The editor of The Scotsman today accused politicians of “doing their best to damage” the country’s newspaper industry.

It followed a proposal from the Scottish Government that local authorities would no longer be obliged to publish public notices in print editions of newspapers.

Ministers announced that they are consulting on a change in the law to allow notices such as planning applications or road closures to be advertised on the internet.

It would allow councils to use a new public information notices portal, therefore saving local authorities millions of pounds, although it has been stressed they could still use other mediums if they so wished.

Scotsman editor John McLellan said the move would be “laughable it if wasn’t so serious”.

Finance Secretary John Swinney MSP said: “Public bodies must provide the best value for money.

“Councils have collectively identified a need to cut spending on public notices which they are legally required to advertise and pay for, costing around £6m a year.

“The new portal will provide more cost effective public information and a means to improve communication and dialogue with the public.

“While it will be up to councils to decide the best mix of advertising to use in their area, I would expect to see immediate savings.”

John McLellan said: “SNP politicians wring their hands about the future of the Scottish press and then they do their best to damage Scotland’s entire local newspaper industry.

“And they call themselves democrats who believe in accountability. It would be laughable if it wasn’t so serious.”

Scotsman publications MD Michael Johnston added: “It is unnecessary and not in the public interest, given the lack of public trust in state-funded information sites, Scotland’s poor broadband penetration and, equally importantly, the poor take-up of broadband by the most vulnerable and excluded sections of Scottish society.”

Comments

Prionmonkey (18/12/2009 15:19:18)
What use is this “portal” if you don’t have the internet?
It is a deliberate ploy to keep some sections of the community in the dark.
The majority of the poor, the pensioners, those of us who have a life and don’t spend all our time twittering…
Typical politicians, you can’t trust any of them.

Rob (18/12/2009 17:31:55)
Where I live more people have the internet than buy the local paper – in the uk it’s about 70 percent of the population with internet. Considerably more than buy local papers, unfortunately.

Chris Youett (21/12/2009 10:49:01)
To blame our elected representatives for what is clearly a policy decision from Sir Humphrey only serves to encourage the believe that it is editors and publishers who live on the Planet Zog.
If the media had followed Dan Mason’s advice earlier this year of keeping in close touch with the nation’s town halls, I doubt whether we would be having this problem.
Although I cover IT and business, I believe that public notices should only be put in the printed edition because the majority of the UK’s citizens still do not have internet access.