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Lawmakers have added a measure to Congress' must-pass defense funding bill that would force Big Tech firms like Google and Meta to pay hundreds of local news outlets for their content, sources tell Axios.

Why it matters: Barring last-minute Capitol Hill maneuvering, the news-funding measure is now on track to pass after failing for years to gather enough support to become law.

The legislation, the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (JCPA),  aims to create a lifeline for struggling local news companies.

But opponents say the bill is a handout for traditional media companies and  could force Big Tech firms to pay outlets that routinely publish misinformation. 

Driving the news: A number of civil society and tech groups and others opposed to JCPA told Axios Monday that the bill would be included in the NDAA following negotiations between Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). 

Be smart: Because the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) needs to pass by the end of the year to keep the military funded, the JCPA's inclusion would make it much more likely to become law. 

The proposal was first introduced in 2019 and was reintroduced in 2021. Even with bipartisan support, previous versions of the bill never won enough support to advance out of each house's Judiciary committee.

How it works: The JCPA requires tech firms to negotiate payout terms "in good faith" with news publishers for distributing their content. If they can't come to an agreement, the bill allows news publishers to demand third-party arbitration. 

The proposal is modeled on an Australian law that passed last year despite intense pushback from companies like Google and Facebook.

The bill requires participation from tech firms that have at least 50 million U.S.-based users or subscribers, along with either a market capitalization of $550 billion or at least 1 billion worldwide monthly active users.

It doesn’t cover publishers or local broadcasters employing more than 1,500 full-time employees. That means major national publications such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post would not be eligible for payouts.

The updated bill calls for an eight-year temporary safe harbor from antitrust laws, allowing media companies to collectively bargain with tech firms. Previous versions of the bill provided only a four-year safe harbor.

Opponents of the bill would have preferred to see almost any of several other major new tech regulations move forward in Congress instead.

"The #JCPA won't help journalism or reduce Big Tech's monopoly power. Instead, it's effectively a handout to giant conglomerates like Alden Capital (who are literally destroying journalism) and will essentially solidify Big Tech's role in the news," tweeted Evan Greer, a director at Fight for the Future, an internet rights advocacy group. 

Tech trade groups NetChoice and the Computer and Communications Industry Association, who have been fighting all proposed tech antitrust efforts, both launched ad campaigns attacking the bill Monday. "Objective journalism is crucial to a democracy, but this legislation will promote media cartels and compel digital sites to subsidize dangerous sources of misinformation online," Matt Schruers, president of CCIA, said in a statement.

Between the lines: Meta threatened to remove news from its platform altogether if JCPA passed. It had made a similar threat when Australia introduced its bill, though it later reached a compromise.

Although Meta has been trying to back away from distributing news  anyway, the News Media Alliance, a newspaper trade association that backed the bill, called Meta's threat “undemocratic and unbecoming.”  

The big picture: Several other countries are considering similar laws.

Canadian lawmakers are currently debating a similar bill that would force Big Tech firms to pay publishers, but would outsource the qualifying criteria to its media regulation body. 

The New Zealand government said Sunday it also plans to introduce a law that would require companies like Google and Meta to pay local news companies for their content.

The bottom line: This is the JCPA's last real chance at passage for the foreseeable future. It would be very difficult to get the bill over the finish line in a new Congress with divided chambers. 

Go deeper: U.S. lawmakers debut updated news competition bill modeled after Australia

News competition bill gets a lifeline

A bill requiring big tech firms to pay for news content is making it into drafts of a must-pass defense bill.

Illustration of a origami boat made out of a newspaper.

News media

Media

From the Valley to D.C., Big Tech players like Facebook, Google and Amazon are under more scrutiny than ever as new technology develops and privacy and antitrust concerns grow in lockstep with companies’ ambitions.

Technology

President Biden has made the COVID-19 crisis and a post-Trump return to national unity and traditional democratic ideals his top priorities. From vaccinations to stimulus to schools, Biden is seeking bipartisan compromise while showing a willingness to use executive authority and bare Democratic majorities in the U.S. House and Senate to implement his policies. Republican leaders are navigating deep party divisions over if and how to move beyond former President Trump.

