Government Introduces Legislation for Fairer Digital News Bargaining

The New Zealand Government has announced plans to introduce legislation aimed at creating a fairer competitive environment for news media organizations in their struggle for advertising revenue against social media giants. This initiative follows recent job losses in the media sector and significant financial losses for TVNZ. Media and Communications Minister Paul Goldsmith revealed that the Government will amend the Fair Digital News Bargaining Bill to align with Australia’s digital bargaining code, enabling fairer commercial arrangements for news content between local media entities and digital platforms.
However, the ACT Party has invoked its ‘agree to disagree’ clause, with leader David Seymour criticizing the bill as ineffective and insufficient to address the fundamental challenges facing traditional media. ACT is concerned about possible unintended consequences, such as increased misinformation if news content is restricted on social media platforms. Despite ACT’s opposition, Labour supports the bill’s intent to create a fairer media landscape. The Government plans to implement short-term measures by the end of the year and announce further regulatory reforms in 2024.