Various newspapers including The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal are calling for US federal lawmakers to make newspapers exempt from anti-trust laws. The newspapers have banded together to form a group called the News Media Alliance and are seeking permission to negotiate collectively against companies such as Google and Facebook. The News Media Alliance claims that it is currently difficult for individual newspapers to negotiate effectively with the technology super-giants, but that as a group they will have more clout. The News Media Alliance has said that it wants “stronger intellectual property protections, better support for subscription models and a fair share of revenue and data”. A spokesperson said: “The unique role news media continue to play in American politics and history makes it crucial to ensure a fairer fight for revenue between news publishers and these massive information gateways”.
