AAP to receive multimillion-dollar federal government funding boost

Newswire AAP, which almost closed last year over concerns it was losing too much money, is expected to receive almost $20 million in funding from the federal government’s budget.

Industry sources familiar with the funding, who spoke anonymously because the budget has not been announced, said the federal government is planning to hand out $15 million over two years to the newswire. The funds are expected to be an addition to a $5 million grant awarded to AAP last year.

AAP’s leadership team including chair Jonty Low, chief executive Emma Cowdroy and former News Corp boss Peter Tonagh has lobbied the government for more funding for months.

AAP CEO Emma Cowdroy has been lobbying for government funding since late last year.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

AAP declined to comment. A spokesperson for Communications Minister Paul Fletcher’s office said it wouldn’t comment on budget speculation.

The government handed out the $5 million lifeline last September and said the newswire’s existence was vital for the existence of regional news and media diversity. At the time AAP was low on cash and had warned the government it would go broke before the end of the year without additional funding. The funding came after Senate Senate crossbenchers Jacqui Lambie, Stirling Griff and Rex Patrick wrote a joint letter to Prime Minister Scott Morrison, imploring him to use the Public Interest News Gathering fund to save the newswire.

Any further funding will provide some financial security to a company that has been under severe financial pressure. Its future was in serious doubt this time last year after its owners Nine Entertainment Co (owner of this masthead) and News Corp Australia decided to shut it down over concerns it was losing too much money and was no longer commercially viable. It was saved by a group of investors and philanthropists in late July, who bought it for $1.

The service has operated without nearly $15 million in annual funding from Nine and News Corp since last August. Others, including Australian Community Media, have indicated they were not willing to pay as much for the service because of the frequency of coverage and a reduction in staff. This uncertainty put the company under financial pressure earlier than expected.

AAP is not eligible to receive money from Google and Facebook under the new media bargaining laws. Despite this, AAP executives still appeared before the Senate when the laws were being prepared to request other funding from the government.

The funding that is expected to be given to AAP in the budget is in addition to $4.2 million put aside by the federal government for the Australian Communications and Media Authority to oversee the media bargaining code. Mr Fletcher said last week the funding would allow the ACMA to deliver the benefits of the new laws. National broadcaster the ABC is not expected to receive any further funding.

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