The Journalism Competition and Preservation Act of 2019 is currently making its way through Congress and if passed, would be a massive blow to small media companies.

According to govtrack.us, the bill creates a four-year safe harbor from antitrust laws for print or digital news companies to collectively negotiate with online social media companies regarding the terms on which the news companies’ content may be distributed by online content distributors.

A report published by Breitbart this week criticizes the bill, saying it would give Big Media companies a special exemption from antitrust law, allowing them to form a cartel, meaning big companies would maintain prices at a high level while restricting the competition.

“Why should these establishment news companies be given a special exemption from antitrust law to negotiate on their own behalf something that applies only to their select few and not to all news companies and journalists? Of course, they should not,” Brietbart wrote.

In addition, the bill would allow for bigger media companies to exclude smaller companies from the cartel.

According to Breitbart, if the bill is passed, there would be nothing to stop the formation of an cartel that includes CNN, NBC, MSNBC, the New York Times, the Washington Post and other big media companies, while excluding smaller competitors in the independent media, such as local newspapers.

This bill would leave journalism in the hands of Big Tech by allowing the government to give them special exemption from antitrust laws.

The corporate media, which leans left, is pushing for this bill.

Breitbart is calling for this bill to be opposed at all costs.

“Conservatives who want to empower the establishment media which has too often made clear their intention to destroy conservatives are just sowing the seeds of their own destruction.”

Follow Annaliese Levy on Twitter @AnnalieseLevy