Legislation Vital For Securing Fair Payment For Journalism, Says Stuff CEO

Stuff CEO Sinead Boucher is applauding Broadcasting Minister Willie Jackson’s announcement this morning that the Government will introduce legislation to compel the global digital giants to pay for Kiwi journalism used on their platforms.

“We are very pleased that the Government has recognised the significant power imbalance between publishers and the platforms, and that they are making this strong move to support the local media industry.

“For too long the platforms have been able to use journalism made and paid for by publishers to help build businesses of near unimaginable scale and power. Off the back of content invested in and created by others, they have been able to capture the vast majority of the digital advertising market, undermining the sustainability of local publishers and local journalism.

“Globally, we’ve seen that without legislation the platforms are extremely reticent to make any kind of meaningful offer. That has certainly been the experience here in Aotearoa, despite the Commerce Commission granting permission for the news publishing industry to negotiate as a collective to help address the power imbalance.

“To date, offers put forward have been insignificant compared to the deals secured by Australian and Canadian publishers who have world-leading legislation in their camp.

“We want a deal for the whole industry - publishers large and small - that represents a fair exchange for the value the platforms get out of using our content to allow us to keep investing and developing high quality New Zealand journalism.

“We look forward to seeing the shape of the legislation when it is introduced,” says Boucher.

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