TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Journalism students from leading universities in Taiwan held a press conference Thursday to call for the swift passage of the Media Bargaining Law, which aims to claw back the lost revenue of media businesses from tech companies.
The students gathered at the Legislative Yuan following the failure of the Transportation, Education, and Culture Committee to reach a consensus on the bill, which will undergo further rounds of inter-party negotiations, per CNA.
Democratic Progressive Party legislators want to refine the bill to avoid triggering a de-listing of Taiwanese media properties by overseas tech companies. Meanwhile, Kuomingtang legislators have sought to expedite the bill’s passage.
The journalism students, who come from four universities — National Taiwan University, National Chengchi University, National Taiwan Normal University, and Fu Jen Catholic University — have formed a coalition to lobby for their would-be industry. They argue that it is the essential nature of media to support democracy and fight against its erosion by big tech.
Fu Jen Catholic University student Guo Sixian (郭思嫺) explained that under the proposed Media Bargaining Law, a news fund would be established to support original work by outlets whose advertising revenue had been siphoned off by the tech platforms. This would be a potential boon to smaller media.
National Taiwan Normal University student Chan Hui-yu (詹蕙瑜) pointed out that social media algorithms tend to promote exaggerated or extreme stories and de-emphasize local and investigative reporting. She noted that fewer communications graduates are willing to go into journalism than in the past.
National Taiwan University student Huang Jiaan (黃家安) said that media organizations increasingly rely on sponsored content to raise revenue, and the sponsorship often goes unnoticed by readers, per UDN.
If the Media Bargaining Law were to pass, it would not be the first of its kind. Similar efforts have occurred, most notably in Australia, where Facebook for a time pulled out of the country and Google threatened to do so too. Both later came to private agreements with media companies. Canada, France, and Germany have had similar issues.
