Meta’s dumping of content deals with publishers will cost jobs, says Country Press Australia

Country Press Australia says Facebook parent Meta’s decision to abandon payment-for-content deals will cost jobs in regional Australia and impinge the public’s right to know.

Country Press Australia has condemned the actions of Meta to abandon payment-for-content deals with news publishers and says many jobs will be lost in the regions as a result.

Andrew Schreyer, the president of CPA, which represents 230 regional and local newspapers across Australia, said the move by Meta – the parent company of Facebook – would severely impact the news industry.

“Meta’s actions undermine our democracy … the company displays such disdain for the work of the news industry,” he told The Australian.

“It undermines public confidence in the media sector.”

Mr Schreyer, who is also Warragul and Drouin Gazette general manager, said the CPA subcommittee would hold an urgent meeting on Monday to discuss the effects of Meta’s decision and what steps to take next.

The content deals are understood to be worth close to $250m a year for local news publishers and many media outlets, including News Corp Australia, publisher of The Australian, as well as Nine Entertainment, Seven West Media and the ABC have been critical of Meta’s move.

Mr Schreyer said regional journalism jobs would be lost, and many publishers were deeply concerned about their fate following’s Meta’s announcement on Friday to not renew existing deals to pay Australian publishers for news content.

“Jobs will definitely be lost, but it’s hard to put a number on this,” Mr Schreyer said.

“Given the already well-documented challenges our industry faces (major cost increases for newsprint, ink, energy and the decline in federal government advertising spend), this announcement will force many publishers to confront the issues ahead of them and cut staff.

“Reaction has been one of deep concern, and alarm.

“I fielded calls from publishers all afternoon Friday and Saturday as the news spread and publishers reached out.”

Country Press Australia president Andrew Schreyer.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Friday accused Meta of unconscionable conduct.

“The idea that one company can profit from others’ investment – not just investment in capital but investment in people – is unfair,” he said last week. “That’s not the Australian way.”

Mr Schreyer said the most popular Facebook pages in many regional and rural communities belonged to those of local news outlets and he rejected claims by Meta that people don’t go to Facebook for news or political content.

“What about in times of bushfire and floods? Local experience would suggest otherwise,” he said.

“If, by Meta’s own admission, Australians don’t go to Facebook for news or political content, then the federal government should heed the advice of Meta and immediately cease advertising on Meta’s platforms.”

He urged the federal government to “move swiftly and decisively” and give assurance to news publishers.

The nation’s largest media union, the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance, said Meta’s decision to abandon content deals when their three-year terms expired this year was a “damaging blow to the public’s right to be informed by trusted, quality journalism”.

MEAA media federal president Karen Percy said the move was “an arrogant act by a company with too much power that thinks it is beyond reach of any government”.

“Meta and Google make billions of dollars each year by monetising the traffic generated by news content on their sites and until the News Media Bargaining Code was in place, there was no compensation to media outlets,” she said.

ABC managing director David Anderson said the funding by the tech giants enabled the broadcaster to add 60 journalists to regional locations and increase presence in 10 new regional locations.

He said he was “deeply disappointed” by the decision and that the “ABC remains absolutely committed to journalism in regional, rural and remote Australia”.