MPs call for review of statutory notice guidance amid warning that local papers face continued decline
Members of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee have recommended expanding the BBC's Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) and called for a review of the statutory notices rules amid a warning that local news offerings will continue to decline without Government support.
In a report, Sustainability of local journalism, MPs on the cross-party committee – who highlighted the role of local journalism in providing oversight and scrutiny of local government – also called for greater financial support for local news publishers and suggested that the Government make it easier for local news organisations to gain charitable status.
The committee urged the Government to protect the LDRS, which funds local reporting in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, under forthcoming Charter negotiations, and encouraged the BBC to explore ways to widen the scope of the service.
But it also warned that a BBC plan to direct more resources to its online local news services "may risk harming commercial news publishers, whose sustainability is already precarious".
On this point, the committee heard evidence from Jonathan Heawood, Chief Executive of the Public Interest News Foundation, who reported that median turnovers in the emerging independent sector are between £30,000 and £40,000 per year, which are not sustainable in the long term.
The committee highlighted statutory notices in local newspapers as an "important means of keeping the public informed" and a vital revenue stream. "But the criteria used by some councils to determine where notices are published appear to be outdated," the report added.
The committee heard from one local title, The Bedford Independent, which noted that its local authority, Bedford Borough Council, recommends that public notices and license applications are only placed in print titles. The Bedford Independent claimed that this meant "very few people actually see them, yet local businesses and taxpayers are forced to pay high costs set by the one printed title in the area".
MPs recommended that the Government review existing rules and practices for placing statutory notices in local newspapers and whether local councils need guidance on how to measure the reach and audience levels of news publications in a digital age.
According to the report, the reduction of local news provision "can lead to measurable negative impacts for communities", including declining turnout at elections and increasing levels of polarisation and misinformation.
Data highlighted by the committee show that in 2019, 63% of Local Authority District (LAD) areas in Great Britain were not covered by a single daily local paper, up from 45% in 2007.
In addition, reporting from local courts has declined significantly as well, with one study from 2019 showing that less than 1% of all Magistrate Court cases in England and Wales were reported on in the 401 local newspapers that were surveyed.
Adam Carey
