Centre for Media Transition

1 175 The Impact of Digital Platforms on News and Journalistic Content UTS CRICOS PROVIDER CODE 00099F UTS CRICOS PROVIDER CODE 00099F Centre for Media Transition UTS CRICOS PROVIDER CODE 00099F 2 Centre for Media Transition The Centre for Media Transition is an interdisciplinary research Centre established jointly by the Faculty of Law and the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at UTS. We investigate key areas of Media evolution and Transition , including: journalism and industry best practice; new business models; and regulatory adaptation. We work with industry, public and private institutions to explore the ongoing movements and pressures wrought by disruption. Emphasising the impact and promise of new technologies, we aim to understand how digital Transition can be harnessed to develop local Media and to enhance the role of journalism in democratic, civil society. The principal researchers on this report were Derek Wilding, Peter Fray, Sacha Molitorisz and Elaine McKewon.

2 The following researchers also contributed to the work for the report: Gabriel Yakub, Chrisanthi Giotis, Nik Dawson, Divya Murthy, Charlotte Grieve, Mai Duong. Rosa Alice provided administration and project management support. Suggested citation: Wilding, D., Fray, P., Molitorisz, S. & McKewon, E. 2018, The Impact of Digital Platforms on News and Journalistic Content, University of Technology Sydney, NSW. Copyright Centre for Media Transition 2018 UTS CRICOS PROVIDER CODE: 00099F Contact Centre for Media Transition Building 5, Block B, Level 4, Room 32 UTS City Campus, Haymarket GPO Box 123, Broadway NSW 2007 3 Foreword This report was commissioned by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) as an input to the Digital Platforms Inquiry. The Centre was asked by the ACCC to research and report on aspects relating to news and journalistic content, one of several matters under the Terms of Reference for the inquiry issued by the Treasurer in December 2017.

3 Specifically the Centre was asked to describe and analyse the impacts of digital platforms on choice and quality for Australian news consumers. The brief for the project recognised that plurality, diversity, choice and quality in the contemporary Media environment are highly complex and contested issues, and the inquiry would benefit from an analytical framework through which these issues could be considered. The research addresses four broad themes of relevance to the inquiry, all of which relate specifically to news and journalistic content: The characteristics of this content and its public function in democratic society Choice, including production and distribution as well as diversity Consumption, including access and specific practices such as customisation Quality, including any changes in quality in the contemporary environment. We were asked to review relevant academic literature and other available resources, and specifically to consider any approaches to measurement of aspects such as diversity and quality that might assist in assessing the current environment.

4 We were not asked for recommendations on regulatory intervention. The project is comprised entirely of desk-top research, accessing local and international materials. These include academic texts and journal articles, policy reports, industry data and other available material. The project methodology excluded interviews and any other empirical research, as the Commission had itself embarked on an extensive consultation program. The arrangement of the material in the report reflects our progression from the general characteristics of news and journalistic content, through the international thinking on the impact of technology, approaches to quality, and finally plurality. This work is our own and should not be taken as representing the views of the ACCC. Derek Wilding and Peter Fray Co-Directors, Centre for Media Transition , October 2018 4 Executive Summary A report on the impact of digital platforms on choice and quality for Australian news consumers Chapter One.

5 A contested landscape Australians are consuming more news more often, preferring online access over offline. Digital platforms have changed the news. The consumption, distribution and production of news have altered fundamentally. The platforms provide a point of access to news a function formerly performed by Media companies. Journalism has multiple roles: it monitors and curbs power; it supports and creates public debate; and it educates and entertains. News is a public good it serves a purpose beyond the immediate needs of advertisers and consumers but it is difficult to monetise that good . Hence, it has traditionally needed a cross subsidy in the form of advertising or, in some cases, government support. To attract audiences, news producers often have to make their content available to search engines and social Media with little or no financial return. And to satisfy the workings of digital platforms, news producers create content that is more emotive and shareable.

6 Chapter Two. The impacts of technology Technology does not determine consumer behaviour; but it influences and shapes online behaviour by enabling and encouraging consumers to engage in certain ways, not in others. In many cases, algorithms determine which content news consumers get to see. The workings of these algorithms are not transparent. The evidence on filter bubbles and echo chambers, and on their impacts, is inconclusive. Collaborations could be encouraged between digital platforms and news Media to develop and refine technology that serves both parties interests, as well as the interests of consumers and citizens. 5 Chapter Three. Quality in news and journalistic content Driven by a shared professional identity and journalistic values, the news industry has maintained a range of accountability instruments including industry codes of ethics and journalistic norms and practices. The contemporary Media environment has introduced new challenges to maintaining journalistic quality: the 24/7 news cycle; algorithms; the blogosphere.

