We call for local news forum, as further cuts are threatenedThe Oxford branch is inviting staff from all Oxfordshire’s news services to form a united front in defence of local news. The call comes in response to new threats that could exacerbate the damage already done by the loss of ITV’s Thames Valley news and the job losses at the Banbury Guardian and the Oxford Mail and Times. Peter Cann reports. This month sees the publication of the Office of Fair Trading report that could see the axe fall on thousands more journalist jobs in local newspapers.
The Local Media Alliance, which represents the leading seven regional newspaper publishers – Newsquest, Northcliffe Media, Trinity Mirror, Archant, Johnston Press, Guardian Media Group and DC Thomson – has been lobbying the Government over the plight of the industry and expects the OFT report to open the way to more mergers.
The LMA says the OFT accepts its argument that the existing rules should change. They say the rules on mergers take no account of the effects of the internet, for instance, on local classified advertising. Classified advertising has slumped by 40%.
The LMA is reported as saying that there will be “a huge amount of merger activity following the publication of the report”.
The LMA is chaired by Roger Parry, the ex-chairman of Johnston, who recently wrote an article in the FT entitled ‘Choice for local newspapers: evolve or die’, in which he quoted a forecast by media consultancy Enders that half the jobs in UK local papers, some 20,000 people, could go over the next five years.
He said: “Unfortunately, I agree with them unless radical steps are taken.” He argued that regional dailies “no longer match the desires of readers and advertisers”.
But one newspaper owner, Chris Bullivant, of the much smaller Observer Standard Group, has written to the OFT strongly opposing the relaxation of the rules on ownership. He accuses the big four – Newsquest, Trinity Mirror, Johnston Press and Northcliffe – of an “implicit threat that there will be hundreds of closures and thousands of job losses unless they are allowed to consolidate their position”.
To the people, for the people
A service to the people, for the people, is how the desired role of newspapers has been described. Yet more than 50 titles have gone in the past year. Jobs have gone at the Oxford Mail and Banbury Guardian. Elected representatives have woken up to the consequences of people being deprived of important information. The Oxford branch sent a sizable delegation to the lobby of Parliament over the issue recently. Councillors in South Oxfordshire have raised concerns about the declining coverage of the Herald series, while in Bury, Lancashire, councillors protested at Newsquest’s decision to shift the Bury Times's editorial team to Bolton. The Scottish First Minister, Alex Salmond, urged Newsquest to reconsider forcing its Glasgow staff to reapply for fewer jobs with worse conditions. The NUJ is in fact preparing legal action to claim thousands of pounds in compensation for members.
There have also been questions raised by Scottish MSPs about cutbacks at the Scotsman, owned by Johnston Press.
The skills and knowledge of journalists cannot be cast aside. For too long employers such as Newsquest have creamed off profits and not invested in the long-term future of journalism. The question is whether there is a model for local newspapers that is based on a public service ethic rather than the owners’ salami-slicing cuts that are denying people the right to know.
The OFT report is expected to be published around the same time as the first draft of the Digital Britain report on the future of communications, which is due on June 16. The report is examining different areas, including broadband development, public service broadcasting and digital radio. It comes at a time when ITN news, which provides national news for ITV and Channel 4, is reported to be in deep trouble over a mounting pension fund deficit, which has risen 75% in one year, from £22.8 million in 2007 to £39.9 million in 2008.
The past ten to fifteen years have seen an unhealthy concentration of ownership of our media into fewer and fewer hands. These powerful bodies now seem determined to consolidate their grip on our news media still further, using the current crisis, which they helped bring about, as a pretext.
Battle for market domination
The last thing we in Oxford wish to see is any of our remaining news services -- broadcast and press -- pitted against the others in a battle over market dominance. We want more local news services not fewer, and more investment in journalism not in takeovers and mergers.
The branch is therefore inviting staff from all local news services -- BBC, Oxford Mail&Times, Banbury Guardian, Fox FM, Jack and 107.9FM and more -- to come together in the second week of July to form a united front in defence of local news and to work for a solution that serves all our readers, viewers and listeners, and the community as a whole.
PC 2009-06-01
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