Politicians must agree on support for journalism
LOCAL Ireland, the representative association for local newspapers in Ireland, has welcomed last week’s publication of Fianna Fáil’s policy document ‘Newspaper Publishing – A Policy to Sustain High Quality Journalism in Irish Public Life’.
Frank Mulrennan, President Local Ireland, stated “The policy document represents a welcome step forward in developing an effective national policy response to support independent journalism in this country. As ‘fake news’ has emerged as a national and international challenge, we welcome the document’s acknowledgement of the critical role of newspapers in the democratic life of the country. The document shows a clear understanding of the stark challenges faced by the sector.
Frank Mulrennan, President Local Ireland, stated “The policy document represents a welcome step forward in developing an effective national policy response to support independent journalism in this country. As ‘fake news’ has emerged as a national and international challenge, we welcome the document’s acknowledgement of the critical role of newspapers in the democratic life of the country. The document shows a clear understanding of the stark challenges faced by the sector.
He said that social media, while it definitely has its uses, tends to give users a tunnel vision of their world, because the algorithms that govern news feeds tailor content to what they calculate users want.
Scanning a newspaper, national or local, gives a much wider view of the world we live in.