CANBERRA, Australia – Seven West Media has become the largest Australian news media company to enter into an agreement with Google to pay for journalism in a partnership announced on Monday before parliament considers draft laws to force digital giants to pay for news.
Google and the listed joint-venture television, print and online publishing company have jointly announced that they have agreed on a ‘long-term partnership’ following the weekend talks between Australian government ministers and media executives Facebook FB.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet Inc. GOOGL,
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and its subsidiary Google.
Kerry Stokes, chair of Seven West Media, which owns 21 publications, thanked the government and the Australian competition regulator for their proposal.
“Their outstanding leadership in implementing the proposed news media negotiation code has enabled us to conclude negotiations that result in fair payment and ensure our digital future,” Stokes said in a statement.
“The negotiations with Google recognize the value of quality and original journalism throughout the country and especially in regional areas,” Stokes added.
The deal was signed under Google’s own model, News Showcase. Since the News Showcase was launched in October, Google has paid for more than 450 publications worldwide.
Google announced two weeks ago that it had started paying for seven smaller Australian sites under the News Showcase.
Google regional director Mel Silva said: “We are proud to support original, reliable and quality journalism and are excited to welcome Seven West Media today as a major Australian publishing partner to join the Google News Showcase.”
The partnership was a significant investment for Google in journalism, not only in metro areas but also in smaller communities, she added.
Neither Google nor Seven West Media mention how much the deal is worth. Competitive media company Nine Entertainment has reported, citing industry sources, that it is worth more than 30 million Australian dollars (23 million dollars) a year.
Prior to the announcement, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said that Google and Facebook are close to commercial transactions, which could be a huge benefit to the domestic media landscape and see journalists being financially rewarded for generating original content, as it should be. ‘
Google and Facebook did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Frydenberg’s talks with their leaders.
Google has launched its campaign against the proposed law and told the Senate committee investigating it that the platform would probably make its search engine in Australia unavailable if the code were introduced.
Facebook has threatened to stop Australians from sharing news if the platform is forced to pay for news.
While the digital giants can afford the likely cost of the Australian news they link to, they are concerned about the international precedent that Australia could set.
Google has come under pressure from authorities elsewhere to pay for news. Last month, he signed a deal with a group of French publishers, paving the way for the company to make digital copyright payments. Under the agreement, Google will negotiate individual licensing agreements with newspapers, with payments based on factors such as the amount published daily and the monthly traffic on the Internet.
In Australia, the platforms can make payment agreements with media businesses before the code becomes legal.
The legislation would create an arbitration panel to make binding decisions on payment in cases where a platform and a news business cannot agree on a price for news.
The panel usually accepts the best offer from the platform or the publisher and only rarely sets a price in between.
This should discourage platforms and news businesses from making unrealistic demands.