7 For news consumers, this represents a new information asymmetry. In response to escalating quality challenges, a number of online communities have assumed the roles of news Media watchdog , fact-checker and critic . Indicators of journalistic quality can be grouped under three sets of criteria: content indicators; organisational indicators; and audience engagement indicators. The current regulatory framework for the news Media is fragmented. There are ways in which digital platforms, as participants within the broader social framework for news Media , could help maintain journalism s accountability schemes. Chapter Four. Choice and diversity Choice in competition law has a close parallel in Media regulation where availability is a measure of Media diversity; as a framework for assessing the digital Media environment, Media diversity can account for the public functions of journalism. Media regulation in Australia takes a narrow approach to diversity, based on availability of traditional Media , while omitting all online news, pay TV and public Media .

8 While Australian regulation only considers the supply aspect of availability, measurement systems used in the EU and the UK also take account of consumption and impact; this offers a richer picture of choice. Internationally there is no consensus on the most suitable term for regulation, but the more targeted concept of Media plurality used in the UK is likely to be more suitable for application in Australia than the expansive concept of Media pluralism used in the EU. Even these recent attempts at measuring plurality or pluralism have only limited success in accounting for the impact of algorithmic delivery of news and the use of recommenders; this is now the focus of international research on diversity and pluralism. 6 Conclusion There is conflicting evidence on the overall impact of digital platforms on news and journalistic content. It appears some negative effects such as shorter, more emotive content can be attributed to platforms; others like pressures of the 24/7 news cycle are largely an aspect of digitisation.

9 Two aspects present specific future risks: sudden algorithmic changes which can severely disrupt conditions under which news is produced; and the potential devaluation of journalism through extractive summaries. Digital platforms can now be regarded as key participants within the broader framework for news Media ; they may not be publishers, but their role as distributors is increasingly hybrid in nature. As participants within this news Media framework, digital platforms have a responsibility not to harm the public benefit provided by news and journalistic content; there may also be ways to promote it. 7 Contents Foreword 3 Executive Summary 4 Contents 7 Introduction 9 1 A contested landscape 11 The certainty of uncertainty 12 The hybrid role of platforms 12 Definitions and functions 15 Definitions 15 Public benefits of journalism 18 Is news found or made? 21 Impact of digitisation 23 Production, consumption and citizenship 24 Today s news consumer 24 Making it pay 27 Citizens and/or consumers 30 Fake news and atomisation 31 Fake news 31 Engagement as practice 34 The atomisation of news 37 The values of journalism 39 Bourdieu and Buzzfeed 39 A clash of values 41 Conclusion 43 2 The impacts of technology 46 The role of technology in shaping behaviour 47 The impact of algorithms 49 personalisation and customisation 51 personalisation 51 Customisation 56 Filter bubbles and echo chambers 57 Reduced diversity of news 58 Compromised autonomy and constrained choice 61 Transparency and accountability 62 Artificial Intelligence (AI) 63 Automated journalism 64 Automatic Text Summarisation 65 AI bias 67 Further innovation and affordances 68 Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

10 68 First Click Free and Flexible Sampling 69 8 Instant Articles and Accelerated Mobile Pages 70 Conclusion 71 3 Quality in news and journalistic content 73 Quality in the contemporary Media landscape 74 Professional standards and regulation 74 The digital challenge 75 Innovations in journalism 76 Approaches to assessing quality 78 Organisational quality indicators 80 Audience engagement quality indicators 81 Content quality indicators 83 Quality and regulation in Australia 87 Fragmentation: Fourteen separate codes of practice 87 Rulemaking, complaints and enforcement 88 Regulatory framework 88 Code rules 90 Complaints 93 Upholding complaints about quality 94 Conclusion 96 4 Choice and diversity 98 The Australian regulatory environment 99 Overview of the regulatory environment 99 Sector-specific rules 100 Media ownership rules 101 Assessing diversity within this framework 103 The meaning of diversity, plurality and pluralism 104 Multiple meanings 105 Pluralism in the EU and plurality in the UK 107 Which term is most suitable for Australia?