Memorandum submitted by Kent Messenger Group

 

 

Your colleague, Roger Gale MP, has advised me to write to you. I met you last year and I know you are aware that we are an independent local media company which has been serving local communities in Kent for over 150 years through its newspapers. More recently we have invested in local radio stations and created local websites in order to deliver our good quality content in a timely manner to local audiences.

 

I am also aware that your Select Committee heard evidence regarding the BBC from Sly Bailey, Trinity Mirror; Caroline McCall, Guardian Media Group; Santha Rasiah, Newspaper Society; and Andrew Harrison from the Radio Centre. I just wanted to add the views of a small independent media company to those you heard yesterday.

 

I would urge you and your Committee to oppose the BBC's plans to introduce local website services as vehemently as possible and at the very least seek a delay. The last thing the commercial local media industry needs is another publicly-funded, recession-proof organisation entering the marketplace, especially when we are already faced with the severe issues created by the current economic downturn.

 

We welcome fair competition and are embracing and investing in the digital age. However, when government policy is enabling and encouraging local government to withdraw advertising from independent news providers and establish their own news channels, it is fostering unfair competition and our ability to invest in the future is narrowed.

 

I have heard Members of Parliament praise the innovative nature of new communications set up by local government such as Kent TV (set up by Kent County Council) but at what cost?

 

All these publicly-funded initiatives are not operating on a "level playing field" and stifle enterprise from others (such as us) who seek to offer excellent independent news to the public.

 

Added to this is the plight of many commercial radio companies who are carrying the huge costs of digital platforms, which in this economic climate is actually challenging the viability of those companies. It would appear to me that a possible short-term solution to this issue would be to redivert the funds the BBC planned to spend on local websites to support the digital radio platform across the country. This would at least put small commercial radio companies onto a more firm footing and give them time to develop their digital offering whilst supporting plurality of news in the local marketplace.

 

There are a number of issues currently being reviewed by Ofcom, such as the PSBR and the Digital Dividend review. Due to the converging nature of media the decisions Ofcom make on these things could potentially have as great an impact on local media companies as the current BBC threat. Please would you do what you can to see that these are all looked at together whilst ensuring that the vital importance of "independent" news provision is put at the heart of the debate as it is at the heart of our democracy.

 

 

November 2008