SCOOP
The issue
In an era of deep fakes and misinformation, credible, reliable news content has never been more important to democracy and society, yet many journalists are struggling to establish and sustain their careers.
In recent years fundamental changes to the way that news content is accessed, distributed and consumed online, through ‘secondary-uses’ such as news scraping and generative AI training, has seen a significant transfer of value away from publishers to platforms and other tech companies.
The squeeze on publishers’ funds has seen mass UK redundancies with 2,681 journalism jobs lost in 2023, up 48% from 2022. This increases an already significant reliance on freelance journalists who, according to research from the Centre for Regulation of the Creative Economy (CREATe), earn on average less than the national living wage with the vast majority receiving nothing for secondary-use online. With the threat of an exception on the horizon, this makes sustaining a career difficult for most, particularly those from underrepresented communities.
That is why we have developed and launched SCOOP.
SCOOP is a new initiative that provides the mechanism to develop mutually beneficial collective agreements between the representatives of freelance journalists and those companies securing commercial returns from the online secondary use of their works.
Offering a ‘one-stop shop’ for scalable rights clearance and payments distribution, SCOOP resets the imbalance through opportunities for partnership in funding initiatives to train and develop journalists, particularly those from underrepresented backgrounds.
SCOOP presents a practical and useful opportunity to address the exploitation of freelances, many of whom have had their skills, time and work undermined. It is increasingly difficult for freelances to earn a living in an environment where their work is stolen or misused, forcing journalists and creatives out of the industry. SCOOP aims to provide a unique collective mechanism to channel funding back to freelances so they can sustain their careers.
- Michelle Stanistreet - National Union of Journalists General Secretary
Dame Caroline Dinenage MP with Natasha Hirst, President of the NUJ at the SCOOP launch
What can be done
Collaboration between tech companies and news publishers and journalists is possible, and it is already taking shape, via different models, worldwide. As technology evolves, ALCS is working with partners to develop collective agreements to reset the current imbalance and ensure that UK freelance journalists receive a fair share of the revenues generated by the use of their works online. Research by Datasky estimated the potential size of a UK scheme using existing international models as comparators, finding that it could generate up to £322m a year for freelance journalists. A system that takes after the successes of the Copyright Hub could offer one-stop shop where developers get licensed content without concerns over copyrights and creators get reassurance through proper remuneration.
These initiatives are currently modelled around voluntary agreements, but legislative backstops are needed to ensure fair and timely outcomes. The Government has established a Digital Markets Unit with powers to intervene in this area and further measures may be required to specifically protect the rights of freelance journalists, whose work is central to the future of the UK’s news content industries.