"Gov. Gavin Newsom's budget proposal includes no money for a fund formed last year to boost the state's local newsrooms, casting doubt on whether a heralded effort to help California journalists will amount to anything and how serious Newsom is about supporting the struggling industry. It's a significant walkback from an August 2024 deal between state leaders and Google in which they agreed to jointly spend $175 million over five years to fund local journalism."
"The deal, which Newsom hailed as a "major breakthrough in ensuring the survival of newsrooms" at the time, was reached after Google spent a record sum - $11 million - lobbying state lawmakers successfully to drop two proposals that would have forced Google to pay newsrooms for using their content. Under the agreement, the state would pay $70 million and Google $55 million into the newly established California Civic Media Fund for local news outlets."
"But in May 2025, citing budget restraints, Newsom slashed the state's first-year commitment to just $10 million for fiscal year 2025-26, with no future state funding guaranteed. Google subsequently said it would match the state's $10 million investment but no more. Google was clear in the deal that "its contributions were contingent" on state funding, similar to its journalism funding deal in Canada, said Erin Ivie, spokesperson for Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, an Oakland Democrat who brokered the deal in 2024."
Newsom's budget omits funding for the California Civic Media Fund, reversing a 2024 agreement that pledged $175 million over five years to support local news. The original deal allocated $70 million from the state and $55 million from Google, with Google also maintaining $10 million in annual newsroom grants. After heavy Google lobbying that helped defeat proposals to make the company pay for news content, Newsom cut the state's first-year commitment to $10 million for 2025-26 and offered no future guarantees. Google matched the $10 million but conditioned further contributions on continued state funding. None of the pledged $20 million has reached local outlets.
Read at San Jose Inside
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