Green Party deputy leader MOTHIN ALI, who will speak at the International Anti-War Conference in London on June 20, says Britain needs to rethink its priorities – and its allies
GOVERNMENTS around the world are watching Australia, which became the first country to legislate to make Google and Facebook pay for news content last week.
The process has not been a smooth one – with Facebook dramatically “unfriending Australia” on February 18, shutting down Australian media pages and many more besides. The sweeping cull also cut access to some government and public information websites, as well as those of trade unions.
Facebook relented a few days later, but the message – that the firm is large and powerful enough to wreak havoc with the public’s access to information if it finds government policy objectionable – could hardly be clearer, especially since Facebook’s supposed climbdown came after it had secured further concessions in direct negotiations between Mark Zuckerberg and Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg.
As advertising drains away, newsrooms shrink and local papers disappear, MIKE WAYNE argues that the market model for news is broken – and that public-interest alternatives, rooted in democratic accountability, are more necessary than ever
It is rather strange that Labour continues to give prestigious roles to inappropriate, controversy-mired businessmen who are also major Tory donors. What could Labour possibly be hoping to get out of it, asks SOLOMON HUGHES


