EDITORIAL: Local media needs protection against big tech theft
Australians’ ability to have well-informed debates is vital to our democracy and relies heavily on this country’s journalists and media organisations providing the news and views that allow our system to work.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese got it right in a major speech last month about the onslaught of AI.
Mr Albanese argued Australian writers, musicians, artists and journalists must retain ownership and control of their work.
“No company should use Australian books, music, art or news to build or train AI without the artist’s control,” Mr Albanese said.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.That included control of the price and value of their work. “Anything less, is theft,” Mr Albanese said.
Indeed. Theft.
And yet theft of their news content is exactly what Australia’s journalists and media organisations have been battling since the rise of the global tech giants.
That rise has brought many problems.
Social media pours out wildly inaccurate, damaging misinformation.
And young people can be exposed to violent and sexualised content, and bullied — often with tragic consequences.
To combat this the Albanese Government introduced the world-leading social media ban for anyone under 16.
But there is also a need for protection against social media sites and search engines which have been able to plunder content produced by journalists in Australia without paying for it.
The Government has acknowledged there is a problem.
In April it released for consultation a plan under which big tech would have to pay the Government 2.25 per cent of their Australian revenue, unless they strike deals with media companies.
The Government would distribute this revenue to media organisations based on how many journalists they employed.
But the resulting re-write of the News Bargaining Incentive which was released on Monday falls short of what is required and looks like the Government has caved in to pressure from the tech giants to downgrade the laws.
The proposed legislation will only consider the digital advertising revenue in Australia — and not gross revenue in this country as originally promised — received by the tech giants, when assessing how much they should pay for using the news content.
The Government has lifted the charge rate it will apply to tech giants from 2.25 per cent to 2.5 per cent and broadened the reach of the NBI to include smaller publishers.
But the charge will apply to a much smaller sum, meaning overall there will be less money raised by the Government if the tech giants don’t strike deals with a minimum of six publishers.
This could allow companies such as Meta and Google to pay less for deals with news media outlets.
This would adversely impact the larger media companies that invest by far the most in quality public interest journalism.
The technological transformation and behaviour of the tech giants has challenged the traditional media model.
Media outlets are responding.
The need for them to succeed and thrive cannot be underestimated.
The ability of Australians to have open and well-informed debates is vital to our democratic system and relies heavily on this country’s journalists and media organisations providing the news and views that allow our system to work.
The Government must ensure this can continue and that big tech pays its way.
Nothing less than the ongoing vibrancy of Australian democracy is on the line.
