The Minderoo Foundation has stepped in to help 18 small media publishers secure licensing deals with Google and Facebook, according to Reuters.
With Minderoo negotiating for them in this matter, the publishers will avoid breaching competition laws.
Emma McDonald, director of Frontier Technology (a Minderoo initiative) noted that the small publishers being helped include online publications that attract multicultural audiences and focus on issues at a local or regional level.
This may be a levelling step in the playing field for smaller and mid sized publishers, supporting niche content and media diversity in Australia.
AJF’s Future of Journalism series discusses the ACCC media bargaining code and the important of niche publishers in various episodes, however, this episode with Alan Soon, of Singapore’s Splice Media, outlines why small, often digital and nimble publishers are key to the future of journalism.
Read more detail from Reuters here.