Calls to regulate Facebook
QUESTIONS about Facebook’s dominance over the Australian digital landscape received sharp focus at the Senate media diversity inquiry on Friday, including whether tech giants should be scrutinised by an independent umpire.
News Corp global chief executive Robert Thomson, appearing via video link, strongly defended the company’s reporting on climate issues and expressed concern about the power and ability of the major digital platforms, including how they could use changes in algorithms with no notice to adversely affect the fortunes of any business digitally.
He also raised the possibility that Australians could see the tech giants encroaching on future local sports coverage.
Speaking from New York, Mr Thomson said he did not discuss the company’s current Mission Zero series with Prime Minister Scott Morrison during his US visit in September.
On climate coverage, he said there was no “damascene conversion” on climate issues within News Corp recently and he did not accept suggestions by inquiry chairwoman, Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, accusing past coverage of being climate denialist.
News Corp’s reporting on environmental issues was consistent with Rupert Murdoch’s 2006 statement that “the planet deserves the benefit of the doubt”, Mr Thomson said, adding it was important that debate focused on what were “realistic” options and outcomes.
Instead, Mr Thomson said the current Mission Zero series, appearing in News Corp titles and explaining the ways Australia could achieve net zero emissions by 2050, was the idea of Australian editors and had arisen from an editors’ meeting earlier this year.
Quizzed about the News Corp coverage of the bushfires over the 2019-2020 summer, Mr Thomson also rejected claims that arson was given undue weight, pointing out reports of arson featured only in a very small number of articles.
The News boss raised concerns about the regulation of US tech giants, saying he predicted they would look to influence coverage of Australian sports in future, as social media platforms “obviously understand that sport is compelling content”.
“I have no doubt they’ll be in the Australian markets as buyers very soon,” he said.
Mr Thomson said any tech giants that operated in Australia should be subject to local regulation. “They are a publisher. They publish information,” he said.