At Wednesday's Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust, and Consumer Rights hearing on journalism, competition and the effects of market power on a free press, U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota), chairwoman of the subcommittee, highlighted how dominant online platforms’ advertising practices harm local news outlets.

“These Big Tech companies are not friends to journalism. They are raking in ad dollars while taking news content, feeding it to their users, and refusing to offer fair compensation,” Klobuchar said in her opening statement. “What does Big Tech’s dominance over the news mean for Americans? Less revenue for local news, fewer journalists to do in-depth high quality reporting, more exposure to misinformation and fewer reliable sources…That’s why we need to step in to level the playing field.”

Many of you reading this are aware of the importance of robust journalistic work, thanks in good part to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s “Press On” information campaign we began in 2021. Press On showcases our important duties – and the journalists who work hard to keep you informed about critical issues affecting our lives, such as the impact of COVID-19 or the steep rise in violent crime.

As editor Kevin Riley wrote at the launch of Press On, “Journalism is a fundamentally human endeavor. That is what sets us apart from the automated, repetitive news cycles that seem to have taken over. Across all our products, readers can expect to consistently find the extensive in-depth reporting of our journalists — the kind of hard work that only real journalists can do.”

Journalism can only achieve this important mission if the enterprises supporting this work are financially healthy. A big step toward helping ensure this outcome would be for Congress — and Georgia’s congressional delegation — to vote to pass the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act. The time for that is now — and passage should come without further delay.