The old news business model is broken: making Google and Facebook pay won’t save journalism
Professor of media studies, Amanda Lotz, doesn’t think the [media bargaining] code will save journalism, even if it becomes law. And saving journalism is different from saving commercial news companies, she notes in this crossposting from The Conversation.
The Federal Government is talking tough about making Google and Facebook pay Australian news businesses for linking to, or featuring, these publishers’ content.
The digital platforms have been talking equally tough. Facebook is threatening to remove Australian news stories and Google says it will shut off search to Australia if the government pushes ahead with its “mandatory bargaining code”.
The code is meant to help alleviate the revenue crisis facing news publishers. Over the past two decades they have made deep cuts to newsrooms. Scores of local print papers have become “digital only” or been shut down completely.
