Funds flowing from Australia’s proposed News Bargaining Incentive should be channelled where they are needed most, PIJI chair Allan Fels says.
With the country now having dozens of news deserts and many more news-poor communities with only limited local coverage, the News Bargaining Incentive should “look beyond headcounts,” he says.
“Since 2019, hundreds of newsroom contractions, publication closures and service reductions have been recorded nationwide.
“This is not simply a commercial problem. It is a democratic problem.”
Fels says successive governments deserve credit for recognising the issue: “Importantly, support for public interest journalism has remained bipartisan.
“The News Media Bargaining Code was an important first intervention. It recognised that digital platforms derive substantial value from news content and should contribute financially to the production of journalism.
“However, the scheme also exposed significant structural weaknesses. Large commercial publishers were best positioned to secure deals, while many small, independent and regional outlets struggled to participate on equal terms.”
He says the proposed Statutory Payment Scheme “is therefore an important next step.
“By levying major digital platforms that refuse to enter commercial agreements, the scheme seeks to create a more stable and equitable funding framework for Australian journalism. But careful policy design is critical.
“It is essential that everyone has the opportunity for a seat at the table, and any funds flowing from this incentive scheme must get to the organisations that need them most.”
In his PIJI post, Fels says digital platforms have captured both audiences and advertising revenue once used to fund journalism, with those revenues increasingly flowing to large foreign-owned technology companies that produce little or no original public interest reporting in Australia.
“At the same time, online business models reward outrage, sensationalism and misinformation,” he says. “The result is a media environment that too often amplifies division while weakening trust.
“The consequences are visible across the country. Local newsrooms have closed, merged or downsized. Journalists have disappeared from some regional communities. Specialist reporting has contracted. Australians now receive less coverage of local councils, courts, planning decisions, health services and state politics – the very institutions that most directly affect daily life.
“If public funding mechanisms rely too heavily on newsroom headcounts alone, they risk overlooking the realities of independent media.
“Many smaller publishers depend on unpaid founders, volunteers, community broadcasters and student journalists. Yet these organisations often provide essential civic value disproportionate to their size.
“The policy objective should not simply be preserving large media businesses. It should be preserving public interest journalism. That requires government to assess journalism not only as an economic activity, but as essential democratic infrastructure. The social value extends well beyond geography.”
Fels says markets alone will not always sustain the journalism a healthy democracy requires. “When market failure threatens the public interest, governments have a responsibility to respond carefully, proportionately and on the basis of evidence.”