News Corp's Murdoch Urges Facebook to Pay Publishers for Content
January 22 2018 - 4:30PM
Dow Jones News
By Lukas I. Alpert
News Corp Executive Chairman Rupert Murdoch said if Facebook is
serious about promoting "trusted content" and filtering fake news
out of its news feed, it should pay publishers fees similar to
those cable distributors pay to TV channels.
Mr. Murdoch's comments on Monday follow Facebook's announcement
last week that it plans to rank news sources based on credibility,
part of its efforts to rein in false information on its
platform.
"Publishers are obviously enhancing the value and integrity of
Facebook through their news and content but are not being
adequately rewarded for those services," Mr. Murdoch said in a
statement.
News Corp is the parent company of Dow Jones, which publishes
The Wall Street Journal.
A spokesman for Facebook didn't immediately respond to a request
for comment.
Mr. Murdoch and other publishing executives have spoken in the
past about Facebook's dominant position in publishing and
advertising, and argued it has a responsibility to support genuine
news sources.
Mr. Murdoch is pushing Facebook to adopt the system of "carriage
fees" that cable and satellite TV providers pay to carry cable TV
channels and offer them to customers. The distributors pay a
specified amount per month for each subscriber. It is a major
source of revenue and growth for TV channel-owners.
His proposal indicates how the change to Facebook's news feed
are raising the stakes for media companies. Facebook's new
policies, including the trustworthiness ranking and an earlier
shift aimed at promoting content that triggers more user
interactions, have created anxiety and uncertainty for publishers.
Some are worried their content may wind up having less reach on
Facebook.
Facebook said it would begin testing the credibility-ranking
this week by prioritizing news reports that users have rated in
Facebook surveys as trustworthy. The most "broadly trusted"
publications would get a boost in the feed, while those that users
rate low on trust would be penalized.
"We will closely follow the latest shift in Facebook's strategy,
and I have no doubt that Mark Zuckerberg is a sincere person, but
there is still a serious lack of transparency that should concern
publishers and those wary of political bias at these powerful
platforms," Mr. Murdoch said. "Carriage payments would have a minor
impact on Facebook's profits but a major impact on the prospects
for publishers and journalists."
Mr. Murdoch is also the executive chairman of 21st Century Fox
Inc., which owns numerous television properties that earn
substantial revenue from carriage fees.
Facebook has worked with publishers to create a structure
allowing users to subscribe to publications through the
social-media giant's platforms, but Mr. Murdoch said the efforts so
far haven't been enough.
"There has been much discussion about subscription models but I
have yet to see a proposal that truly recognizes the investment in
and the social value of professional journalism," he said.
Publishers have lobbied Facebook intensively to take a more
active role in weeding out low-quality and false stories and to
prioritize news coming from established and respected media
outlets. News Corp has long been critical of the power over
distribution held by big digital platforms like Facebook and
Google.
Mr. Murdoch said that it was a positive step that both companies
had recognized that their role in spreading unreliable news was a
problem, but that "the remedial measures that both companies have
so far proposed are inadequate, commercially, socially and
journalistically."
A spokeswoman for Google didn't immediately respond to a request
for comment.
Write to Lukas I. Alpert at lukas.alpert@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 22, 2018 16:15 ET (21:15 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2018 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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