In the article, Matthew provides an overview of the important issues relating to digital platforms and reveals what it tells us about the relationship between competition policy and another industry – news media and journalism. He comments on the role of news media and journalism: “They play an essential role in a democracy like Australia by keeping citizens informed of public affairs, holding those in power to account and facilitating healthy public debate.”
During its inquiry, the ACCC endorsed the idea of developing platform-specific codes of conduct to address the inequality of bargaining power between Google or Facebook and media businesses. It also proposed introducing government grants for journalism in the public interest – in particular, local and regional journalism relating to local government and local courts. These measures are designed to directly assist media businesses.
“[News media and journalists] play an essential role in a democracy like Australia by keeping citizens informed of public affairs, holding those in power to account and facilitating healthy public debate.”
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