Lack of support puts news industry in crisis

Scotland could be the only European country to not offer a coronavirus support package to its independent news publishers.

Finance Secretary Kate Forbes has confirmed that nondomestic rates relief for publishing businesses will come to an end on March 31.

Newspaper operators had been subject to rate relief as part of legislation which came into effect in May.

The Scottish Government did not support the introduction of rates relief and said it would not do so in the current Budget unless opposition parties made doing so a stipulation of it passing through parliament.

The Scottish media contributes around £1.2 billion into the country’s economy, with around 64% coming directly from newspapers and publishing, supporting thousands of jobs.

Director of the Scottish Newspaper Society John McLellan said removing the support would create an “immediate crisis” for the industry.

He said: “This is in sharp contrast with the Northern Ireland Government, which has just extended rates relief for its news publishers

“Further, the Scottish Government has not renewed its commitment to invest in news publishing to communicate important public information about its pandemic response and its vaccine roll-out, at a time when private sector advertising in Scotland has collapsed because of lockdown.

“If these decisions are not reconsidered, it could leave Scotland as one of the few, if not the only, democratic European nations to effectively abandon independent news publishing.”