News Bargaining Code is for ‘fair remuneration’, not for redistribution of resources: Treasury review
The federal government has released a first-year operation review of the News Media Bargaining Code. While some organisations have expressed disappointment in the code’s failure to enforce commercial agreements with Meta and Google, the report said its purpose is to ensure “fair remuneration” for publications, not “to redistribute resources across the news sector”.
The review said Google has reached 23 commercial agreements and Meta 13. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) estimated in March that deals under the News Media Bargaining Code total over $200 million based on preliminary analysis.
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Although the Treasury review considered the bargaining code “a success to date”, organisations including SBS and The Conversation submitted that it failed to incentivise Meta to negotiate commercial deals with eligible publications. While Google came to an agreement with both, Meta declined to negotiate.
Others, including Commercial Radio Australia (CRA), submitted that the code overlooks the need within the commercial radio industry. The industry body said: “90% of commercial radio networks have been unable to strike a deal with Google; and 95% of commercial radio networks have been unable to strike a deal with Meta…”
Should the Government wish to redistribute resources among organisations, the Treasury said other policy and funding tools are available.
Misha Ketchell, editor of The Conversation said: “While we aren’t surprised at the outcome of the review we are disappointed.
“The journalism content produced by The Conversation is more widely read than content from several other news businesses currently receiving ‘fair remuneration’ under the NMBC. How then can our ‘fair remuneration’ be zero?”
Meta and Google suggested that “some news businesses have unrealistic expectations about receiving remuneration”, according to the review.
“In some instances, despite Google’s best efforts to put flexible offers on the table based on comparable market deals underpinned by fair value exchange, the publishers’ commercially unreasonable expectations have prevented these negotiations from progressing further,” Google submitted.
There were calls for Meta and Google to be “designated” under the code, where both will be legally required to negotiate with eligible publishers or risk fines of up to 10% of Australian revenue.
If an individual platform’s effort in contributing to the news industry is deemed inefficient, the Treasurer has the capacity to bring the platform under the law. However, no platforms have been brought under the designation to date.
Ketchell added: “We were involved in working with the ACCC on every stage of the review process leading up to the adoption of the News Media Bargaining Code. We agree with former ACCC Chair Rod Sims that Meta should be designated under the code for failing to negotiate with The Conversation and SBS.
“We continue to call on the Treasurer to do so.”
The review disclosed that it has received several proposals for amending the criteria for designating digital platforms, but considered they would have “negative consequences”.
As most commercial agreements under the code will expire over the next two to three years, the review recommends another code review after four years of its operation.
Mumbrella also reached out to SBS and CRA for comment.
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Darcy Song was a reporter at Mumbrella, covering media owners, adtech and social platforms. She left in October 2023.
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