Oregon has a rare chance to rebuild trust in local news

In a recent editorial, the owner of one of Oregon’s newest media outlets, Lookout Eugene-Springfield, argued against a bill that would require tech giants like Google and Meta to compensate local news organizations for the content their platforms profit from to make their products useful. Why would a local newsroom oppose legislation that could direct millions toward supporting local journalism? His reasoning: “First, do no harm.” Because Meta has threatened to block news links if Senate Bill 686 passes, and because platforms like Facebook and Google are central to how people access information, he argued that the risk of losing that visibility outweighs the potential gains.

But rather than debate whether powerful tech companies should be protected from accountability because they might retaliate, let’s focus on what this line of thinking leaves out: It narrows our vision of the reliable news and information ecosystem, and what it could become.