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'Now is too late for local media', SoE head tells new culture secretary

Posted: 12/06/09 By: Laura Oliver

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The UK government needs to offer short-term support to the local media industry before tackling long-standing regulatory and ownership issues, Bob Satchwell, the executive director of the Society of Editors, has said.

The industry body has written to new culture secretary Ben Bradshaw this week, urging him to address simple, immediate issues, which the society put to his predecessor Andy Burnham several months ago, Satchwell told Journalism.co.uk.

"What the problem needs above all is some innovative, quick thinking on behalf of government," he said.

"We need Bradshaw to realise how urgent this is; of course don't forget that there are long-term issues that need to be dealt with too. Whether it's local consortia, whether it is relationships between the BBC and the licence fee payer, all of these issues will take months if not years to resolve.

"The difficulty is that while we're waiting to create new models to deal with new media landscape the existing reality may be so seriously damaged that it may be too late to apply those complex solutions."

Proposals that could aid local media as part of the forthcoming Digital Britain report are welcome, but may not happen quickly enough to help the industry, said Satchwell.

"The report is going to come up with proposals, but I don't see anything happening quickly. There may well be need for changes in legislation and the implications of any funding arrangements will need to be haggled over for months (…) Something needs to be done in a timescale that is faster than the Digital Britain report - now is too late," he said.

Commenting on the National Union of Journalists' (NUJ) economic stimulus plan for local media, which the union submitted to the culture minister this week, Satchwell said he did not see tax breaks, for example for readers who buy local newspapers or to subsidise local media with 'public value', as viable in the short-term.

In the letter, Satchwell urged Bradshaw to look at simple changes for the industry that can be introduced without legislation, such as more financial support for training.

"Public money is already earmarked for training initiatives. The government already funds training and should be looking to direct it where it will do most good in the short-term," he explained.

"If there was money going directly to a local newspaper it might well be that they would continue to hire trainees. That means that you create employment and you also ensure that training is continuing, which is always a problem in recessions. But, most important of all, it could help to maintain reporters on the ground."

Support for the cost of newsgathering is a key issue that needs to be addressed in local media's current plight, he added.

"Comment is free or at least it is relatively inexpensive; it's expensive to gather news at a local level and extremely expensive at a national level," said Satchwell.

"The key to survival of local news is to have reporters on the ground. Whatever the structures are, whatever the sharing of studio facilities are, it's no use unless you get the news on the ground."

However, Satchwell did not dismiss the more long-term initiatives suggested by the NUJ and Digital Britain: "This is such an important issue every possibility has got to be looked at and discussed.

"Whatever the technology or whatever the funding arrangements are, there's one simple key point that somebody has got to address - the issues of gathering the facts - that's where the expense comes in.

"Clearly the ownership arrangements and the relaxation of ownership arrangements have to be dealt with, because they're based on a different media age. We've now got a converged media and the regulations and the law should catch up with it.

"But whatever solutions come up, they've got to help media organisations - either existing or still to be born - to do that basic newsgathering. Without the facts in the first place the rest is just a matter of pie in the sky semantics."

Journalism.co.uk has gathered some reactions to the NUJ's proposals to Ben Bradshaw on the Journalism.co.uk Editor's Blog. Any more thoughts? Comment below or email laura at journalism.co.uk .

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