Alright, so get this: a bunch of people gathered at Made By Google for some new product announcements on August 13, 2024. Just imagine the excitement in the air as everyone waited to see what Google had up its sleeve this time. The photo by Juliana Yamada captures the scene perfectly, don’t you think?
Now, here’s the scoop: Google and California decided to throw $45 million into supporting local news outlets to avoid any pesky regulations. Sounds like a pretty sweet deal, right? Well, turns out they’re starting with only half of that amount. Google had promised $15 million but ended up cutting it down to $10 million for the struggling California news outlets. I mean, hey, $5 million is $5 million, am I right?
The California Civic Media Fund is the new kid on the block, and it’s getting $10 million from Google to help out those news publishers. Governor Gavin Newsom had to slash the state’s share from $30 million to $10 million due to a massive budget deficit of $12 billion. Yikes. But hey, at least there’s some money trickling in to sustain and enhance community news coverage in California, thanks to Assemblymember Buffy Wicks and her team.
