What happens to Australia’s media bargaining code if a change of government leads to it being diluted or abolished?

The hypothetical of publishers’ dependence on cash from tech companies such as Google and Facebook was one of the concerns expressed by journalism professor Bill Grueskin in an analysis this morning.

An event organised by the Judith Neilson Institute, at which he is journalist in residence, attracted an audience of 150 online – many from the US – and more in the room.

Grueskin said having heard “bits and pieces” about the code, he expected the project to be really interesting, “and boy it was”.

“When (ACCC chair) Rod Sims told me the money paid to publishers exceeds A$200million – and I’ve seen some of the contracts – I could see Australia was able to thread the needle in a way other countries had not been able.

“When you look at Europe and the US, it’s quite impressive.”

The impact had helped fund 50 new hires at national broadcaster the ABC, and was expected to account for 25-30 per cent of newsroom salaries at Shepparton, Victoria publisher McPherson Media. But “like the launch code for a nuclear missile”, the deals were surrounded by secrecy, “non disclosure agreements and a wall the likes of which I had never encountered”.

What he did find that while Google and Facebook “are OK” with the agreements, they don’t want it to spread, so why is it good for Australia and not for the world?

He cited the experience of Misha Ketchel for The Conversastion, who “was able to fund one to one and a half journalists” with help from Google, but got nothing from Facebook. “Facebook told them they’d paid enough people now,” he said.

Multicultural national broadcaster SBS also got turned down by Facebook, who “wouldn’t tell me anything but platitudes”.

Things are about to change: The federal treasurer’s review (after a year) is underway, and Sims’ replacement Gina Cass-Gottlieb – an attorney who has worked for Nine and as a director of the Murdoch family trust – has been named as his successor.

Grueskin says he believes the opacity of agreements is a problem, but says Sims doesn’t agree.

“It’s possible officials underestimate the importance of transparency, and news companies’ reticence isn’t particularly noble either.”

Grueskin also quoted Cape York Weekly editor Matt Nichols that a problem with taking money from tech was the risk of building in too much dependency.

“What if news organisations become dependent on it, and the code goes away or gets abridged,” he asked.

Grueskin said Australia “has a lot to be proud of” – nobody else in the world has managed to do this – but we need to be mindful of the downside”.