Coimisiún na Meán has announced the allocation of €5.7 million to news outlets with over 100 new or enhanced journalist roles to be filled under new schemes in what it describes as "a good day for journalism and a good day for democracy".
In recent years, concerns have been raised about the shrinking of resources dedicated to local journalism and coverage of community stories in local media outlets, and Coimisiún na Meán is taking its first steps in addressing these gaps.
The schemes, which have been welcomed by the media sector, cover local democracy and courts reporting and mark the first time Coimisiún na Meán has directly supported public interest journalism for communities across Ireland on a platform-neutral basis.
The allocations include 71 newly funded roles for journalists, and more than 30 roles where freelance or part-time journalists will see enhanced employment terms.
"As a freelance journalist covering local stories across Kerry, this scheme is so welcome as it takes out some of the terror of recent years where you could be sitting in a courtroom all day covering a local story, and you never knew if your report was going to be picked up by the media and if you'd get paid for your work and your time," said journalist Anne Lucey.
She has been allocated funding under the scheme and has welcomed the support.
There was a high demand for the schemes, with 103 successfully obtaining funding from 131 applications.
Coimisiún na Meán is supporting funding for both Irish and English language journalism and online reporting projects and its aim is to support both the media sector and the creation of high-quality accessible public journalism across Ireland.
"Local news is hugely important to Irish people, and these schemes will ensure that people across Ireland get the news stories that matter to them," said Rónán Ó Domhnaill, Coimisiún na Meán Media Development Commissioner.
The schemes cover a Local Democracy Reporting scheme, a Courts Reporting scheme and Ancillary schemes which support long-form, in-depth and investigative journalism and collaboration across media outlets is strongly encouraged.
CEO of Celtic Media group Frank Mulrennan outlined the potential impact of the scheme for his papers, outlining how "in Co Mayo, we have our Connaught Telegraph title, which is there since 1828 but very sensibly, we're collaborating with Western People, which means that our two titles are coming together.
"The two editors, Tom Kelly and James Laffey, will be sharing reporters, sharing the recruitment of new reporters, enhancing the coverage of courts and local democracy, municipal meetings in Co Mayo."
Mr Mulrennan said that in his view, "really, it's a win, win. And what we really want to see is that we bring young journalists into Western People, into the papers and that will be one of the key benefits of the schemes".
The award recipients cover journalists from 26 counties and will see journalism funded on matters of public importance, including the work of local authorities and district and circuit courts.
The applications were assessed by an independent panel of assessors.
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Six schemes
The Local Democracy and Court Reporting schemes are the first steps in a rollout of at least six schemes designed to support and enhance Irish journalism in the years ahead.
Later this year two further schemes will also open for applications, as will a second iteration of the Local Democracy and Courts Reporting schemes.
Speaking at the launch, Mr Ó Domhnaill explained that this scheme was a significant one for the Coimisiún as it is "our first foray into news and current affairs".
He said that he believes that "this scheme is a positive move for those who both work in the media and consume media" and that this kind of support is beneficial to society".
He added: "This is the first time print and online news providers can be supported this way."
The schemes are backed with a fund of €6 million provided by the Department of Media.
The new journalism schemes were open to applications from journalists and media outlets, including broadcast, print and online platforms, in both the Irish and English languages.
The new schemes are being introduced on a pilot basis and will be reviewed, and they mark a new departure by the State to support public interest journalism at a time when traditional journalism is under pressure.
Managing Editor of the Anglo Celt Linda O'Reilly said: "We’ve always invested journalists’ time in public service journalism, and if they weren't there, we don't know what would be happening behind closed doors, but we've been struggling more and more to do that work, due to pressures on human resources, declining revenues and so on."
She added: "This means we can continue to invest those resources in public service terms, so we are very pleased about that."
