Informed 11 Spotlight


Ideas sought to save our press


Newspaper review must be open to the journalist’s voice, says Frances Rafferty


Te arguments for having an inquiry in to the press were well rehearsed by the NUJ during last year’s Local News Maters Week. Branches and chapels held events in their communities publicising the crisis in the press and lobbied their MPs to support their local newspapers. New models of newspaper ownership were showcased. As well as calling for an inquiry, the NUJ said newspapers should be made community assets to prevent newspaper titles closing overnight and to give potential new owners the time to put together a bid for a paper. Te union proposed research into ways independent public-interest journalism could be subsidised. Tat is why the union has welcomed


the government’s review into the sustainability of the press. Not long aſter the announcement, Trinity Mirror (TM) said it was cuting 49 jobs (with more expected) as part of its development of a digital-only strategy. Tese cuts followed the annual pre- Christmas cull at Newsquest (NQ), adding to the under- resourced, badly-paid newsrooms across the UK and Ireland. Te newspaper


owners believe the Googles and Facebooks must be brought into line for taking content without paying and sucking up advertising revenue. Tey will be looking


for the government to wield a stick and support them. But the NUJ will also be calling them to account for their role in bleeding titles dry to pay shareholders and executives way beyond the normal rewards of blue-chip companies. Te big three (TM, NQ and Johnston Press) made profits well in excess of £150m in 2016. Media commentator Roy Greenslade had a jaundiced take on the review. He said: “Teresa May, in coming up with this new ‘review’, has surely consigned Leveson Two to the back burner.” He was right – Culture Secretary Mat Hancock has said it will not go ahead. Te NUJ is not expressing cynicism.


Yet. Tat is why we will be puting pressure on ministers to make sure its panel overseeing the review includes the voice of journalists and not just vested interests. Te review will publish research


examining the current state of the local and national press markets. Pay- walls, partial pay walls, subscription models, crowd-funding, co-operatives, philanthropic foundations, classic paid- for-by-advertising-and-cover- price are all in the mix as the newspaper sector seeks a new business model. Tere are the beginnings of a creative response to the crisis, but as circulations plummet Teresa May must not let this opportunity be squandered.


How to fund a free press?


Tere are a number of ways the government already subsidises the press, such as through an exemption on VAT and paid-for statutory notices. Te Welsh government gave Newsquest £340,000 from its Skills Growth Fund, to set up a subbing hub in Newport; most of it had to be repaid when the hub was closed. Te government has now allocated £200,000 over two years to fund Welsh hyperlocal start-ups. Te BBC’s Local Democracy Reporter scheme has top-sliced £8m a year from the licence-fee pot to pay for 150-plus reporters to work in local newspapers and the production of shared BBC videos and data. Of these, the vast majority will be working for the big three, Johnston Press, Newsquest and Trinity Mirror, the very same companies making journalists redundant. George Osborne’s highly lucrative London Standard will get one. Te NUJ has grave concerns about


how the scheme will work and this will be expressed in a motion to this year’s Delegate Meeting. Te union does believe it is possible


for public-interest journalism with strings atached, such as covering democratic institutions such as councils and health authorities, to be paid for by the public purse in much the way many arts organisations receive funding via an arms-length organisation from government. Tere are many international examples of governments aiding the dissemination of news and subsidising the press; this an area the review should further research. htps://www.gov.uk/ government/news/new-review- launched-of-press-sustainability-in- the-uk


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