Is the News Bargaining Incentive and Office of AI the media’s last hope?

On the back of another round of job cuts in the media industry, unions and sector representatives are calling on the government to take responsibility, with one workplace expert calling current measures “a Band-Aid on a flesh wound”.

Further to ongoing coverage of the devastating impacts of AI and the cost-of-living crisis on the media and arts sector, Nine Publishing’s announcement of another 30 editorial redundancies has sparked further concern, not only around sector sustainability but also regarding a possible decline in public interest journalism.

In a media release on 21 July, Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) director of media Cassie Derrick said the redundancies come at a time when this reporting has never been more important, with the publishing divisions of The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, Brisbane Times, and WA Today all being impacted by the cuts.

“Newsrooms cannot keep absorbing job cuts without consequences for workloads, diversity, quality journalism, and the ability of journalists to hold power to account,” she said.

In this vein, the MEAA called on Nine to provide full transparency about the apparent restructure and how it will impact the fulfilment of its Charter of Editorial Independence.

“Nine must engage in genuine consultation with staff through their union, and do everything possible to avoid forced redundancies, including redeployment and voluntary options,” Derrick said.

HR Leader spoke to MEAA and Michael Byrnes, workplace relations lawyer at Swaab, to explore the origin of the trend and suggest where the sector goes from here.

According to Byrnes, changes in news consumption and AI are presenting “substantial, and potentially insurmountable obstacles”. Paid advertising – once a “river of gold” for newspapers – has depleted, and free-to-air TV is losing audiences and relevance to streaming and social media.

In the same vein, mutually beneficial arrangements whereby advertisements could sustain news and current affairs outlets are seemingly themselves redundant, resulting in “wave after wave of redundancies in media organisations, with many excellent media practitioners of various kinds (journalists, producers, researchers, broadcasters) finding themselves out of work”.

Even attempts to stem the flow of redundancies, in measures such as the News Bargaining Incentive (NBI), do not appear adequate, nor does Byrnes believe there is any end to this trend.

He said: “While there is an obligation for the employers to consult with those affected under the applicable modern award, given the structural imperatives for workforce reduction, there is little that can usually be done to effectively lessen the impact.”

The MEAA is calling on the government to ensure that any revenue generated from the NBI is funnelled into journalism, as the total number of journalists who have lost their jobs since 2008 has reached over 19,500.

According to a union spokesperson, “these shifts undermine the long-term sustainability of public interest journalism and weaken the media’s ability to inform communities, hold decision-makers to account and reflect diverse voices and experiences”.

At the same time, continued job cuts increase the likelihood of “news deserts”, whereby regional areas see particular and significant impacts to reporting and coverage – as already seen in the closure of countless regional and community newspapers.

The spokesperson also noted a rise in freelance journalism work as secure, permanent positions decline, highlighting their particular vulnerability in security and payment, and the absence of a minimum wage, paid leave entitlements, or superannuation, which places “additional pressure on the quality and capacity of newsrooms”.

Byrnes agreed that the freelance path is a challenging and unstable one, suggesting the pay-per-word rate may have remained unchanged for years.

“Other freelancers might try podcasting or Substacks, which provide freedom and autonomy but can be challenging to monetise in a meaningful way. Those who can attract clicks and views are rewarded irrespective of intrinsic merit of public interest value,” he said.

Byrnes concluded with a dire warning, stating: “The media sector provides an object lesson for other industries as to how technological change can have adverse effects on long-term sustainability. With the coming impact of AI, what has happened in media might be repeated in various other industries.”

According to the MEAA spokesperson, strong policy settings are necessary to ensure emerging technologies “do not further erode employment opportunities or undermine professional standards”.

“Without investment in journalism and the workers who produce it, Australians risk losing access to the trusted news, local stories and democratic scrutiny that quality journalism provides,” the spokesperson said.

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