Politics & Policy

After a record economic expansion, the coronavirus pandemic sent the U.S. economy into a recession as unemployment soared to staggering heights. The country now faces urgent questions about how much stimulus is needed for reeling consumers and businesses, and what a recovery might look like.

Economy & Business

The New York Times on Tuesday unveiled a unique version of its weekday print paper featuring more than two dozen ads from just one advertiser — General Electric.  

Why it matters: It’s the first time in the paper’s 171-year history that any advertiser has gotten to own all of The Times’ print real estate exclusively — in addition to most of its premier digital advertising real estate.

GE-wrapped New York Times papers being printed at The Times' presses last night in College Point, Queens. Photo: Micah Stockett/Axios

To celebrate the occasion, top executives from The Times and GE met at The Times’ flagship printing press in Queens to watch the papers print in real time Monday evening. 

The partnership represents a shift at The Times in the last ten years from selling pages ad hoc to building big, interactive marketing campaigns for brands that are highly produced and can earn their own coverage. 

Details: The seven-figure campaign centers on GE’s core message of focus, as it begins a plan to split into three publicly-traded companies: GE HealthCare, GE Aerospace and GE Vernova (energy). 

Each new GE company is represented with its own set of ads that explains its focus through employee testimonials, statistics and purpose statements. 

State of play: Working with The New York Times’ advertising creative arm, T Brand Studio, and Giant Spoon, an experiential marketing agency, GE developed a series of interactive ads that are designed to guide readers through three science-based focus exercises. 

For example, one page guides readers through how to create a foldable paper airplane via a visual guide adapted from a book written by Ken Blackburn, a four-time Guinness World Record holder for time keeping a paper airplane in flight. 

Another includes a circular crossword puzzle from award-winning puzzle maker Brendan Emmett Quigley.

"From a media strategy standpoint, if you can create focus, you can talk about focus," said Laura Correnti, a partner at Giant Spoon. "For us this was really about singling GE out as the only message throughout the NYT ecosystem this day."

Between the lines: The print takeover includes a total of 22 full-page color ads, in addition to five partial pages that run across the paper’s main news section as well as its business and arts & sciences sections.  

The paper itself is covered in a glossy GE-branded wrap that includes the logos for the three new GE companies that are being split off from GE within the next two years. 

In addition to print ads, the campaign also includes desktop and mobile home page takeovers, an audio takeover of The Times’ flagship podcast “The Daily,” sponsorship of the Times’ AM and PM newsletter briefings and digital section takeovers The Times’ opinion, business and DealBook sections. 

The paper will be delivered Tuesday to The Times' 330,000 weekday print subscribers, and will also be available on newsstands. 

As a part of the campaign, GE will distribute an additional 5,000 copies of the paper throughout New York City, including at Grand Central Station, Penn Station, the NY Stock Exchange, the NASDAQ and along Ferry Street. 

Be smart: The campaign represents GE's most significant advertising effort for the split of its company.

It's timed just ahead of GE HealthCare's first ever investor day on December 8.

GE's board approved spinning out GE HealthCare last week, and the new firm's stock will begin public trading next year. GE Aerospace and GE Vernova will be spun out as standalone companies in 2024.  

The big picture: This isn't the first innovative partnership between The Times and GE.

In 2015, GE was one of the first advertisers to bring The Times’ virtual reality product to life. 

In 2018, GE sponsored a unique edition of The Times’ Sunday Magazine that featured almost no text, but rather, a gallery of photographs with a corresponding soundtrack meant to help readers understand the photos. 

In an interview, GE's longtime marketing chief Linda Boff, cited the scale and depth of The Times' audience, as well as its expertise in quality storytelling, as the reason GE chose to partner with The Times.

"This isn’t just advertising. The content has to be fantastic," Boff said. "It has to be just as interesting as the story on the page before it."

What to watch: Seb Tomich, chief creative officer at The Athletic and The Times' longtime advertising innovation lead, told Axios that The Times is open to running another edition with one exclusive advertiser but would need to be selective about the brand.

"This isn’t an off-the-shelf product," he said. "It takes a lot of work to clear out the entire paper for one brand."

GE buys out entire NYT print paper in historic first

GE is using the unusual ad campaign to tell the tale of three new companies it's spinning out.

