Burnham: Local journalism "crucial"
Sustaining local journalism is a “crucial” part of the Government's Digital Britain report due out in late June, culture secretary Andy Burnham has said.
Communications minister Stephen Carter, in the report, will outline how the UK media will develop and Mr Burnham believes regional media is vital democracy.
Digital Britain report due in JuneMr Burnham said at a Broadcasting Press Guild briefing: "What we're very clear about is that we need news at regional, sub-regional and local level beyond the BBC ."
He said the public need to be empowered to hold MP's to account citing the controversy over MP's expenses.
"Old ways of paying for that are changing. But such is the importance of this in a democracy that a way has to be found to provide it and sustain it."
"The crucial thing for me is citizens need content produced to high journalistic standards. The internet in my view will not replace that."
It is unclear what steps the government could take to support local journalism but Programme Leader for Magazine Journalism at Sunderland University Alex Lockwood says it could be "tricky."
"I'd want the money to go into new jobs and reporter jobs, not manager and director jobs – to go into new entrepreneurship rather than old business models. It would be a really tricky thing to do."
A scheme in France giving young people free subscriptions to their chosen newspaper has been touted as a possible course of action to help the newspaper industry.
Links