The NSW and federal governments must stop crying crocodile tears about the closure of regional TV newsrooms, and start to do something about it, says Shooters, Fishers and Farmers party leader Robert Borsak.
“Today we’ve seen the likes of ³Ô¹ÏÍøÕ¾s MP Wes Fang condemn WIN News for shutting down three regional newsrooms,” Mr Borsak said.
“He forgot to mention governments created the regulatory framework field killing regional journalism”.
“When you have TV stations and newspapers strangled by government regulation, and Facebook and Google essentially operating free of rules and restrictions, traditional media is sure to die”.
“As a matter of urgency, the government needs to level the playing field”.
Mr Borsak said a recent parliamentary submission from advocacy group Free TV indicated commercial TV was by far the most regulated digital media platform.
“They’re subject to all sort of classification standards and restrictions on what they can advertise, and when they can advertise,” Mr Borsak said
“But Facebook and Google can advertise what they want, when they want. They don’t have to review or subject their content to any restrictions”
“If this continues, Facebook will conquer the world, while regional media will continue to die”.
Orange MP Phil Donato said the government have no interest in reviving regional journalism.
“I’m really said to see the demise of Win News in my town”.
“Some fantastic journalists are losing their job”.
“This also means less scrutiny for government. It’s no wonder they’ve done so little to reverse this trend”.
SFF urged the state and federal government to work with organisations like Free TV as a matter of urgency to modernise the regulation framework for all digital media.
