Local newspapers are vital for democracy
There needs to be a more balanced relationship between the tech giants and traditional media
For centuries, our free press has been at the heart of our democracy, covering everything from the local village green to the highest seats of power. Last year, Dame Frances Cairncross was commissioned to lead an independent review into the sustainability of high-quality journalism in the UK.
It couldn’t have come at a more crucial time. In her report, published today, Dame Frances paints a vivid picture of the threat to high-quality journalism in this country. The growth of the online world has brought about rapid change for the press. Most people who read news now do so online, including 91 per cent of 18 to 24-year-olds. And many read news from a greater variety of sources than they did 10 years ago. But it’s harder than ever to make money from journalism.
The traditional model, where journalism is paid for by the cover price and adverts, has declined rapidly. Print circulation of daily national papers fell from 11.5 million in 2008 to 5.8 million in 2018. There are 6,000 fewer full-time journalists than there were 11 years ago. And this disruption has fuelled the rise of disinformation, whether peddled for commercial gain as clickbait or by hostile states. We know people find it hard or don’t even try to verify whether what they read online is fact-checked. Almost half of news consumers in the UK believe that the quality of news available has declined in the last five years.
It is absolutely right that the market is competitive. But news is about more than business. Local papers face a particularly uncertain future, with a quarter of all regional and local newspapers closing in the past decade. Without local news there is a danger that we will not have the facts we need to fulfil our roles as citizens. Research has shown that people in areas with no local paper are less engaged with local elections and have less trust in local institutions.
In 2016, the Local Democracy Reporting Service was set up by the BBC and the News Media Association, and it is an innovative example of what action can be taken. The £8 million a year scheme funds 150 local democracy reporters who are embedded within regional and local papers across the UK. Their objective is simple: to go out and report on the decisions being made at council meetings, court proceedings and hospital trust boards. Hold these institutions to account and shine a light on issues that are affecting people in their communities.
News of the machinations of local government may not always be as exciting as the latest celebrity gossip, but it is a vital underpinning of a properly functioning society and democracy. I met some of these reporters last week, and so far they have produced 50,000 stories between them, all stories that may not otherwise have been heard. One of the review’s recommendations is for an expansion of the Local Democracy Reporting Service and a doubling of the number of journalists it supports.
But everyone needs to play their part in ensuring the press has a sustainable future. That includes commercial publishers continuing to invest in local council, court and investigative reporting.
Online platforms have clearly benefited from controlling access to large parts of the online advertising market – the review has found UK internet advertising expenditure rose from £3.5 billion to £11.5 billion in a decade, with more than half of it going to Google and Facebook. The platforms benefit from news publishers’ content, which attracts high numbers of consumers to their sites. There needs to be a more balanced relationship between the platforms and those who generate news content. And in our battle against disinformation, online news must be accountable and subject to the same professional and ethical standards as print. The public need to be given tools to assess the quality of news they find on the internet.
I believe the press can overcome its challenges and that there is a role for responsible government in supporting public-interest journalism. We will consider the recommendations of Dame Frances’s review carefully. What is at stake is the basis of our public discourse and one of the foundation stones of our democracy.