Google threatens cutting out NZ media, while job losses mount   

They also expressed their concerns to Media Minister Paul Goldsmith, that the bill would eventually be harmful to small publishers and would be contrary to the principle of an open internet.  

Goldsmith said the dialogues with Google were still ongoing. “We are still in the consultation phase and will make announcement in due course,” he said in a statement. “My officials and I have met with Google on a number of occasions to discuss their concerns, and will continue to do so.”  

Somewhat paradoxically, Google has been, since 2022, supporting the news industry in New Zealand to an extent, by making commercial deals with news media organisations. It’s been claimed that these deals have injected more than $10 million into the news media.  

 The Fair Digital News Bargaining Bill would bring Google to deal with news publishers instead of media organisations directly.  

What are the stakes?  

If Google carried out its claim, it could bring the “end-of-days of journalism in New Zealand” said former head of Network at Warner Bros Glen Kyne.  

For news media organisations, it could impact their revenues. Many news outlets depend on the traffic brought by big-tech owned platforms, particularly to attract advertising investors, which was not without its own challenges, given tech giants already receive a large proportion of digital advertising revenues.  

Without this traffic from Google’s search engine, news media organisation could see a significant drop in audience numbers. Anna Rawhiti-Connell, writer and head of audiences at the Spinoff told RNZ’s Mediawatch that it could ultimately have an impact on these revenues, and subsequently, on the industry. “The minute there’s a drop-off [in audiences], there’s implications for the sizes of our audience – and then has an impact on the number of journalists that have jobs,” she said.  

“The government of New Zealand should be able to make laws to strengthen democracy in this country without being subjected to this kind of corporate bullying.” – NPA & Allied Press

It would also greatly impact the ways in which audiences access information, as if Google followed through on its threat, it “would essential end wide distribution for New Zealand news media in a digital context,” reported The Spinoff.  

Another worrying dimension to this issue concerned the safety of people in times of crisis. With the increased tendency of news consumption online and on social media platforms, the difficulty of accessing quality information quickly in crisis situations such as climate disasters can put people’s lives at risk. 

Google accused of “Corporate bullying”

Despite the threats of Google and Meta, who claimed it would simply cease running news stories from New Zealand like it did in Canada, media organisation, news publishers and the government seem determined to advance the legislation. 

“[Google’s] statement about the Fair Digital News Bargaining Bill deliberately misrepresents the legislation – and demonstrates the kind of pressure that it has been applying to the government and news media companies,” said the spokesperson of news publisher NPA in reaction to Google’s warning in a joint statement with Allied Press. 

“The government of New Zealand should be able to make laws to strengthen democracy in this country without being subjected to this kind of corporate bullying.”   

Additionally, if the government decided to give up to the pressure and drop the bill, it would reveal it lacks the power to stand up to Big Tech’s influence, or that they wield a certain veto over New Zealand’s parliament.  

Bargaining codes, a growing future?

 New Zealand has been one of the few countries who initiated legislations aiming at mitigating the significant power imbalance between news organisations and big tech companies such as Google and Meta. 

“Not a single organization representing journalists and news workers agreed to this undemocratic and secretive deal with one of the businesses destroying our industry,” – The Media Guild of the West, California 

In Canada, the government passed the news media bargaining code in 2021. Since the law passed, Meta banned Canadian news from its social media platform Facebook. Google, on the other hand, signed an agreement with the government to pay $100 million to Canadian news media companies to continue featuring their news content on its search engine.  

Australia and the State of California have also advanced similar bills, which met the direct disapproval of Meta warned it would repeat the Canadian playbook. Google entered negotiations with governments and renewed deals with news publishers and signed agreements to support the news industry.

However, these deals were not looked on favourably, with the Californian Union The Media Guild of the West calling the deal “vague” and “opaque” and that “not a single organization representing journalists and news workers agreed to this undemocratic and secretive deal with one of the businesses destroying our industry,”.

These deals were criticised that they did not provide sufficient resources to bring independent news out of their unstable and difficult financial situation.

PSM shrinkage and growing news avoidance