5. How is the Welsh Government working with media outlets to promote Welsh-based journalism? OQ58153

I thank John Griffiths for that question, Llywydd. Amongst the actions taken to promote Welsh-based journalism is a commitment to provide financial support to public interest journalism. That support will continue over three financial years, as confirmed in the co-operation agreement.

First Minister, last week was the 130-year anniversary of the South Wales Argus, a paper that's long been rooted in our local communities. As with many local people, the South Wales Argus was always in my house when I was growing up, and in fact, in my early teens I delivered the South Wales Argus on my bike as a paperboy. And now, of course, as a Member of the Senedd, it's still a vital organisation for me to engage with. First Minister, it's obviously very, very important for Wales, for life in Wales, for our communities here and indeed for our developing democracy that we have a thriving national, regional and local media in Wales, helping to inform people what's going on, including informing them of Welsh Government policies and action and engaging them with our democracy. I think the pandemic highlighted the value of our media in Wales when it was so important for people to understand the particular policies and measures of Welsh Government in combating the pandemic in our country. First Minister, given this importance, and given that we all want to see a thriving media in Wales, will you pledge to continue working with the media in our country, including local newspapers, so that they can continue to play this vital role long into the future?

I thank John Griffiths for that, Llywydd. I was very pleased to be able to send a message of congratulations to the South Wales Argus a week or so ago on its hundred-and-thirtieth birthday. John Griffiths is right, Llywydd, that the appetite for news about Wales and decisions being made in Wales was undoubtedly lifted by the experience of the pandemic. The Welsh Government has carried out over 250 press conferences during that period, 200 of them carried live by the BBC, and over 50 organisations have taken part to ask questions of Ministers during that period. John Griffiths is right—the span of interest in Wales went from questions from CNN for a global audience at the one end of the spectrum to questions from the Caerphilly Observer and Llanelli Live at the other end of the spectrum. Investment in grass-roots public interest journalism is very important to create a pipeline of journalists for the future.

It's always a slightly tricky thing, isn't it, for Government to invest in journalism. I'm always reminded of what the famous American journalist H.L. Mencken said—that the relationship between a journalist and a politician is the same as the relationship between a dog and a lamppost. And there's a good reason for that, isn't there? We want journalists to be separate from the political world. There is a way, and we are finding the right way, to make the sorts of investments that John Griffiths mentioned to be able to put investment into those grass roots without in any way compromising the capacity of journalists and news agencies here in Wales to carry out the job of scrutiny and, where necessary, criticism that they quite rightly fulfil.

I want to very much echo the comments of the Member for Newport East—Welsh-based journalism and Welsh language journalism can play a critical role in delivering our fantastic language to a really important audience, especially in our rural communities. Having started my professional career as a journalist working for local newspapers—and I'm not sure if I'm now the dog or the lamppost—I've seen first-hand the importance of BBC's local democracy reporting service, a public service news agency funded by the BBC and provided by the local news sector. Its reporting delves into our communities and ensures that local stories are given the attention they deserve.

However, the LDR service does not explicitly fund any full-time Welsh-medium journalism positions, although stories that are written by democracy reporters are shared with media outlets that have signed up to be part of the local news partnership scheme. Records show that there are 21 organisations that currently publish in excess of 70 individual titles for Wales-based audiences. Of those 70, only one is a Welsh-medium service. Given this, how are you, First Minister, encouraging Welsh language news outlets to sign up to the BBC's local news partnership scheme? Diolch, Llywydd.

Well, can I thank Sam Kurtz for that, because he makes very important points about the significance of Welsh language journalism? And the Welsh Government does, again, invest directly in this area in a way that is justified by the language component of it. So, the Welsh books council has a ring-fenced budget that funds Golwg360, Corgi Cymru and other news outlets.

The changing nature of Welsh-medium education in Wales actually, I think, will support a revival of Welsh-medium reporting here in Wales as well, as young people emerge from Welsh education with a capacity to read the language and to receive information through the language that maybe wasn't true even 20 years ago, and therefore that there will be a commercial as well as a cultural imperative to do that. And certainly it is part of our motivation in wanting to invest in these areas to make sure that we have a future of young, digitally skilled, inquisitive young journalists with an accurate grasp of devolution and who are able to operate fully in a genuinely bilingual environment.