News code money went to shareholders or debt: Former Nine boss
The majority of money from the News Media Bargaining Code went to the shareholders of Australia’s biggest media companies or was used to pay off their debts, according to the former publisher of Nine, Chris Janz.
Janz, now the CEO of independent business publisher Capital Brief, made the comments on ABC’s Medialand.
Although Janz was vociferous in his support for the Code back when he was chief digital and publishing officer of Nine in 2021, he said the effect of the payments from Google and Meta had been to benefit “the big end of town”.
Chris Janz
This is common knowledge in publishing circles, Google and Facebook get reamed for their objections and obfuscation of their responsibilities, but it’s hard to be serious about enforcement and attribution when the money, earmarked for the improvement of journalism, standards and innovation, is used to pay down debt and prop up market outcomes. Media, Publishing and Journalism are in new eras of disruption (sorry, overused I know) where investment is sorely needed (Let alone the regional areas who are desperate for help) but agendas, misinformation, and an incredible lack of understanding of how new technologies work, hijack funds due to lobbying and market power. The amount of opportunity Australia has lost, building new, vibrant and economically sustainable media platforms is incredible. These tech behemoths have staggering tech knowledge, systems, experience and talent that could have been drawn on to help all Australian media businesses develop in an ever-changing world as part of this code, but no, it was just cash grabs for five or so players. If cash is the desired outcome, why not just tax them properly like every other overseas business?
He’s absolutely right – a few token appointments, kick the money to shareholders and then as soon as Facebook gets out they use it as a large part of the excuse to cut ~100 jobs at Nine publishing, mostly journalists.
There are other news organisations away the incumbents that offer more independent and trustworthy news than Nine or News Corp, like Crikey, Capital Brief, or The Guardian. Not owned by billionaires or answerable to shareholders. Australian Community Media prioritises regional readers when no one else bothers in Australia.
All of these organisations are more worthy of your money than Nine or News. And at least News don’t plaster empty statements about their independence all over their websites.