Media companies are calling on the re-elected Albanese government to fix the News Media Bargaining Code.
Executives are concerned that, despite the announcement of the News Bargaining Incentive (NBI) in December, the government is dragging its feet on enforcing measures to make big tech companies pay for news content.
Nine CEO Matt Stanton said Labor’s landslide victory should give Albanese the confidence to “act decisively” and finalise its proposed incentive to fix the News Media Bargaining Code.
“At Nine, we know Australians deeply value our journalism and we know it brings real commercial value to social and tech platforms too. Like any intellectual property it should be fairly paid for,” he told AdNews.
“Our sincere hope is that there isn’t too much delay or drawn out consultation because that only suits the interests of those parties that are keen to see the Code gather dust on the shelf.”
The News Media Bargaining Code was introduced by the Morrison government in 2021 to address the power imbalance between platforms and publishers.
When the government introduced the media bargaining bill Meta and Google agreed to pay Australian publishers more than $200 million a year for their content.
But in March last year, Meta announced that it wouldn’t renew its deals, prompting a Senate inquiry which found the Code was “broken”.
Minister for financial services Stephen Jones said the code had limitations, admitting “it allows platforms to avoid their obligations by removing news".
Media companies, which have together lost millions in revenue, are concerned that Albanese didn’t mention the “incentive” this campaign.
Seven West Media CEO Jeff Howard is calling on the prime minister to support a regulatory framework capable of sustaining and growing the Australian free-to-air television industry.
“We are calling on the Albanese government to act in the best interests of the Australian people to support their access to trusted and reliable news services by promptly incentivising the digital platforms to renew their commercial deals,” he told AdNews.
“We look forward to seeing more detail, but at this stage we are buoyed by the fact that the Treasury has said the charge on digital platforms will be assessed against their gross revenue attributable to Australian markets.”
News Corp Australia executive chairman Michael Miller is also pushing for the government to take action.
“More than a year has passed since our political leaders affirmed their determination that deals be renewed,” Miller told The Australian Financial Review.
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