Ideas that funds from Australia’s News Bargaining Incentive might be carved out for a “discretionary grants” programme are being opposed by regional and independent publishers.
In a statement today, Country Press Australia says it supports the “core purpose” of the NBI to encourage major digital platforms to enter into fair commercial agreements with eligible Australian news publishers, but is concerned by proposals to divert a portion of levy funds into such a programme.
“The NBI is not intended to become a general media grants scheme,” the CPA says. “Its purpose is to incentivise commercial agreements between platforms and eligible news publishers. Where a platform elects not to enter sufficient commercial agreements and a charge is collected, those funds should be returned directly and transparently to eligible news publishers that are investing in journalism.”
The group says “top-slicing” NBI funds into a supplementary grants pool would risk changing the character of the scheme. “It could make the NBI look less like a bargaining incentive and more like a revenue-raising mechanism followed by government redistribution,” CPA says. “That would be a serious policy risk and could strengthen arguments from platforms that the scheme is simply a tax rather than an incentive to support commercial agreements for news.
“It would also risk diverting funds away from professional publishers employing journalists and producing public interest news.”
It says a grants programme would introduce “delay, discretion, administration and uncertainty”, as well as potentially create pathways for NBI money to flow to organisations that do not meet the same standards, obligations or employment commitments as professional news publishers.
“If government wishes to support news deserts, emerging publishers, community media, multicultural media or underrepresented voices through grants, that should be done through a separate programme and a separate appropriation, such as the News Media Assistance Program,” it says.
“It should not be funded by carving money out of the NBI.”
Country Press says regional, rural and independent publishers have been among the most exposed to the market power of global digital platforms. “They employ journalists, produce public interest journalism, serve local communities and carry the obligations of professional news publishing. It is essential that the NBI delivers practical support to those publishers, not only to the largest media companies,” it says.
The group believes distribution should be directly tied to eligible news businesses, covered news content, professional editorial standards and the employment of journalists. “Funds collected under the NBI should be returned to the news sector through a transparent, objective and journalist-based distribution model, not diverted into a discretionary grants pool.
“The survival of regional and independent journalism is too important for the NBI to be diluted or redirected. The scheme must remain focused on its original purpose, requiring the global platforms that benefit from Australia’s news ecosystem to support the professional publishers and journalists who sustain it.”
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