MPs have urged the government to stop the “destruction” of local newspapers after regional publishers announced fresh job cuts at their titles.
An Early Day Motion has been tabled by Helen Goodman, Labour MP for Bishop Auckland, who has called for a “short, sharp” inquiry to produce a coherent strategy for defending local journalism.
In the motion, Mrs Goodman states that year-on-year cuts in jobs and closure of newspaper titles have resulted in the loss of 5,000 editorial roles in local and regional press, and the closure of more than 150 newspapers since March 2011.
She cited an announcement by Johnston Press earlier this month, which told staff to expect cuts to be made in “a number of areas” across its business. The National Union of Journalists has claimed up to 100 jobs could be lost at the company as a result.
The motion states: “This House is concerned by the announcement that Johnston Press, which publishes titles including the Yorkshire Post, Yorkshire Evening Post, Lancashire Evening Post, The Scotsman and Derry Journal, is to cull almost 100 editorial posts; notes that this announcement comes just days after Newsquest announced that up to 25 journalist posts are to be axed across its Scottish titles; further notes that year-on-year cuts in jobs and closure of newspaper titles have resulted in the loss of 5,000 editorial roles in local and regional press, and the closure of more than 150 newspapers since March 2011; believes that local and regional news coverage is an essential feature of civic life and a healthy democracy; and therefore calls for active government intervention to prevent the destruction of these vital community assets and to establish a short, sharp inquiry to produce a coherent strategy for defending local journalism.”
So far, it has been signed by six other MPs – Peter Bottomley (Conservative), Mark Durkan (SDLP), Kelvin Hopkins (Labour), Caroline Lucas (Green), Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru) and Christopher Stephens (SNP).
A Johnston Press spokeswoman said: “MPs will be well aware that the regional media industry continues to operate in challenging times.
“The effects of the economic downturn and changes in how readers consume local news impacts on our revenues.
“Changes such as council’s obligations to place public notices in local papers – previously a major source of revenue – have added to this pressure and, as a result, difficult decisions have to be made.”
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This is not an issue for government to intervene in,its a business matter which has been brought about by the greed,incompetence and bad decision making by the media companies themselves.
Tabling a motion”..to prevent the destruction of these vital community assets..” is closing the door after the horse has bolted,there needs to be a serious investigation into those responsible for the destruction thats already taken place,then the real culprits might be called to acount for their actions that have brought about the situation all find themselves in today.
Lack of investment,arrogance and complacency in ignoring alternate media threats,sacrficing quality staff for cheap alternatives and poor service by the commercial teams have resulted in this huge downturn in business for the regionals(not just JP)
In no other walk of life would the government step in to help a private sector which has reaped the benefits of its short term greed for so long by bailing them out.
It is purely the way these businesses have been run or mismanaged that needs investigation,not the industry itself.
The actions mentioned above have resulted in job losses and cuts further down the line and to those who are the least to blame.
I would suggest government turn their attentions to understanding just why the industry is on its knees and who ultimately is to blame.
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Yes, thank you very much. Just ten years too late.
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Saw that intriguing film ‘The Big Short’ last night, based on the greed of U.S. Bankers who precipitated The Crash. The same mentality of greed and incompetence has precipitated The Crash of local newspapers. The only difference is that the Government won’t bail out the villains of the Fourth Estate.
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Would the government step in and help my ailing business if I had run it into the ground, managed it badly, been arrogant in the face of growing competition ,reaped the rewards myself and dumped on the staff?
No I didn’t think so either
They’ve made their beds,let them lie on them now and not ask others to bail them out using our money!
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It’s good that MPs are belatedly acknowledging the problems in the industry but they really should be told who is to blame. (That might just lessen their enthusiasm to help, though!)
Those who run, own and control the industry, esp provincial papers, have brought the current state of affairs upon themselves without a doubt.
They have chased 30%-plus margins by cost-cutting, sacking news and commercial staff and consolidating printing plants. Now they are reaping the whirlwind they have sown. Readers know rubbish when they see it.
