With many of the more than 30 agreements struck by Meta and Google with Australian news media organisations due to expire in 2024 the government's decision to strengthen controls is timely and welcome.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The government's adoption of all five recommendations from the recently completed News Bargaining Code review is likely to see more digital media platforms being required to pay for news content.
Google and Meta are the only platforms to have been designated under the code since it came into effect in 2022.
Noting that that the code lacked a formal mechanism to extend its coverage to other platforms, the review recommended the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission use its compulsory information gathering powers to prepare "periodic reports" on which digital platforms should be covered.
While, as Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones, has said, the government already has the power to designate platforms the ACCC's reports would streamline the process by providing an evidentiary basis.
Although Google and Meta - which owns Facebook and Instagram - were strongly resistant to the then Morrison government's decision to make them pay for the use of third-party media content they have come to the bargaining table, albeit with mixed results.
SBS, Southern Cross Austereo and nine smaller media organisations have been unable to reach agreements with Meta which appears to be cherry picking which organisations it will work with.
"Meta advised SBS ... that it would not be entering negotiations for a commercial arrangement for news content," SBS said.
The Conversation and Commercial Radio Australia reported similar experiences.
"Few benefits have been received ... 90 per cent of commercial radio networks have been unable to strike a deal with Google and 95 per cent ... with Meta," CRA said.
The decision to grant the Australian Communications and Media Authority the power to consider "administrative issues" would appear to give organisations that are being stonewalled somewhere to turn.
The review has wisely chosen to ignore calls for the Code to make media organisations spend money received from digital platforms specifically on "public interest journalism".
"A requirement to spend remuneration on core news content could ... have unintended consequences. For example, it could prevent a news business placing itself on a more secure footing," it found.
This acknowledges the code was never intended to redistribute resources across the news sector or to guarantee all news businesses receive funding.
"Other policy and funding tools are available to achieve these objectives should the government wish to pursue them," the review found.
These government tools include more than 200 grants totalling $15 million for print publishers announced in May last year.
While that assistance is welcome it is a drop in the bucket given the impact soaring newsprint costs are having on the sector however.
READ MORE:
One of the best and most effective ways the government could support regional journalism would be to redirect some of the $50 million a year it is spending on digital advertising back to newspapers.
That would be a win-win given regional and country mastheads are trusted voices with the ability to carry messages into the hearts of the communities they serve.
This could deliver much better value for money, especially in communities with large numbers of readers who don't spend hours every day looking at their smartphones.
