A4
OPINION
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, November 23, 2022
OTHER VIEWS
Big tech uses
journalism,
big tech should
pay for it
T
he power that Google and Facebook have over economic and polit-
ical power in society — especially over the news industry — has
caught the attention of lawmakers in Washington, D.C. After a
close election and many worries over the quality of pub-
lic debate, many ask if social media have played a role in
the misinformation that erodes our free press and plagues
our democracy.
Nowhere is this power more daunting than in the
social media giants’ use of news organizations’ report-
ing, which the platforms use without compensation to
journalists. Google and Facebook have a duopoly of the
Galer
distribution of digital news content, which drives peo-
ple to the social media platforms where the owners
make money. The platforms hoard critical data and use clever tactics, like
reframing stories in rich previews, to keep users on their sites — siphon-
ing off the advertising revenue that small and local publishers need.
Every hour that goes by, Google and Facebook generate millions of
dollars in U.S. advertising revenue. That amount could fund dozens of
local journalists. But local newspapers in many communities that are
funding the people who report on fair and free elections are struggling to
meet payroll.
It is time for a change, before we head into another brutal and divi-
sive election season leading up to the 2024 elections. America needs real,
factual and independent news reporting more than ever. While national
media may be treated with skepticism, research shows that local news
media are generally trusted. But will they have the revenue to do the job?
Congress must take action to curb undue infl uence of Big Tech on the
news media industry and make sure the work of local news-gatherers is
fairly compensated. The Journalism Competition and Preservation Act
aims to do just that.
The JCPA is specifi cally designed to make sure Google and Facebook
pay for what they use. The proposed legislation would provide a tem-
porary, limited antitrust safe harbor for small and local news publishers
to collectively negotiate with Facebook and Google for fair compensa-
tion for the use of journalists’ content. The policy also incentivizes and
rewards publishers who invest in their journalists and newsroom person-
nel, awarding outlets with demonstrated investments in their staff a larger
portion of the funds that result from the negotiations.
By addressing Google’s and Facebook’s monopoly power and ensur-
ing more subscription and advertising dollars fl ow back to publishers, the
JCPA not only protects and promotes quality news, but also encourages
competition. Congress has made progress on this legislation. It should fi n-
ish the job before the end of the year.
John Galer is the chair of the National Newspaper Association, a
137-year-old organization representing community newspapers. Galer
publishes newspapers in central Illinois.
OFF THE BEATEN PATH
Memories of a list-maker
I
confess.
I’m a compulsive list-maker.
Someone mentions a drive
into town and I grab paper and pen-
cil and hand them a what-we-need
list: lawn rake, lawnmower fuel,
milk, bread, chili peppers, wild bird
seed, booklet titled “Attracting Birds
to Your Backyard.”
A week later someone says,
“I’m running some errands. Need
anything?”
I hand them my list: apples, car-
rots, laundry soap, antacids, booklet
titled “Removing Birds’ Nests from
Your Chimney.”
Who needs sheep to count at
bedtime? I mentally make a list all
of the nuts I can think of: walnut, fi l-
bert, pecan, almond, peanut — wait,
I think that’s a legume — cashews,
zzzzz.
List-making can come in handy.
One year, employees where I
worked attended a seminar in a
stuff y room at a convention cen-
ter. The topic — as interesting as
oatmeal with no milk or fruit. The
employees struggled to keep their
attention focused during the morn-
ing lecture. After lunch, we reluc-
tantly returned to our seats in the
lecture hall — the air warm, moist,
and seemed to have most of the oxy-
gen sucked out. Records were set
for how fast the attendees were able
to prop up their bodies to give the
Sheriff was acting
within the law
WHERE TO WRITE
GRANT COUNTY
• Grant County Courthouse — 201 S.
Humbolt St., Suite 280, Canyon City 97820.
Phone: 541-575-0059. Fax: 541-575-2248.
• Canyon City — P.O. Box 276, Canyon City
97820. Phone: 541-575-0509. Fax: 541-575-
0515. Email: tocc1862@centurylink.net.
• Dayville — P.O. Box 321, Dayville 97825.
Phone: 541-987-2188. Fax: 541-987-2187.
Email: dville@ortelco.net
• John Day — 450 E. Main St, John Day,
97845. Phone: 541-575-0028. Fax: 541-575-
1721. Email: cityjd@centurytel.net.
• Long Creek — P.O. Box 489, Long Creek 97856.
