In a bipartisan effort to support and preserve journalism, members of Congress on Wednesday introduced a bill that would allow small news publishers to collectively negotiate with tech giants such as Google and Facebook for their share of digital advertising profits. The proposed legislation (pdf), formally called the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act, was introduced by House Antitrust Subcommittee Chairman David Cicilline (D-R.I.) and ranking member Ken Buck (R-Colo.). Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and John Kennedy (R-La.) introduced a companion bill in the Senate. “One of the bedrock values of our country is a free press, but we have seen thousands of news organizations crushed by the monopolistic power of Big Tech,” Buck said in a statement. Citing a Pew Research Center survey conducted last year, the lawmakers noted that nearly 90 percent of Americans rely on digital devices to get their news on a day to day basis. Facebook …