Coronavirus: MLA urges Stormont action to help local media through crisis

Recent weeks have seen significant newspaper circulation drops across the board as readers are encouraged to stay at home, while advertising revenue has simultaneously fallen sharply due to what is effectively the temporary cessation of much economic activity.

However, unlike other industries which were in a strong position prior to the crisis, most newspapers across much of the western world were already battling falling print sales and declining revenues.

In Northern Ireland several local newspapers, including the venerable Co Down Spectator, have already ceased publication for the duration of the lockdown.

SDLP MLA Matthew O’Toole, a former Downing Street civil servant, yesterday set out a proposal to assist the local journalism, arguing that the pandemic has highlighted “the importance of local and regional media in providing accurate, professionally sourced information”.

The South Belfast MLA said: “With many local titles already furloughing staff or making them redundant, and at least one paper halting publication altogether, there is a high risk that this crisis will wipe out a significant chunk of our local news media.

“This will have grave implications for not just for owners and their staff, but for the resilience of local communities themselves – and the ability of local citizens to hold those in power to account.”

Mr O’Toole set out a five-point plan:

• A one-year rates holiday for local newspapers, subject to a binding promise to reinvest half of savings in either new online products or recruiting new journalists;

• An Executive commitment to prioritise advertising with local media;

• A new two-year £1 million annual NI Journalism Fund to train and locally employ young local democracy journalists for the first two years of their careers nad allow local papers to apply for grants to invest in new digital products;

• Convene Royal Mail, newsagents and big retailers to make newspaper delivery easy and routine.

• The Executive to lobby Westminster and Dublin for a proper digital information levy on companies like Google and Facebook – which continue to profit disproportionately from local journalism – to be redirected towards funding local journalism.

Seamus Dooley, assistant general secretary of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ), welcomed the intervention. He said that the pandemic was having a “devastating” impact on the media landscape and the SDLP proposals “provide a framework for a rescue plan”.

He added: “The need for a diversity of sources for news and information in Northern Ireland must be recognised by the Executive and by the Northern Ireland Assembly and I hope we can achieve cross-party consensus on a plan to protect daily and weekly newspapers.

“The NUJ also recognises the importance of protecting public service and commercial broadcasting in Northern Ireland and we will resist any attempt to undermine BBC investment in Northern Ireland.

“The vital role of public interest journalism has been demonstrated during the Covid crisis and there is a clear need to protect sources of fact based, verifiable news.”

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