Regional newspapers were on the receiving end of some lavish praise from MPs during a Commons debate on the future of the local press this week.

Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland Labour MP Ashok Kumar had secured the debate in order to press the government over special measures to help the industry in the face of the economic downturn.

Replying to the debate, Trade Minister Iain Pearson reiterated earlier government pledges to address the issue in the forthcoming Digital Britain report due out on Monday.

He said the government had not ruled out some form of subsidy for local news-gathering. A similar scheme has operated in Norway since 1969, according to Dr Kumar.

But other MPs took the opportunity of the one and a half hour Westminster Hall debate to hand out praise to their local papers.

North West Leicestershire’s David Taylor described the Leicester Mercury as “excellent” although he added that its website “could do with development.”

Conservative Ed Vaizey, who represents Wantage, congratulated the Newsquest-owned Oxford Mail and its sister titles for providing a “superb local service, led by their brilliant editor Simon O’Neill.”

And Liberal Democrat Lorely Burt added: “I would like to sling in a word of praise for the Express and Star and the Birmingham Mail, because they have fantastic editions that are very local and extremely well-produced.”

Tory Daniel Kawczynski of Shrewsbury and Atcham praised the Shropshire Star and in particular its veteran lobby correspondent, John Hipwood, whom he said was “always in the Members’ Lobby probing and scrutinising.”

“It is important to have somebody in the House of Commons who scrutinises what we do and reports back to our constituents in an impartial way,” he said.

But former Labour minister and City of York MP Hugh Bayley lamented the fact that his local daily, The Press, no longer employs a lobby journalist.

“I am deeply envious of the situation in Shropshire where such a post has been maintained. One only has to look at the Press Gallery to see how lean the regional media’s presence is at Parliament,” he said.

The full debate can be read on the official record of parliamentary business, Hansard.

Comments

Observer (22/01/2009 07:06:57)
My god! If only the newspapers were so well liked by their owners!

Mr_Osato (22/01/2009 08:14:57)
Superb service = always willing to print my press releases due to having no staff to find real news, never holds me to account for anything for the same reason