Mr. Rory Coveney:

We keep banging on about it but, critically, it is about resources and putting in place not just amounts of money but also predictability over times. We can make the necessary investments in technology and long form reporting, for example, investigative reporting. They are very expensive genres to deliver well. Much of what one ends up investigating is never broadcast because in the end it does not make sense to do so. Those issues underpinning journalism are about the predictability of funding, creating a pathway for journalists to make a living in this country and ensuring there is a rebalancing, but that is not the subject of this discussion. I refer to a rebalancing between publishers which largely started as newspapers but are now big digital publishers and those massive third party platforms which are hoovering up digital advertising. Some 80% to 90% of digital advertising is going to two companies. Until we start to address some of the asymmetries in those markets with appropriate regulation, the danger for small countries, or small regional papers in big countries would have the same challenges, are enormous. Finding a sustainable path for journalists and journalism is a major challenge for the commission.