The Hindu Editorial Vocabulary– Jan 13, 2022; Day 213

Trust deficit (loss): On tech platforms and news publishers

The imbalance of power in relations between tech platforms and news publishers is worrying

The decision of India’s competition watchdog (A guardian or defender against theft or illegal practices or waste) to order investigations into Google, following allegations by the country’s digital news publishers that it has broken antitrust laws, marks a significant moment in a country where the fortunes of the news media industry have been on a downward path. The development is not a total surprise. For, governments in many countries such as Australia and France have used their political capital in recent years to try and correct the enormous imbalance that exists between big technology companies that control news in the digital sphere today and the traditional journalism industry that keeps the wheels of news running, thereby also creating the basis for the conversations that are so important in a democracy. The investigations have been ordered on the basis of a complaint by India’s Digital News Publishers Association, which has alleged (Make an accusation or assertion without any proof) that Google not only dominates the market for information but also abuses this dominance. It does so, the association has alleged, by not providing a fair share of the advertising monies and by not providing adequate information. It has also complained that it does not get paid for the news snippets (a small piece of information or news) that appear in search. The association’s broader point is that the terms of engagement are “unilaterally (by means of one part or party) and arbitrarily (In a random manner)” dictated (Issue commands or orders for) by the tech platform, and there is nothing its members can do about it. The imbalance of power and the denial of a fair share of revenue will be questions that the watchdog will be interested in exploring.

What was recognised by lawmakers in Australia, for instance, when they last year came up with a law that sought to level the playing field between big tech platforms and news publishers, is a condition that is true around the world. In India too, the power imbalance exists and has only gotten worse in recent years. The news media industry, which invests in journalists, has struggled to stay afloat (If a person, business, or country stays afloat or is kept afloat, they have just enough money to pay their debts and continue operating) while the big tech platforms have become more and more powerful. But the Australian case is one of a rare intervention by a government in publisher-platform relationships. The current investigations in India is more a case of the publishers finding an appropriate existing forum in search of relief. The sustainability of journalism in the digital era has far-reaching implications (the effect that something will have on something else in the future), especially in a democracy. It has been quite evident in recent years that the industry has ended up sacrificing quality in its quest (The act of searching for something) for more eyeballs, and nuance in the quest for more emotional engagement. The cost of not being able to get a fair value for journalistic effort can never be overemphasised enough.

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