MICHELLE ROWLAND MP
SHADOW MINISTER FOR COMMUNICATIONS
MEMBER FOR GREENWAY
 
 
MORRISON HOBBLES PUBLIC BROADCASTERS IN NEGOTIATIONS WITH GOOGLE AND FACEBOOK
 

Not content with cutting the ABC's budget, the Morrison Government is also cutting the public broadcasters out of an opportunity to be remunerated by Google and Facebook for their news media content.
 
Reports today confirm that Morrison Government Ministers, rather than the ACCC, are behind the decision to exclude the ABC and SBS from accessing the remuneration provisions under the mandatory news media code to address bargaining power imbalances with digital platforms.
 
Australia is facing its largest budget deficit and deepest recession, yet the Government is telling Google and Facebook they don't have to pay for the ABC and SBS news media content they use.
 
Both the ABC and SBS already make extensive use of third party digital platforms to reach and engage with audiences and drive discovery of their content, products and services.
 
Both are publicly funded, both are required to maintain independence and integrity and both are permitted to earn commercial revenues, to varying degrees. 
 
The SBS is partly advertiser-funded and there is no valid justification for excluding the SBS from the remuneration provisions of the code.

ABC Commercial has been marketing and distributing ABC content to local and international markets for 40 years, so the idea that the ABC does not, will not or should not derive remuneration for its news media content from digital platforms is out-of-step with reality.

The reality is that the Government's decision to exclude the public broadcasters doesn't actually preclude the ABC or SBS from doing a deal with Google and Facebook. It simply means that negotiations on behalf of Australian taxpayers won't have the benefit of the negotiate/arbitrate model under the news media code that commercial players will enjoy. 

The ACCC found that public broadcasters are not currently resourced to fully compensate for the decline in local reporting previously produced by traditional commercial publishers.

The ABC is dangerously underfunded as a result of Liberal budget cuts, yet twice in the last month the Morrison Government has been caught dudding regional Australia of increased ABC investment in local newsgathering.

Cutting the public broadcasters out of the ACCC's news media code is a serious missed opportunity that sells all Australian taxpayers short.
 
MONDAY, 3 AUGUST 2020