Examination of Witnesses (Questions 2360
- 2366)
WEDNESDAY 26 MARCH 2008
Mr David Montgomery
Q2360 Chairman:
They conform publicly to that but privately there might still
be a substantial bar to a British company wishing to take over
newspapers in another European country?
Mr Montgomery: I think if there is a choice
between bidders in certain countries, and I am not talking about
any of the countries where we are present but we do have experience
elsewhere, then the political influence might swing it, but it
would be behind the scenes.
Q2361 Chairman:
Is there anything one can do about that?
Mr Montgomery: Our message as newspaper publishers
has got to be that we are completely committed to protecting the
traditions of the individual newspapers. As I say, there was some
suspicion in Norway, but I think everybody now accepts that we
have strengthened the businesses there, and we have done so by
using very talented local management. Norway for instance is the
most advanced in terms of on-line revenues and the very distinguished
chief executive in Norway is not just a former editor-in-chief
but he is also a former on-line director, and the Norwegian tradition
of technology and creativity has been taken on a step further
by him, and I think it is recognised that this is a genuine Norwegian
business. It may be in terms of shareholders controlled by a London-based
company but the business is operated day-to-day by Norwegians.
Provided we can continue to demonstrate that, then I think we
should not get into difficulties.
Q2362 Lord Inglewood:
Talking about your `invasion of the Continent' you described your
company as not being a British company but being a globally funded
company, so I assume in the kind of capitalist world we are in
now you would argue that the idea of foreign ownership or national
ownership is really outdated anyway and you touched briefly on
television talking about things? Do you think that the way in
which the market in this country (particularly in television)
has been opened up to ownership from really anywhere, contrasting
with other parts of the world, has been to this country's advantage?
Mr Montgomery: Yes undoubtedly, and obviously
as someone who spends a lot of time in Europe, I think if we opened
the door further to European businesses, as opposed to American
businesses influencing our broadcast content, that would be a
great benefit to us. I am thinking particularly in terms of cultural
content that the Europeans excel at.
Q2363 Lord Inglewood:
It seems to be the heart of the case you have been making to us
that the key to successful media business is running with the
grain of the culture of the audience to which you are selling;
is that right?
Mr Montgomery: That is correct but of course
you might argue that if you expose audiences to new content, even
unfamiliar content, by opening the doors to new media products,
then you will also achieve a success.
Q2364 Lord Inglewood:
Do you see yourself as a kind of leader and educator or are you
a follower of public taste in the business context?
Mr Montgomery: We do not have a mission which
goes beyond sustaining these products and developing our content
model as I have described. Yes, I think giving people more choice,
not just in terms of content but also in the means by which they
receive that content, is important. Obviously I am driven by a
desire to transform a business that has been old-fashioned, an
industrially based business, for commercial reasons, but I also
have a personal belief in the human desire to learn new things
and to be exposed to new content, and that has been constantly
proved. I think that when you are dealing with highly educated
audiences and people with sophisticated tastes, which we are in
Europe, then that job has clearly got some future.
Q2365 Chairman:
As a very last word, is there anything you want to say about the
next ten years? How do you see the United Kingdom newspaper industry
and European newspaper industry developing, or is that too much
in the realms of futurology?
Mr Montgomery: Again, I do not think there is
a difference between the UK and European newspapers in terms of
the challenges that they face. My simple guiding light on this
is that we have to recognise, firstly, the richness and the quality
of the content that we have within the newspaper journalistic
resource and then to use that more creatively across many different
routes to market and to trade more effectively with our consumers
as opposed to simply selling them one copy of one newspaper a
day, so it is tremendously challenging and I have no doubt that
if we are spared and we can see what it is like in ten years'
time, newspapers will be a very, very different industry indeed.
Q2366 Chairman:
But you can foresee a future for them?
Mr Montgomery: For the printed word, absolutely
I do, yes. I think that a newspaper is an intimate experience
constructed by people with very detailed knowledge of their market
and their consumers. When you think about it, in any newsroom
of 100 journalists there is a network and a history extending
across wider society, and indeed they share hundreds of years
of experience. You cannot replicate that and the Internet will
not do that, not in the short term anyway, so, yes, I think provided
we understand where the value is, and that is in content, then
the newspaper business will survive. There will always be a desire
for the printed word but of course newspapers will have to adapt,
perhaps more than publishers imagine even today.
Chairman: Thank you very much. It has
been a fascinating session. We are particularly grateful for the
information and the light you have shone upon what is happening
in the rest of Europe in the newspaper industry there. We have
kept you rather longer than I suspect you thought, but that is
a tribute to the breadth of your knowledge and understanding.
Thank you very much.
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