WAG’s £600,000 offer to fund a Welsh daily

Feb 6 2008 by David Williamson, Western Mail

HERITAGE Minister Rhodri Glyn Thomas yesterday announced a £600,000 funding package as he invited bids to publish a Welsh-language daily newspaper.

The Plaid Cymru minister said publishers could follow the example of Lá Nua, an Irish- language daily newspaper launched last year.

Mr Thomas said, “If there’s anyone out there who wishes to establish a Welsh-language daily newspaper, it’s possible. A number of people have already expressed an interest.”

But the three-year funding package, which will provide £200,000 annually until 2011, fell far short of the funding hoped for in some quarters.

Dyddiol – the group which aims to launch Welsh-language daily Y Byd (The World) – had wanted an annual grant of between £600,000 and £1m.

A spokeswoman for Y Byd declined to comment on yesterday’s announcement.

Mr Thomas said, “I am indebted to Dyddiol Cyf for the work they have done... but Dyddiol Cyf isn’t the only company to have shown an interest in establishing a Welsh-language daily newspaper, [and] this funding is available for new ideas and projects within the Welsh-language print media.”

Mr Thomas’s announcement of extra funding follows a report into the Welsh-language print sector published last month and commissioned by the Welsh Language Board at the request of the Assembly Government.

Report author Tony Bianchi wrote that Dyddiol had made “a strong case in principle” but noted, “The viability of a Welsh-language daily newspaper has not been fully demonstrated nor can it be fully demonstrated on the basis of market research or the performance of comparable initiatives elsewhere.”

The new funding will not affect the £173,000 funding spent by the Assembly Government through the Welsh Books Council on Welsh-medium news and current affairs publications.

However, he said, “It’s a great concern to me the current periodicals available are so low in terms of their circulation.”

He added, “I do think it’s very important we regularly monitor these financial allocations and the value of money they provide to us because they are significant allocations. I will be looking in the next financial year, 2009-10, at that funding as well as the £200,000 and will be collaborating with the Welsh Books Council to see how best we can make use of that funding.”

The One Wales pact which last year united Labour and Plaid Cymru in coalition government pledged to “expand the funding and support for Welsh-medium magazines and newspapers, including the establishment of a Welsh daily newspaper.”

Mr Thomas said, “Certainly, anyone who wants to respond to this challenge must bring forward new ideas, do things differently.

“Everyone who receives funding from government must show that they are innovative and they can progress and offer new ideas.”

He also said any successful bid would have to harness the potential of the internet. “Provisions on the internet would be an expected part of any package funded with this funding. That is the present and the future and we must ensure the Welsh language is given its proper place on that medium and people have an opportunity to use it and receive information and news through the medium of Welsh.”

The Minister said a key aim of the funding was to improve the quality of national debate.