California and Google To Launch Media Fund For Struggling News

On May 21, an East Bay Democrat in the state Legislature revealed details of a hard-won collaboration between California and Google aimed at providing financial support to the state’s news media, a sector that has significantly declined in the digital era.

Critics, including a former state senator, argue the deal falls short of earlier proposals that would have required Google and other tech giants to compensate publishers for using their content or collecting data.

California Launches Civic Media Fund with Google’s Support to Aid News Industry

On Wednesday, State Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, a Democrat from Oakland and Richmond, announced the launch of the California Civic Media Fund. This collaboration between Google, the news industry, and philanthropic groups will distribute a mix of public and private funding to media organizations. It will also support an AI “innovation accelerator” to develop newsroom tools, according to a spokesperson for Wicks.

The initiative has the backing of Governor Gavin Newsom. According to CalMatters, Google spent $10.7 million last year lobbying against legislative efforts to regulate tech giants and shift focus to the challenges facing journalism.

However, the current partnership allocates significantly less funding to newsrooms than what Wicks, Google, and Newsom initially envisioned in their August agreement.

Alphabet Commits $10 Million to Media Fund, Continues Support for Google News Initiative

Alphabet, Google’s parent company, has committed at least $10 million to fund the project in its first year. According to a news release from Assemblymember Wicks’ office, the tech giant—valued at $2.05 trillion—might also contribute additional matching funds if they secure further public, private, or philanthropic contributions.

According to Axios, Alphabet has announced it will continue backing other programs, such as the Google News Initiative, despite previously considering shutting it down due to regulatory actions from lawmakers.

The current deal falls well short of Google’s earlier promise in August to contribute $250 million over five years to the media fund and support the AI accelerator. However, the company may increase its contributions in the future.

State Funding for Journalism Fund Reduced Amid Budget Deficit

Governor Gavin Newsom has also scaled back the state’s financial commitment. Last week, he reduced proposed funding for the journalism fund from $30 million to $10 million for the 2025–26 fiscal year, citing a $12 billion state deficit. His office attributed the shortfall to former President Donald Trump’s tariffs and increased Medi-Cal spending. The revised funding still requires approval from the Democratic-majority Legislature.

Wicks’ spokesperson, Erin Ivie, described the initiative as a “good start” in an email Wednesday.

“We’re focused on what’s achievable, and right now that means delivering real support for newsrooms—even if it doesn’t meet the goals of past proposals,” she said. “Something is better than nothing, and this sets the stage for greater investment in the future.”

“We appreciate Governor Newsom and Assemblymember Wicks for advancing the framework established last year,” said Jaffer Zaidi, Alphabet’s vice president of global news partnerships, in a statement. “We’re committed to making this initiative a success and are pleased to match California’s initial contribution to the Civic Media Fund as outlined in the agreement.”

Last year, Assemblymember Wicks introduced AB 886, the Journalism Preservation Act, modeled after similar laws in Canada and Australia that would require tech giants to pay news outlets for their content. Former East Bay Senator Steve Glazer, who recently left office, introduced SB 1327, which aimed to support media organizations through a tax on the collection of user data.

Tech Industry Pushback vs. Publishers’ Claims on Revenue and Content Usage

Tech companies pushed back strongly against both proposals. The Chamber of Progress, a tech industry advocacy group, criticized them as a “link-tax-funded news bailout.”

Publishers, however, argue that dominant platforms like Google and Meta profit from using news content while siphoning off advertising revenue. They claim most users get the information they need from search snippets, which reduces traffic to news sites. Even when users do click through, publishers say Google’s control over digital ad infrastructure means it captures the bulk of the ad revenue.

Speaking to the Bay Area News Group on Wednesday, Glazer said his proposal would have provided California newsrooms with $500 million annually through a tax credit.

In a text message, he criticized the new deal as “a 1% solution that will do little to stop the steep decline of independent local journalism in California.”

He added, “The only real path to reviving local news is requiring tech platforms to financially offset the harm they’ve caused to news advertising. They’ve collected personal data from Californians without compensation and used it to divert ad revenue that has funded journalism for generations.”

Chuck Champion, president of the California News Publishers Association, declined to comment publicly.

California Media Fund Oversight

The media fund will be managed by the California State Library and guided by a nine-member advisory board that includes representatives from newspaper publishers, media organizations, the state library, and the Media Guild of the West, a union representing newsroom employees.

Former Senator Glazer expressed concern that placing the fund under the oversight of the California State Librarian—an appointee of the governor—could allow for political influence in how the money is allocated.

Anthony York, a consultant and former spokesperson for Governor Newsom who helped negotiate the agreement, said the process for approving funding could be adjusted in response to concerns about political bias.

“We’re open to adding more safeguards—the goal is to ensure public oversight of public funds,” York said.

The original August agreement had proposed that the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism administer the fund. It remains unclear why decision-makers ultimately chose the California State Library instead. York said he didn’t know, and Wicks’ office did not provide an explanation.

Read the original article on: Tech Xplore

Read more: Google hits 150M Subscribers, Thanks to AI