JENNY DENTON
THE survival of newspapers such as the Gannawarra Times and Swan Hill’s The Guardian was discussed in Victorian Parliament last week when the independent member for Shepparton, Suzanna Sheed, raised the public importance of regional media.
Ms Sheed moved that the parliament note the important role local media played in regional areas and expressed “grave concern” about its consolidation and decline.
The motion also noted the impact of COVID-19 on the industry regionally and called for both federal and state governments to provide financial assistance to ensure the continued viability of local outlets.
“Earlier in the year it looked like here in Victoria we would lose Mildura’s Sunraysia Daily, the Swan Hill Guardian, the Gannawarra Times from Kerang and the Loddon Times,” Ms Sheed said.
“Most of these have been able to continue again by reducing their capacity and publication dates.”
Ms Sheed pointed to the loss of an estimated 138 newsrooms in regional Australia in recent years.
“The academic evidence has been building for decades and supports the notion that local media is both vital and in crisis,” she said.
Newspaper editors and advertising managers identified the problem as the rise of the media giants, primarily Google and Facebook, which were “stealing” content from local outlets while at the same time taking their advertising revenue, Ms Sheed said.
She suggested governments at all levels had a role to play in addressing the problem, saying the State Government should continue its current advertising support, local governments could advertise more, and the Federal Government could make various contributions, particularly in reforming Australia’s “extraordinarily outdated” Broadcasting Act.
The Save Our Voices initiative, led by Gold Logie winner Ray Martin and backed by companies including WIN Network and newspaper owner Australian Community Media, wants to see the reform of media ownership laws that the companies say prevent them competing fairly with metropolitan media and global digital giants.
In State Parliament on Wednesday government members, including Member for Bendigo East Jacinta Allan, spoke about the importance of maintaining a “strong, vibrant, diverse media landscape” but defended the Andrews Government’s response to the crisis.
From July last year, the government had committed to increasing the percentage of government advertising spent on regional media outlets to 15 per cent, Ms Allan said, and from April, a commitment of $4.7 million for one page of advertising per newspaper edition plus digital advertising had been made.
Liberal Member for Ripon Louise Staley queried why the percentage wasn’t higher when the state’s rural population was much greater than 15 per cent.