Photo of GE's cover wrap on top of NYT paper it sponsored on December 6th 2022, Photo: Sara Fischer/Axios 

The New York Times

Elon Musk is the latest patron for an alternative-media ecosystem — right-leaning but not conventionally Republican — that has emerged in the last two years.

The big picture: Feeding on resentment against mainstream media, new media players have established a power base via Substack newsletters, podcasts and other independent channels. 

These writers — including Matt Taibbi, Bari Weiss and Glenn Greenwald — are getting new attention with Musk's ownership of Twitter. And they're reigniting long-simmering debates about what constitutes journalism in the internet era.

Driving the news: Musk handed Taibbi what the reporter said were "thousands" of internal Twitter documents, then promoted a Twitter thread by Taibbi chronicling the company's decision to limit the distribution of the Hunter Biden laptop story in 2020.

Musk now says he has handed over more documents to Taibbi and Weiss for another drop of “The Twitter Files” in coming days.

Taibbi's thread quickly became a political flashpoint: Right-wing voices said the documents proved Twitter’s liberal bias under its previous owners. Many tech journalists argued it didn’t reveal much beyond Twitter’s policy team grappling with a tough call that was soon reversed.

Between the lines: Taibbi, Musk and his fans presented this work as investigative journalism. But the documents weren't exactly leaked — Musk, who now owns Twitter, also owns the keys to all its files. 

Taibbi is a veteran writer who started out on the left, capturing national attention during the financial crisis of 2008 for describing Goldman Sachs as a "vampire squid." His work has more recently taken aim at media pieties, and alleged censorship by government and tech companies. 

Weiss is a former New York Times op-ed columnist who left that newsroom amid controversy — and now focuses on voices and positions that, she argues, mainstream media outlets are suppressing.

Greenwald is a veteran blogger who came to fame as a key figure in the massive 2013 leaks of U.S. government documents by Edward Snowden. Greenwald took his combative writing to his own email newsletter after departing the Intercept, which he co-founded.

Greenwald and Taibbi, like many of their readers, broke with their former fans on the left in the Trump era. They saw less danger in Trump's actions than in efforts by some in the U.S. intelligence community to stymie him.

All three have created enormously popular newsletters on Substack, and use the reach of Twitter to bolster their audiences and comment on breaking news. 

Weiss has more than 500,000 Twitter followers and says she has more than 250,000 email subscribers on Substack, including both free and paid readers.

Greenwald has 1.9 million Twitter followers and has more than 200,000 free and paid email subscribers in Substack, with tens of thousands of paid readers.

 Taibbi has 1.3 million Twitter followers and said last year more than 30,000 people pay for his Substack newsletter. 

Be smart: Musk’s Twitter takeover has helped these Substack entrepreneurs cement their alliance with Silicon Valley investors who share their hostility to mainstream media — including several members of Musk's inner circle, like investor David Sacks.

Marc Andreessen, one of tech's most prominent investors, has poured billions of dollars into Substack, Clubhouse, and other platforms that democratize media creation. (His firm has also provided seed funding to Post News, a Twitter alternative that's ironically been championed by some mainstream journalists.)

The big picture: The "Twitter Files" saga is the latest iteration of a decades-long debate over what journalism is and who gets to do it.

Musk has said that he believes in "citizen journalism" and aims to empower more voices on Twitter while using fewer rules to limit speech.

Bloggers in the early internet era faced pushback from newspapers and TV outlets who said they couldn't be trusted since they lacked editors and standards.

What to watch: The platforms supporting this new ecosystem will serve anyone, including those in power, who distrusts the mainstream media.

A slew of politicians are cutting out the media middleman entirely by  launching their own podcasts, newsletters and even social networks to talk to voters directly.

Musk, who abolished Twitter's communications team and cherishes speaking directly to his own vast Twitter following, looks eager to help.

The alternative-media industrial complex

Elon Musk is giving a push to a new model of publishing built mostly on the idea that it's anti-mainstream media.

Illustration of a quill resting in a computer as if it were an ink well. 

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Amazon won't take down antisemitic film tweeted by Kyrie Irving, CEO says

As a retailer of content, "we have to be willing to allow access to those viewpoints, even if they are objectionable."

Andy Jassy, chief executive officer of Amazon.Com Inc., speaks during an event in Seattle, Washington on Oct. 5, 2021. Photo: David Ryder/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Amazon

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Police have arrested two individuals in connection with the fatal shooting of Migos rapper Takeoff, Houston officials said Friday.

