Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to Support Strengthening Content of Local Newspapers

Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism Announces 3-Year Support Plan for Local Newspaper Development
AI Support to Strengthen Content in the Digital Era

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced the 'Three-Year Support Plan for Regional Newspaper Development (2023-2025)' on the 15th to promote the development of regional newspapers and strengthen the foundation of the newspaper industry. This aims to support regional newspapers, which are facing crises due to declining paper newspaper usage and sales, in enhancing content value through new technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI). The Ministry establishes a support plan every three years in accordance with the 'Special Act on Regional Newspaper Development Support.'

The support plan is composed of four strategies and 21 detailed tasks under the vision of 'Realizing sustainable glocal journalism through region-tailored support': ▲Enhancing glocal journalism functions ▲Expanding scope based on new technologies ▲Strengthening regional community solidarity and coexistence ▲Improving the foundation for regional newspaper development. The plan was developed with the participation of the Regional Newspaper Development Committee, regional newspaper publishers, and media academia.

First, active support will be provided for producing regionally focused planned content. After selecting common interests across all regions, regional newspapers wishing to participate in reporting will be selected to receive support for domestic and international reporting and digital content production. The program will also support regional talent internship programs and education for regional journalists.

Support will also be provided to strengthen competitiveness based on new technologies such as artificial intelligence. The Ministry plans to expand the number of regional newspaper partners providing news articles to 'BigKinds,' a news big data analysis system, to 50 companies by 2024 and increase the compensation rate for news usage by 15-25%. The collected regional news data will be analyzed and provided as customized information to startups, local governments, and others. To enhance regional newspapers' capacity to respond to AI technology, support will be given for the development of their own media services.

Through a public service advertisement contest, participation in discovering regional issues and solving problems will be encouraged. Award-winning works will be advertised in regional newspapers, and linked support for planned articles will be provided to lead to problem resolution. A fact-checking model to prevent the spread of false information within the region will also be supported by linking regional universities and newspapers. Free newspapers will be provided to vulnerable groups, and education on using regional newspapers will be supported for elementary, middle, and high school students.

Kang Su-sang, Director of the Media Policy Bureau at the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, stated, “2024 marks the 20th anniversary of the enforcement of the 'Regional Newspaper Act.' It is time to prepare for a new future based on the efforts and achievements made so far for the development of regional newspapers.” He added, “To realize the national goal of a livable local era everywhere and to ensure strong momentum for the support plan, we plan to secure and strengthen support through various financial resources, including the Regional Newspaper Development Fund, the Press Promotion Fund, and the corporate accounts of the Korea Press Foundation.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.