The government’s media outreach has been postponed a few times. But according to the Minister of Culture, there will be a media proposal from the government before the end of the year.
And here an element will be that the media support must to a greater extent be moved from the national newsrooms to the local ones. This year, DKK 368 million was paid in media support to both national and regional and local media.
– It is important to prioritize the local and regional media, because we can see that in the huge development that has moved ads from the Danish media to the digital platforms, it is the local and regional media that have the most difficulty with to find a sustainable business model, says Joy Mogensen.
According to figures from the Ministry of Culture, Google, Facebook and LinkedIn (Social media with a focus on users’ careers, ed.) In 2009 had about a tenth of the total turnover from ads in Denmark. By 2020, it had grown to 42 percent.
But the regional and local media are not only fighting with international competition for advertising crowns.
From 2010 to 2020, the regional and local dailies have lost half of their readers, while the local weekly newspapers have lost a third of their readers, according to figures from the Ministry of Culture.
– Because the local and regional media play an important role in having a public debate in all parts of our country, we are proposing a redistribution of media support that prioritises the local and regional media, which is most affected by the relocation of ads across on digital media, says Joy Mogensen.
On Thursday, she will not put money on how many millions she imagines will go from support for the national media to regional and local media.
The minister also does not want to announce a specific date for when the government media outlets will come. Just that it will be this year.
The government also intends to allow local and regional media to collaborate with DR and TV2’s various local departments. It must be modeled on the United Kingdom. Here, the BBC has made a similar collaboration.
In addition, a new pool of money will be created for district magazines and weekly newspapers. It is not clear how much money the government will put in that pool.
Source: The Nordic Page
