Prime chief executive Ian Audsley.Credit:Louie Douvis
The additional pressure on news organisations in locations with smaller populations,like Wollongong and Canberra,as the tech giants increase their dominance has left some media commentators describing the business model as"under pressure"and"questionable".
Among the areas for potential reform are local news quotas and spectrum fees as well as broader regulatory change,such as those that prohibit mergers in the regional areas. Many of the regulations imposed on news broadcasters do not apply to digital services.
Privately,media executives express concern about how to keep rural newsrooms running as they balance the high costs of producing news bulletins with a decline in linear television viewership and advertisers increasingly moving their spending online.
Bermuda-based billionaire Bruce Gordon’s WIN Network shocked some Nationals MPs and media executives when itshut down five newsrooms in June due to difficult market economics,affecting up to 40 staff members. WIN is Australia's largest regional network.
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"The competitive profile and environment in regional market has changed substantially,"one media executive said.
Southern Cross Austereo chief executiveGrant Blackley complained in 2018 that Facebook was conducting roadshows in regional areas to attract advertising dollars from small- and medium-sized businesses in rural locations.