This week, the Federal Government announced the Regional and Local Newspaper Publishers Program 2022, its first package of support for local media. The program contains $29m worth of funding to implement some of Labor’s commitments ahead of the election.
The bulk of the money is earmarked to address newsprint price increases which began with the new financial year. Australian Community Media submitted to a House of Representatives inquiry that the price increase would be 30 per cent, while reporting in the Sydney Morning Herald put the increase as high as 80 per cent for some publishers.
ACM has warned in recent months that the increase in costs is ‘the single biggest threat to the viability of our publishing business’ after Covid 19.
$15m has been made available: $10m for regional local publishers, and $5m split between suburban local publishers, Indigenous and CALD media. Funding is short term, with grant agreements only expected to run for six months.
In order to receive the grant, applicants are required to produce ‘core news content’ for their local communities. That requirement was developed for the News Media Bargaining Code and is defined in legislation as content which engages Australians in civic life: courts, councils and communities.
As the Code lies dormant, this is the first use of core news in direct connection to funding eligibility. The Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts, which is administering the grants, will have to assess applicants for compliance with this requirement. The results will be interesting.
There is little detail about the money remaining in the package. $12m will ‘support community broadcasting’, likely through reversing cuts made to the Community Broadcasting Program. $2m is not accounted for, but may fulfil a pledge to replace paper producer Norske Skog’s ageing equipment at the Boyer Mill in Tasmania.
Gary Dickson, CMT Research Fellow
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