Cracks appear in media’s united front

Stuff and other news publishers want regulators to OK collective bargaining with Google and Facebook. (Image: supplied)

Mon, 04 Apr 2022

The timing of the announcement took many in the media by surprise. Last Friday, NZME, the owner of the New Zealand Herald and BusinessDesk, revealed it had struck a money-for-content deal with Google, and would withdraw from a collective bargaining agreement with other media groups to force the search engine giant to the negotiating table.Until last week, executives at New Zealand’s top media companies had expected NZME to remain part of the pack with Stuff, The Spinoff, The Otago Daily Times and others as part of the News Publishers...

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