Good afternoon! I’m back from a month of family leave and boy are my arms tired. The rest of me, too. Here are three Poynter stories worth your time this weekend.
Bill to force Google and Facebook to pay for news content wends its way toward center stage
The latest version of an act that could infuse billions of dollars from tech companies into the news industry to pay journalists over eight years will soon be considered by Congress.
The gist of the bill is that companies like Facebook and Google have benefited greatly from hosting news content and owe publishers for the service. The bill wouldn’t force tech companies to pay up directly, but rather would “waive antitrust laws and let news outlets create one or several ‘joint negotiating entities,’” Poynter media business analyst Rick Edmonds writes.
“In Australia, with one-twelfth the population of the U.S., outlets have realized $170 million,” Rick writes. An advocate for the bill “said that she would expect an agreement to generate billions of dollars, especially if it runs over eight years before sunsetting, as is envisioned.”
“The 35-page bill is headed for committee markup revisions in early September and then likely will be voted on by both the House and Senate,” Rick writes. We’ll soon see how it fares in the choppy waters before a big midterm election.
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Final edition of ‘Reliable Sources’ raises questions about CNN’s future
An uncommon scenario played out on national television on Sunday. As “Reliable Sources” host Brian Stelter appeared on his CNN show for the last time, he was able to address his viewers with a directness that most hosts aren’t granted.
“Stelter acknowledged on Sunday that it was unusual for a news network to allow a show to air one final time after announcing the show had been canceled,” Poynter senior media writer Tom Jones writes. “He called it a ‘super strange situation’ and said no one from CNN management reviewed his script ahead of time.”
Stelter didn’t waste the opportunity. Tom writes that he “appeared to send a message to his now former network and address his ousting by saying, ‘I know it’s not partisan to stand up for decency and democracy and dialogue. It’s not partisan to stand up to demagogues. It’s required. It’s patriotic. We must make sure we don’t give platforms to those who are lying to our faces. But we also must make sure we are representing the full spectrum of debate and representing what’s going on in this country and the world.’”
I’m sure more big changes are coming to CNN after its recent management shakeup. We’ll see in the coming weeks and months. Also, sheesh, I take a month off and CNN cancels the top media-focused show on cable news?
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After 15 years, PolitiFact hasn’t given up on facts; neither should you
It’s hard to imagine a media landscape without PolitiFact. But in the opening paragraph of an article celebrating a decade and a half of the fact-checking organization, founding editor Bill Adair forces us to do just that.
“When we launched PolitiFact in 2007, we were so unsure about its future that we had an escape hatch. If the fact-checking site didn’t catch on, we were going to bail out after just five months, after Florida held its presidential primary.”
They never used that escape hatch.
“And now,” Bill writes, “15 years later, PolitiFact is going strong. It has published more than 22,000 fact-checks, won a Pulitzer Prize and inspired dozens of similar sites around the world.”
Happy birthday, PolitiFact! I’ll try to make the 50-foot journey over to your office space to say hi more often.
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More from Poynter this week:
