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Could newspaper industry benefit from tax breaks for training?

Corporate tax relief to fund training could provide long-term investment for the newspaper industry, a leading journalism academic has said.

Francois Nel, founding director of the Journalism Leaders Programme at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLAN), is considering launching an online petition to ask the government for tax relief of one per cent of payroll per annum to provide funds for training.

This training would be in addition to and not a replacement for schemes, such as Skillset, which target very particular skills at a generally low level, Nel told Journalism.co.uk

"We know that the industry needs training and re-training at all levels - but it's not simply about helping people do things right, it's also helping people understand what are the right things to do," he said, adding that this is required at a strategic and management level as well.

Training is 'the very first thing' that is cut by employers during a recession, but is crucial to moving out of a downturn, said Nel.

"Everyone knows that knowledge is the driver for growth. Cost savings help in the short-term, but knowledge allows you to grow. You don't grow through cuts, you grow through knowledge development and doing new things," he explained.

Potential state intervention in the newspaper industry has been criticised as a bail out, but a tax break would enable long-term investment, according to Nel.

"Everybody's afraid around direct government hand outs, but we get corporate tax relief for all sorts of things - this is no different from that. It's really about recognising investment," he said.

"Nobody can look at the headlines and not realise we need both. It's not just an economic thing, there's a great need for structural changes and re-skilling of the industry if we're going to survive going forward."

Journalism.co.uk is hoping to work with Francois on this proposal, but would like your feedback, either in the comments below, via email or as part of our Seesmic discussion:

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