In his Caxton seminar, Y&R chairman Hamish McLennan suggested newspapers should receive government subsidies like the TV networks in the face of economic challenges.
Mark Fletcher, director of the Australian Newsagency Blog, said the paying subsidies would not result in better journalism.
"The newspaper industry should live or die by commercial performance. It's business after all. If you protect them with a subsidy then what about retailers who sell newspapers? Would you protect them selling a low-margin product? I suspect not."
MediaCom Melbourne managing director Philip Phelan said issue was whether investigative journalism was enough of a public good to warrant government funding.
"The newspaper industry doesn't need subsidising. Paper is not a public good, it's just paper. News itself is what's important," he said. "Governments could fund, through a long-term grant system, independent journalism and selling stories to media owners."
Peter Cox, chief executive of Cox Media Principal, agreed that the only consideration for government subsidies should be to support independent, quality journalism.
"The media industry is caught in a pincer movement between demands for profit from shareholders, desperate private equity investors and debt holders and a consumer with little interest in quality journalism".
But Mark Hollands, chief executive of the Newspaper Publishers' Association, likened government-funded journalists to those of the Soviet newspaper Pravda.
"What a horrible thought - journalists subsidised by the government. The integrity of a free press would be shot ... Taking taxpayer money to bankroll journalism risks undermining a fundamental element of democratic society: transparency of public processes for the common good, the public's right to know and freedom of expression."
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