Six SDPI workers held after RSS member dies during clashes
THIRUVANTHAPURAM: Six workers of SDPI Thursday were held in connection with the death of a RSS worker during clashes between the two groups on Wednesday. R Nandu, the 22-year-old RSS worker, was allegedly stabbed to death while six others were injured in the clashes.
NEW DELHI: The Indian Newspaper Society (INS) has written to Google to “properly share advertising revenues” for content published by newspapers, a move that comes following a deal struck by Google in Australia with Rupert Murdoch’s Newscorp to do just this.
President of INS, L Adimoolam, said in a letter addressed to Google India’s country manager Sanjay Gupta that Google should “pay for news generated by newspapers which employ thousands of journalists on the ground at considerable expense”, the body said in a statement, adding that it is in discussions with the tech giant.
INS noted that there is a huge distinction between editorial content from quality publications and fake news that is spreading on other information platforms. “The Society noted that over the past year publishers across the world have been raising the issue of fair payment for content and of proper sharing of advertising revenue with Google. It has also noted that Google has recently agreed to better compensate and pay publishers in France, the European Union and Australia.”
HT reached out to Google but did not receive a response.
On Thursday, the two houses of
Australia’s parliament passed the “News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code” that requires companies such as Google and Facebook, whose primary source of revenue is advertising, to pay local publishers for content.
INS added that advertising has been the financial backbone of the news industry but that “newspaper publishers are seeing their share of the advertising pie shrinking in the digital space, even as Google is taking a giant share, leaving publishers with a small share”.
Raising an issue that has been a sticking point with traditional media companies around the world, the INS statement referred to Google’s role as a search engine, an ad-tech company, and also an analytics firm. It said publishers face an opaque advertising system, as they are unable to get details of Google’s advertising value chain. It has insisted that Google increase the publisher share of advertising revenue to 85%, and also ensure transparency in revenue reports provided by it. Alphabet’s Google last year said it would pay some media groups in Australia, Brazil and Germany for high-quality content. The tech giant has for years tried to fend off such demands worldwide in return for using their content, with European media groups among its fiercest critics.
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday mounted a scathing attack on the Congress and its leader Rahul Gandhi, holding the party’s policies in the 1990s responsible for the crisis in the farm sector and demanding an apology from him.
He sought to make light of Gandhi’s tractor rally in his Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency in the state and his sea trip as part of outreach programme for fishermen, sarcastically saying they were grateful for his interest towards Kerala.
Vijayan also hit back at Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, alleging the northern state governed by him was number 1 in corruption in the country and in the grip of an anarchy kind of situation.
The Congress government which introduced neo-liberal policies during its rule from 1991 was responsible for the crisis in the farm sector, he told reporters here.
“The hands of the Congress are soaked in the blood of lakhs of farmers. Many families were orphaned due to the Congress governments’ anti-farmer policies. Rahul Gandhi should tender unconditional apology for the wrongdoings of the Congress governments,” he said.
Vijayan questioned the Congress MP for organising a tractor rally in Wayanad instead of participating in the farmers’ agitation on the borders of Delhi seeking to repeal the three contentious central farm laws
Quoting a media report, he said at least 70 farmers had died in the venues of their protest outside Delhi, but Gandhi declared his support to the ryots after visiting Kerala. “Gandhi visited Kerala and made unusual interferences here,” he said.
VIJAYAN ALSO HIT OUT AT YOGI, ALLEGING THE NORTHERN STATE GOVERNED BY HIM WAS NUMBER 1 IN CORRUPTION