How Victorian Government Public Messaging spend supports country newspaper sustainability

In 2022, the Victorian State Government pledged to buy the equivalent of a weekly full-page of advertising in newspapers that serve rural, regional and some outer-suburban areas across the state, to support the newspapers’ sustainability. This project provided an assessment of the decision.

The project explored the relationship between local news and the dissemination of public notices and government messaging spend from the perspective of Victorian news proprietors and political leaders. It also undertook a critical examination of academic and grey literature on the issue.

The government’s commitment was made in an attempt to help support newspapers with niche circulation and distribution, so they could continue to provide important public-interest journalism to the towns they serve (Hess and McAdam, 2022).

Most of the 105 newspapers affiliated with the Victorian Country Press Association have been eligible for this commitment and, combined, have received more than $5.5 million annually. The project found that local news outlets would face further consolidation or closure if the government removed its advertising commitment, and that this revenue helped to legitimate news platforms as journals of public record.

As a direct impact of the project, in March 2026 the South Australian Government announced bipartisan support to introduce weekly newspaper advertising spend to support the sustainability of public interest journalism.