is long overdue, he said, and Congress must
determine whether the antitrust laws “are
equipped for the competition problems of our
modern economy.”
Cicilline noted the steep layoffs in the news
industry in recent years, saying the dominant
position of the online platforms in the
advertising market has created “an economic
catastrophe for news publishers, forcing them
to cut back on their investments in quality
journalism.” At the same time, he said, tech
platforms that are gateways to news online
“have operated with virtual immunity from the
antitrust laws.”
As a partial solution, Cicilline proposed
legislation to establish an antitrust exemption
that would allow news companies to band
together to negotiate revenue rates with big
tech platforms. He called it “a life support
measure, not the remedy for long-term health”
of the news business.
The senior Republican on the full committee,
Rep. Doug Collins of Georgia, said he backs
Cicilline’s proposal. Addressing the broader
question of antitrust, however, he said, “Big is
not necessarily bad,” adding that lawmakers
need to proceed cautiously.
The head of an association that represents
technology and telecom companies said the
government scrutiny of successful companies is
appropriate. However, an antitrust exemption for
the news industry wouldn’t solve the problem,
said Matt Schruer, vice president of the Computer
and Communications Industry Association.
Before the internet, “news publishers received
an exemption to deal with previous competitors
like radio and TV news (and they) have not
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