Let Big Tech pay for local news.

Local news publishers in America are struggling – and it’s not for lack of news to report, it’s not because of a loss of audience or public trust. Publishers are simply not getting paid for their journalism because Big Tech is abusing its market power to extort billions of dollars in online advertising. Bipartisan legislation in Congress will help level the playing field so these newsrooms can continue to serve their communities.

Healthy newsrooms are critical to an informed citizenry and democracy. But increasingly, the news market has already determined winners and losers. About half of all US counties have only one newspaper. More than 200 counties have no local news coverage. That means no steady eye on the mayor’s or city budgets, no coverage of county sheriffs or elections, and no local lens on state and national issues that affect local populations.

The irony is that just as the need for news and information is as pressing as ever, communities are losing their voice. Media organizations reach a rapidly growing news audience of 136 million US adults each week. However, since 2005, revenue for US news publications has fallen 58 percent. Between 2004 and 2018, newspaper newsroom employment fell by nearly half, according to the Pew Research Center. How can news organizations lose money as traffic to news sites increases? Simple: The people producing this news are not being paid.

These publications provide the content needed to capture the audience of major online platforms like Google and Facebook. According to the News/Media Alliance, a publishers’ trade group, up to 40% of Google searches are news content. However, these major platforms take up to 70% of every dollar spent on digital advertising, leaving only 30% for publishers. These companies use their enormous quasi-monopoly power to dictate how locally produced journalism is viewed and monetized. Big Tech profits from these reporters, editors and photographers, but it doesn’t pay these newsrooms to do all this.

Legislation in the House and Senate, called the Journalism Competition and Protection Act, seeks to bring some fair play to the market. It creates a temporary window for publishers to negotiate with online platforms to use locally produced journalism. The goal is a fair distribution of fees that reflects the investments a news organization makes. Ultimately, readers will be better served.

This is a sensible, fair and measured approach. The 64 incumbents in the House include Democrats Kathy Castor of Tampa and Republicans Gus Bilirakis of Palm Harbor and Vern Buchanan and Greg Stubb of Sarasota. And hardly revolutionary. In April, Canada passed a law forcing platforms like Facebook and Google to negotiate with news publishers, joining other countries including Australia, France and Spain that believe Big Tech should pay for this content.

While partisanship may have clouded Americans’ views of the Washington, D.C., and national media, studies show that Americans still rely heavily on their local news sources. Local newspapers are not looking for special treatment, just the right opportunity to protect their information and brands, compensation for their work, and what we in the industry believe is the champion of democracy.

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Editorials are the institutional voice of the Tampa Bay Times. Members of the Editorial Board are Editorial Editors Graham Brink, Sherry Day, Sebastian Dortch, John Hill, Jim Verhulst and Chairman and CEO Conan Galati. follow @TBtimes_Opinion For more comment news on Twitter.