The Australian Government is moving to introduce new laws designed to make tech giants like Google and Meta pay for Australian news content. While CBAA supports the intent behind this legislation but we have serious concerns that the way it is currently written could leave community broadcasters behind. CBAA is advocating for changes to these laws. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The News Bargaining Incentive (NBI)<\/a> is a proposed new law that would require large digital platforms to either make deals to pay Australian news producing organisations for their content, or pay a levy to the government. That money would then be redistributed to the news industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The scheme builds on the existing News Media Bargaining Code. The NBI is expected to raise $200\u2013250 million a year for the news sector. It is a major new funding source for Australian journalism \u2013 potentially ten times larger than the Government\u2019s own News Media Assistance Program (News MAP).<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n Empty heading<\/p>\n\n\n\n As currently designed, the NBI is likely to direct the bulk of new funding to large, established media companies \u2013 while most community broadcasters miss out entirely. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The revenue threshold is a barrier. <\/strong>To be eligible under the existing News Media Bargaining Code, a news organisation must earn at least $150,000 in annual revenue. This threshold excludes approximately 44% of community broadcasters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Tech giants can satisfy the scheme by dealing with just a handful of players.<\/strong> Under the current draft, a platform like Meta or Google could meet its entire obligation by striking deals with as few as four major media companies. Large players will be funded to employ journalists and small, independent community publishers could be left with nothing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The payment formula doesn\u2019t<\/strong> fit our sector.<\/strong> Any government levy funds would be distributed based on the number of full-time equivalent journalists employed. Community broadcasting runs on a mix of volunteers, part-time staff, and multiskilled contributors \u2013 a model this formula simply doesn\u2019t recognise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As a result, large commercial and public media organisations could receive a significant funding boost, while community broadcasters \u2013 who serve regional, remote and diverse communities, who train student and graduate journalists \u2013 will be largely shut out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n CBAA supports the NBI and wants to see it pass \u2013 the news industry needs this funding. But we are pushing for targeted amendments to make the scheme fairer:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Remove the $150,000 revenue threshold<\/strong> so that smaller community broadcasters are not automatically excluded. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Require at least 25% of platform deals to go to small and medium publishers <\/strong>(those earning under $50 million), so large outlets can\u2019t capture all the benefit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Increase the incentive rate for smaller publishers<\/strong> to make it genuinely worthwhile for platforms to negotiate with community and independent news producers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Set aside 15% of any levy funds for a grant program <\/strong>that supports smaller and independent publishers, news deserts, and underrepresented communities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n CBAA has joined a coalition of small and independent news organisations \u2014 including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Alliance for Journalists\u2019 Freedom<\/a>, Digital Publishers Alliance<\/a>, Christian Media and Arts Australia<\/a>, Disability Media Australia<\/a>, Democracy Counts<\/a>, Independent Multicultural Media Australia<\/a>, Local Independent News Association<\/a>, The National Ethnic and Multicultural Broadcasters\u2019 Council<\/a>, News Technology and Society<\/a>, Public Interest Journalism Initiative<\/a>, Public Interest Publishers Alliance<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n These organisations are calling on the Government to fix these issues before the legislation is passed. The Australian Government is moving to introduce new laws designed to make tech giants like Google and Meta pay for Australian news content. While CBAA supports the intent behind this legislation but we have serious concerns that the way it is currently written could leave community broadcasters behind. CBAA is advocating for changes to these laws. What is the News … Continue reading “New laws could damage community radio news services”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-australian"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/radioindustrynews.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/radioindustrynews.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/radioindustrynews.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/radioindustrynews.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/radioindustrynews.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2573"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/radioindustrynews.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2573\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2574,"href":"http:\/\/radioindustrynews.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2573\/revisions\/2574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/radioindustrynews.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/radioindustrynews.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/radioindustrynews.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Why should community broadcasters be concerned? <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
What is CBAA asking for? <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Add your voice, download and share the Joint Statement <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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