February 22, 2021 8:51
The Guardian Australia cemented its weeks-long negotiations with Google over the weekend, entering into a multi-year News Showcase agreement just days after Seven West Media, News Corp and Junkee did the same. Nine Entertainment Co is understood to also be close to signing a deal.
The deal also comes just days before the Senate is set to debate the News Media Bargaining Code, which was passed through the House of Representatives last week, prompting Facebook to, without warning, strip its platform of news in Australia.
The Guardian Australia’s managing director, Dan Stinton, called attention to the misinformation which will now live unchecked on Facebook, telling Mumbrella: “Obviously Facebook is already struggling to moderate the mass of disinformation that is so prominent on its platform. The best antidote to this is the promotion of fact-based journalism, so this decision risks making the platform the permanent home of cat videos and conspiracy theor
Googleâs $100m deals a media game changer
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Guardian Australia is the latest publisher to sign a deal with Google as part of deals worth more than $100 million that could be game changers for news companies.
Guardian Australia managing director Dan Stinton welcomes a deal with Google.Â
Alex Ellinghausen
The Australian deals are at much higher rates than what Google is offering overseas publishers, and if replicated globally could cost the search giant $5 billion on rough estimates.
Nine chief executive Hugh Marks said Googleâs deal with Nine, expected to be officially revealed at the companyâs half-year results on Wednesday, would save jobs.
As part of Google Showcase, Guardian Australia will be able to control when and what Guardian stories are presented to readers in Showcase, and will have more control over how stories are presented in story panels in Google News.
The agreement is one of over 50 Google has made with publishers in Australia, and over 500 in the world as part of News Showcase. In the past two weeks Google has been signing deals with Seven West Media, Nine, News Corp, as well as smaller players including Junkee Media.
The ABC has yet to reach an agreement with Google.
The 11th-hour deals were made as the federal government has pushed ahead with legislation for a news media bargaining code, which would require Google and Facebook to enter negotiations with news publishers for payment for content, and if no agreement can be reached, an arbiter will decide the financial terms of the deal.
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In this weekly segment, ExchangeWire sums up key industry updates in ad tech from around the globe. In this edition: streaming sensation Disney+ closes in on 95 million subscribers; the Biden administration suspends legal action that threatened to ban TikTok and WeChat from the US; the CMA raises concerns that Adevinta’s purchase of eBay’s classifieds unit could damage competition; and Facebook is hit with backlash after deciding to remove news sharing in Australia.
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