On the 200th anniversary of independent journalism in Tasmania, it might seem a bit rich to fine and increase tax on big tech for social media pollution, but we are all on the banks of the internet river.
As the toxic sludge gets worse Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok and others seem unmoved about paying for cleaning up the harm, untruths, lies pervading their streams.
The impact of Meta walking away from paying for news will be a potential further loss of ABC and other reporters in Tasmania and we need them.
I am not sure what former convict and early colonial printer Andrew Bent would make of today’s media landscape.
At 1.40pm on 4 June 1824, on the site of the McCanns Music shop, he edited and printed the first independent newspaper.
By defying Lt. Governor Arthur, Bent struck a blow for free press and became the father of independent media in Australia.
200 years later free press is on the ropes and taking a hammering. Big tech has captured the wealth generator of digital advertising and is using that power to facilitate content that generates clicks and undermines the public right to information that legitimately informs democratic debate. Generative AI will further exacerbate this trend as we move into an election year.
Bent was a bit of a rogue but if he were alive today, he would most likely have become one of the quality independent players like Michael West (michaelwest.com.au) and Alan Whykes (Tasmanian Times), providing insight, entertainment and opinions that contribute far above their weight to the democratic discourse.
Certainly, he would have valued the importance of local journalism and the value of publications like The Mercury, Tasmanian Times, the Hobart News.
I am sure he would have also valued a highly independent public broadcaster that is trusted and fearless in pursuing truth. One that was well funded.
At present big tech – Google, Meta, Twitter/X and friends – pay less than 3% tax on billions of dollars of earnings in Australia and nothing at all for news and cleaning up their negative sludge being pumped 24/7 into the internet river.
Big Tech is not going away nor is generative AI. The speed in which new more powerful versions are being delivered is astounding.
For example, with the signing of agreements by News Ltd with Open AI ChatGPT to share news from The Australian, The Daily Telegraph and many of their other publications, there is potential for AI generated news content to move to the right. It is an audacious act by News Ltd and has serious ramifications for all media.
So, what does the future hold and how might we ensure that journalism’s vital role in underpinning the function of democracy prevail?
Please join us at the Hedberg at 1.30pm on June 2 when ABC Friends and UTAS will host a discussion on this topic with Michael West, Julianne Schultz, Greg Barns, Alan Whykes and chaired by Professor Alana Mann.
Tickets are $10 and $5 concession and available through the Theatre Royal (https://www.theatreroyal.com.au/shows/200th-anniversary-australian-independent-journalism).
Peter Tatham is President of Friends of the ABC.
Andrew Stretton
May 26, 2024 at 06:18
‘But if independence is understood as a thoroughly relative concept that can be invoked by almost anyone for almost any purpose, does it have any value left as a general normative principle in media policy debates?
Is there any common standard for evaluating which media are more independent, or do we need to assess them all against their own conception of independence?’
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13183222.2016.1162986
Ben Marshall
May 26, 2024 at 14:24
Thanks for the link to the paper, Andrew. Context is everything, I guess.
From the conclusion: “What we talk about when we talk about media independence, then, are the characteristics of the relations between, on the one side, specific entities ranging from media institutions, via journalistic cultures, to individual speakers, and, on the other, their social environment, including the state, political interest groups, the market or the mainstream culture. Media independence is not one definite thing, and acknowledging that would often lead to a more fruitful media policy debate.”
So any media outlet claiming to be independent needs to clarify what it’s independent of and connected to. What Tasmania needs, for example, is independent, community-based, non-partisan and accountable investigative journalism and context-based news reportage. Currently, that is the yawning gap in our media landscape – the ability to hold all levels of government and the corporate sector (arguably one and the same thing) to account.
Until ABC Hobart is better funded, and less captured by major parties doing their damnedest to avoid accountability, we’ll have to wait for a truly independent competitor to arise.
I would subscribe to that.