Competition authorities have launched an inquiry into the effect of digital platforms such as Google and Facebook on traditional media in the country.
These technology giants have become public enemy No 1 for traditional media in the past decade. Industry stalwarts argue that by luring away readers and advertisers, platforms such as social media are narrowing the news agenda and even, some say, threatening the future of journalism.
On Friday, the Competition Commission — which investigates market structures in the country with the aim of promoting competition — published draft terms of reference for an inquiry into the distribution of media content on digital platforms.
The Media and Digital Platforms Market Inquiry (MDPMI), is based on the commission’s view “that there may exist market features in digital platforms that distribute news media content that impede, distort, or restrict competition and which may have adverse implications for the news media sector of SA”.
“This imbalance can have implications on fair payment for content and the sustainability of independent journalism.”
The commission says this inquiry is underpinned by the value of a properly funded press to advance a well-functioning democracy. “This includes the diversity of views from smaller media businesses and media owned by historically disadvantaged persons.”
Given the destruction already meted out to traditional media businesses, some may see this exercise as being “too little, too late”.
Local media houses, which rely on advertising revenue to keep operating, have had to grapple with the realities of money shifting to digital platforms in recent years. Media houses such as Mail & Guardian, Naspers-owned Media24 and Arena Holdings — owner of the FM, Sunday Times and other titles — has undergone a series of retrenchments in recent years thanks to falling circulation and shrinking advertising.
All this has resulted in media professionals losing their jobs, as well as companies, such as Associated Media Publishing, which ran titles such as Cosmopolitan, shutting their doors.
The SA National Editors Form told Business Day previously that the economic issues facing the industry had been developing for a decade and were worsened by Covid-19. The number of journalists in the country has more than halved from about 10,000 about a decade ago to fewer than 5,000.
“The main digital platforms that the inquiry will focus on include search engines, social media sites, video-sharing platforms and news aggregation platforms,” said the commission.
The inquiry will also take a forward-looking approach and evaluate new technologies adopted by digital platforms, such as generative artificial intelligence (AI) search support, for example OpenAI's ChatGPT, and the significance these may have on the operations of businesses in the SA news media sector.
The inquiry will focus on the interaction and dependency of SA news media businesses on relevant digital platforms as an intermediary, distributor, and link to online users for the dissemination of news content online; and the impact thereof on news media businesses to aggregate, display, create, and monetise their news content online.
The commission said it opened channels for the public to make written submissions on the inquiry’s proposed terms. This will be open until April 20.
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