Public Information Notices
The Scottish Government has been consulting on proposals which could see the duty on local authorities to publish public information notices in the local press removed in favour of online notices.
I believe these proposals could be extremely damaging both to local newspapers and to the wider democratic process. I was therefore delighted that the Parliament passed a motion calling on the Scottish Government to withdraw the proposals.
Prior to the debate in Parliament I attended a briefing session attended by Peter Murray, the President of the National Union of Journalists, and Donald Martin, the President of the UK Society of Editors. The briefing was an opportunity for MSPs to hear from people within the newspaper industry about how these proposals would impact on newspapers across Scotland.
While expansion of the internet has opened up new possibilities for communicating information it is important not to forget that not everyone has access to a computer, or access to broadband, let alone the knowledge of how to find information online.
For many people, the proposal to remove council notices from the local press would remove access to vital information on things like road closures, changes to bin collections, applications for pub licences and local planning decisions.
That is not to say that online notices are not a good idea. By all means, councils should be encouraged to place information online, but this must be in addition to, rather than instead of, printed media.
At present, local authorities have a legal duty to publish this information as it is in the public interest to do so. However, it is wholly appropriate that this information should be published in a format that is available to everyone - the local press. The problem with relying exclusively on the internet is that a notice could well be displayed but without something to alert the individual to its existence it would not be viewed.
Newspapers, and particularly local titles, are a vital part of how people get their news. The closest equivalent of a local, paid for newspaper in Edinburgh, the Evening News, outsells its national sister publication the Scotsman twice over, shifting over 32,000 copies a day in Edinburgh alone.
Then there is the Herald and Post, a free title from the same stable as the Evening News and the Scotsman, over 105,000 copies of which is circulated weekly.
Local titles are not just an excellent source of information and news, they are a training ground for young journalists, learning their trade and studying their area. They are vital to the health and vibrancy of Scotland’s newspaper industry as a whole. Whether or not they agree with the government of the day is not relevant.
We have already lost valuable sources of local news in the Gorgie Dalry area as the withdrawal of funding for the Gazette by the newly elected council coalition in 2007 has deprived thousands of local news, events and volunteering opportunities. This was part of a package of closures and I am certainly convinced that well meaning attempts to advertise events through new websites simply don’t reach anything like as many people. And certainly not older people or people on lower incomes.
Newspapers do not run themselves, they rely heavily on advertising revenues to cover their costs. The revenue which public notices provide is a relatively stable source of income in a market were there are very few certainties. Removing this income would therefore have a tangible effect on newspapers resulting in job losses and, in the long run, a decline in quality of news coverage.
I sincerely hope that the Scottish Government will respect the will of the Parliament and the newspaper industry to ensure that these damaging proposals are dropped at the earliest opportunity.