The House of Representatives Committee on Communications and the Arts has released its report on regional newspapers. The fifth such inquiry in five years, this one ran only three months from beginning to end. Unsurprisingly it treads familiar ground and reaches most of the same conclusions as others, but it has also found a way to advance the conversation.
Among the familiar recommendations: targeted federal grant programs for regional media, a minimum of 20% government print advertising spend in regional newspapers, and investigation of tax options like rebates for regional businesses supporting their local papers or for investment in journalism labour, and changes to philanthropic tax settings.
Country Press Australia has welcomed the report’s findings and endorsed these recommendations. President Andrew Manuel, publisher of the Plains Producer in Balaklava, South Australia, told me that direct and indirect financial measures are crucial.
'The game changers to us would be ongoing government financial assistance, which is what the ACCC also recommended [in the Digital Platforms Inquiry] . Tax rebates may also be beneficial, but the most helpful thing is a strong advertising commitment from the Federal Government. That is absolutely vital to ensuring our sustainability.'
The inquiry also recommended the introduction of a partnerships program between the ABC, SBS and local news producers, modelled on the BBC Local News Partnerships Program. Since 2017 that scheme has increased the BBC’s presence in regional UK areas and established formal partnerships with newspapers that makes BBC articles, visuals and data available for reuse.
In giving evidence to the committee, Hugh Martin, Head of Regional, Rural and Emergency at the ABC, said that 'there is definitely a will and an interest in helping to be a part of the solution for regional media'.
Andrew Manuel, however, said a similar scheme in Australia would be of very limited assistance to his members.
'Generally speaking, the ABC produces very little hyperlocal news in comparison to our newsrooms.'
He also said that republishing content from the ABC dilutes the point of difference between the public broadcaster and local newspapers.
'If we were looking for syndicated content, we can currently use AAP.'
But where this inquiry moves the conversation is its recommendations to improve the available evidence of regional sustainability, media diversity and the recurring proposals to improve both. It returned to a piece of research by the CMT for the ACMA titled News in Australia: diversity and localism. The framework for measuring media diversity developed in that project goes beyond the traditional focus on ownership, expanding it to include media type, viewpoint, impact and consumption. The report says ACMA should be able to include these factors in its assessments of media diversity.
The committee also made calls for more investment in building evidence to support policy making, including a two-year review of the market viability of regional newspapers and tax measures to support them, greater data sharing between industry and government and the development of a central register of regional news providers. It recommends more funding for research to identify sustainable business models, improve governance and digitisation, and a minimum ten-year project to gather and analyse core sector data.
History suggests there may well be another inquiry. With better evidence of impact, we might then finally implement meaningful policy to support the sector.
Gary Dickson, CMT Research Fellow
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