February 10, 2020

On publication of the Government’s response to the Cairncross Review into the sustainability of high-quality journalism in the UK, the News Media Association said that “Swift and significant market intervention must happen now otherwise the future of high-quality local journalism may be placed in jeopardy”.

According to the NMA, short-term funding initiatives to support local public interest news should be undertaken now to provide publishers with the “breathing space” to develop viable business models online as the next three years will be critical for journalism.

NMA chairman Henry Faure Walker said that the news media industry welcomed the launch of the Cairncross Review and the majority of its recommendations aimed at sustaining high quality journalism. Further, the industry is “encouraged” by the importance placed on this by the Government and the progress made in some areas.

However, Mr Walker said, that one year after Cairncross reported, “we are disappointed at the lack of clear financial commitment by the Government to implement the Cairncross recommendations. The Future News Fund overseen by Nesta appears to be bypassing established local news publishers altogether, despite the fact that they account for the vast majority of local journalistic output across the UK”.

Mr Walker continued: “It is important that new initiatives work with (not against) and leverage the existing publishing infrastructure and deep expertise that already exists in news rooms across the UK. We hope measures will be announced in the Budget and the forthcoming spending review which will confirm Government’s support for the industry. We will be working with the Treasury to deliver on this.”

Mr Walker also said that the next three years are “critical for journalism”, particularly at a local and regional level. He called for “Meaningful, short-term funding initiatives to support local public interest news”, such as those already launched in Canada, Denmark and Australia, should be accelerated here in the UK “to give local publishers the breathing space they need to develop viable business models online”.

Mr Walker concluded: “Without swift and significant market intervention now, the flow of independent, high quality local news and information which is essential for the functioning of our democracy can no longer be guaranteed.” To read the NMA response in full, click here.