Yet another independent study bashes Article 11  12/02/2019 by Tom Hirche

Today, the final report of the so-called Cairncross review was published. It thoroughly looks at how to sustain the production and distribution of high-quality journalism in the UK. In doing so, some interesting points regarding an ancillary copyright for press publishers are raised.

This independent review was conducted by Dame Frances Cairncross who was supported by an advisory panel. When it comes to Article 11 of the currently discussed draft directive on copyright, she concludes:

There are grounds for worrying that the implementation of Article 11 in the EU may backfire and restrict access to news. (p. 69)

A bit further, she states:

The experiences in Germany and Spain suggest that, overall, the snippets of publishers' content included on platforms' websites encourage more readers to go to publishers' websites, rather than discourage them (because, for instance, the information they read on the platform is all they need). Put more succinctly, a platform's aggregation service is complementary to a news publisher’s direct provision, rather than a substitute. (p. 70)

Finally, she rejects the option of demanding payment for the news that appears in the online platforms' news feeds. One of the reasons for this recommendation is that:

[...] Google News in particular - might refuse to show any publisher's content. Even if the platforms were merely to scale back their aggregation, this could cause significant harm to people who want to see news, and (as in Spain) to smaller publications. The general public seems to appreciate news aggregation services, and might resent their removal. (p. 92)

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