New Zealand Watchdog Tells News Publishers’ Association To Collective Bargain

New Zealand competition regulator The Commerce Commission has granted authorisation to allow industry association the News Publishers’ Association of New Zealand (NPA) to collectively negotiate with Meta and Google regarding the terms and conditions on which participating news media companies’ content is displayed on digital platforms operated by Meta and Google, for a 10 year period.

The Commission notes that it may authorise an arrangement such as collective bargaining if, despite any potential detriment from the arrangement, the arrangement will nonetheless likely result in a benefit to the public.

After consulting on its draft determination, the Commission says it reached the view that the benefits of collective bargaining in this case are likely to outweigh any possible harms.

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“The benefits of collective bargaining include enabling participating news media companies to pool their resources and reduce the transaction costs of negotiations. Collective negotiation may also put smaller media companies in a better position to negotiate with Google and Meta than might otherwise be the case, which may lead to more and better news content,” the Commission notes in a statement released today.

Chair Anna Rawlings says, “The NPA’s collective bargaining arrangement is likely to allow the news media companies to pool their resources, improve their bargaining power when they are negotiating with Google and Meta, such that they obtain better contract terms, and ultimately improve the production of news content”.