Starting next year, California will become the first state in the nation to fund journalism and AI research through a multimillion-dollar partnership with Google.
The historic partnership with the state, news publishers, major tech companies and philanthropy, will provide nearly $250 million in public and private funding over the next five years, with the majority of funding going to newsrooms.
"This agreement represents a major breakthrough in ensuring the survival of newsrooms and bolstering local journalism across California — leveraging substantial tech industry resources without imposing new taxes on Californians," Governor Gavin Newsom said in a statement. "The deal not only provides funding to support hundreds of new journalists but helps rebuild a robust and dynamic California press corps for years to come, reinforcing the vital role of journalism in our democracy."
The goal is to front-load $100 million in the first year to kick-start the efforts, set to begin in 2025, according to Democratic Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, who brokered the deal.
The proposal was created in response to an Assembly bill aimed at undoing the damage Google's search monopoly has done to news outlets' ad revenue. In April, Google began to remove news from its search results for California residents in an attempt to quash the legislation, which would force the tech giant to pay publishers for selling ads against their news content.
Wicks pointed to a Northwestern University study published last year, which found an average of two-and-a-half newspapers in the U.S. close every week, and that our nation has lost two-thirds of its newspaper journalists since 2005. California has lost more than 100 newspapers in the last decade alone.
The new suite of initiatives includes multi-faceted support for publishers across California to address challenges that have impacted the depth and breadth of news coverage. They will help ensure the sustainability of existing and new online publications – with an emphasis on small, local outlets and community-facing journalism.
California news publishers will be the beneficiaries of a News Transformation Fund, to be administered by the UC Berkeley School of Journalism. The funding will include contributions from technology platforms and the State of California, supporting innovative new investments that promote local journalism -- particularly those serving local news deserts, underserved and underrepresented communities, and outlets that prioritize California coverage.
"This partnership represents a cross-sector commitment to supporting a free and vibrant press, empowering local news outlets up and down the state to continue in their essential work," Wicks said in a statement. "This is just the beginning."
The deal also includes funding to create a new National AI Innovation Accelerator, which will provide financial resources and other support to researchers and businesses from across all industries to experiment with AI to assist them in their work.
Officials have not yet revealed exactly how the funds will be allocated to newsrooms, which news organizations would be eligible, or how much money would go to the AI accelerator program.
And not everyone is on board. Some state leaders are criticizing the deal as not going far enough, while others say it doesn't provide a long-term solution.
"Despite the good intentions of the parties involved, this proposal does not provide sufficient resources to bring independent news gathering in California out of its death spiral," State Sen. Steve Glazer said in a statement. "This agreement, unfortunately, seriously undercuts our work toward a long term solution to rescue independent journalism."