Australian newswire gets A$5 mil govt bailout
Australian Associated Press had been facing an uncertain future after being abandoned by its shareholders.
SYDNEY: Australia’s struggling national newswire was promised a A$5 million government bailout on Friday, just days after launching a crowdfunding campaign in an attempt to guarantee its survival.
The Australian Associated Press had been facing an uncertain future since being abandoned by major shareholders – Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp and broadcasting and newspaper group Nine Entertainment – in March.
The government’s decision to step in to save the 85-year-old newswire was made because “public interest journalism is important now, more than ever”, Communications Minister Paul Fletcher said.
He cited the outlet’s critical role in safeguarding media diversity – in a country where most media is owned by a handful of companies – and its importance in covering regional news.
AAP relaunched earlier this year as a nonprofit with roughly half the staff, but had struggled as challenges in the media sector were compounded by the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic.
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The Covid-19 crisis had “triggered unprecedented challenges” for Australia’s media, Fletcher said, “with severe declines in advertising revenue threatening the sustainability of many news outlets”.