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Garnier Writes to Local Newspaper Editors on Current Plight of Regional and Local Press

27 March 2009

Dear Sir

Yesterday David Cameron and Jeremy Hunt, the Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, launched a campaign to save local newspapers.

As a Leicestershire and East Midlands MP and as a former newspaper lawyer I am only too well aware of the desperate plight that the local and regional newspaper industry is in. It has been particularly hard hit by the dramatic decline in advertising revenues and increasing competition from the internet. This has meant that more than 50 local newspapers across the country have now gone under and many journalists face redundancy.

The Conservatives have proposed two deregulatory measures that I believe will help. First, we want the Government to relax the merger regulations that prevent consolidation between papers. The Government is looking into this but it will not on its own be enough to save the industry. That is why we have also proposed relaxing the media ownership rules that prevent local newspapers from expanding into other media platforms such as local television and local radio. These two changes need to happen together and Jeremy Hunt will be talking to Ofcom about implementing them.

The combination of these two measures will allow newspaper groups to build a business model that is equipped for the digital era. I particularly want these measures to encourage the print media to explore the possibilities of investing in genuinely local TV, an obvious gap in our current broadcasting sector. Moving into these new areas will also help create jobs at a time of uncertainty for many journalists.

Jeremy Hunt and Ed Vaizey, the Shadow Minister, will be hosting a discussion seminar with local and regional newspaper groups in April. They will be sending invitations out soon but if you or a representative from your local paper would like to come please do tell them to get in touch.

Yours sincerely

Edward Garnier