Funds have started to flow to 107 regional news outlets across the country, including the (Italics) Kingborough Chronicle, as part of the Federal Government’s $50 million Public Interest News Gathering (PING) program, providing much needed support to regional television, newspaper and radio outlets during COVID-19.
Assistant Minister for Regional Tourism Jonno Duniam said the funding would enable the Kingborough Chronicle to continue serving the Kingborough community by providing reliable community news and information.
“It is great news thatHuon Newspaper Company Pty Ltdwill receive $31,053, which will help keep local jobs and make sure quality journalism continues to be available in our regions to keep locals informed,” Assistant Minister Duniam said.
“Local news not only ensures people in our regions are informed, but it also ensures they are connected, and that’s especially important for those living in rural and remote areas.”
Assistant Minister Duniam highlighted the importance of local newspapers as “an essential part of the community for around 100 years.”
Minister for Communications, Cyber Safety and the Arts, the Honouable Paul Fletcher MP said the majority of the publishers receiving grants were small-to-medium businesses.
“Funding under the program will see $20 million for television, $12 million for radio and $18 million for publishing all across regional Australia,” Minister Fletcher said.
“This funding willsupport a broad range of activities such as staff wages, training and technology upgrades, to allow the successful recipients to keep delivering important news services to their communities.”
Stuart Heather from the Huon News and Kingborough Chronicle said the grant would be used across both papers to increase the digital and online output.
“Both of our southern Tasmanian publications have seen a boost in local readership, showing the importantance of, and demand for, local independent trusted news, especially during a pandemic.
“This will widen our demographic of readers and enable local news to be delivered in more ways.
“With COVID-19 and social distancing, the grant will also improve how our team works remotely and from home.”
The PING program is just one of the relief measures the government is providing to support the media industry during COVID-19.
Other measures include $50 million for a Temporary Interruption Fund to support local film and television producers to recommence filming, $41 million spectrum tax relief for 12-months for commercial television and radio broadcasters, $5 million for the Regional and Small Publishers Innovation Fund and temporary emergency suspension of content quotas for 2020.
Applications were considered through a demand-driven process, meaning that organisations who satisfied the eligibility criteria, including the production and distribution of public interest journalism in regional Australia, were eligible for funding.
Details of successful recipients are available on Grant Connect atwww.grants.gov.au
Pictured above: Stuart Heather from the Kingborough Chronicle and Huon News with Senator Jonathon Duniam after the announcement of successful recipients of the Federal Government’s Public Interest News Gathering (PING) program. (PS)
