As Türkiye moves forward with its long-awaited digital copyright bill, authorities are preparing to create a new professional association to negotiate payments for journalists and media organizations.
The proposed regulation aims to ensure that digital platforms compensate media organizations and individual creators for news content from which they generate advertising revenue.
Nazım Elmas, chair of the parliament’s Digital Media Commission, told daily Milliyet that a key element of the plan is the creation of a rights-management organization similar to MESAM, Türkiye’s music copyright collective. This new body would negotiate with tech companies on behalf of content producers and determine payment rates.
According to Elmas, the draft has reached its final stage after months of consultations.
The committee gathered input from the Press Advertisement Institution, the Competition Authority, the Communications Directorate and journalists’ associations, combining their recommendations into a legislative blueprint expected to be submitted to parliament in the coming days.
“We have no objection to platforms profiting from ads,” Elmas said, “but a piece of journalism produced with effort must have its reward.”
Advanced software will track who produced a news item first, where it was published and how widely it is used online, enabling accurate distribution of copyright fees.
Elmas emphasized that the process will involve the Competition Authority and a state-appointed arbitration board that will act as a “referee” between platforms and content creators.
