{"id":12162,"date":"2022-02-01T09:00:18","date_gmt":"2022-02-01T14:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsmediaalliance.org\/?p=12162"},"modified":"2025-02-07T17:03:30","modified_gmt":"2025-02-07T22:03:30","slug":"release-research-report-shows-negative-impact-of-big-tech-on-minority-owned-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsmediaalliance.org\/release-research-report-shows-negative-impact-of-big-tech-on-minority-owned-media\/","title":{"rendered":"Research Report Shows Negative Impact of Big Tech on Minority-Owned Media"},"content":{"rendered":"

While causing harm to all news publishers, tech platforms disproportionately harm publications owned by and targeting non-white Americans.<\/em><\/h4>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE<\/p>\n

Arlington, VA \u2013 Today the American Economic Liberties Project, MediaJustice and the News Media Alliance jointly published a new report, \u201cMinority-Owned Media and the Digital Duopoly<\/a>,\u201d which examines the history of minority-owned media and the impact of the ascendance of big tech platforms, such as Facebook and Google, on minority-owned outlets and those targeting underrepresented communities.<\/p>\n

Through an extensive research and information-gathering effort that included conducting interviews with several representatives from minority-owned news outlets, the report demonstrates how minority-owned media\u2019s continued survival \u2013 as well as the addition of new outlets \u2013 is being threatened by the digital platforms\u2019 anticompetitive practices.<\/p>\n

The report states, \u201cThe U.S. Census Bureau projects that racial minorities \u2013 primarily Blacks, Asians, Native Americans and Hispanics \u2013 will constitute the majority of the population by 2045. Given the unique challenges and the strong legacy of many minority-owned publications, the need for their survival is acute.\u201d<\/p>\n

Report author Pamela Newkirk, PhD \u2013 a journalist, author and professor \u2013 interviewed Dr. Benjamin Chavis, president and CEO of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA); Joel Dreyfuss, former managing editor of The Root<\/em>; Akoto Ofori-Atta, co-founder and executive editor of Capital B; Mark Trahant, editor of Indian Country Today<\/em>; and Omar Wasow, co-founder of Black Planet.<\/p>\n

As with local newspapers, niche publications aimed at certain racial or ethnic groups provide high value to their communities, sharing what is happening locally, nationally, and internationally that impacts their readers\u2019 daily lives. However, unfortunately, they also have been hard-hit by the transition to a digital advertising marketplace that is dominated by the Duopoly.<\/p>\n

\u201cFacebook and Google\u2019s dominance over online advertising poses an existential threat to journalism \u2013 and specifically to media owned by and designed to serve communities of color,\u201d said Nidhi Hegde, Co-Lead of the American Economic Liberties Project\u2019s Access to Markets program. \u201cWithout an open and competitive advertising market, minority-owned publishers cannot generate the revenue they need to survive, and Black and brown entrepreneurs cannot start and grow new media ventures. The way to spur innovation and protect critical civic arenas for communities of color is to break Facebook and Google\u2019s monopoly power.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the digital age, companies like Facebook and Google have reshaped where people get their information. Similar to traditional media gatekeepers, these tech companies systemically block people of color from owning and controlling our own stories while amplifying hateful content and disinformation that further harms our communities,” said Steven Renderos, Executive Director at MediaJustice. Marginalizing people of color is profitable for these tech platforms, and that\u2019s why we need solutions that think beyond the current gatekeepers into a future where alternative newspapers and press can reach our communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

News Media Alliance Executive Vice President & General Counsel, Danielle Coffey, said, \u201cWe are currently facing a crisis in which our valued news publications are suffering from a dire lack of financial resources needed to survive. Two dominant tech companies \u2013 Google and Facebook \u2013 are forcing everyone to play by their rules, using news publishers\u2019 content to fill their platforms without offering fair or adequate compensation. Without immediate intervention to correct this market imbalance, we run the risk of these publications \u2013 including minority-owned outlets \u2013 fading into history, their legacy forgotten, their future ability to provide critical, high-quality news to underrepresented communities going with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

The report concludes, \u201cThe ascendance of Facebook and Google threatens the viability of the entire news industry and exacerbates the structural inequities \u2013 including a disparity in advertising dollars, resources and access to capital \u2013 that have long plagued minority media. These persisting inequities, which require a reconsideration of a broad set of public policies and practices, are now compounded by minority publishers\u2019 reliance on the very platforms that have upended and circumvented the role of the press as independent watchdogs in a democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Economic Liberties, MediaJustice and the Alliance, in a separate Overview & Introduction to the report, made the following recommendations based on the report\u2019s conclusions:<\/p>\n