The political class is in full meltdown over WIN Television’s decision to scale back local news services.

Federal politicians, state politicians and local politicians have rushed to microphones to condemn the broadcaster, with some describing the move as a “dog act.”

It’s easy to talk tough when someone else has to pay the bills.

The reality is WIN Television is a private company operating in a brutal media environment. Advertising revenue is under pressure, audiences are increasingly moving online, and the economics of regional television are becoming harder every year.

Yet politicians who have never had to make payroll, never had to balance a commercial budget and never had to answer to shareholders are now lecturing a private business on how it should be run.

These are the same people whose wages are guaranteed every fortnight regardless of economic conditions. The same people who can approve spending, announce programs and make promises knowing taxpayers will ultimately foot the bill.

When a private company makes a difficult commercial decision, politicians call press conferences.

When governments waste money, blow out budgets or rack up debt, we’re told it’s the cost of doing business.

No one wants to see local news reduced. Regional communities benefit from strong local journalism. But pretending the financial pressures facing regional broadcasters don’t exist is either naïve or deliberately dishonest.

The uncomfortable truth is that regional media has been fighting for survival while politicians have been busy issuing statements and chasing headlines.

If politicians genuinely care about local journalism, they should spend less time attacking broadcasters and more time asking why it has become so difficult to operate a profitable regional media business in modern Australia.

Because outrage is easy.

Running a business is hard.

And that’s a lesson many professional politicians seem determined never to learn.