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Minister pledges to help transition of local reporting ‘from print to digital’

Jeremy WrightThe culture secretary has pledged to support the transition of local reporting “from print to digital” in a message to local newspaper readers across the country.

A message from Jeremy Wright MP has appeared in papers across the land following the publication of the Cairncross Review into the future of news last week.

In the aftermath of the review’s publication, Mr Wright accepted a recommendation by Dame Frances Cairncross that an investigation be conducted into whether the market is operating fairly and whether news publishers are being properly rewarded for the content they provide.

In today’s message, he pledged that his department would now further consider other recommendations made by Dame Frances.

Among them was a proposal that public interest journalism be overseen in the long-term by a publicly funded Institute for Public Interest News rather than by commercial publishers.

Mr Wright did not address that proposal specifically, but instead touched upon a call by Dame Frances to expand the Local Democracy Reporting Service, run between the industry and the BBC.

He wrote: “The review proposes how to put our media on a stronger and more sustainable footing. One of the recommendations is for a doubling of the journalists funded through the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

“This excellent £8 million a year scheme funds 150 reporters embedded within regional and local papers. Around 850 local media titles are now signed up. I recently met some of their reporters who so far have produced 50,000 stories between them, all which otherwise wouldn’t have been heard. They’re holding local power to account and shining a light on the important issues in local communities.

“We mustn’t find in ten years’ time that trustworthy news sources have disappeared with our democracy damaged as a result. So we will carefully consider the Review’s recommendations, looking at ways to preserve and nurture quality local reporting and to support the transition of the industry from print to digital. We’ve already announced that we will conduct a review on how online advertising is regulated in the UK.

“I believe wholeheartedly that journalism should be accessible to as many people as possible and that the press industry can overcome its challenges. But everyone needs to play their part in ensuring the press has a sustainable future. And that includes local people supporting their local paper too.”