Mr. Bob Hughes:

I thank the Chair, Deputies, Senators and the Minister for inviting Local Ireland to address the committee on future business model plans and long-term vision for the media. I am executive director of Local Ireland. I am joined by the editor of The Anglo-Celt, Linda O'Reilly, and the CEO of Celtic Media Group, Frank Mulrennan.

Local Ireland represents local paid-for weekly newspapers and their digital content across a range of websites and social media platforms. We echo what Mr. Dooley said. We thank all Ministers, Senators and Deputies who supported our campaign to reduce VAT on newspapers and their e-papers to zero in last month's budget. This is a valuable measure to protect journalism and support the transition of local news publishers to digital business models.

Nonetheless, as everybody else stated, the economic environment remains very challenging. Circulation for local newspapers is still falling. It has fallen more than 50% since 2010, and was down by approximately 7% for the first six months of 2022 compared with the first six months of 2021. Advertising is down an average of 14% for local newspapers on pre-Covid levels. This comes off the back of a long period of contraction following economic recession, the massive migration of advertising to the major tech platforms and the disruption to advertising during Covid, something from which we have not fully recovered. Add to that the burgeoning cost of newsprint - our key source material - which has increased by 150% over the past 18 months, along with spiralling energy prices and the cost-of-living crisis, and committee members can see why continuing supports are so important to us.

The number of employees among local publishers has halved over the past two decades. Since 2008, 17 local newspapers have ceased publication, including one as recently as last month. That is 17 communities that have lost their local newspapers, and that trend will accelerate without further support. Digital is the future business model but the realisation of digital revenue is extremely challenging, particularly for local news publishers who lack the scale of major international and national groups in terms of investment and securing meaningful returns.

Print, despite its challenges, remains the dominant source of income. As a result, support from Government is vital. Local news publishers have not been able to benefit from supports available to local radio through various schemes, most notably the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland's sound and vision scheme, which offers grants for public service content. During the pandemic, the scheme was extended to include Covid coverage. We have no issue with local radio receiving these supports but it is only fair that local news publishers should have the same opportunity around content creation.

We welcome the Future of Media Commission’s recognition of local news publishers as public service content providers and the recommendation that the new commission should extend supports, currently available for broadcasters, to print and digital publishers. These supports are intended to go beyond public service content and include schemes around community coverage, training, diversity, accessibility and digital skills. We look forward to working with the new commission on developing these supports and hope that they can be implemented without unnecessary delay.

As we have outlined, the migration of advertising to the major tech platforms has hit our sector severely. The tech platforms enjoy around 85% of all digital advertising spend. They have also benefited from using the content of local news publishers to drive traffic on their platforms and thereby increase their advertising revenue.

The EU copyright directive adopted earlier this year and the EU Digital Markets Act, which came into force at the beginning of this month, enshrine the right of publishers to fair remuneration for the content they create. It will be important for the creation of a fair-dealing environment that the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission ensure these measures are implemented effectively in Ireland, as they will be in other countries. As an example, even though the UK is not part of the EU, the Government there is preparing to legislate for the introduction of a digital markets unit within the competence of its competition authority in order to underpin partnership negotiations with the tech platforms.

In other developments, we welcome the publication of the defamation review, along with its recommendations, and look forward to the publication of the legislation over the coming months. It is important to state that we recognise every individual’s right to their good name, but it is clear that the existing legislation has created an imbalance around press freedom and had a chilling effect on journalism

Another way in which we can be supported is through Government and State agency advertising. In general, the Government has been supportive but at times it seems that Departments leave decisions relating to the placing ads to agencies. This means that inclusion of local publishers can be very hit and miss. We feel some campaigns have lacked coherence. All we are looking for in this regard is that local news publishers are included in public information campaigns as a matter of course along with other media and that the sector receives its fair share.

Local news publishers are not only important for journalism and our communities, they are also vital for our democracy in terms of information and accountability. We are not looking for handouts but we are looking for fair treatment in comparison with other media. The future is challenging but with a level playing field and the right supports, local, professional, quality journalism will be protected and preserved and will continue to do the job it has been doing, in some cases, for more than 200 years.