Phone: 541-421-3601. Fax: 541-421-3075. Email:
info@cityofl ongcreek.com.
• Monument — P.O. Box 426, Monument
97864. Phone and fax: 541-934-2025. Email:
cityofmonument@centurytel.net.
• Mt. Vernon — P.O. Box 647, Mt. Vernon 97865.
Phone: 541-932-4688. Fax: 541-932-4222. Email:
cmtv@ortelco.net.
• Prairie City — P.O. Box 370, Prairie City 97869.
Phone: 541-820-3605. Fax: 820-3566. Email:
pchall@ortelco.net.
• Seneca — P.O. Box 208, Seneca 97873. Phone
and fax: 541-542-2161. Email: senecaoregon@
gmail.com.
SALEM
• Gov. Kate Brown, D — 254 State Capitol, Salem
97310. Phone: 503-378-3111. Fax: 503-378-6827.
Website: governor.state.or.us/governor.html.
• Oregon Legislature — State Capitol, Salem,
97310. Phone: 503-986-1180. Website: leg.state.
or.us (includes Oregon Constitution and Oregon
Revised Statutes).
• Oregon Legislative Information —
(For updates on bills, services, capitol or
messages for legislators) — 800-332-2313,
oregonlegislature.gov.
Blue Mountain
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Email: www.MyEagleNews.com
Phone: 541-575-0710
John Day, Oregon
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The hairs on my neck stood up.
My boss leaned over to my ear
and hissed, “What in the world are
you doing?” He scanned by bean
list.
I pulled out fresh paper and
attempted to sketch out the “excit-
ing-as-oatmeal” graph.
That incident did not discourage
me from list-making.
One of my most rewarding lists:
a list of people to send thank-you
notes to.
Several people on my thank-you
list had retired or I knew years ago.
Some tips I learned: Don’t make this
a guessing game. Remind the recip-
ient where I knew them (school,
work, neighborhood, etc.), the time
frame, and maiden name if needed.
Thank you notes are NOT a
graded English essay. I try to make
the list doable, the message simple.
Examples: “Thanks for … I
learned … You inspired me to … I
remember …” and end with a thank-
you. Receiving a thank-you note in
the mail seems special. A text mes-
sage or email — better than nothing.
Time to make more lists: garden
seeds for next summer, this month’s
family birthdays, 25 ways to cook
with oatmeal.
Jean Ann Moultrie is a Grant
County writer. She notes peanuts are
a legume but are counted as a nut as
they have nut-like characteristics.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
To the Editor:
From ORS 206.010:
General duties of sheriff : The
sheriff is the chief executive offi cer
and conservator of the peace of the
county. In the execution of the offi ce
of sheriff , it is the sheriff ’s duty to:
1) Arrest and commit to prison
all persons who break the peace, or
attempt to break it, and all persons
guilty of public off enses.
2) Defend the county against
those who, by riot or otherwise,
endanger the public peace or safety.
Sheriff McKinley was within
the laws set forth for sheriff s in the
county in the state of Oregon, which
he serves.
Marsha Christensen
John Day
Urban renewal is
legal, benefi cial
To the Editor:
In his recent letter to the edi-
tor, Mr. Tom Sutton questioned the
legality of John Day’s urban renewal
agency. He claimed it siphoned tax
dollars from other cities, including
Canyon City, Mt. Vernon, Dayville,
Monument and Long Creek.
Nope.
He further questioned whether
a taxing district could be sued for
“spending money” outside the scope
of its mission.
Wrong again.
This is, sadly, another example
of misinformation working hard in
Grant County.
There are 137 urban renewal
agencies in Oregon. All are orga-
nized and operate under the author-
ity of Oregon Revised Statute Chap-
ter 457 — Urban Renewal.
Urban renewal districts exist
in 28 of Oregon’s 36 counties.
Together, they receive about $300
million in yearly tax revenue,
roughly 4.5 percent of all property
taxes collected statewide. The aver-
L
impression they
were still alert, hid-
ing the fact most
had fallen asleep.
List-making
came to my res-
cue. I pulled out
Jean Moultrie paper and pen, and
began writing a list
of every dried bean a person could
have in their kitchen pantry: pinto,
kidney, garbanzo, small red, large
lima, small lima …
The instructor droned on. “As
shown on this graph, although hard
to see, the trend …”
At that point, I wasn’t sure if
he had mentioned oatmeal; prob-
ably not. I continued my list-mak-
ing, writing even faster before I for-
got bean names coming to my mind:
fava, black bean, white bean, navy
… I covered my list with my arms
in case a co-worker would arouse
from a terminal case of heavy bore-
dom and glance at the list.
