Australia: Media union cautiously welcomes News Bargaining Incentive

Australia's Labour government has announced reforms to the country's News Media Bargaining Code to further force global digital platforms to compensate media outlets for shared journalism content. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) joins its affiliate, Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) to reiterate that any revisions must be transparent and fully guarantee independent media receive compensation on an equal footing with larger media companies.

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Australian media unions have cautiously welcomed the Labour government's reforms to the News Bargaining Incentive unveiled on December 12, which seeks to pressure Meta and other social media giants to compensate news media businesses up to $250 million. Credit: Julien De Rosa / AFP

In a move to end the current 'deadlock' with Meta, with the company threatening to withdraw news from its platforms in Australia, the Labour government has upped the ante on tech giants including Google and Facebook to renegotiate up to $200 million worth of deals with Australian publishers or risk being taxed hefty penalties.

The reformed News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code announced on December 12, will mandate costs on digital platforms and provide a framework for a balanced arbitration process to resolve outstanding disputes.

MEAA has cautiously welcomed the proposed reforms and supports that the new mechanism will be broadened to cover all major digital platforms that meet the $250 million revenue threshold such as Tik Tok. But MEAA also said it also must be accompanied by greater transparency and better assurances that any revenue raised is invested back into journalism.

Assistant Treasurer, Stephen Jones, said the revised Code would contain a charge on relevant platforms based on Australian sourced revenue and "a generous offset for the commercial agreements that have voluntarily entered between platforms and news media businesses". Prior to the reform, the code resulted in commercial agreements worth an estimated $70 million for publishers.

MEAA said in a statement that it had been advocating long and hard for sanctions for companies that shirk their responsibilities, and incentive code was "a step in the right direction" for accountability.

The Treasury Laws Amendment (News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code) Act 2021 governs commercial relationships between Australian news outlets and digital platforms. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has said the code is necessary to "support of the sustainability of the Australian news media sector" and strengthen democracy.

The Australian bargaining code was first mooted by the Scott Morrison government in April 2020 when he requested the ACCC to develop a mandatory code to address competitive imbalances between Australian news businesses and digital platforms. The final legislation was passed by both houses on February 25, 2021. The Department of Treasury published a review of the code on December 1, 2022, documenting over 30 commercial agreements successfully established between digital platforms and Australian news businesses.

On October 11, a second interim report on digital platforms and traditional news media brought forward by the Joint Select Committee on Social Media and Australian Society included recommendations into the creation of a Digital Affairs Ministry. The new body would coordinate regulation on consumer protection, online safety and scams. The report criticised Meta for abandoning the Code and risking closure of publications, further calling on the government to "explore alternative revenue mechanisms to supplement the Code" by implementing a transition fund for publishers.

MEAA Media Federal President Karen Percy, said: "The production of quality journalism is essential to a functioning democracy, but it doesn't come cheap and nor should it be free. Making tech giants pay to profit from content produced by Australian news outlets and their journalists should go some way to helping to rebuild a significantly diminished industry, but only if proceeds are invested back into editorial operations and jobs for journalists."

The IFJ said: "Australia led the global charge to protect public interest journalism when it first launched its code in 2021, a move that was watched closely by governments and media around the world. Since then, we've seen the dirty tricks that platforms like Facebook are prepared to play to shirk their responsibilities and to fairly negotiate on this critical issue. Journalism globally is in crisis because of the impacts of tech platform dominance and a dire lack of accountability. This is a step in the right direction for the survival of quality journalism and the protection of democracy."