‘Independent publishers weren’t invited to the table’: Digital Publishers Alliance takes out full-page ads slamming Facebook
The Digital Publishers Alliance, a coalition of leading independent digital-first publishers, has today taken out full-page ads in every major Australian print masthead, taking aim at Meta’s decision to pull news funding in Australia.
Tim Duggan, founder of Junkee and chair of the DPA, shared the full-page ad on Linkedin this morning, explaining:
“For too long independent media has not had a proper seat at the table when important decisions are made that disproportionately affect us.
“Today the Digital Publishers Alliance took out full-page ads in every major Australian paper including The AFR, The Australian, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age as part our our dedicated campaign to change that.”
The ad takes the form of an open letter to Facebook, and ends with the statement: “Australia needs more diversity in our media, not less”, which Duggan feels is “the most likely outcome of their recent decision to pull out of any future news funding rounds.”
“Of course,” Duggan writes, “almost all Meta’s funding under the the first round of the News Media Code went to legacy media, mainly because most independent publishers weren’t invited to the table when the imperfect regulation was being drafted.
“And we are not going to let that happen again. The likely outcome of Meta’s announcement last week will disproportionately affect smaller publishers. We can’t stand by and watch what happened in Canada also decimate our vibrant independent publishing scene here when news was completely blocked on Facebook and Instagram.”
Earlier this month, Meta confirmed it would not renew its media agreements with Australian publishers, and would shut down Facebook News, which the company claims has seen an 80% dive, as “people don’t come to Facebook for news and political content”.
“To ensure that we continue to invest in products and services that drive user engagement,” the statement continued, “we will not enter into new commercial deals for traditional news content in these countries and will not offer new Facebook products specifically for news publishers in the future.”
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Nathan Jolly is the Deputy Editor of Mumbrella. He joined the team in July, 2023.
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Using legacy media to advocate for independent publishing not being excluded to the benefit of legacy media. Whatever happened to ‘the medium is the message’
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