Call to bring tech giants into line over news content now

Australian media companies have called for an urgent resolution to the debate over the failure of digital platforms to compensate news organisations for the use of their original content.

Campbell Reid of News Corp at the Senate inquiry on Friday. Picture: Gary Ramage

Australia’s largest media companies have called for an urgent resolution to the debate over the failure of digital platforms to compensate news organisations for the use of their original content, and reinforced their concerns that the market dominance of the tech giants is a serious threat to democracy.

Representatives from News Corp, the ABC, SBS, AAP, the Guardian, Nine and Free TV ­appeared at Friday’s Senate committee hearing into the federal government’s proposed mandatory media bargaining code, pleading a collective case for its introduction without delay.

“Open and effective democracies need real news and real news organisations are fighting for their survival,” News Corp senior executive Campbell Reid, told the hearing.

“The issue is urgent. As people embed digital consumption of news into their daily lives, a commercial model that allows the companies that pay for its creation to be fairly compensated must be found.

Mel Silva from Google, on screen, at Friday’s Senate committee hearing. Picture: Gary Ramage

“News supports the code and urges that it is legislated as soon as possible. We are genuinely open minded if there are clear opportunities to enhance its functionality, but we are staunchly opposed to attempts to undermine the spirit and the effectiveness of the code.”

Nine’s managing director of publishing, Chris Janz, cited concerns over Google’s so-called ­“experiment” last week, in which the company removed local news from the search results it presented to some Australians.

“It did so without giving any notice to the people affected,” Mr Janz said. “The impact of this decision was instant and disturbing. Instead of receiving critical updates from the ABC, 9 News, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald or The Australian some people searching for ‘coronavirus NSW’ received just a single news story at the top of their results — a three-week-old update from Al-Jazeera.

“Google’s ability to execute this so-called experiment demonstrates a truth at the core of the digital media ecosystem: you ­either play by their rules or not at all.”

Free TV chairman Greg Hywood said Google and Facebook “live off advertising”, and the while they deliver enormous traffic to news websites, “the digital platforms receive most of the financial benefit”.

“It is beyond time for this agreement to be put in place,’’ he said.

ABC director of strategy Mark Tapley said the national broadcaster supported the introduction of the code, as it would allow for increased investment in regional journalism.

“Where digital platforms are deriving value from the use of ABC news content on their platforms, the ABC and taxpayers have a legitimate interest in ensuring that a portion of that value is reinvested into ABC journalism,” he said.

“The ABC has publicly committed to reinvesting any additional revenue derived from negotiations under the code ­directly into its regional services.”

In response to a question from Labor senator Jenny McAllister, Mr Reid said the code’s passage would allow News Corp, which publishes The Australian, to hire “as many as possible” new journalists across the country.

AAP chief executive Emma Cowdroy also said the code would help publishers employ more journalists, including those in regional Australia.

Making reference to attempts by Google and Facebook to water down elements of the proposed law, Mr Reid said: “There may well be opportunities to improve the code, but we can’t allow refinements to undermine its core intention to provide a framework that creates an environment for successful negotiations between media companies and tech platforms.

“We are genuinely open-minded if there are clear opportunities to enhance it but we are staunchly opposed to attempts to undermine it either in spirit or its effectiveness.”