Reliable news is essential for democracy. What responsibility does Big Tech have to make sure it remains accessible?

Paywalls limit access to high-quality journalism to only those who will — and can — pay for it. In doing so, the public function of journalism — to inform and to hold power to account — suffers.

It’s an issue that lies at the edges of a new call from News Media Canada, an organization that represents the print and digital media industry, which this week released a report calling on the government to follow an Australian-style approach to recoup advertising revenue from Facebook and Google.

Read more from the Star’s Defanging Big Tech series here.

The report, titled “Levelling the Digital Playing Field,” argues that Facebook and Google operate in a near monopoly in the online advertising business, controlling up to 80 per cent of the market.

That stranglehold chokes off revenue from news organizations because those companies control both ends of the market: both selling ads to clients, and also displaying ads across the web, including on news sites.

News Media Canada thus argues that Canada should adopt Australia’s approach, where legislation is in process to force Facebook and Google to enter into a licensing arrangement to pay for the use of news content.

If the two parties fail to reach an agreement, the legislation would force them into binding arbitration.

There will undoubtedly be vigorous debate over the proposal, and there should be. Just as with the federal Liberal’s plan for tax credits for large media organizations, even those who agree on the problem may have profound disagreements about the solution.

But what the proposal gets right is that high-quality news is in demand and lies at the heart of an informed public. What’s more, as the report’s authors put it, “credible news is central to ensuring accountable politics, successful elections, and is essential to democracy.”

That leads to the key question: how to economically sustain an industry that has undergone profound challenges and transformation, while preserving or evolving its central function to democracy?

The answer is likely a complicated one, involving a combination of regulatory changes such as those proposed by News Media Canada, business model innovation, and perhaps some continued or expanded funding or tax credit system from governments.

A response is necessary, though. As the COVID-19 pandemic has shown, there is a vital public function to journalism in that it both empowers the public to inform itself, while also holding power to account.

In response to unprecedented times, many news organizations, including the Star, dropped paywalls for some COVID-19-related content so that everyone — not just subscribers — had vital information about the virus and how governments were responding.

Yet that admirable move also raises discomfiting ideas. While most news subscriptions are not objectively expensive, there will always be only a small percentage of people who are willing to or can afford to pay for them.

If we add to that the fact that a varied news diet makes for a more informed public, paying for multiple subscriptions only makes keeping oneself educated more expensive.

The solution to Big Tech’s domination of advertising revenue must thus take that into account. How can the billions of dollars of profit pulled in by the likes of Google and Facebook do more than simply make shareholders rich, and instead help sustain the industries that are central to democracy?

The answer to that question will not be straightforward.

One thing is certain: aside from asking people to pay for the news that informs them, we must also think about how those who now monopolize revenue might also fund and save what they have helped to degrade and undermine.

Paying for news may not be a solution on its own — but if we don’t find a way to save journalism, the costs to society will be far deeper than jobs or profits.