Make better use of your local media |
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Public sector has a role to play in helping local newspapers
That was the message from Rob Wilson, speaking in a debate in the House of Commons on Thursday about local and regional news. The Reading East MP spoke about the recent announcement that around 100 jobs are to be cut from the Reading Evening post and that it will stop publishing daily. The news came as a shock to many – the Evening Post was only one of three local newspapers to have increased its circulation in the past year. Rob went on to explain how the public sector could help local newspapers, such as the Reading Evening Post and the Reading Chronicle, particularly with regard to advertising. He said, “Local newspapers give Councils, hospitals and the police, for example, an enormous amount of positive and free publicity, but those organisations have been switching their marketing and advertising spend to glossy in-house publications, recruitment websites and their own websites. “I think that Reading Borough Council's glossy magazine costs about £60,000 a year, from memory, and it is read by probably 100 people in the borough.” Rob has criticised the Council’s ‘Live’ magazine before, describing it as, “Council propaganda and of little use to taxpayers.” However, the point he makes is an important one – as he went on to explain in the debate: “Taxpayer-funded organisations have a duty to get best value, spending their money wisely. Why print their own magazine when two perfectly good local newspapers exist to communicate exactly the same information? It makes no economic sense at all. In these difficult times, a two-way partnership with the public sector needs to be encouraged and established in which editorial content is financed through recruitment and public notice advertising. It is much better value for money and keeps local newspapers going.” He also suggested that the central Government has a role to play in helping local newspapers survive – by allowing the Office of Fair Trading to look at relaxing monopoly restrictions and perhaps allowing local newspapers to merge operations in order to safeguard their futures. Rob argued that this could be implemented without compromising political balance and neutrality. |
