Written submitted by the Society of Editors
The Society of Editors would like to submit
our response to the above inquiry.
The society has more than 400 members in
national, regional and local newspapers, magazines, broadcasting
and digital media, media law and journalism education. Simply
as a result of the number of titles about 60 % of our members
are involved in regional media.
Our key concern at a time when regional news
media in particular is suffering from the double effect of major
structural change and the economic climate, is that local and
regional newspapers are being especially affected because of the
importance of classified advertising. The property market and
related industries are particularly disrupted by the credit crunch,
as well as motoring and recruitment markets that also have a major
place in budgets.
Share values in regional media have been talked
down dramatically and titles have been lost. Along with changes
in regional television this means that this issue is not simply
a matter of concern for media businesses. It has serious consequences
for the public's right to know and to their right to freedom of
expression.
We have had several meetings with the Secretary
of State for Culture Media and Sport and I am attaching copies
of various letters to him on the specific issue of the regional
press.[31]
Our main overall concern is that there should
be a level playing field for all media companies. That means they
should be freed from unecesary and outdated regulation regarding
ownership and account should be taken of the position of publicly
funded media in the market place and the effect of internet aggregators.
The growth of publicly funded local council media activities that
cannot possibly be considered independent is a special and serious
worry.
Digital convergence has a great impact on regional
and local newspapers, because they play a major part in training
journalists for the whole of the media industry. Journalism training
is itself becoming converged to meet the needs of the media in
the digital age. In the depths of recession it is vital to maintain
investment in training but it is of course costly. Subsidies for
trainee journalists could make a crucial difference to the maintenance
of local coverage and could help publishers retain editions that
are unlikely to be recreated once they are lost (please see
letter dated 13 January).
The closure of newspapers has serious consequences
for the public's right to know and to their right to freedom of
expression. This is not simply a matter of concern for media businesses.
If you refer to our letter dated 13th January, you will see that
Trinity Mirror has already ceased publication of more than 40 titles.
In effect this means communities have lost a conduit for news
and a voice.
On the issue of funding journalism, the Culture
Secretary had suggested to us that direct public subsidy would
neither be welcome nor appropriate because of the dangers it could
bring and unacceptable regulation that would follow (please
see letter dated 13 January). That does not mean that new
ideas about extending the financing of public service journalism
should be dismissed. For example, local and national government
could be encouraged to advertise jobs and services in local papers
and their websites. This would be cost effective and recognise
that supporting local media is very much in the public interest
(please refer to the urgent action points set out in our letter
dated 23rd March).
The impact of local authority publications has
been discussed at length recently and we must state that although
regional and local newspapers are not afraid of competition, there
are some instances where they simply cannot compete. For example,
local authorities produce newspapers for free distribution that
purport to be independent. In some cases they carry advertising
in competition with local papers. Please see our letter dated
13th January for more detail on this. In addition to this,
if you refer to our letter dated 4th February, you will note a
case where a local council used public money to offer a free advertising
service in Nottingham that would clearly undermine local newspapers.
On another note (please see letter dated 23rd March), the
Government could issue guidance to discourage local government
publications and websites that compete directly with and undermine
local papers. More detailed evidence will no doubt be provided
elsewhere.
Finally, we believe that if some newspapers
are to survive, legal controls over newspaper transfers and mergers
should be reviewed and relaxed.The whole of the media is becoming
increasingly converged. Organisations cannot compete fairly if
they are constrained by outdated regulation. Please refer to the
letter dated 13 January, which provides more detail on our thoughts
on this.
The correspondence and talks with the Secretary
of State largely focused on regional and local newspapers. We
are happy to support ideas that could lead to greater cooperation
between former print-only and former broadcast-only organisations
to sustain local and regional news. There is now no such thing
as a newspaper company or a broadcasting company. All now have
to find ways of serving their communities on a variety of platforms.
While broadcasters tend to be able to lead on
technology, newspapers have more reporters on the ground and are
therefore natural suppliers of content. That is where there is
huge scope for commercial partnerships where there would be mutual
benefits so long as the market is not distorted.
I hope this helps the committee's inquiry. The
society would of course be pleased to help further in any way
appropriate.
May 2009
31 Ev not printed. Back
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