The government is out of its depth in the Facebook fight

The Australian government is completely out of line and out of its depth in intervening in the media industry as, essentially, a judge of journalism.

Nothing stops a publisher, whether a major media empire or a blogger, from charging for the ability to read their content.

Indeed, that is at the core of the publishing game, and always has been. Yes, another important revenue stream is advertising, however that is a secondary consideration that only comes after you have developed your readership base, and is in no way guaranteed.

Many publishers, for many years now, have tried to invert the traditional system, distributing their news for free in a bid to develop the largest possible readership base to then be able to sell more…