Nine's Matt Stanton 'deeply misled' by Albanese government

The Albanese government on Monday announced its reforms to the Media Bargaining Incentive, as well as the News Journalism Payment Scheme, following an earlier April draft.

Amongst other changes, the federal government announced it was increasing the offset for deals with small publishers from 170 per cent to 200 per cent.

The reforms have not been well-received by Australian media bosses.

Head of Nine Entertainment Matt Stanton has in a statement accused the government of failing its commitment to sustaining public interest journalism in Australia, concerned legislation could lead to widespread industry job losses if it passes without amendment, The Australian reports.

Stanton said the company felt “misled” and that the changes seem to favour global tech companies over local news media.

“Throughout this process, the government said its reform to the Bargaining Code would ensure the tech giants again negotiated commercial deals that reflected the true value that we deliver them,” Stanton said. 

“Instead, it now engineers so-called commercial outcomes that deliberately distort the market. The equation doesn’t stack up.

“The issue isn’t the number of media deals, it’s the proportionality. We feel deeply misled. The proposed bill now directly penalises those Australian media outlets that have invested more than any others in quality, investigative journalism.

“This journalism, which Australians value, has led to multiple royal commissions, corruption inquiries, criminal convictions and laws being changed. None of that happens without significant investment and risk, including at times to the safety of our journalists. However, the government is putting that local journalism at risk, with the very real possibility of more job losses if the bill goes through in its current form.

“That’s the opposite of what we all set out to achieve. That’s not just a failure of media policy, that’s a failure for our democracy.

“If this outcome was not what the government intended, then we implore the Prime Minister and his government to fix it without delay.”

News Corp and ACM object

News Corp Australia executive chairman Michael Miller said the changes “gut the incentive” for tech platforms to strike up fair deals with Australia media at a time when “rules need strengthening, not softening”, news.com.au reported.

“On an already uneven playing field, getting this wrong won’t just hurt Australian media. It will erode the quality and independence of news every Australian relies on,” he said.

“Tech giants cannot keep dodging their obligations. Australia deserves full revenue transparency, backed by severe, non-negotiable penalties for any platform that flouts local law.”

Adding to the concerned voices was Tony Kendall, managing director of Australian Community Media:

“ACM is concerned about these changes because if there will be less revenue collected under the scheme overall, the capacity for public interest journalism to remain viable, particularly in the regions, will be diminished,” he said. “There will simply be less money to staff newsrooms.

”If the government wants to make deals more attractive to these tech companies, it should increase the offset to 300 per cent.”

The bill is expected in parliament early in the spring sittings.