• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, December 13, 2023

Google earlier this month said it would pay Canadian publishers 100 million Canadian dollars (CAD) per year to serve news content in its search engine.

Radio, television, newspapers and other content publishers will split the money.

The United States could see similar legislation in 2024. Borrell Associates CEO Gordon Borrell said that on a recent trip to California he learned that publishers are getting money from anti-journalism editorial, and that Google in particular is giving money to minority publishers.

News Media Alliance CEO Danielle Coffey, who testified at a hearing, told Borrell in a podcast interview that next year the News Media Alliance will work to get new sources of money from companies like Google for journalists and news organization.

“We’re focused on getting our fair-market value and ensure there’s adequate revenue received by news and magazine publishers to create the quality content they produce,” Coffey said. “That includes compensation from tech media platforms.”

She said the tech platforms take content, which artificial intelligence has exacerbated, for various purposes, and their dominant position in the market restricts publishers from negotiating with them without government intervention.

The direction of the dollar is changing -- going back to the creators, she said. This is a global issue.

Platforms are opposed to it. Coffey heard testimony in California that some platforms will pay certain publications to oppose bills that would pay publishers for the use of content. Sometimes it’s disguised as organic, she said. Diverse and minority communities can have a more appealing message.

“Two testimonies disclosed they were paid by Google, at news publications,” Coffey said, adding that they worked at small newspapers in northern California.

Google makes up 40% on average of news traffic from search engines to publishers. That 40% can go all the way up to 70%. When Google gets another click from a user, the platform takes another 70%, Coffey said.