Media needs to be in the hands of the people of Wales to ensure their survival says Golwg founder

The founder of an independent media company based in rural Wales has said that news companies need to be in the hands of the people of Wales in order to ensure their survival.

Dylan Iorwerth was speaking at an event in Lampeter – where he founded the company Golwg in the 1980s – to discuss the impact of the media on Wales.

He said that companies based in Wales would try their best to ensure a future for a company, but that large commercial companies based outside Wales would be guided only by market considerations.

“History suggests that when things get hard, it is profit and dividend for shareholders that count the most for large companies,” he told Golwg360.

“The danger is that from their point of view the newspapers and websites of Wales are just very small commercial ventures among many others.

“Naturally, the first duty of these companies is towards their shareholders.

“I would argue that if we want a truly strong media in Wales we need ownership by companies that want what’s best for journalism in Wales, not their shareholders.

“It’s important to make money, but so that money can be spent on the content.”

Dylan Iorwerth, who stepped down as the Chief Executive of Golwg in 2019, said that having the media of Wales in Welsh hands would “ensure that what is best for Wales and our communities come first”.

“Ownership is extremely important,” he said. “Otherwise things come and go.

“The history of the last few decades, in the time since I’ve been working as a journalist, has shown that large companies come and go and buy local papers. Then the offices close, journalists are made redundant, and they continue without editors.

“As a result, news services are impoverished.”