His comments come following the launch of a parliamentary inquiry into regional news services, which will look at the role they play in smaller communities across the nation.

Mr Joyce said without local media, there would be no scrutiny on councils and other organisations that can have just as big of an impact on people's lives as the federal and state governments.

"You can't have a democracy without a vibrant fourth estate; the media," he said.

"If you didn't have local papers how would you know what your local council was up to, how would you get dissemination of information, how would you get investigations that are so vitally important?

"This is one of the reasons I've got a big problem with online platforms, because they take all the advertising at Facebook and Google, but they don't do the job. And they don't have any stringencies."

Sharing Mr Joyce's sentiment is Manilla Express editor John Martin, who has seen the importance of local media first hand over a number of years.

He also believes that while it was already crucial, regional outlets have become more important since COVID began, with the national news and officials relying too heavily on spreading information digitally.

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"I think it has become more important because the government, both state and federal, seem to be concentrating on social media and the people they're trying to get the message out to aren't on social media," he said.

"They're the older generation, and they're the people who rely on the papers, and all through COVID at the Express in Manilla we never had anything from the state government."

He said small print media outlets could still be produced in newspaper form for decades before operations have to move entirely online, and they should be supported until then.

With COVID affecting advertising, he hopes the inquiry leads to some financial support being made available to papers.

"It would be very much appreciated if they could [give grants]," he said.

Uralla Wordsworth editor Louis van Ekert said he would also appreciate some grants, but only if they are 'strings-free' which he said can be a rare thing from the government.

When asked about the focus by many news organisations on the digital market, he said it was important to have small community papers still printing, with some locations still struggling to even receive internet connection.

"We are both in physical print distribution but also online, and there are quite a few elderly people who don't have access to the internet or are not sufficiently tech-savvy to read online," he said.

"My personal opinion is despite the fact younger people read online and spend quite a bit of time online, there's still the need for a printed piece of paper, because it's not always possible to read online.

"Unless the federal government is going to fix the NBN once and for all, there are many areas in the Uralla shire, such as Bundarra, where the internet connection is woeful so there are places where it's physically impossible to go online to read a newspaper."

Submissions to the inquiry can be made until January 28, 2022.