Tax breaks and fostering partnerships between the ABC and SBS have been listed among key recommendations by a federal parliamentary committee to ensure the survival of regional newspapers.
The Future of Regional Newspapers in a Digital World report outlined publishers' struggles to remain competitive as they battled revenue loss, stifling media ownership laws, rising costs and an inability to retain talented journalists.
Among 12 recommendations, it suggested a tax rebate for regional businesses that supported local newspapers through advertising, and for government departments to spend a minimum of 20 per cent of their print advertising budget in regional newspapers.
Former journalist Denis Muller, an honorary fellow at the Centre for Advancing Journalism, welcomed the recommendations, which further pushed for targeted federal grants to help local publishers implement sustainable business models and technology.
"What the report has done very usefully is pull together some of the impacts we have seen, not just the past two years after the pandemic, but really going right back to the first decade of the century after the online global platforms began to siphon off a lot of the classified and display advertising," Mr Muller said.
He said the shrinkage or closure of regional newsrooms threatened democracy and communities.
"That's led to a decline in not just information, but a loss of a sense of belonging and a loss of what's called social capital, which is sort of glue that holds communities together," Mr Muller said.
The report suggested the government work with the ABC and SBS to facilitate partnerships with small regional publishers and broadcasters to improve regional investigative journalism and encourage skills and knowledge — similar to an initiative used by the BBC.
A 'starting point'
Federal Member for Mallee and committee chair Anne Webster described the report's 12 recommendations as a "starting point".
The pandemic was also found to have hurt the sector further, and while there was a shift by residents to local newspapers for up-to-date COVID-19 information, the severe economic impact of lockdowns and coronavirus created a huge loss in print advertising spending by local businesses.
The committee also outlined that grants so far delivered to help regional newspapers had not been effective in addressing ongoing challenges.
"The Australian Government has recognised the importance of regional news services by providing funding grant packages in 2017 and 2020," Ms Webster reported.
"However, the committee heard it was challenging for smaller newspapers to receive any support, and almost 87 per cent of the funding under the Public Interest News Gathering program went to larger news providers during the COVID-19 pandemic."
