Scottish Affairs Committee publishes 'Crisis in the Scottish Press' results
Following its inquiry into the Crisis in the Scottish Press Industry, The Scottish Affairs Committee, which represents Scotland’s 120 local newspapers, has published results which show that newspapers continue to be ‘highly valued’ by readers and th
MPs also have also cautioned the Scottish Government not to undermine the viability of the industry through overbearing competition from public sector advertising.
The committee also highlighted the creation of the recent jobs portal by the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) and the Scottish Government as an example of ‘overbearing competition’ for the Scottish newspaper industry which has reduced further newspaper advertising revenue with the loss of public sector recruitment advertising funds.
The Committee also stated a concern at suggestions of a move to remove Public Notices from local newspapers, contributing further to the economic crisis facing publishers.
Simon Fairclough, director at SNPA, commented: "Over recent months, we've put our case face-to-face to COSLA, the First Minister, the Minister for Economy Energy & Tourism and to other MSPs. We've also written to every MSP, urging them to recognise the many contributions which local papers make to community life in Scotland and the damage which government-funded initiatives like the jobs portal will inevitably inflict on the local press, which remains heavily reliant on advertising income.
"Many individual MSPs have lent support to parliamentary motions which endorse our arguments, but the Scottish Government chooses to avoid the issue by falling back on the need to cut spending. It is surely ironic that a Westminster-based committee has brought these issues to the fore, while Scotland's ministers seem content to see their indigenous newspaper sector suffer."
Michael Johnston, president of Scottish Newspaper Association's, continued by expressing his disappointment over certain aspects of the report: "In its report, the Committee failed to highlight the market distortion caused by the BBC's approach to delivering local news content. It also ignored the equally serious potential distortions proposed by the Scottish Broadcast Commission for a state-funded digital channel and Digital Britain's proposal for supporting local news on television.
"On this second point, the Scottish regional and local press would be extremely disappointed if politicians used the proposal to top-slice the BBC licence fee to provide public support for STV, allowing it to divert a significant part of the cash to fund its digital ambitions in direct competition with the newspaper industry, which has never sought a penny of public subsidy. Such a move would be extremely damaging to local newspapers, which play such an important part in Scotland's democracy."