#102 It's complicated - Dr James Meese on Meta's withdrawal from news

This week Jordan asks Dr James Meese to explain Meta's announcement that it doesn’t intend to renew the commercial deals it made with Australian media companies under the News Media Bargaining Code.

Dr Meese (full bio below) is an Associate Professor at RMIT University, where he researches personalisation and recommendation in the news media sector and has recently published a book examining the complex relationship between Digital Platforms and the Press (link below).

James talks us through some of the history and the limits of the News Media Bargaining Code, how algorithms and platform dynamics have impacted news, and the policy challenges of ensuring a sustainable future for journalism.

James Meese Bio

James Meese is an Associate Professor at RMIT University and an Associate Investigator with the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision Making and Society. He has been awarded a Future Fellowship from the Australian Research Council to investigate personalisation and recommendation in the news media sector. James has received research funding from the Australian Research Council, Meta, the International Association of Privacy Professionals and the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network. He regularly publishes work in leading media and communication journals and his most recent book is Digital Platforms and the Press (Intellect).

Links

Digital Platforms and the Press (James' excellent book - available for free online) https://www.intellectbooks.com/digital-platforms-and-the-press

Facebook's withdrawal from news (The Verge) https://www.theverge.com/2024/2/29/24087220/facebook-news-tab-united-states-australia

Credits: Editing and post-production by Martin Franklin (East Coast Studio) eastcoaststudio.com.au Music by Bensound.com