Internet firms face levy for newspapers

Gordon Rayner and Christopher Williams GOOGLE and Facebook could be forced to help fund quality news publishers after Theresa May said the decline of print journalism was “dangerous for our democracy”.

The Prime Minister announced a wide-ranging review of the media industry to “preserve the future of high quality national and local newspapers in the UK” to counter the rise of so-called fake news.

The Government wants search engines and social media sites to pay news providers their “fair share” of the vast digital advertising revenues reaped by the likes of Google on the back of content they do not pay for – and Mrs May is prepared to legislate, if necessary.

The Government will appoint a panel of industry experts who will be given until the end of the year to come up with a sustainable business model for newspapers.

Mrs May said: “In recent years, especially in local journalism, we have seen falling circulations, a hollowing-out of local newsrooms and fears for the future sustainability of highquality journalism.

“Over 200 local papers have closed since 2005… this is dangerous for our democracy. When trusted and credible news sources decline, we can become vulnerable to news which is untrustworthy.”

Whitehall sources said “nothing is off the table”, including charging Google and other firms a levy to fund quality journalism.

However, it is reluctant to impose a “news tax” on social media sites as distributing the money would be hugely politically sensitive.