The National Union of Journalists has told an inquiry into media ownership and the news the "rise in vast media PLCs" has contributed to a changes in the news agenda.

Giving evidence to an inquiry by the House of Lords Communications Committee, the union said that over the past 50 years the news agenda in UK newspapers had become increasingly entertainment led.

And it said the change was driven partly by social tastes but also from the "sweeping away of almost all family ownership of local newspapers and the rise in vast media PLCs".

The NUJ made its submission after consultating with its members as well as detailing experiences of NUJ officials.

In an 11-page document it said: "The big PLCs see local newspapers only as another business existing as a vehicle for profit making for shareholders.

"This has transformed the traditional trade-off between profits and the provision of service and need to engender a sense of community in the areas they circulate in.

"Crucially, this new ethos has allowed company chiefs to take the decision to make deep cuts in editorial budgets – especially cuts in staff.

"Editors and senior editorial staff have therefore had to become increasingly selective in how they deploy their resources and make active decisions on what issues are covered and which are not.

"For regional newspapers, this has meant a widespread cutting back on formal reporting of time consuming news opportunities such as Parliament...

"Court copy has been scaled right back with news desks preferring to send a reporter out only to specific cases already known rather than have general coverage from the courts."

The NUJ also told the inquiry that in general it was very clear that newspaper circulation was in decline, but figures should be viewed with caution as some analysis was showing that more people were reading each copy of a paper.

And on media ownership, it told the inquiry: "The public interest will not be served by allowing further concentration of ownership. It is therefore important to tighten rules on concentration and cross ownership within and without the media industries.

"In addition, there is a strong case for putting the regulation of press standards on an appropriate statutory footing given the failure of the PCC to maintain adequately standards of accuracy and fairness in the press.

"This needs to be accompanied by giving autonomy to editors, allowing them, in law, to pursue editorial policies which they, not their proprietor, considers appropriate."

The Newspaper Society has also submitted evidence to the inquiry, which is examining how and why have the agendas of news providers and the way people access the news has changed, as well as the actual process of news gathering.

It is also considering the impact of the concentration of media ownership on the balance and diversity of opinion seen in the news and asking if ownership has an impact on editorial priorities and on news values such as fairness, accuracy and impartiality.

In its submission the Newspaper Society outlined the evolution of regional newspaper companies into multimedia businesses, and said the industry had an "unswerving commitment" to the provision of local news.

It said publishers were launching new publications, including free daily papers and city centre and commuter editions as well as editions in various languages, websites, blogs, podcasts and SMS services.

And it said the change allowed people "not just to access the editorial and advertising content that they want how, where and when they want it but to get directly involved with their newspaper".

On the issue of impact of the concentration of media ownership, the NS told the inquiry that the regional newspaper industry upheld the principle of editorial independence, and proprietors did not and could not dictate the editorial content of their newspaper titles.

It said: "Regional media companies' newspaper and cross-media ownership transactions have been subjected to rigorous scrutiny which has detected no cause for concern.

"Newspapers and their online versions are not of course subject to the same content controls as the broadcast news media under the Communications Act 2003 and Ofcom or the BBC Charter.

"The Newspaper Society has consistently opposed any proposals for special statutory or co-regulatory controls over newspaper and internet content. As the media channels proliferate and citizen’s access to diverse sources of information grows ever wider, there is no justification for tighter controls over print and online media.

"Regional and local media must remain free of state imposed constraints."