Funding public interest journalism requires creative solutions. A tax rebate for news media could work
Former ACCC boss Allan Fels argues that the watchdog’s bargaining code needs to be the beginning of a policy solution, not the end, in this crossposting from The Conversation.
It has been a long time since an Australian government turned its mind to policy concerning the news media — other than the removal of outdated ownership regulations.
Now, thanks to the government’s intention to make Google and Facebook pay a negotiated price to news media organisations for using their content, policies to safeguard the health of the news media are front of mind.
The government has accepted journalism is a public good, deserving of public support. All sides acknowledge the future of the news media is under threat from the collapse of the advertising-based business model that has traditionally paid for most journalism.
