OPINION PIECE: Mr. Andile April, Communications and Stakeholder Relations Manager, Coega Development Corporation
So, Google’s coughing up R688 million to South African media houses. That’s right; the digital giant finally got the memo: you can’t keep eating from the media buffet without paying for the pap and chakalaka. But before we pop the champagne and start printing gold-plated press passes, let’s talk about the other freeloaders still loitering around the newsroom door.
Yes, I’m looking at you, mobile network service providers.
Let’s paint a picture. Sipho buys 1 gigabyte of data from his mobile provider. He uses it to read the latest exposé on municipal mismanagement from a local newspaper. The mobile provider pockets the cash. The newspaper? Not a cent. Not even a “thank you” WhatsApp message. It’s like renting out your house, watching someone throw a party in it, and then being told you’re lucky they used your toilet.
This is the digital equivalent of buying popcorn at the cinema and sneaking into the movie without a ticket. The networks are selling the data that delivers the content, but the content creators — the journalists, editors, photographers are left holding empty coffee cups and wondering if they should start a TikTok dance channel to survive.
Now, thanks to the Competition Commission’s intervention, Google and YouTube are finally paying up. Meta, X (formerly Twitter), TikTok, they’re all being nudged toward fairness. But this is just the beginning. The media industry isn’t asking for a handout. It’s asking for a fair share of the value it creates. And if Google can pay, so can others. After all, they’re not just selling data, they’re selling access to content they didn’t create.
Imagine a world where every megabyte used to read news contributes a few cents to the newsroom that produced it. Suddenly, investigative journalism isn’t a luxury, it’s a sustainable business model. Community newspapers could afford more than one reporter and a borrowed camera. The SABC might even upgrade from “technical difficulties” to “technical excellence.”
And let’s be honest, mobile networks have the money. They charge us for data, airtime, SIM cards, and sometimes even for breathing near a cellphone tower. Surely, they can spare a few rands to support the very content that keeps their users online?
So, here’s my humble proposal: if you profit from the media, you should pay the media. It’s not revolutionary, it’s just rent. And if the networks don’t like it, they can always start their own newspapers. I hear “The Daily Dropped Call” has a nice ring to it.
