이 연구는 지역신문 지원정책과 이에 대한 평가모델에 관해 전반적으로 고찰하고 그 개선점을 제시하는데 초점을 두었다. 특히 지역신문의 정책에 대한 평가모델 연구는 국내에서 처음으로 이뤄졌다는 데 의의가 있다. 현재 한국의 지역신문 지원제도는 기금 관리에 따른 분류 차원에서는 독립기금 모델이면서 유형으로는 직접지원, 방식으로는 선별지원의 모델을 갖추고 있다. 성과분석결과 이러한 지원으로 저널리즘적 측면과 경영적 측면에서 일정부분 성과를 달성하고 있는 것으로 보여진다. 그러나 이러한 강력한 지원정책에도 불구하고 한국 신문시장의 가장 큰 문제인 독과점화 경향을 해소하는 데는 역부족으로 이러한 문제점들을 해소하기 위한 집중적인 지원책이 필요하다. 또한 지역신문의 위기를 초래한 난립구조를 해결하기 위한 정부광고 배정 등의 강력한 정책적 대안이 마련되어야 한다. 다음으로는 신문지원기구간 역할의 적정한 분담과 정책의 일관성이 필요하다. 지원기준 설정과 지원 사업에 있어 신문발전위원회는 독과점 방지에 초점을 맞추고 전체 신문 산업 진흥에 주력해야 하는 반면, 지역신문발전위원회는 지역신문의 경영개선, 저널리즘 기능의 회복과 더불어 시장의 과당경쟁 해소에 초점을 맞춰야 한다. 우리나라 기금의 평가모델은 목표달성 모델과 포괄적 평가 모델로 지역신문의 지원제도를 평가하는 정책모델로 한계를 지닌다. 지역신문발전위원회가 성과목표에 대한 지표로 지역신문의 신뢰도와 지역신문 만족도로 설정하였지만 이러한 지표는 여론의 다양성 확보와 지역균형발전, 지역사회 민주주의의 확보라는 기본 정책목표 달성을 알아볼 수 있는 지표로서 부적절하다. 따라서 여론의 다원화를 측정할 수 있는 ‘신문시장 점유율’ 등 보다 다양한 지표가 마련되어야 할 것이다. 아울러 지역신문의 지원에 따른 경영여건 개선 등을 확인할 수 있는 직접적인 지표가 없다는 문제도 있다. 마지막으로 지역신문 신뢰도와 만족도 평가는 신문 전반에 대한 평가로 지원 대상 신문사와 비지원 신문사간 비교할 만한 평가척도가 없다는 점도 제기되었다. 이는 비현실적인 정책평가 모델의 구축에 따른 문제로 새로운 모델의 개발이 필요하다.

This study examines the supporting system of local newspapers and its policy assessment model, and also offers the way to improve its overall policy. This study is important because it is the first attempt in Korea to evaluate the policy assessment model in supporting local newspapers. Currently, the supporting system is an independent funding model in terms of managing its fund, a direct support model in its form, and a selective support model in its method respectively. The result shows that this type of supporting system has a certain merit in achieving its goals in terms of journalistic and managerial aspects. However, the system requires far more focused and intensive supporting policies to alleviate the tendency of oligopoly by a few influential newspaper conglomerates, that has been the most crucial issue in the Korean newspaper market recently. Furthermore the system requires stronger policy measures as an alternative for the highly competitive market structure, such as distributing the govern- mental advertising selectively. The role distribution between the various supporting institutions and the consistency of policy will be another critical issue. There is a certain limitation in evaluating the funding system in Korea since it merely utilizes a goal-oriented model and a broad evaluation model. Although the Local Newspaper Development Committee set the credibility and satisfaction of local newspaper as evaluating index, this may not be suitable for assessing the wide variety of public opinion, balanced local development and the improvement of local democracies. This study thus suggests that the assessment model should incorporate the market share index to supplement the credibility and satisfaction index in order to properly assess the increasing plurality of the public opinion. In addition to this, the study also found that the model has a limitation in evaluating the direct impact to see the improvement of managing environment. Finally, the study raises an issue that the credibility and satisfaction index are only useful in assessing a single newspaper, while they significantly lack effective measures to compare the newspaper companies with the governmental support and the companies without it. Therefore, we suggest that a new model replacing an unrealistic policy evaluation model is necessary.

This study examines the supporting system of local newspapers and its policy assessment model, and also offers the way to improve its overall policy. This study is important because it is the first attempt in Korea to evaluate the policy assessment model in supporting local newspapers. Currently, the supporting system is an independent funding model in terms of managing its fund, a direct support model in its form, and a selective support model in its method respectively. The result shows that this type of supporting system has a certain merit in achieving its goals in terms of journalistic and managerial aspects. However, the system requires far more focused and intensive supporting policies to alleviate the tendency of oligopoly by a few influential newspaper conglomerates, that has been the most crucial issue in the Korean newspaper market recently. Furthermore the system requires stronger policy measures as an alternative for the highly competitive market structure, such as distributing the govern- mental advertising selectively. The role distribution between the various supporting institutions and the consistency of policy will be another critical issue. There is a certain limitation in evaluating the funding system in Korea since it merely utilizes a goal-oriented model and a broad evaluation model. Although the Local Newspaper Development Committee set the credibility and satisfaction of local newspaper as evaluating index, this may not be suitable for assessing the wide variety of public opinion, balanced local development and the improvement of local democracies. This study thus suggests that the assessment model should incorporate the market share index to supplement the credibility and satisfaction index in order to properly assess the increasing plurality of the public opinion. In addition to this, the study also found that the model has a limitation in evaluating the direct impact to see the improvement of managing environment. Finally, the study raises an issue that the credibility and satisfaction index are only useful in assessing a single newspaper, while they significantly lack effective measures to compare the newspaper companies with the governmental support and the companies without it. Therefore, we suggest that a new model replacing an unrealistic policy evaluation model is necessary.

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Local Newspaper, Policy Evaluation, Newspaper Policy, Local Newspaper Supporting System, Newspaper Supporting Institutions, Outcome Managing System, Local Newspaper Policy Assessment Model