Proposals to prevent council newspapers being published more than four times a year have been announced by the government in a bid to prevent them damaging regional papers.
Communities Secretary Eric Pickles has unveiled a series of measures to crack down on Town Hall papers, which he said had ‘left many local newspapers looking over the abyss’.
He has announced the launch of a consultation on the issue to stop councils publishing newspapers in direct competition to the local press – after a pledge was made by the coalition government to impose tougher rules.
Under the plans, he emphasised all council publicity should be clearly branded and issued solely to explain services, not to influence opinion.
Mr Pickles said: “An independent local press is an essential part of our open democracy helping local people scrutinise and hold elected councillors to account.
“The rules around council publicity have been too weak for too long allowing public money to be spent on wasteful town hall papers that have left many local newspapers looking over the abyss.
“The proposals I am publishing today will close off these inappropriate practices and encourage councils to focus taxpayers’ money on where it should be spent – protecting frontline services.”
Councils will also be prevented from spending taxpayers’ money on lobbying government through private sector lobbyists or through publicity stalls at party conferences.
The revised Code of Recommended Practice on Local Authority Publicity, which is being consulted on, says council newspapers should only include material directly related to their services.
It also sets out seven central principles for council publicity, saying it should be lawful, cost effective, objective, even handed and appropriate, with regard to equality and diversity and issued with care during periods of heightened sensitivity.
Georgina Harvey, managing director at Trinity Mirror Regionals, said: “We welcome Eric Pickles’ proposed rule changes as we have long been campaigning against council publications that masquerade as independent newspapers and which threaten the survival of local democracy, freedom of speech and the future of the local press.
“We will give our full support to the consultation process to ensure these rule changes are adopted.”
The Newspaper Society called for the coalition government to introduce the measures as a matter of urgency.
Sign up for our free daily email bulletin
Follow HTFP on Twitter
Got a story? Email the Editor at
Fair enough I suppose, but if it really is about saving tax payers money and not propping up an ailing newspaper business then perhaps public notices will be allowed to be displayed on websites only (thought not). I notice these new rules have been drawn up in consultation with newspapers, so there’s no real surprises. What will be a surprise is if it has any effect whatsoever on newspaper sales and viability. Unfortunately years of under-investment, low pay and skimming off profits for shareholders at the expense of a quality product has left local newspapers in a bed of their own making.
Report this comment
Dear, oh dear. Adjusting the deck chairs on the Titanic. Fancy looking at the real issues – poor, poor management (and dwindling readership levels to boot).
Report this comment
I think this is great news. I know people commenting on here usually go for the down-in-the-dumps-everything-is-going-to-hell viewpoint, but as a positive step forward, this is good. It shows that someone out there values the local press for what it does for its communities. Everyone knows something needed to be done about council newspapers, and now it is.
Report this comment
very true Hannah – some of the regularly published council papers have been set up because the local authorities – or often self important councillors and Chief execs – didn’t like what the local press was saying about them and it is a way of hitting back at an editor that won’t toe the party line. The quarterly ones are entirely appropriate.
Report this comment
I think that most local authorities that publish newspapers did so to get round the fact they were paying £100,000s to local papers for public notices. While desperate ad managers discounted and discounted (completing devaluing the product) for private businesses, they carried on using rate card for local authorities because they knew they had to publicise notices. It makes good economic sense for the local council to put these adverts into their own publication. They get the added bonus of editorial control (within strict rules – ie no propoganda). Let’s not forget that council’s have a legal obligation to communicate with residents anyway. Economies of scale mean it’s cheaper to produce more frequesny newspapers than quaterly glossy magazines. With this legisalation the Government is effectively saying that taxpayers will have to help keep private newspapers in business by giving them £100,000s of subsidies through public notices again. It’s not going to help improve the quality of local newspapers. They are not suddenly going to start reporting on council meetings again. What a load of self-serving bull.
Report this comment
The fault lies with the large newspaper groups running local newspapers. They have cuts staffs in West London. No longer cover courts let alone the council.Also reporters do not seem to have local knowledge. I was trained up North on the excellent Westmorland Gazette, where every flower show was covered winners and all!
Report this comment