on media


Tax the tech giants to strengthen the media


Now is the time to shape the future, says Raymond Snoddy T


he plans drawn up by the NUJ and the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) for the


future of news after the pandemic are comprehensive and telling. Now is exactly the time to focus on visions of ‘a news reimagined’ and news focused ‘squarely on the public good’ even though it may appear utopian in the midst of such a crisis. The heart of such a plan, however,


has to be economic if anything is to be done about closed newspapers, lost jobs and freelances left without an income. There is only one plausible solution, and it is a solution put forward by both the NUJ and IFJ – a windfall tax on Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft. Everything else flows from that.


The tech giants had already sucked


much of the advertising out of local, regional and national newspapers before the virus struck across the world and made things ten times worse. The economic impact of the pandemic can be countered only by international ‘reparations’ from the multi-billion dollar corporations – who are publishers in all but name. Together, they have extracted


advertising and personal data and, in the case of Amazon, retail sales on an international industrial scale and shown little interest in paying anything like a fair share of taxes in return. Those like Facebook, which disseminate information and views, have never developed effective mechanisms to prevent the spread of fake news or, in recent times, dangerous conspiracy theories such as


5G being a cause of Covid-19. So only a windfall tax of six per cent or other appropriate percentage using the digital services tax will do if there is to be any chance of funding a news recovery plan. Such sources could also contribute to


a government-funded journalism foundation suggested in the Cairncross Report, and needed now more than ever.


Unfortunately, there are many


barriers to get over. The tech giants will wriggle and dissemble and, in any battle for public funds, the airline, tourism and hospitality sectors could shout louder than journalism, whether this is right or not.


Politics could also play a large part in determining whether the news business receives any help. It may need a centrist Conservative


government led by – say – former health secretary Jeremy Hunt, or a centrist Labour government led by Sir Keir Starmer before much happens. The present government has already


displayed considerable malice towards news organisations and individual journalists who persist in asking difficult questions. It may not be comparable with


Trumpian standards. Instead, it is done in a more subtle though still nefarious British way. Journalists who depart too far from the official line do not get to ask questions or are quickly shut down without a follow-up.


Photographers are in trouble if they try to show an absence of PPE equipment or shoppers behaving badly at supermarkets. There is an inevitable tension


“ ”


between journalists doing their jobs vigorously and a government that has plenty to hide on how it delayed imposing the initial lockdown and compounded the error by starting to lift it too soon in an atmosphere of maximum confusion. There is even greater tension between


an industry asking for economic help and a government inevitably facing intensifying scrutiny over the next few weeks for its many failures. Some questions will have to be asked


again and again until there is some explanation of why four weeks were lost in February and early March. Did the Government receive poor


scientific advice from its professional advisers or did it ignore the scientific advice it was given? There may be problems of definition and recording methods in creating a precise league table of deaths, but there can be little doubt that the UK has among the largest rates of Covid-19 deaths in the world.


There is tension between a media industry asking for economic help and a government facing intensifying scrutiny for its many failures


Nothing apart from the flu pandemic of 1918 compares with the coronavirus crisis.


Has there been such a tragedy in


recent times or such a public policy scandal that allowed it to happen? As Sir Keir asked Boris Johnson in the House of Commons: “How on earth did it come to this?” Answer came there none. Journalists must brace themselves for the brickbats to come as they spearhead the call for a full public inquiry – a call the Johnson government will be reluctant to grant. Tough times to come, but the NUJ/IFJ


plans are the right approach – or at least heading in the direction.


theJournalist | 09


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