Should the boss in the back of
the room spot me writing away, I
didn’t want to overdo the enthusi-
asm, only look like a conscientious
employee taking lecture notes.
I started to lag a little until
the presenter displayed two more
unreadable graphs. I got my second
wind: soy bean, adzuki bean …
Sometimes a person can sense a
presence before actually seeing it.
age district receives $2 million a
year.
John Day’s urban renewal district
is relatively small by comparison.
It nets about $65,000 a year. That
amount is expected to increase as the
agency’s mission is fulfi lled, which
is to address blighted conditions that
have led to the underproduction of
housing and buildable lands in Grant
County.
And it is working.
John Day’s urban renewal district
has incentivized a dozen new dwell-
ing units and about a hundred new
lots currently under construction in
three new subdivisions — Ironwood
Estates, Holmstrom Heights and The
Ridge.
Each lot will create about $600 in
new taxes and an additional $3,000
once the homes are built. As a result,
tax receipts will grow to $300,000 a
year once 100 new homes are built
— doubling our current tax base.
These funds will be available
to every tax jurisdiction currently
deferring revenue once the incen-
tives are repaid.
So to answer Mr. Sutton’s
questions:
No. It doesn’t siphon tax reve-
nue. It creates it, which is the whole
point.
No. You can’t take legal action
against an agency for using a lawful
process to create economic value.
Yes, John Day’s city council had
the foresight to address a critical
housing shortage for our residents
and workers. They shouldn’t be crit-
icized for that. If you’re thanking
anyone, it should be them.
Nick Green
John Day
I stand behind
Sheriff McKinley
To the Editor:
When taking offi ce as the elected
Grant County sheriff , Todd McKin-
ley swore to uphold law enforce-
ment code of ethics: My funda-
mental duty is to serve society; to
safeguard lives and property, to pro-
tect the innocent against decep-
tion, the weak against oppression or
intimidation, the peaceful against
violence or disorder; and to respect
the constitutional rights of all peo-
ple to liberty, equality, and jus-
tice. On Oct. 19, Sheriff McKinley
did exactly what he was sworn to
do, even though that meant going
against an employee of the U.S.
government that is protected by a
union representing over 110,000
federal employees.
We as the citizens of the U.S.
have quietly sat by for too long
when it comes to allowing those
who we pay, through our taxes, to
manage our lands to do whatever
they want whenever they want. As
their employer we never hold them
accountable for destroying our land
and the lands of those neighbor-
ing federal lands. What if the Hol-
liday Ranch would have begun a
prescribed burn that day that trav-
eled onto the USFS land? Would
the USFS have them arrested for
non-control of a fi re, maybe even
charge them with arson?
It goes further than the burning
of our timber and grasslands. As a
result of terrible decisions to sup-
posedly improve creeks for fi sh,
the USFS and the Department of
Fish and Wildlife have defaced the
creeks in the Galena area to the
point where they have destroyed
the meadows along the creeks.
Their poor management of our for-
est lands have caused many fi res to
spread quickly, making it increas-
ingly harder to extinguish. As a
USFS employee in the 1960s, we
never saw fi res grow like they do
now. The timber was thinned and
harvested, keeping fi res to minimal
growth, and we jumped on them
quickly.
I am now 81 and have held jobs
continuously since I was 14. I have
always been, and expected to be,
held accountable for any mistakes I
may have made at any job.
I fi rmly stand behind Sheriff
McKinley!
Rusty Clark
Monument
ETTERS POLICY: Letters to the Editor is a forum for Blue Mountain Eagle readers to express themselves on local, state,
national or world issues. Brevity is good, but longer letters will be asked to be contained to 350 words. No personal
attacks; challenge the opinion, not the person. No thank-you letters. Submissions to this page become property of the Eagle.
The Eagle reserves the right to edit letters for length and for content. Letters must be original and signed by the writer.
Anonymous letters will not be printed. Writers should include a telephone number so they can be reached for questions. We
must limit all contributors to two letters per person per month. Deadline is 5 p.m. Friday. Send letters by email to editor@
bmeagle.com; by mail to Blue Mountain Eagle, 195 N. Canyon Blvd., John Day, OR 97845; or by fax to 541-575-1244.