Media ask for support in digital era
Delegates from Local Ireland, the organisation representing local newspapers around the country, visited the Seanad (last week) to make submissions to the Joint Oireachtas Committee with responsibility for media.
The special event, which was part of the 100-year anniversary celebrations for the Seanad, was organised local Fianna Fáil TD Niamh Smyth, who is the chair of the committee.
Several media groups and associations attended the session, which was on the theme of Future Business Model Plans and Long-Term Vision for the Media.
Local newspapers were represented by the Editor of The Anglo-Celt, Linda O’Reilly; CEO of Celtic Media Group, Frank Mulrennan and Local Ireland Executive Director Bob Hughes.
Mr Hughes said: “We were grateful to Ministers and politicians from all sections of the Oireachtas for the abolition of VAT on newspapers but further support is needed.
“We continue to face serious economic challenges, including the migration of advertising to the tech giants, disruption to the economy during COVID-19 from which we have not fully recovered, and now the cost of living crisis, which hits both our advertisers and our readers.
“Circulation sales and advertising are still in decline but we must invest in our transition to digital models in order to protect our newspapers and our journalists for the communities we support.
“Journalism is in crisis but we are hopeful that the recommendations of the Future of the Media Commission will be implemented.
The new media commission – Coimisiún na Meán – will establish supports for print media around community coverage, training in journalism and digital skills, diversity, accessibility and media literacy.
Members of the Oireachtas Committee were told that the EU Digital Markets Act and Article 15 of the EU Copyright Directive should be implemented fully by the Department of Trade and Enterprise to ensure fair remuneration for news publishers from the tech platforms that use their content.
Local Ireland delegates also looked forward to the reform of the current defamation legislation and urged Government departments and agencies to offer a fair share of their media advertising to local news publishers.
Celt editor, Ms O'Reilly, told the TDs and senators that the sector's challenge was about "revenue not reach or relevance" and said newspapers urgently needed help to complete the transition to digital with their journalistic resources entact.
She outlined how regional news publishers have more readers and a larger audience than ever before between print, online and social media channels, providing news and information that readers can trust.
Ms O'Reilly also highlighted the role of journalists in terms of "public service journalism" covering courts and local authority meetings and being people's "eyes and ears" on the ground.
She said good terms and conditions of employment were important to correct a "brain drain" from the industry so that publishers could recruit experienced staff and also make journalism an attractive career proposition for young graduates.
On behalf of the industry, Mr Mulrennan asked committee members and the government for help in rebuilding the business model, which he said was "broken", to place a value on journalism and news and make media organisations viable into the future.
Other witnesses to the committee included industry representatives from local radio, community radio, national news publishers, the National Union of Journalists and DCU Institute.
Speaking ahead of the meeting, Deputy Smyth said: “With the ever-changing landscape of radio and print media journalism, our Committee will use tomorrow’s meeting to engage with those impacted parties. We will look to gain their invaluable insight into what they consider necessary to build sustainability into the fluctuating media sector."