Google and Facebook could be forced to help fund quality news publishers after Theresa May said the decline of print journalism was “dangerous for our democracy”.
The Prime Minister announced a wide-ranging review of the media industry to “preserve the future of high quality national and local newspapers in the UK” to counter the rise of so-called fake news.
The Government wants search engines and social media sites to pay traditional news providers their “fair share” of the vast digital advertising revenues reaped by the likes of Google on the back of content they do not pay for.
Mrs May is prepared to legislate, if necessary, to force online platforms to share some of their profits with news-gathering organisations.
Gillette should pay to retrain barbers? Red flag makers taxed to pay for farriers?
What is this stupidity?
Why does anyone think this woman is a Tory? Or a Liberal?
This is insanity. If people wanted to read newspapers they would buy them. They do not because the product is useless. Let them all die. I do not see why I should be forced to pay to watch google ads so that the Guardian can struggle on.
We already have a ‘news gathering organisation’ which is a sem-detached arm of the state and funded via demands for money with menaces. And look how great that is….
She really is the most abjectly stupid waste of space.
Or maybe she’s not stupid, she’s simply an evil authoritarian cow who has successfully duped millions of people to vote for her because she’s “better than Corbyn”.
Rhetoric aside, how different is any of the shit the Tories come out with from Labour?
If the search engines are parasites using news content to attract users without paying for it and profiting therefrom then this should be tackled by application of copyright laws. If Google and Facebook, being American, are cheating then a few executives should find their collars tweaked.
And what state apparatus will be used to determine ‘high quality’? A new quango (or Ofcom)? No opportunity there for abuse. The London metropolitan centric quasi-political infestation of the state will ensure that their ‘friends’ will continue to be funded. That’s the BBC and probably the Graundian.
When’s Ecks’ purge starting? I’m getting increasingly impatient.
The news organisations can set up their sites so they don’t appear on google.
Oh wait, the news sites want people to be able to find them. It appears the news sites need google to get customers!
@Tim N – When I first started reading this blog I thought that Ecksy came on a bit strong, then I started thinking that his heart was in the right place but his rhetoric occasionally got a bit heated.
More recently I came to the conclusion that he’s dead right.
Except now I wonder if defrocking the cunts and seizing their pensions is really enough. More slaughter and flogging might be better.
Of course my talk is all just blog talk. Mostly I shall aim to gather enough wealth and keep it out of the hands of states in order that I can’t be fucked with.
It’s a shakedown of businesses. Counter-productive to say the least. In 2013 Google was volunteering to do something similar in the UK after having agreed to support print journalism in France.
Google chairman advocates ‘digital fund’ for UK newspapers
I have become convinced UK has been moving its regulations towards harmony with our more bureaucratic minded chums on the continent, in order to remove a comparative advantage UK had over them. Taxes get ever more complex. Employment regulations & costs keep increasing. We’re being moulded into servants of the state rather than it serving us.
“What is this stupidity?”
It is Theresa May, a horrible authoritarian cunt and traitor.
The Conservative right needs to act, and soon!
What do we do if there is no political solution? Genuine question.
tomsmith,
De doo doo, de da da da?
Apologies, wrong song.
Should be this one:
Our so-called leaders speak
With words they try to jail you
They subjugate the meek
But it’s the rhetoric of failure
There is a particularly rich vein of shite in the media today.
Not simply stupid but suicidal. In what universe is the existence of the Independent and the Guardian seen by a conservative as vital for Britain? As for “fake news”, has she seen the Independent lately?
“Why does anyone think this woman is a Tory? Or a Liberal?”
Or a woman? Or a human being?
Good to see the leader of Britain veering off into Richard Murphy territory. It just confirms some the prejudices I already have. It also makes me wonder what Brits have against the likes of Donald Trump.
Dennis, its just the fact he’s an idiot who can be pushed easily into responding on social media. Half his problems are caused by him reacting using social media.
DtP
“makes me wonder what Brits have against the likes of Donald Trump”
The fruitcarers amongst us have the same against Trump as they did against Thatch. Same on the American side. Nothing to do with nation.
Martin
He’s way ahead of you on this – it’s a feature 😉
And if you think he’s an idiot, you’re falling for the other side’s script.
Martin –
You keep telling yourself that.
In the meantime, Trump’s eaten your lunch, taken your job and fucked your woman.
Pennsylvania Avenue is paved with the bones of those who thought they were smarter than Donald Trump.
Theresa um what’s the licence fee for? teletubbies?
I’m against anything which provides life support to those fuckers at the Grauniad.
“preserve the future of high quality national and local newspapers in the UK”
Uhhh . . . wouldn’t you first need to find one?
The Guardian is the epitome of fakey fake news.
Just went to Guardian.com. Clicked on first item. Second sentence: ‘President reportedly seeks parade in model of France’s Bastille Day celebration, prompting one veterans’ group to call him ‘a wannabe banana republic strongman’.’
So Trump is a wannabe strongman? We must preserve this paper at all costs!!!
Funny old world. Harold Wilson would have thought the Tories were a bit too lefty for his liking.
…and he’d be right. As my old headmaster would have said “They’ve got no bottom, that’s the problem.”.
MC And Tim Newman.
ecks purge? Nope he’s as bad as anyone ever sang the red flag. When tim does the old rhetorical exaggeration it comes through as just that. When Ecks does it.. its scary.
@Gamecock, February 7, 2018 at 5:32 pm
Classic. The Guardian confirms France is a banana republic – rofl
imho As a Brit I don’t like the idea, but if the septics want to copy France, Russia, Norks etc it’s their choice.
@Gareth, February 7, 2018 at 12:07 pm
As have I.
Posted two days ago:
Copy Germans – ‘Intimidating’ Politicians and Campaigners to Be Criminalised by May Government
Prime Minister Theresa May is set to make threatening political candidates and campaigners a criminal offence — despite intimidation already being against the law — with a focus being put on social media and internet anonymity
Criminalising “mocking or insulting Politicians and Campaigners” next?
imho As a Brit I don’t like the idea, but if the septics want to copy France, Russia, Norks etc it’s their choice.
You’re missing the point. This is Trump initiating the next phase of the American Culture Wars… and just in time for the coming November elections. If you think Democrats going nuts over the horrors of a parade to honor the Armed Forces is going to play well in Peoria, you don’t know your American politics.
I’ll say it again: While you are busy telling everyone that Trump is a fool, he’s eating your lunch, taking your job and fucking your woman. You just haven’t noticed it yet. Be careful.
There was a reason, you know, that everyone followed Trump and ignored May at Davos. And it wasn’t that May was the smarter of the two.
The Guardian confirms France is a banana republic – rofl
Well, it’s true, isn’t it?
They eat snails, don’t they?
Gillette should pay to retrain barbers
Since I started shaving my own head, my expenditure at barbers and hairdressers has fallen to zero. Over the years that is quite the saving. Definitely worth the investment, though I found it’s less hassle with a reduced hair length (hairdressers always seemed keen to leave quite a bit on, presumably to minimise the time until my return) and so I have probably increased my risk of skin cancer somewhat. In mitigation for this, one must factor the cost of a good hat in to the money saved calculation, though I still come out on top.
.@Dennis the Peasant, February 8, 2018 at 1:35 am
I was not deriding Trump, merely saying I wouldn’t want this in UK. However, May should restart the “Royal Tournament” evil Blair stopped.
USA likes razz-matazz and patriotism, great – I wish Brits were more patriotic.
I like Trump, he’s doing a terrific job of draining the swamp and making America great again.
May and her MPs are treacherous fools for rejecting & insulting him.