‘Tech giants have a quality news duty’

TECH giants such as Google and Facebook should have a “news quality obligation” to improve trust in the content they host, a Governmentcommissioned review says.

In a wide-ranging report, the Cairncross Review into the future of the UK news industry called for ministers to look at new tax breaks for “public interest” journalism, with direct funding for local public interest news.

It recommended the creation of a new institute of public interest news, along the lines of the Arts Council, to channel public and private finance into those parts of the industry deemed most worthy of support.

Culture Secretary Jeremy Wright welcomed the review’s findings, saying that while some could be acted on immediately, others would require “further careful consideration” with i nterested parties on the way forward.

The review, chaired by former senior journalist and academic Dame Frances Cairncross, was commissioned by Theresa May to investigate the sustainability of quality journalism in the face of declining newspaper sales and falling revenues.

It concluded that after evidence of “market failure” in the supply of public interest news, government intervention may be the only solution.

The review noted that investigative journalism and “democracy reporting” – such as local courts and councils – were the areas under the greatest threat, as they rarely paid for themselves.

It said that the power of online platforms like Google and Facebook captured the majority of online advertising revenues, making it hard for traditional publishers, such as newspapers, to compete effectively.

In order to create a “level playing field”, it called for the creation of new codes of conduct, overseen by a regulator, to “re-balance” the relationship.