State Aid for Newspapers

Ever since newspaper companies first turned to their governments for support in the 1950s, print media has been supported by state aid in many parts of the world. Today, the principles and practicalities of these subsidies have been called into question, endangering the secure funding of expensive high-quality press output.

This book provides a comprehensive analysis of today's global challenges in the print news media's struggle for survival. It presents current practices concerning government subsidies to newspapers for political, economic, and socio-cultural purposes against the background of declining readership and revenues, increased inter-media competition, austerity budgets imposed on national economies and shifting audience tastes. Using the insights of theoretical debates in the fields of media economics, media governance, and modern management theory, the book analyses these issues by investigating the power of government subsidies to shape and control newspaper markets. It brings together experts in these fields to combine theory with industry practices, aiming to help all parties involved to understand the complexity of issues and requirements necessary to preserve the social benefits of print media.

Paul Clemens Murschetz, Mag.Dr.MSc. (rer.soc.oec.), born in Salzburg/Austria, is researcher for the ICT&S Center of Advanced Studies and Research in Information and Communication Technologies and Society at the University of Salzburg. Prior to this, he was Senior Visiting Lecturer for the University of Westminster's School of Media, Arts and Design (Department of Journalism and Mass Communication) and Adjunct Associate Professor of business administration for the University of New York, Tirana. Paul also held a W2-Professorship position in media management at the private University CBS-Cologne Business School (University of Applied Sciences) in Germany. Paul is member of the German Association of Communication (DGPuK), and the European Media Management Education Association (EMMEA). Paul earned his PhD. in business management from the Vienna University of Economics and Business (1989/1992), and an MSc. in media and communication studies from the London School of Economics and Political Science (1996).