Historically, the UK has always benefited from a strong, well-established and diverse press sector but despite many UK newspapers having a solid online presence, falling print circulations and changes to advertising trends have caused the industry to experience declining revenues.
In an effort to preserve the future of high quality national and local newspapers in the UK, the Prime Minister has launched a review, which will investigate the overall health of the news media.
As DCMS Secretary of State Matt Hancock explained, the review is intended to be far reaching: “This review will look at the sustainability of the national, regional and local press, how content creators are appropriately rewarded for their online creations, and ensure that the UK has a vibrant, independent and plural free press as one of the cornerstones of our public debate.”
[advert position=”left”]
A key focus of the review will be the local and regional press, who face an uncertain future, with the latest figures showing that around two thirds of local authority areas don’t have a daily local newspaper.
It is an issue that was highlighted back in April 2017 by the NUJ, at the union’s Local News Matters week of action. At the time the union called for a government-led enquiry and although coming nearly a year later, NUJ general secretary, Michelle Stanistreet welcomed the announcement calling for ‘real investment’:
“The media industry is in crisis today, more than 300 local newspapers have been closed in the past decade and more than half of all parliamentary constituencies do not have a dedicated daily local newspaper.
“Our local communities deserve better. Hollowed-out shells of titles are no substitute for properly-resourced titles, with real investment in the provision of news and information that communities are crying out for”.
A panel of experts will be appointed in the coming months to lead the review and a final report is expected later this year.
