MASS MEDIA – AUSTRALIA

No dirty tactics, ACCC tells tech giants

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Original article by Leo Shanahan
The Australian – Page: 1 & 8 : 21-Apr-20

Australian Competition & Consumer Commission chairman Rod Sims has warned that technology companies will face significant financial penalties if they fail to comply with the mandatory code of conduct. He adds that 8-14 per cent of Google’s search results include news stories, so the company is unlikely to block such content in response to the federal government’s decision to make digital platforms pay news publishers for their content. The ACCC has been given responsibility for developing the payment model.

CORPORATES
GOOGLE INCORPORATED, FACEBOOK INCORPORATED, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY

Big tech made to pay for news

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Original article by Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 6 : 20-Apr-20

The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission has been directed to set up a mandatory code of conduct under which Google and Facebook will be required to pay news publishers for using their content. Treasurer Josh Frydenberg says it is only reasonable that those who create content are rewarded for it. Facebook and Google had initially been directed to set up a voluntary code of conduct for content payment by November, but the two technology companies had been accused by media firms of not genuinely engaging in negotiations on the issue. Nine Entertainment CEO Hugh Marks has praised the government for taking "taking swift and decisive action" on the issue.

CORPORATES
FACEBOOK INCORPORATED, GOOGLE INCORPORATED, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC

It’s too little, too late: media lament aid deal

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Original article by Lilly Vitorovich, Leo Shanahan
The Australian – Page: 13 & 16 : 16-Apr-20

The federal government has announced a $91m financial relief package for the media sector, which has been hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic. Amongst other things, the government will suspend content quotas for local drama and children’s programs for the rest of the year, while TV and radio networks will collectively receive $41m in tax rebates for spectrum fees. Regional media companies will also receive financial support totalling $50m. However, industry executives had hoped for a further relaxation of cross-media ownership laws and action to force digital companies to pay for content.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF INFRASTRUCTURE, TRANSPORT, REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND COMMUNICATIONS, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, TEN NETWORK HOLDINGS LIMITED, FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN COMMUNITY MEDIA, ELLIOTT NEWSPAPER GROUP PTY LTD, PRIME MEDIA GROUP LIMITED – ASX PRT, HT&E LIMITED – ASX HT1

AFP search of journalist’s home illegal

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Original article by Michael Pelly, Andrew Tillett
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 10 : 16-Apr-20

Australian Federal Police commissioner Reece Kershaw says News Corp journalist Annika Smethurst could still face criminal charges despite a landmark High Court ruling on the legal validity of a search warrant. The court has unanimously ruled that the warrant used to search her home in June 2019 was invalid as it was too imprecise and "impossibly wide". However, the court narrowly rejected an application for an injunction requiring the AFP to return or destroy data that it seized in the raid.

CORPORATES
NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE

Trust in most media during the Coronavirus pandemic is brittle

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 16-Apr-20

Australians need to be able to rely on media for the latest advice and information during the COVID-19 pandemic, yet trust in media outlets remains disappointingly low, as a special media industry distrust risk survey by Roy Morgan has found. Research firm Roy Morgan measures consumer distrust, and the risk it poses to companies, across 25 industries. As a whole, media is the third most distrusted of the 25 industries and it has had the largest increase in distrust of any industry over the past 8 months. The key media brands which buck the trend, those which are highly trusted by Australians, are the ABC, SBS and Netflix, while the most trusted key tech brands, a significant conduit for media content, include Apple and Microsoft. Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine says amid the first global pandemic in a century, consumer trust is critical for all businesses, but particularly so for media, which is delivering vital information in a rapidly changing environment. Roy Morgan’s ongoing risk monitor shows that levels of trust and distrust for individual companies can change quickly. This variability means regular tracking of the pulse of the community is vital.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, SPECIAL BROADCASTING SERVICE (SBS), NETFLIX INCORPORATED, APPLE INCORPORATED, MICROSOFT CORPORATION

News Corp warns of hit to Foxtel, Kayo and real estate classifieds

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Original article by Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 17 : 15-Apr-20

News Corp expects to lose more Foxtel and Kayo Sports subscribers due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on live sports events. Foxtel’s broadcast and commercial subscriber base fell to 2.268 million in the December quarter, compared with 2.326 million in the September quarter, while its churn rate rose from 14.4 per cent to 16 per cent. Meanwhile, Kayo boasted 402,000 paid subscribers in early November, but this had fallen to around 370,000 by early February. News Corp also expects its property listings businesses in Australia and the US to be hit by the pandemic.

CORPORATES
NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, KAYO SPORTS, REA GROUP LIMITED – ASX REA, MOVE INCORPORATED

Catalano’s Australian Community Media to suspend some print titles

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Original article by Zoe Samios
The Sydney Morning Herald – Page: Online : 15-Apr-20

Australian Community Media has responded to the coronavirus-induced downturn in the advertising market by suspending publication of some non-daily regional print newspapers. Four of its printing facilities will also be closed until late June. ACM’s joint owner Antony Catalano says he recently approached Communications Minister Paul Fletcher about financial support for regional media groups. Catalano contends that consolidation in the regional media sector is necessary.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN COMMUNITY MEDIA

High Court to rule on warrant AFP used to raid journalist Annika Smethurst’s Canberra home

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Original article by Elizabeth Byrne, Matthew Doran
abc.net.au – Page: Online : 15-Apr-20

The issue of press freedom will come under scrutiny again on 15 April, when the High Court decides on the validity of a search warrant used in a media raid in June 2019. News Corp journalist Annika Smethurst has challenged the legal validity of the search warrant issued to Australian Federal Police officers who raided her home in Canberra. Her lawyers have argued amongst other things that the law under which the warrant was issued was invalid because it breached the implied constitutional right to freedom of political communication. The ABC has unsuccessfully challenged the search warrant used in a separate raid on its Sydney premises.

CORPORATES
HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE, AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION

Big tech must pay media: Fletcher

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Original article by David Swan, Dennis Shanahan
The Australian – Page: 19 : 13-Apr-20

Federal Communications Minister Paul Fletcher has welcomed the recent ruling that Google must negotiate a deal with French news publishers to pay for their content. He adds that the government’s expectation is that digital companies will also agree to pay Australian news publishers for their content. Seven West Media director Ryan Stokes says there must be "proper and fair renumeration" for local news content; he notes that the impact of the coronavirus pandemic has increased the importance of such a deal.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF INFRASTRUCTURE, TRANSPORT, REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND COMMUNICATIONS, GOOGLE INCORPORATED, SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS

Clock ticking on debt-laden Seven as lenders make plans

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Original article by Lilly Vitorovich, Perry Williams, Bridget Carter
The Australian – Page: 19 : 13-Apr-20

Seven West Media’s $541m debt equates to 2.4 times its underlying earnings. CEO James Warburton is seeking to reduce costs in response to the coronavirus-induced downturn in the advertising market, but there are concerns that Seven’s lenders may opt to on-sell their debt; any buyers of this debt could potentially call in their loans or gain control of Seven via a debt-for-equity swap. Seven’s outlook has been complicated by uncertainty regarding the future of its $40m deal to sell Pacific Magazines to Bauer Media.

CORPORATES
SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM, PACIFIC MAGAZINES PTY LTD, BAUER MEDIA AUSTRALIA PTY LTD