Charity Must Start At Home For UK Publishers

UK publishing companies will need a helping hand from the Government if they are to be competitive on the world stage, says a new study commissioned for the Department Of Trade and Industry (DTI).

Publishing in the Knowledge Economy has been produced by Pira International for the DTI and UK Publishing Media (UKPM). The report reviews the state of the publishing industry as well as providing recommendations for its future prosperity.

Pira states that some 164,000 people now work in business and consumer publishing in this country and turnover for the entire sector in 2000 is estimated at $22bn. However, it is accepted that “although the products of publishing are all around us every day, as an industry it does not have the profile its size would justify.”

The report claims that UK companies will only achieve sustainable growth worldwide when they have the neccessary infrastructure to thrive in the domestic market. It also advocates a relaxation of existing rules to enable UK publishing houses to compete with multinational media players such as Bertelsmann, Vivendi and AOL-Time Warner.

“The UK rules make it easier for new entrants into the UK media market from abroad to establish a presence here than for UK companies to build a strong base,” says the report.

“If the government wants to encourage globally powerful UK-based publishing and media companies it must consider relaxing competition law in how it treats the UK publishing sector and re-examine its definition of the relevant publishing sector market.”

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