How to get a job at Google!

How to get a job at Google!

GOOGLE and Facebook are making billions in advertising revenue at the expense of traditional media outlets, and that’s hindering the country’s democracy, independent Senator Nick Xenophon says.

At a Senate inquiry into the future of Australian journalism, Senator Xenophon on Tuesday night disputed Google’s claim that its revenue in the past financial year was $1.1 billion.

The South Australian politician insisted it was at least $2 billion more than that.

“Google saying they are only taking $1.1 billion in a year in advertising revenue, according to their books, is, I think, a load of BS,” he said in Sydney.

“They (Google) are hoovering up billions of dollars of revenue along with Facebook and that is killing media in this country.”

Senator Xenophon called on the competition watchdog the ACCC to investigate the impact of social media and Google on traditional journalism, which he said had suffered at the hands of the tech companies.

“Inquiries by the ACCC ... would be a light at the end of the tunnel for a way forward to deal with the power of Google and Facebook,” he said.

However, Google Australia managing director Jason Pellegrino told the inquiry its total revenue was indeed $1.1 billion.

He said Google wasn’t to blame for the disruption of traditional journalism. “The people to blame are you and I as news consumers, because we are choosing to change the behaviour and patterns of (how) we are consuming news,” Mr Pellegrino told the upper house inquiry.

Aine Kerr from Facebook’s journalism partnerships project insisted it cared about journalism and argued most users connected with people rather than news.

“The majority of people come to Facebook to connect with family and friends,” she told the Sydney hearing. “We want to see journalism thrive on our platform.”

The Senate probe was launched after Fairfax Media announced further job cuts in May.

It’s discussed the possibility of taxing news aggregators such as Google and Facebook and providing financial incentives in the form of tax breaks to encourage greater investment in journalism.

The committee is due to present its final report by early December.