The independent media sector has slammed the government’s last minute backflip that compels Big Tech to pay only four media companies as part of the News Bargaining Incentive.
Labor recently reduced the cut that any one media outlet would receive from a tech firm’s payout from 25 per cent to 17 per cent of the total levy each social media platform is charged.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese reversed a change overnight after lobbying from powerful media bosses at Nine and News Australia, who argued that spreading the fund wider would undervalue the country’s largest newsrooms. This last-minute concession helped Albanese secure a deal with opposition leader Angus Taylor to pass the bill.
Aside from increasing the cut to up to 25 per cent per media company, the government requires social media to negotiate with eight different media outlets, up from six.
Independent publishers are concerned will further concentrate the media market.
Man of Many co-founder Scott Purcell points out that the bill is now structured in a way that social media companies only have to negotiate material deals with four media companies to fulfil their end of the News Bargaining Incentive.
He argued this would harm Australia’s regional and independent media sector where the need for funding is far more urgent.
“Eight publishers get a phone call. Four get the money,” Purcell said. “That is not a drafting accident. It is arithmetic, and it was pointed out before the deal was struck.”
Digital Publishers Alliance chair Tim Duggan said that “history doesn’t repeat itself, but it sure does rhyme”.
“Just like the inequity of the previous News Media Bargaining Code, this proposed News Bargaining Incentive has the potential to, once again, short-change many small and medium sized independent publishers,” he said.
While some welcome changes have been made to incentivise deals with smaller publishers, the overall design of the legislation still means there is a likely scenario where platforms again do just a handful of deals with large publishers and leave the rest of the industry out in the cold.”
‘A significant move’
Not all smaller publishers agree. Country Press Australia welcomed the requirement to negotiate eight separate Australian news media publishers.
“That is significant movement,” CPA President Damian Morgan said.
“We have been arguing throughout this process that a scheme intended to support media diversity cannot be satisfied by doing deals with only a handful of organisations.
“Moving from four agreements to eight substantially increases the opportunity for regional, rural, local and independent publishers to be part of the commercial arrangements the legislation is designed to encourage.”
When platforms strike deals directly with media outlets, there is no obligation for those media companies to spend any of the money on journalism.
If platforms do not strike a deal, a 2.5 per cent levy of their digital advertising revenue will be collected by the government and distributed out to fewer than 100 media outlets, based on how many journalists they employ in full-time equivalent roles.
The levy regime ignores the vast quantity of independent media companies that produce news.
“We are not asking for a handout,” Purcell added. “Public money for journalism should reach the breadth of the sector and support diversity in it. Not a bigger slice for us. A wider table.”
Between $200 million and $250 million a year flowed under the original News Bargaining Code, most of it to four companies in News Australia, Nine, Seven West Media and the ABC.
In 2024, those same companies made roughly 450 journalists redundant, according to the MEAA.
Nine cut 200 roles, Seven West Media announced $100 million in savings and up to 150 jobs, and News Corp Australia ran a $65 million cost-reduction program.
