Global Principles For Fair Compensation By Publishers, Google, Facebook, Others Launched

 

•As Nobel laureate, BBC, NGE, others endorse principles

THE framework for negotiations between registered news businesses and designated big digital platforms, including Google and Facebook, has been launched.

The platform, known as the ”Big Tech and Journalism:  Principles for fair compensation”, launched yesterday, is designed to guarantee publishers; payment by the big tech for inclusion of news contents on their platforms.

Adopted recently at a conference at the Gordon Institute of Business Science, GIBS, in Johannesburg, South Africa, the principles have been endorsed by over 50 people and organisations in 20 countries, including the Nigerian Guild of Editors, NGE, with support from leading journalists, media organisations, scholars, publisher groups, activists and economists.

The economists include the 2001 Nobel laureate, Prof. Joseph Stiglitz.

The Principles are intended to be universal, serving as a framework for any country seeking to address media sustainability through competition or regulatory approaches, while enabling adaptation to the unique context.

It is hoped that the principles will represent an important step forward in addressing news media sustainability and serve as a guide to journalists, news publishers, Big Tech platforms, governments and regulators across the world.

“These principles are intended to help in the design, implementation and evaluation of public policy mechanisms that oblige digital platforms and news publishers to engage with each other to develop fair economic terms.

‘’The principles also recognise freedom of expression as a foundational human right underpinning democracy and support public interest journalism as a public good that should be available to all. Any mechanisms pertaining to the principles must therefore be founded on the same commitment,”  the conference stated.

In the principles, ‘platforms’ mean social media, chat, search engines, generative Artificial Intelligence models and applications, and other such intermediaries; while ‘publishers’ is referred to as providers of original print, digital, or broadcast news using any combination of text, audio and visual media.“While policymakers in different jurisdictions were advised to use different policies to achieve similar aims, referring to it as ‘mechanisms’ throughout,  the conference proposed overarching principles that should apply in a wide range of contexts, including between platforms and publishers,

The conference shared lessons learned and identify commonalities within and across regions with regard to media sustainability initiatives via legislation and competition authorities.

Robust discussions were held on the experiences of countries, which have already or are considering implementing such initiatives to sustain journalism, as well as the challenges of doing so in other countries with large media industries but severe sustainability challenges.

The conference featured panel discussions focusing on South Africa, Australia, Latin America, Asia, and Africa, as well as a series of keynotes by distinguished speakers. The conference culminated in the adoption of ‘Big Tech and Journalism – Principles for Fair Compensation’.

The principles include public interest, which spelt out mechanism to support and invest in public interest journalism; plurality; diversity; sustainability; fairness; collectivity; transparency and  accountability. “Others are independence, a mechanism that should overseen and enforced by bodies that are demonstrably independent of both the platform and publishing industries; and outcomes, a mechanism that should be output-oriented.

Among the  individuals and organisations that have endorsed the principles are Alexis Johann, Managing Partner, FehrAdvice & Partners AG, Zürich, Switzerland; Anton Harber, Director, Campaign for Free Expression, South Africa; Dr Anya Schiffrin, Senior Lecturer of Practice, School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University, United States of America (U.S); Bruce Mutsvairo, Professor and UNESCO Chair on Disinformation, Data and Democracy, Utrecht University, Netherlands; and  Camille Grenier, Operations Director, Forum on Information and Democracy, France.

Others are Dr Chamil Wariya, Chairman, Malaysian Press Institute (MPI), Cyberjaya, Malaysia;

Churchill Otieno, Executive Director, Eastern Africa Editors Society, and Chairman Africa Media Convention, Kenya; Dr Courtney Radsch, fellow UCLA Institute for Technology, Law and Policy and Director, Center for Journalism and Liberty, U.S; and Edetaen Ojo, Executive Director, Media Rights Agenda (MRA), Nigeria.

Similarly, BBC Media Action, United Kingdom; Digital Journalism Association (Ajor), Brazil;

Campaign for Free Expression, South Africa; Eastern Africa Editors Society; and  Foro de Periodismo Argentino (FOPEA), Argentina, have also endorsed the principles.

Credit: Vanguard