of this goal. The reduction in contributions has sparked criticism from news publishers and journalists’ unions, who argue that the deal is too modest compared to previous legislative proposals that could have generated more substantial funding.
The initiative emerged after negotiations with state lawmakers, who had considered bills requiring tech companies to pay for using news content. In exchange for dropping these bills, Google agreed to support the fund. The company will continue its existing grants to news organizations and invest in a new artificial intelligence program.
As reported by Politico, the fund’s details were outlined in a framework released by Assemblymember Wicks. The framework sets a precedent for linking journalism funding to contributions from governments and other companies. The final state budget, including the fund’s provisions, will be determined in the coming weeks.
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