The big picture: Takeoff, whose real name is Kirshnik Khari Ball, was killed on Nov. 1 outside of a bowling alley in downtown Houston, Axios reports. He was 28.

Driving the news: Houston police chief Troy Finner said at a news conference Friday that Patrick Xavier Clark, 33, was arrested and charged with murder. 

Cameron Joshua, 22, was arrested on Nov. 22 on charges of unlawful carrying of a weapon, Finner said.

Houston police said at the news conference that they plan to speak to more witnesses.

Catch up quick: Police said Takeoff and fellow Migos rapper Quavo were at a private party at the bowling alley. Gunfire erupted after the party, police said. Quavo was not injured in the shooting.

Sgt. Michael Burrow said Friday that a lucrative dice game took place at the party and there was an altercation outside the bowling alley, which Takeoff was not a part of.

Burrow said they discovered Clark was the "lethal shooter" of Takeoff that night.

A number of people fled the scene of the shooting after it happened, Burrow said.

What they're saying: "We've boiled it down to over 30 people that were standing outside" during the gunfire, Burrow said at the press conference. "Literally, every single one of those people left the scene without giving a statement to police."

"We found a few of them that night, we've found others since then, but it's important that those people come forward," Burrow said. 

Context: Takeoff was the youngest member of the rap group, which was formed 14 years ago in Georgia. Some of their top songs include "Stir Fry," "Bad and Boujee" and "Walk It Talk It."

Finner previously said Takeoff was “well-respected and non-violent."

Migos rapper Takeoff shot dead in Houston at 28

Atlanta mourns death of Takeoff, the "heart and soul" of Migos

Editor’s note: This story has been corrected with a photo of Takeoff. Getty Images mislabelled the previous photo of Quavo.

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Suspect arrested in murder of Migos rapper Takeoff

Houston police said they still plan to speak to more witnesses.

Rapper Takeoff of the hip hip group Migos.

Rapper Takeoff of the hip hip group Migos performs on stage. (Photo: Scott Dudelson/Getty Images for Coachella )

Music

More than 1,000 members of the New York Times union, which includes hundreds of newsroom staffers, plan to walk out on the job if the company's management doesn't agree to the terms of a new contract by Dec. 8, the union announced Friday. 

Why it matters: The two parties have been at odds for more than a year and a half over a slew of issues, most notably wage increases. Those tensions have hit a boiling point heading into the holiday season. 

Driving the news: In a letter sent to management Friday, the NewsGuild of New York reiterated its demands to management, and conveyed a level of frustration over the drawn-out talks. 

"We have spent more than 120 hours across 40 bargaining sessions exchanging and amending dozens of proposals," the letter states. 

"We have listened carefully to management’s positions and concerns and have made countless revisions to address them. In return, we have been lectured about the dire economic future the company faces - even as the company tells Wall Street about a successful corporation that can afford to pay millions in salaries and benefits to its top executives."

The letter, sent to the Times' publisher, A.G. Sulzberger, and its president and CEO, Meredith Kopit Levien, listed key demands, including a new raise structure, keeping pension plan policies intact and changes to performance evaluations. 

Between the lines: A big part of the union's argument has long been that the Times' management has refused to bring adequate wage increase proposals to the negotiating table, despite the fact that the Times is doing better financially than it has in many years and continues to increase dividend payouts to shareholders.

"In 2022, the @nytimes spent millions of dollars to purchase Wordle and The Athletic and allocated $150 million in stock buybacks to its investors," a tweet from the guild read. "And yet it is still offering wage 'increases' that amount to pay cuts during record-high inflation."

The letter sent Friday represents more than 1,036 union members represented by guild. Each has signed a pledge that gives the guild's bargaining committee the authority "to call for and schedule a 24-hour work stoppage" if the two sides don't make progress at the bargaining table. 

What they're saying: "While we are disappointed that the NewsGuild is threatening to strike, we are prepared to ensure The Times continues to serve our readers without disruption," a New York Times spokesperson said in a statement provided to Axios. "We remain committed to working with the NYT NewsGuild to reach a contract that we can all be proud of."

