UK newspaper industry calls for tech giant levy to fund journalism

The UK newspaper industry has called for tech giants to pay a licence fee to ensure that news media publishers are properly rewarded for their use of their content by companies such as Facebook or Google.

The News Media Association joined Ofcom and UK broadcasters in calling for independent regulatory oversight of tech platforms.

News media publishers have been affected negatively by tech giants’ expansion and dominance of the digital advertising ecosystem since ad revenues that funded journalism are now going to tech giants.

The NMA said: “The primary focus of concern today is the loss of advertising revenues which have previously sustained quality national and local journalism and are now flowing to the global search engines and social media companies who make no meaningful contribution to the cost of producing the original content from which they so richly benefit.”

One of the headline solutions proposed by the NMA is the introduction of a “fair, open and equitable” content licence fee agreement, supported by a UK Publishers Right, to ensure that the tech companies pay for the content from which they benefit.

The NMA added: “Measures of success for the review in 10 years’ time would see a vibrant and well-funded independent news media sector marked by an increase in the number of news media journalists, regular launches of new local titles by dedicated commercial news media companies, and a rebalancing of the advertising market so that revenues follow audiences and advertisers can once again be confident that their brand messages are seen by real people viewing real content in a brand-safe environment."

The NMA also believe that tech companies should also be subject to “independent regulatory oversight” and be forced to accept the same responsibility as publishers for content featured on their platforms.

The proposals have been submitted to the Cairncross Review into press sustainability by the NMA.