Nyunggai Warren Stephen Mundine has been appointed as a part-time non-executive Director on the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) Board.
 
Mr Mundine commences his five-year appointment to the role immediately. His appointment fills a vacancy created with the retirement of Dr Bulent Hass Dellal on 2 June 2020 and the subsequent appointment of an existing non-executive Director, Mr George Savvides, to the position of Chair of the SBS Board on 9 July 2020.
 

The Federal Government will provide $5 million to the Australian Associated Press Limited Newswire (AAP) under the Public Interest News Gathering (PING) program.
 
Communications Minister Paul Fletcher says AAP is critical to media diversity and has consistently demonstrated its commitment to accurate, fact-based and independent journalism over its 85 year history, including a strong contribution to regional news.
 

Communications Minister Paul Fletcher presented the second reading of the Regional Commercial Radio and Other Measures Bill to Parliament this week.

The purpose of the Bill is to amend the Broadcasting Services Act 1992  to relax some elements of the local content obligations.

Narrowcasters are under financial pressure at the moment due to COVID but, unlike their commercial counterparts, they have not been granted any licence fee tax relief, according to Australian Narrowcast Radio Association (ANRA) President Phil Edwards.

Edwards has told radioinfo:

The ABC has been moving ahead with its redundancy process, with the final change proposals sent to staff on 21 July. 

With the expressions of interest in redundancy process now complete, and positions identified for redundancy, the national broadcaster is currently consulting on the proposals with employees and their representatives.

George Savvides has been appointed Chair of the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) for a period of five years, effective from today.

$5.5 million has been put aside by the government over four years for the National Film and Sound Archive (NFSA) to support the digitisation of historic audiovisual material.
 
Part of the money will create the National Centre for Excellence in Audiovisual Digitisation.
 
The NFSA has more three million items in its collection, including a significant number of film, tape and sound recordings in analogue formats, such as magnetic tape.
 

107 regional publishers and broadcasters who applied to the Public Interest News Gathering (PING) Program will receive a share of $50 million in funding committed to support regional news services in 2020-21. 
 
Of the 107 eligible applicants, there are 13 for radio, 92 publishers and five for television. Three applicants were successful across two streams.

Applications are now open for the $50 million Public Interest News Gathering (PING) program to support commercial radio, television and newspaper businesses in regional Australia during COVID-19.
 
Minister for Communications, Cyber Safety and the Arts, Paul Fletcher, called on all eligible news outlets to apply, and says, “We know that public interest journalism keeps communities informed and connected, and it is especially important for people living in regional and remote areas.
 

The Morrison Government today announced a package of measures to help sustain Australian media businesses as they do their vital work of keeping the community informed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
The measures include: