THE International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has called on Australia to ensure a plan to make Google and Facebook pay for news content helps to fund public interest journalism rather than enrich existing media monopolies.

A law that will require the tech giants to negotiate payment with news outlets for linking to their content will be debated in the Australian Parliament after the Senate economics legislation committee said today it was happy with the draft.

The committee’s report said that “public interest journalism is a cornerstone of democracy and its survival is imperative in a society increasingly vulnerable to misleading information.”