"Our current wage proposal offers significant increases. The majority of members of the bargaining unit would earn 50 percent or more in additional earnings over the life of the new contract than they would have if the old contract had continued," the spokesperson said. "Moreover, our accompanying medical and retirement proposals offer sustainable, best-in-class options for Guild members." 

"For additional context, under our latest proposal, a reporter in the union making $120,000, which is slightly below the median base salary in the unit, would get about $33,000 in additional earnings during the life of the new contract — or 57 percent more than if the old contract had continued," the spokesperson said. "A reporter in the union making $160,000 would get about $44,000 in additional earnings during the life of the new contract or 108 percent more than if the prior contract had continued." 

Catch up quick: The guild's last contract with management expired in March 2021. Since then, the two parties have been regularly meeting to discuss a new contract, but as the talks have dragged on, the tension has become more palpable.  

Be smart: This isn't the first time unionized employees at the Times have walked out or threatened to walk out. 

Hundreds of employees staged a walkout in 2017 over the company's decision to eliminate its standalone copy desk. 

Last year, the union representing employees at the Times' consumer reviews site, Wirecutter, held a five-day walkout in protest of management's negotiations with its union.

The big picture: Walk-outs, strikes and work stoppages have become more common in recent months as editorial workers look to secure better contracts in the wake of the pandemic. 

Editor's note: This story was updated with a statement from a New York Times spokesperson.

1,000+ NYT union members threaten to walk out

The two parties have been at odds over a new contract for more than a year and a half.

 The New York Times building on Oct. 26. Photo: Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images

The Recount, a video news startup founded in 2018, told employees it plans to suspend operations next Friday, sources told Axios.

Why it matters: The company, which raised over $34 million since 2020, struggled to find a profitable business model. Like most media companies, its prospects grew worse amid the economic downturn.

Details: Sources told Axios last month that the outlet, which was founded by veteran journalists John Battelle and John Heilemann, was trying to sell itself for a nominal sum in order to keep the brand alive. 

The company's leaders are still in talks with buyers, and they may try to continue operations if they are able to make a deal before next Friday's deadline, sources told Axios.

Catch up quick: The company pivoted its focus a few times in its short history and burned through the cash it raised quickly. 

A source told Axios last month that the Recount lost $10 million in 2021 on $1 million in revenue. 

The Recount’s most valuable asset is likely its Twitter following (359,000).

A large portion of the Recount's staff was laid off last month, bringing its total employee count down to around a dozen. Those cuts came after a round of cuts in the spring that reduced its staff roughly in half from around 75. 

The big picture: The Recount is the latest digital media upstart to shutter in the wake of economic uncertainty. 

Protocol, the tech-focused publication from Politico, plans to shut down by the end of the year.

Go deeper: Media layoffs spike amid recession fears

Editor's note: This story has been corrected to reflect that the Recount was founded in 2018. It did not launch its product until 2019.

Scoop: The Recount plans to suspend operations

The video-oriented political journalism startup struggled to find a profitable business model.

The Recount co-founders John Heilemann (left) and John Battelle. Photo: The Recount

CNN boss Chris Licht on Wednesday informed employees that layoffs at the network are underway, according to an internal memo sent to staff.

Why it matters: The layoffs cap off what has been a particularly challenging year for the network and the media industry writ large. 

Details: A source familiar with the cuts told Axios that "a couple hundred" people in total will be impacted.

In a note to staff, Licht said the network began notifying "a limited number of individuals, largely some of our paid contributors," about the layoffs. 

Impacted employees, Licht said, would be notified tomorrow. 

Licht said he planned to inform the staff about more details regarding staff changes tomorrow.

Those whose jobs are being impacted will be notified about the changes and severance packages via an in-person meeting or via Zoom. Employees eligible for 2022 bonuses will still receive them, Licht said. 

Catch up quick: Licht took over as CEO in May following the sudden and dramatic resignation of CNN's former head Jeff Zucker in February. 

The network faced a messy legal battle following Zucker's departure around the handling of its firing of Chris Cuomo. 

Shortly after Licht announced he would take over, CNN's parent company Warner Bros. Discovery killed CNN's expensive streaming service, CNN+, which triggered hundreds of layoffs. 

CNN layoffs begin

The layoffs cap off what has been a particularly challenging year for the network.

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