The Journalism Competition and Preservation Act of 2022, S. 673, which would create a four-year safe harbor from antitrust trust laws for print, broadcast, or digital news companies to collectively negotiate with online contributors, is on-deck to be added to the National Defense Authorization Act this month. Meta, owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, is “staunchly opposed” to S. 673, according to Punchbowl News, which notes that the NDAA, passed every year for six decades, is “a real mess at the moment.”

The $857.9-billion NDAA is expected to take a full week for a vote on the Senate floor. Other expected riders include the Electoral Count Reform Act and Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-WV) permitting reform bill. The Safe Banking Act, which would allow financial institutions to handle cannabis-related businesses already has been removed from the NDAA, despite bipartisan support. 

Shameless Plug: As a media outlet, we support the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act, and think it is time for print, broadcast and digital news to extricate themselves from social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. 

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