Few people in the industry have worked in an era of circulation rises and even fewer seem to know how to invest long-term.
Perhaps it’s time me to put newspapers in local private ownership and put the big PLCs out of their misery.
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Simply propping up the big boys of the regional press is not the answer. They have had their day and failed.
That said the regional press is a genuine asset to the country… At least when it is properly done.
So, instead of trying to save that which is already lost, a workable alternative should be found.
For that I would suggest that the BBC’s regional coverage be cut back. The money saved used towards funding a number of start-ups, perhaps on a two year basis to create a series of independent news websites. They could be reviewed to ensure that genuine standards of local news be maintained otherwise the contract would be lost (an end to the click bait agenda).
After 10 years they should aim to be self-funding.
Any that reach self-funding status before that time would have their subsidy withdrawn or reduced.
From all perspectives it would be a good thing. An end to large quasi-monopolies of the large local newspaper groups, an encouragement of entrepreneurship, better local coverage and, in the long run it is hoped, a reduced licence fee.
Perhaps the BBC’s regional coverage could be spun off to help with tech etc.
Just an idea… Happy for it to be shot down!
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@braganza has summed it up perfectly and is 100% spot on
Rather than the local MPs trying to hold back the rushing tide of a failed industry ,better use of their time and a guaranteed vote winner would be to, as @B says look fully into the real reasons why the U.K. Regional press has fallen so far and in such a short period of time to the sorry and irrecoverable state it finds itself in now and the reasons and people behind its collapse.
Investigate why so many hard working and conscientious people have been thrown onto the scrap heap whilst those who have made a catalogue of ill advised and short sighted decisions remain in positions of power to enjoy big bonuses and fat cat salaries.
That’s the real story and those people on whose watch the regional press has been allowes to disintegrate should be exposed and held to account.
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Nice thought, but no chance. Trying to stop the big boys carving up local newspapers like a pack of jackals picking over a near-dead carcass would be like trying to bring down an elephant with a pea-shooter. They’ll only let up when there’s nothing more to strip off the bones.
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Good thought ,nice dream, but no chance Percy Hoskins
Reducing the service by the BBC is not the answer, undoing something that works is pointless,nor is looking 10 years ahead as in a quarter of that time the regional press will look nothing like it does now and is unlikely to exist in any recognisable form.
The publications that are thriving and taking market share from the regionals are ones that focus on a specific lifestyle sector or demographic, after all the damage that’s been done there is no future for local daily NEWS papers,local papers are not used to access local news anymore, that’s all online and is another longer issue. With regards to this matter @braganza has it to a tee
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Shares now 35.25p or 0.7p before they fooled nobody but themselves by multiplying by 50. Well done suits.
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My message to the local MPs who are likely as not only interested in currying favour with their self important local editors is to forget trying to save the industry, it’s beyond redemption and is a waste of your time,instead get into your own local regional press groups and undetstand the reason these busibessss and the local newspaper industry is in free fall.
It’s not circumstances or the economy. it’s the pure greed and incompetence of the ones at the top and they way they’ve chased unreal profits at the cost of quality and long term investment.
Investigate them and their policies over the last 3 years and only then will you realise you’re nailing your colours to the wrong mast.
The real story’s about how the industry has been allowed to decline while those in charge feather their own nests and all at the cost of working people’s careers and livelihoods.
Know your facts Helen Goodman and the background to the situation and your focus of attention will soon shine on the real wrongdoers here
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This woman jumps on any opportunity possible to cozy up to journalists. It is completely disingenuous and I guess we should expect little more from a professional politician.
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It’s interesting how few HTFP commenters place any blame on the consumers.
The internet has made the audience greedy and entitled. It’s not just newspapers which have suffered; it’s the music industry, the movie industry. Everybody wants to consume media all day, which is difficult and expensive to produce – but nobody wants to pay for it.
