It is very evident that the regional newspapers that have served Australia so well are in decline. The cost of running a regional news room is not balanced by the cost of printing and distributing the resulting newspaper and the advertising world no longer relies on newsprint to get its message across.
Even the big city newspapers now consist of full page advertising for the discounters and much of this relies on incentives to achieve sales. This either takes the form of a long, repayment holiday, or a " Gift card " offer when you achieve a high spending level.
We are urged by the government to " spend our way out of this recession " and that evil word - " Inflation " has been moved onto the back burner. It is a sign of the times that firms offering " payday loans " have shot up the leaders board and now compete on even terms with big mining companies and manufacturers.
The newspaper industry despairs that fewer households buy a daily paper and as a result the news cycle has evolved into what people say on Facebook. This is supplemented by the television news which consists of " interest grabs " without the background content to flesh out the entire story.
Now even the television news industry is in decline. The government forced the three main channels to serve regional Australia with local subsidiaries competing with the ABC and SBS and now they are shedding those all important news rooms. The cost of gathering and presenting local news is not balanced by advertising volume and this service is being reduced.
This will leave us vulnerable to overseas interests with ill will towards Australia. This becomes evident prior to an election when " scare " stories are echoed from unknown sources orchestrated from overseas. Nomatter how bizarre the story, there are some people who believe what they hear and add their own version to the rumour mill.
We are well served by investigative journalists who encourage whistle blowers to shed light on the corruption that infiltrates both government and private industry. Often this causes intense embarrassment to government ministers and captains of industry and strident efforts are made to close down the investigation.
Sometimes this involves police raids to seize documentation and disclose the identity of the whistle blower and often the law is opaque on how it is being applied. It is not unusual for those writing a breaking story to be forced to live overseas, out of reach of the offended parties and the fury they generate.
Regional newspaper and television channels are the best defence against fake news and its purveyors. Unfortunately, the tide of commerce is running against them, but with public support they usually manage to provide a basic news service which does much to defuse the damage wrought by vested interests feeding into Facebook.
It is in the public interest that they survive !
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