Bridget Fair Welcomes New Australian News Bargaining Incentive Legislation to Ensure Tech Giants Pay for Journalism
Bridget Fair, CEO of Free TV Australia, has welcomed the passage of the News Bargaining Incentive (NBI) through Parliament. The legislation aims to close a loophole in the News Media Bargaining Code, requiring global technology platforms with significant digital advertising revenue to strike commercial deals with Australian news publishers or face a 2.75 per cent levy on their digital advertising revenue. Fair described the move as a significant milestone that ensures tech platforms profit from the journalism they use. The administration announced the legislation passed after an agreement between the Government and Coalition, which increased the minimum number of deals a platform must strike with news publishers from six to eight. While the move is welcomed by commercial broadcasters, some smaller publishers expressed concern that the current bill may favor large media organizations. The Community Broadcasting Association of Australia noted that digital platforms could meet their obligations through as few as eight deals with major publishers, potentially leaving smaller producers out of the commercial deals. To address this, the government introduced a grant program to distribute 5% of any collected revenue to small publishers.