Urgent support needed for local news publishers, TDs told
Local editors and news business leaders have told TDs and senators that more support is needed to protect the vital role that newspapers and their digital channels play in Ireland’s democracy.
A packed meeting at Leinster House heard that existing supports need to be extended and more budget has to be found to ensure that local news publishers get their fair share of government and state agency advertising.
The politicians were also told that more needs to be done to force the major tech platforms to pay for the content created by local news outlets that is being used for AI learning and topline news searches.
The briefing for Oireachtas members was held jointly by Local Ireland and NewsBrands, which represents the national publishers.
Executive Director of Local Ireland Bob Hughes said more budget was needed to be allocated to government departments so that all trusted media would be included in public information campaigns.
He told the meeting: “All we want is our fair share. This is taxpayers’ money and it should be used to fund public information. The allocation of government advertising is often erratic and illogical.
“Local newspapers and their digital channels have been rightly recognised as trusted public service media. It makes no sense to support them with funding under the Coimisiún na Meán schemes but not support them with government advertising, which is going elsewhere.
“We have never had so many readers thanks to digital, so we are as relevant to our communities as we always have been.”
The managing editor of the Leinster Express Laura McLoughlin spoke strongly in support of the Coimisiún na Meán journalism funding schemes, but highlighted anomalies where some counties that had originally been allocated a reporter had then lost out.
Ms. McLoughlin added: “We are very thankful for the support given through the Coimisiún na Meán schemes which play a vital role in ensuring local newspapers like the Leinster Express can continue to deliver trusted, quality journalism.
“However, these schemes are oversubscribed and underfunded. Trusted local news is now in demand more than ever and local journalism is an industry that needs to be nurtured.
“We are appealing to our politicians to increase the budget for initiatives like the Court Reporting and Local Democracy Reporting Schemes so that we can continue to invest in our newsrooms into the future.”
Addressing the urgent need for the tech platforms and AI companies to pay for using the content created by news publishers, the managing director of News Ireland Richard Bogie said: “Ireland’s news publishers have embraced innovation and recognise the enormous opportunities presented by artificial intelligence.
"But innovation must be accompanied by responsibility. Original journalism cannot continue to be commercially exploited without transparency, permission or fair compensation.”
The briefing, which was facilitated by Brendan Smith TD, included a panel discussion hosted by the Business Post’s policy editor Daniel Murray and featured Michael Sheehan, chief financial officer of the Irish Times Group, Colm O’Reilly, chief operating officer of the Business Post, and Linda O’Reilly, managing editor of the Anglo-Celt.