The once-vibrant Golden State is now suffering a crippling crisis of truth. Behind the gleaming facade of Silicon Valley's tech giants, California's newsrooms are quietly crumbling.
Over the past quarter century, nearly one-third of the state's newspapers have shut down, and nearly seven out of ten journalists have lost their jobs. The industry is being ravaged by the voracious profiteering of big tech corporations like Google and Facebook. As a result, local journalism is shrinking drastically, leaving California – not to mention the rest of the country – vastly worse off.
The consequences are dire: there's an information vacuum that's rapidly filling up with propaganda and disinformation. Partisans, propagandists, and self-interested promoters masquerading as prophets of truth are peddling fake news and manipulating facts to serve their agendas.
In a desperate attempt to address this crisis, California lawmakers reached a deal in August 2024 with Google to invest $175 million over five years in local journalism. The agreement was touted as a major breakthrough, but it's a far cry from the robust support that California needs.
The reality is stark: despite the initial commitment of $30 million for the first year, the state slashed funding to just $10 million, citing budget constraints. Google then agreed to match the reduced amount, leaving millions of dollars on the table. The prospects for boosting California's newsrooms look grim.
In his most recent budget proposal, Governor Gavin Newsom has proposed zero dollars for the Newsroom Transformation Fund. This means that even the token contribution from Google is subject to the company's goodwill – not a firm commitment.
As one Assemblymember pointed out, "The deal was never etched in paper and signed by any party – it was just a handshake agreement." The absence of concrete consequences or penalties has left local journalism vulnerable to continued decline.
California's democracy relies on an independent press for oversight and accountability. Without a robust local news community, the public is left with a distorted view of reality, unable to discern facts from fiction. It's high time for lawmakers to take action: make California robustly informed again by forcing social media platforms to pay for the news they pilfer and monetize.
Over the past quarter century, nearly one-third of the state's newspapers have shut down, and nearly seven out of ten journalists have lost their jobs. The industry is being ravaged by the voracious profiteering of big tech corporations like Google and Facebook. As a result, local journalism is shrinking drastically, leaving California – not to mention the rest of the country – vastly worse off.
The consequences are dire: there's an information vacuum that's rapidly filling up with propaganda and disinformation. Partisans, propagandists, and self-interested promoters masquerading as prophets of truth are peddling fake news and manipulating facts to serve their agendas.
In a desperate attempt to address this crisis, California lawmakers reached a deal in August 2024 with Google to invest $175 million over five years in local journalism. The agreement was touted as a major breakthrough, but it's a far cry from the robust support that California needs.
The reality is stark: despite the initial commitment of $30 million for the first year, the state slashed funding to just $10 million, citing budget constraints. Google then agreed to match the reduced amount, leaving millions of dollars on the table. The prospects for boosting California's newsrooms look grim.
In his most recent budget proposal, Governor Gavin Newsom has proposed zero dollars for the Newsroom Transformation Fund. This means that even the token contribution from Google is subject to the company's goodwill – not a firm commitment.
As one Assemblymember pointed out, "The deal was never etched in paper and signed by any party – it was just a handshake agreement." The absence of concrete consequences or penalties has left local journalism vulnerable to continued decline.
California's democracy relies on an independent press for oversight and accountability. Without a robust local news community, the public is left with a distorted view of reality, unable to discern facts from fiction. It's high time for lawmakers to take action: make California robustly informed again by forcing social media platforms to pay for the news they pilfer and monetize.
This is insane! I mean, you can't just hand over control of our state's journalism to Google and Facebook. Those guys are more interested in spreading their own propaganda than serving the public interest.
That's not how you build trust in journalism. We need concrete action, not empty promises.
California's newspaper crisis is straight outta control 
! Did you know that since 2000, the number of daily newspapers in the US has dropped from 2,282 to just 1,378? 
That's a whoppin' 60% decline! 
. Meanwhile, local journalists are struggling to stay afloat with meager salaries & benefits 
. I've got some data on this too: since 2010, local news production has decreased by 71% 
.
. Google matchin' that amount is just a fancy way of sayin' "we'll pretend to care" 
.
That's where the problems are! We need stronger regulations on these platforms or they'll just keep suckin' up all the resources meant for local journalism 
. Time for lawmakers to step up & make some real changes 
and then she showed me this article about google investing 175 million but really its just a drop in the bucket lol what is up with these politicians not being able to commit to anything properly 
i mean we need concrete change or else local journalism is gonna be GONE 
and thats so bad cuz our democracy relies on it 
what's happening to our democracy? we need some real journalism here not just clickbait and propaganda 
newsom needs to step up his game and make sure those social media giants pay for the info they're stealing 
it's time for some accountability 
. I mean, $10 million is nothing compared to what's needed to boost California's newsrooms 
. Social media platforms need to be held accountable for their role in spreading misinformation 
. We can't have a healthy democracy without a strong local press 
. It's crazy that those big tech corps are just siphoning off money from local journalism without any real commitment to fixing the problem. I mean, $175 million over 5 years is a good start, but it feels like Google is just trying to save face by matching the reduced amount. 
! Like, I know Google and Facebook are huge players in the tech world, but come on, can't they just step up their game? 
. It's like, what's happening to our democracy if we can't trust the news anymore? 
. Social media platforms should be paying for all this info they're stealing and monetizing! 
... anyway, back to this article... it's crazy to think that Google is basically getting off scot-free with their $30 million commitment. What if they actually followed through on it? It would be a major game-changer for local journalism! But, you know what else would be great? If we had more food trucks in California 
. I mean, have you tried that new Korean BBQ truck in LA? It's to die for...
. It's crazy that Google is investing $175 million but most of it is just being used as a PR stunt 
. We need some real commitment here, not just a handshake agreement 
I think we're in big trouble if this is the deal that's gonna save local journalism in Cali 
.
I'm so worried about the state of journalism in California right now. It's like, what's going on? You'd think that with all the tech giants around, they'd be willing to step up and help out their local communities. But nope, it seems like they're more interested in lining their own pockets.
!
. We need to be thinking about how to fundamentally change the way our news landscape works, not just slapping some Band-Aids on it 
. Like, who's going to regulate who gets paid and who doesn't? 
and for sure gov newsom needs to step up his game if he wants to save cali's democracy 
" - George Santayana, and that's what's happening here in California... we're seeing a repeat of our mistakes, where the pursuit of profit is prioritized over truth. The big tech corporations are sucking up all the talent and resources, leaving local journalism on life support