Open Markets & The Center for Journalism & Liberty Join Civil Society Groups Around the World in Signing onto Principles for Fair Compensation in Journalism & Big Tech
WASHINGTON -The Open Markets Institute and the Center for Journalism & Liberty through its new director, Dr. Courtney Radsch, have signed onto a set of ten common principles for supporting independent, sustainable journalism through fair compensation and by rectifying the power imbalances of the digital era.
“For too long Big Tech has been able to freely use journalistic content to make their platforms more useful, attract advertisers, and now, to fuel the generative AI revolution without compensating publishers or journalists.” said Dr. Courtney Radsch, Director of the Center for Journalism & Liberty. “This kind of global problem requires global solutions and that is exactly what these principles are designed to inform.”
The “Principles for Fair Compensation” were jointly adopted by civil society organizations, activists, economists, lawyers, and scholars from 24 countries during a July 13-14, 2023 conference, “Big Tech and Journalism – Building a Sustainable Future for the Global South,” at the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) in Johannesburg, South Africa, hosted by the GIBS Media Leadership Think Tank. The Principles adopted there are designed to inform global policymaking that sustains financially the free press; they lay the groundwork for new policies and legislation, such as the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (JCPA) in the U.S. and Australia’s News Media Bargaining Code, which has already become law.
Dr. Radsch also wrote about the new Principles in Tech Policy Press, noting how news publishers are looking ahead and urging that fair compensation rules also apply to generative AI: “so that journalism is not further undermined by poor regulation of tech platforms.”
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The Center for Journalism and Liberty at the Open Markets Institute is a team of journalists and researchers working to ensure that the news media of the United States and our democratic allies is fully independent and robustly funded in the 21st century’s digital economy. The Center’s work is guided by the belief that government plays a fundamental role in structuring news media markets and business models to ensure that neither the state nor any one or few private actors control the words or actions of reporters, editors and publishers. The center focuses on policy solutions with regard to privacy, platforms, business models, and content integrity.