21/01/2009 - Bid to save struggling local press
Ministers are calling for the Government to help save the local newspaper industry, which is struggling against online competition and economic problems.
Several backbenchers from the three main parties favoured increased Government spend on advertising, although there were also calls for increased involvement in training and the use of digital switchover money to give a boost to the struggling titles.
Business minister Ian Pearson said that financial support for the industry was being "considered" as part of the Digital Britain report being undertaken by broadcasting minister Lord Carter of Barnes. However, he said that primary responsibility over the current circumstances stayed with the media organisations themselves.
Labour's Ashok Kumar told a Westminster Hall debate on the subject that local newspapers were "under threat as never before". He said that many titles would go under unless "drastic action" was taken after the recession, declining advertising revenues, a drop in readership and competition from the internet had exacerbated the situation.
The solutions Mr Kumar proposed included a plan for the Government to help boost advertising revenues by requiring Job Centres to post vacancies in the local press, and using newspapers as way to inform people about new benefits and other schemes.
Copyright © Press Association 2009
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