News Corp Australia Executive Chairman Michael Miller says
there "may not be as much Australian media" following the coronavirus
pandemic with big tech soaking up remaining advertising dollars and bearing no
costs of the news they profit from.
"From next week we won't be able to
print and distribute 60" of the company's local newspapers which include
the Quest Group in Queensland, the News Local Group in Sydney, the Leader Group
in Melbourne, and the Messenger Group in Adelaide, Mr Miller said.
He said these
mastheads are "advertising-funded businesses" and as a result of the
coronavirus outbreak their "key advertising streams are not active and are
unable to open and operate".
He told Sky News host Chris Kenny the current
crisis has been a "tipping point" which many media companies in Australia have
been warning of to all levels of government.
"This field that we're
playing on isn't an even one".
Many local media organisations in Australia are
suffering as a result of global tech giants which have not only claimed a large
proportion of advertising revenue, but do so on the back of locally produced
and locally funded publisher content.
Mr Miller said the announcement of the
closure of printed local papers across the country comes at quite an
"ironic" time as the company has "never had a bigger audience in
(its) history".
"We've seen a real appetite for coronavirus
information, but local coronavirus information … and that's something which the
tech platforms haven't invested in".
"They're benefiting from the content
we've created over the past three weeks".
"There may not be as much
Australian media post-coronavirus," Mr Miller said.
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