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state that a new Institute for Public News is needed, and tax relief should be given to those engaged in public interest journalism. Culture Secretary, Jeremy Wright, has promised to discuss this proposal with Treasury colleagues and to examine with the Charity Commission whether public interest investigative journalism could benefit from charitable status. Tat drastic measures are needed was made clear in March with publication of Te Media Reform Coalition’s Who Owns Te UK Media report, which suggests that the disruption caused by the digital duopoly has done nothing to improve plurality of UK media ownership. It found that more than half of national print daily sales are of Te Sun or Daily Mail, and that the publishers of those titles have 60 per cent of the weekly print market and 49.85 per cent of national newspaper revenues. Te MRC reports that 83 per cent of the national newspaper market is held by three publishers (Rupert Murdoch’s News UK, the Daily Mail group, and Reach, which owns the Mirror and Express titles). Tese publishers, along with the


Guardian and Telegraph stables, have 80 per cent of online market share. Digital native sites, such as Te Canary, Westmonster and Novara Media, are tiny in comparison. “It is clear that smaller and newer UK-based digital journalism sites… find it difficult to compete for digital audiences with legacy news outlets,” the report concludes. When it comes to local news, five companies own 80 per cent of the 1,068 titles, with the remainder shared among 57 small publishers. Media plurality “is geting worse”, says the MRC, which conducted a similar study in 2015. Concentration of ownership is at “endemic levels”, it suggests. Days aſter Cairncross was published, BBC Director-General, Tony Hall, announced the formation of a charitable Local Democracy Foundation (LDF) to “bring about a sea change in local public interest journalism” through a fund to


What the NUJ said When the review was announced the NUJ was critical that there was no voice for journalists on its advisory body; the union believed it had a right to a seat at the table. Michelle Stanistreet was invited to meet Dame Frances and gave her a picture of what the local newspaper sector means for those working in it: no investment in journalism, poor pay and never-ending cuts. Michelle said the market was broken and, if funding was made available for public-interest journalism, giving it to the established news groups would do nothing to improve sustainable, quality journalism. Te union sent a comprehensive writen submission to


support reporting of courts and councils. Te scheme is a response to criticisms that the BBC’s ambitions – like those of Facebook and Google – have distorted the online market, particularly for local news media. Cairncross suggests the BBC “should do more to share its technical and digital expertise” with local publishers. In yet another review, Ofcom is now “considering the role” of the BBC in the news market.


Te LDF builds on an existing BBC local democracy reporters’ scheme which costs the broadcaster £8m a year and pays for 144 journalists nationwide. Te scheme has been criticised because nearly all the reporters are placed with three major publishers: Reach, Gannet UK/Newsquest and JPI Media. Natalie Fenton, professor of media and communications at Goldsmiths, University of London and Media Research Centre chair, said: “What you have to do is insist that money goes into not-for-profit journalism, so it’s not going into shareholders’ pockets at major organisations.” In a speech in March, Reach CEO and former HMV boss, Simon Fox, compared


the inquiry. Te NUJ’s initial response to Dame Frances’s report was that she had let the tech giants off the hook. Tey had for too long had a free ride by raiding content supplied by the press without contributing to the industry. It was time to pay up. It is now the job of the DCMS to take on the report’s recommendations and Michelle met officials to discuss the next steps. She said the report had been wrong to make the BBC the villain and to expect licence fee payers to fund the failings of the commercial sector. If an Institute for Public Interest


News was set up, any funding must be linked to public-interest journalism and increasing the diversity of the industry by class and ethnicity.


the BBC’s impact on online news to the damage caused to the music industry by digital piracy. But Cairncross panelist Polly Curtis insists the BBC is not the villain. “Tere’s not been enough innovation in local news and that’s part of why they are in such dire straits,” she says. “I think it’s absolutely the role of the public broadcaster to fill those gaps. It’s not about subsidising news companies, but ensuring we have a healthy democracy.” Te Welsh government is also trying to plug holes in public interest journalism and has created a new £200,000 funding pot to be shared by hyperlocal news services. Te clarion call from Cairncross has prompted pledges of action in Westminster but whether they will be seen through is far from certain. Aſter years of decline, the UK news industry may be celebrating a watershed moment – if only its timing hadn’t coincided with Brexit. “Sadly, there currently isn’t a focus


on anything other than one thing in government,” reflects one of the Cairncross team.


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