Nine’s top editor confident of Albanese's support in Meta's media standoff
The top editor of Nine's newspapers has expressed confidence the company has the PM in its corner as it gears up for a fight with social media behemoth Meta in Canberra.
The top editor of Nine Entertainment’s metro mastheads has assured staff the company has the strong backing of the federal Labor government as it gears up to fight Meta in Canberra over lucrative content deals.
In an address to staff on Wednesday morning, the executive editor of the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, Luke McIlveen, said Meta’s announcement on Friday that it would walk away from lucrative licensing deals struck with 13 media companies under the News Media Bargaining Code gives Nine a chance to negotiate with the Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp owner.
“Meta has been silent on its legislative responsibilities in Australia for the last six to 12 months, so the fact they put out a statement saying that news was no longer important to them at least gives us a chance to get back to the table,” McIlveen told staff on Wednesday morning, according to an audio recording obtained by Capital Brief.
“What was really encouraging — I got this sense in Canberra too — was that the prime minister, in particular, has really aimed up in the last week on explaining the importance of quality, independent journalism. Not just in an economic sense for media companies, but for society as a whole,” he said.
