Google News favours mainstream media. Even if it pays for Australian content, will local outlets fall further behind?
In the context of the local match up of Google and Facebook versus media companies and the ACCC, Axel Bruns explores new US research on how Google News presents local versus national news, in this crossposting from The Conversation.
Google’s role in delivering audiences to news outlets has been under scrutiny of late. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s initiative to redirect advertising revenue from Google and Facebook to news publishers has led to threats of a news boycott by both companies.
Australia’s news media businesses have faced revenue loss and job cuts for some time now, blaming Google and Facebook for poaching advertising revenue.
But rather than share revenue with the publishers whose content they feature, it seems the tech behemoths would rather remove Australian news content from their platforms altogether.
