Government to provide assistance to media industry as ACM halts titles, stands down staff

The Morrison government is to provide assistance to the media industry this week as another media company halts publication of its smaller newspapers.

Antony Catalano’s Australian Community Media bought the Fairfax stable regional papers in 2019. Picture: Stuart McEvoy

Communications Minister Paul Fletcher is expected to throw a lifeline to the media industry this week after regional publisher Australian Community Media became the latest to suspend the publication of several newspapers and stand down staff as the coronavirus crisis wipes out advertising revenue.

ACM boss Antony Catalano told Mr Fletcher about the group’s impending decision to suspend some of its newspapers during a phone call last week, and urged him to relax media ownership laws and provide financial assistance to the struggling media sector.

Other media executives, including News Corp Australia boss Michael Miller and HT&E chief executive Ciaran Davis have also urged the Morrison government to act swiftly to help the sector, which was struggling even before COVID-19 from the relentless competition from technology giants Google and Facebook in an uneven playing field.

“I spoke to Minister Fletcher last week and put forward our view that the voices test and the one-to-a-market rule had to go in order to protect regional media. I also put forward the case for financial support for the sector,” Mr Catalano told The Australian on Tuesday.

“We cannot have a situation where communities around the country are left in the dark about the issues affecting our nation.

“I think the government could be forgiven for believing that media operators were posturing last year to force consolidation, but those of us operating these businesses knew the seriousness of the situation.

“Now I think they are listening and realise that change has to occur,” Mr Catalano said.

Mr Catalano, together with billionaire fund manager Alex Waislitz’s Thorney Investment, took control of ACM last June after buying the former Fairfax mastheads from Nine for $125m, said the Morrison government must “allow consolidation otherwise a number of media companies will collapse”.

“It’s the only way to ensure we continue to have a vibrant media in regional Australia.

“The markets are simply not big enough to sustain four voices and it’s time that legislators understood that failing to recognise digital operators in the voices test demonstrates a profound lack of understanding of the media sector. It’s time for change if the government wants to save jobs and ensure public interest journalism has a healthy future.”

Mr Fletcher has been criticised by media bosses privately for being too slow to respond to their pleas for help. A spokesman for the minister declined to comment.

ACM’s decision to suspend the publication of “many” of its non-core, non-daily titles is another blow to rural and regional journalism following the recent closure of independent rural media titles like Mildura’s Sunraysia Daily, cost cutting at Nine Entertainment and News Corp’s metro and national titles, and the temporary printing suspension of 60 News Local suburban newspapers.

The ad woes during the coronavirus crisis have seen a raft of media companies, including Nine, Seven and Prime Media recently dump their annual earnings guidance, as they face relentless pressure from technology giants like Google and Facebook in an uneven playing field.

Commercial radio broadcasters, including HT&E, Southern Cross Media, Prime Media and Bruce Gordon’s WIN Group have sough financial and regulatory assistance from the Morrison government.

The industry also wants the government to act swiftly to crack down on the US-based tech giants, and make them pay for the news they carry on their platforms. Mr Miller has urged the government to act now after criticising “government after government” for dragging their heels.

ACM, like Seven West Media and HT&E, also plans to apply for the federal government’s $130bn JobKeeper wage subsidy initiative in a bid to keep stood-down employees on the books.

ACM, which publishes more than 170 publications, will continue to print its flagship daily titles like The Canberra Times and The Newcastle Herald, as well as its larger weeklies like NSW agricultural journal The Land.

However, the closure of printing sites at Canberra, Murray Bridge, Wodonga and Tamworth will mean that weekly titles that often are the only news service in smaller communities will close.

According to The Canberra Times, Mr Catalano told staff in an email that the company was “working tirelessly to try to maintain a full level of services and meet the needs of our team members, customers and the community”, but the pandemic had “affected significantly” advertising revenues and printing contracts.

“For reasons beyond our control, we cannot sustain the same level of useful work or costs moving forward,” Mr Catalano wrote.

“Accordingly, we have no choice but to temporarily cease some of our publications and temporarily close our printing sites in Canberra, Murray Bridge, Wodonga and Tamworth from April 20 until June 29.

“Regrettably, this means that for some of our employees across the business there will be no useful work available, and they will be stood down in accordance with the provisions of the Fair Work Act.”

Exactly how many titles and employees will be impacted is yet to be revealed, although limited news coverage will continue on the websites of affected publications.