Maltese Print Newspapers Given €150,000 In Public Funds In New ‘Support Scheme’
Seven Maltese print newspapers have received a combined total of €150,000 in public funds as part of a new “support scheme”, The Shift News has reported.
Run by the Arts Council, the Newspaper Support Scheme “seeks to support and facilitate ways and means how to address the present challenges” of the print media in full “cognisance of the sector’s current situation with limited financial and human resources”.
MediaToday, which runs MaltaToday and Illum, received two grants – €18,163 for the culture pages of both papers and €15,000 to train young journalists in investigative and news reporting.
Allied Newspapers, which runs The Times, received €29,122 for the arts and entertainment pages of its Sunday paper.
Standard Publications, which runs the Malta Independent, similarly received €30,000 to promote arts, culture and heritage in its newspapers.
Union Print, which runs L-Orizzont and It-Torċa, received €15,663 for a project called ‘Madwarna’, the PN’s Media.Link received €30,000 for a project to “enhance the use of the Maltese language”, and Catholic Action’s Leħen is-Sewwa received €14,435 to “highlight and appreciate the beauty around us through art”.
This is the latest example of public funds being directed to print media for reasons other than advertising. In recent years, they received subsidies to counter a loss of income during the COVID-19 pandemic and the rising cost of printing.
Allied Newspapers, MediaToday, Standard Publications, Union Print, and Media.Link, as well as the PL’s Sound Vision recently teamed up to form the Association of Media Owners, whose goals include lobbying for government funding.
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