Politicians rally to back newspapers’ future amid business tax change plea
Politicians from across the spectrum have backed Scottish newspapers as they battle to report the Covid-19 story.
Online figures for newspaper websites such as The Scotsman are soaring, but the lockdown has had a significant impact on physical newspaper sales.
Advertisers have also used technology to block their adverts appearing next to Covid-19 stories online, making it extremely hard for publishers to earn revenue.
The Scottish Newspaper Society (SNS) – the industry’s umbrella lobbying organisation – is warning the crisis could cost publishers £50 million and may force papers to close.
SNS director John Mclellan has written to Holyrood finance secretary Kate Forbes asking for support for the industry. Requests include a business rates holiday for publishers, a significant transfer of advertising and marketing spending from social media to Scottish news publishing, and a £25m emergency fund.
The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) has separately called for an immediate windfall tax on tech companies to help support the journalism industry through the crisis, with the money provided on the condition that large publishers rethink how the industry operates.
Thousands of staff at big publishers have already been furloughed, while the advertising market has collapsed.
As a result, the NUJ is calling for a 6 per cent tax on the revenues of tech companies such as Google and Facebook, with the proceeds used to rescue and reimagine the journalism industry.
Speaking as yesterday’s Scottish Press Awards winners were announced, Mr Mclellan said: “The awards show how important news publishing is to Scotland, locally or nationally; recognising and celebrating the good, exposing the bad, recording achievement for posterity, reflecting life in our communities, linking people and businesses.”
Mr Mclellan added: “Without the steady source of trusted information our journalists provide, little of this would be possible.”