Save Journalism Project Launches New Video Ad Exposing Dangers of Big Tech Monopolies
WASHINGTON, DC – On the heels of the House Judiciary Committee and ahead of the Congressional Baseball Game — co-sponsored by the Save Journalism Project — Save Journalism is launching a new digital advertising detailing the devastating impact of Google and Facebook’s grip on the journalism industry.
John Stanton, who was recently laid off from Buzzfeed, noted, “Big Tech companies like Google and Facebook have consumed approximately 60 percent of all digital ad revenue, making it difficult for even online news outlets with national reach to survive, let alone local ones. This revenue should not be lining the already full pockets of Big Tech companies; it should be funding the high-quality journalism that a healthy democracy requires. Big Tech is killing journalism and must be stopped.”
Full script follows below:
At the very core of American democracy and our Constitution is freedom of the press but over the last fifteen years the transition to digital media has ravaged traditional journalism.
Newsrooms are shutting their doors, journalists are being laid off, and local coverage is declining.
Newspapers who adapted to the digital landscape did so through advertising.
But now they’re closing down because revenue that normally funds local papers is going to Google and Facebook’s pockets instead.
Google and Facebook have consumed the digital landscape, and their hunger for more power continues to threaten local journalism.
They’re threatening accountability, democracy, and the Free Press.
The very things that journalism and this country were built on.
We can save journalism, but we need your help.