The First Amendment guarantees freedom of the press, but that core American liberty isn’t worth the parchment it’s printed on if brutal market conditions keep letting a few large internet companies vacuum up almost all the ad revenue while leaving relative scraps for those who deliver information on a daily and weekly and hourly basis to our communities. On average, two American newspapers are closing per week, and the parts of the country left bereft of solid local coverage tend to be poorer, older and less educated than the rest. This is a slow-motion civic emergency.

We in the media — who try to hold government accountable for the way it educates our kids, polices our communities, jails suspected criminals, cleans our streets and spends public money — are understandably wary of taxpayer-supported handouts. But a bipartisan alliance in Congress has hit upon a clever and effective way to give local news outlets a fighting chance to build sustainable funding streams: giving them “a four-year safe harbor” from antitrust laws so they can band together and collectively negotiate with the likes of Facebook and Google for better, fairer terms.

Since America’s founding, newspapers have played a vital role in keeping the public informed about what’s going on in the world.

Democracy depends on a reliable and shared set of facts in order for the public to exercise control over government and determine its future.

As we have seen all too clearly in recent years, that shared set of facts is increasingly elusive as the primary means by which news and information is delivered has shifted from publishers that gather and report the news to platforms that have built lucrative business models on other people’s content.

As an ever-increasing share of all advertising flows into the coffers of search and social media behemoths, little is left to support local news gathering, facts become scarce and propaganda prevails.

America’s free press is in crisis. Today, local journalism, which is necessary to maintaining an informed and active citizenry, is on life support.

Since the advent of the internet, Big Tech companies — namely Facebook and Google — have used their power to manipulate the online news industry for their own financial gain. They set the rules for how, where and when we see news content online and how much revenue is made, and the government has failed to step in.

By not negotiating with local and small news publishers on usage terms, and refusing to pay them fairly for their work, Big Tech has driven many local outlets out of business. And as newsrooms have downsized or shuttered, Big Tech has filled the void with untrustworthy sources.