Hopes Google, Facebook deals will underpin a rise in journalism jobs

Media companies are facing mounting calls to explicitly commit to using the money sealed through landmark deals with Google and Facebook to invest in newsrooms and journalism jobs.

Following intense negotiations over the government’s media bargaining code, the country’s biggest media companies – Nine Entertainment Co (owner of this masthead), News Corp Australia, Seven West Media and Guardian Australia – have in recent weeks signed multimillion-dollar agreements for their content with Google. Seven, Private Media and Solstice Media and Schwartz Media have signed agreements with Facebook and others are expected to soon follow.

The AAP newsroom in 1964.
The AAP newsroom in 1964. Credit:

But as yet, just how media companies plan to spend this money, if and when the agreements become legally binding, remains unclear.

The union representing journalists, the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance, said last week that while the tech giants deals provide a welcome revenue stream for the sector, they will be “pointless” if they are not used to produce news content.

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“We have seen no guarantees from the big media companies that money raised from the digital platforms will be spent on journalism,” said MEAA Media federal president Marcus Strom said last week.

“If some of this the Facebook and Google’s massive Australian revenue is now to be returned to media companies, there must be a corresponding commitment that the money is spent on news content, not dividends or corporate bonuses. The media companies must provide transparency about how they intend to allocate these funds.“

There are signs at least some companies are already progressing with plans to do just that despite challenging market conditions.

Guardian Australia is expected to take another floor in its Surry Hills office for new employees while industry sources have indicated News Corp Australia, owner of The Australian, The Daily Telegraph and The Herald Sun, is considering hiring almost 100 journalists with the money. News Corp declined to comment.

National broadcaster the ABC has not yet signed any deals with Google or Facebook but has pledged it will use the money to invest in regional journalism.

But Nine, which owns television, radio and newspaper assets (including this masthead) has been less explicit. A spokesperson for Nine referred back to comments made publicly by chief executive Hugh Marks.

Mr Marks said at a Senate inquiry more than one week ago that if funding from tech giants wasn’t secured, job losses at Nine’s publications would continue.

Following the company’s half-year financial results last week, Mr Marks indicated the company would consider hiring new journalists. “You won’t be able to say a dollar here goes to $1 there but you can look at that business and say it’s a strong viable sustainable publishing business that will be able to support journalism going forward,” he said.

“If there are opportunities for us to employ more journalists to get a positive result then we will do that. But it certainly underpins the future of journalism in this market.”

Seven West Media chief executive James Warburton said most of the money the company expects to gain from its deals with Google and Facebook will be used for Perth based newspaper The West Australian and its regional titles. He initially said the cash would be dropped to the bottom line and be used for repayment of debt but now says it will be focused on improving the newspapers’ digital strategy.

Seven’s deal also has a YouTube component, which means some of the money will be spent on television content.

“It will support quality journalism in metropolitan, regional and community markets and underpin the digital strength and sustainability of our news businesses going forward,” Mr Warburton said.

Industry sources who are familiar with the various agreements have said that some publishers have an audio component – which requires them to invest a large amount of money in areas such as podcasting. Other companies will use the money for distribution strategies to build their digital audiences.

For smaller outlets like Junkee, the money will provide an important backbone for the business to continue its work.

“We haven’t made any definitive decisions yet about how we’ll spend the money, but this moment presents a unique opportunity for us to invest in public interest journalism,” Junkee’s editorial director Rob Stott says. “We’ll be looking at a mix of original reporting and background infrastructure that will make Junkee a more sustainable operation into the future. I’m extremely excited about the potential for this funding to make a real difference to the breadth and depth of content we produce.”

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