You see people all over social media, whinging about ‘rubbish’ journalism – whether it’s Corbyn supporters moaning about his treatment by the red-tops or just people moaning about the volume of trivial celebrity gossip published at the expensive of proper news. But when you look at the outlets who do publish the sort of worthy news that these keyboard warriors claim they want, nobody is buying the products. They’re not prepared to put their money where their mouth is.
It’s a ludicrous hypocrisy; they want quality content, but they want it for free – just like they want to illegally torrent their music and their movies for free. Where else could they get away with this mentality? They wouldn’t walk into a bakery and demand the biggest, best cake in the shop for free. They wouldn’t march into a Savile Row tailors and demand a free, custom-made suit. But where media is concerned, the internet has turned even supposed left-wing, pro-union, anti-capitalist Labour supporters into a bunch of walking ids who somehow expect organisations with hundreds/thousands of staff to produce world-class products for no recompense.
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Not so the LNH
The world has changed and how people access news in 2016 is not through a dull local news paper, and of course people will not pay for something if they can get it free. If the regionals identified their USPs and worked to those strengths and not try to compete with any and every other media going they’d have a chance, however the lust for £££££ and instant profit coupled with the complacency, arrogance and greed shown by those in charge have left them high and dry in a modern world that they are ill prepared to succeed in, they’ve expected people to buy their papers without thinking, now they’re facing a huge back wash of those who are weighing up whether the ad filled papers are worth the, increasingly more expensive, price they’re expected to pay a dollar clearly they’ve decided to vote with their feet as is evidenced by the last round of ABCs.
If local newspapers were filled with ‘quality’ local news, views and comment by writers actually able and with time to write about hyper local matters and not stuffed full of churn,warmed up stories from the previous day or PR supplied puff then people would continue to buy local papers.
You also can’t sweep the music industry and the film industry into the same dustpan, this issue is around saving ‘local’ newspapers, not multi national industries.
The situation is of their own doing and asking people to pay more for less in this day and age is a non starter.
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Stupidity, greed and ruthlessness are horrid, futile combination.
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@LNH
how can you possibly blame the consumer?
Unless something is of perceived value then no one will buy it.
If the product ( any product ) is well made, serves a purpose and is considered value for money people will pay.
In the case of the regional press, too many warning signs were ignored, too many editors felt that the public would continue to buy the papers out of habit irrespective of a dumbing down in quality content, and too many top floor Charlie’s treated both readers and advertisers with contempt by offering less for more,both in terms of audience for the advertiser and quality for the reader, yet here they are bleating on about tough economies and vast overheads necessitating yet more cover price rises.
They’re not charities so expecting people and the government to prop them up now is the real hypocrisy here.
‘beds’ and ‘lay on’it come to mind
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Just who is briefing these MPs ? The editors and media owners themselves I can only assume.
If they took the trouble to investigate ALL the facts, not just the sob story they’ve had trotted out to them,then maybe they’d be bright enough to understand the real reasons why companies such as JP are failing.
Years of mismanagement,big bonus payments ( not to the editorial staff I add) and opting for the cheap option have put them there, not the local economy.
Many businesses are struggling but through genuine and honourable reasons not ones of greed and arrogance.
Not our problem,not interested, sort it out yourselves
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@Cornishman – Why did the quality decrease in the first place? Because of budget cuts. What caused the budget cuts? Falling revenue.
People don’t want to pay for anything anymore.
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As I said before – look at the products which do serve up the kind of content people claim they want. They’re still losing money like a sieve loses water. The public may claim they’re prepared to pay for quality, but the facts demonstrate that they aren’t. They want the world and they want it for nothing.
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“If local newspapers were filled with ‘quality’ local news, views and comment by writers actually able and with time to write about hyper local matters and not stuffed full of churn, warmed up stories from the previous day or PR supplied puff then people would continue to buy local papers.”
Sadly I have come to the same conclusion as TheLNH. What stories get the most clicks on the web? People are not interested in quality journalism…maybe they never were. It’s just that the web has exposed the reality of what people want.
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