Closure sends shockwave

Digital News Bargaining Bill] and stop dragging their heels. It’s really the Government’s job to ensure there is a genuine competitive landscape out there, and if they don’t, this is what you will end up with. ”

“This passive, laissez-fare thing doesn’t work, governments have to recognise that they have to do something. You just cannot let these global giants ... get away with the idea they are not publishers. They should make them front up and pay for what they are taking. They are freeloading off local news media, it’s the government’s job to take leadership in this area.”

Other experts described “alarm bells ringing” and an urgency for intervention.

The Fair News Bargaining Bill, if enacted, could see digital giants Meta and Google having to pay for news content that boosts their huge profits through associated advertising, but for which they pay nothing.

The bill was introduced by former broadcasting and media minister Willie Jackson last year, to incentivise fair commercial deals. The bill has been opposed by Meta, which owns Facebook, and Google, and at its first reading last year, was also criticised by National and ACT MPs.

Lee has previously described the bill as like “another tax”, a hangover from Labour’s days. Yesterday she said the prospect of a state broadcaster with a monopoly on broadcast news was “not an issue”. She said Warner Bros/Discovery had never asked for assistance – later clarifying to Newshub she meant financial assistance.

She had spoken to Warner Bros/Discovery the night before the announcement, and said the company blamed a drop in advertising for its issues, and said she had been told by Discovery that nothing the Government could have done.

Last night Discovery disputed her comments.

In a report on its own axing last night, senior journalist Michael Morrah said staff didn’t believe feedback on the proposal would change the plan to cut the news operation. “This will change the entire landscape of journalism,” he reported.