ABSTRACT
In Wales, as elsewhere, there has been a steady withdrawal of established professional journalism from newsrooms and communities after decades of redundancies, staff cuts and recruitment freezes. This withdrawal has almost certainly been hastened and intensified by large publishers' decisions to maintain high profits to fund regular shareholder dividends. Media Wales publishes more news, owns more outlets and employs more journalists than any other local news provider in Wales. Since 2015 a limited amount of local television news has been produced by small Welsh providers in Cardiff and Swansea in South Wales and Mold in North Wales under the Local Digital Programme Services Scheme. Broadcast news in Wales is dominated by the daily televised public service provision of BBC Cymru Wales and its main commercial rival, ITV Cymru Wales. However, both of these broadcasters are Welsh-national in approach, so they cannot really be seen as local, or even regional, news providers.
