Select committee: Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee
Recommendation 6
Seventh Report - Sustainability of local journalism
Published 25 Jan 2023
Paragraph 62
Addressed to Department for Culture, Media and Sport
Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee Sustainability of local journalism All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
Access to more philanthropic funding could help ensure the sustainability of the local news sector. Many, though not all, local news publishers would benefit from charitable status, but this is currently very difficult for news organisations to achieve. We recommend that the Government, in its response to us, indicates what options it might consider to make it easier for local news organisations to achieve charitable status. We also recommend that the Government assess ways to encourage more philanthropic donations to local news publishers for whom charitable status would not be appropriate.
From: Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, Seventh Report - Sustainability of local journalism (HC 153), paragraph 62, 25 January 2023
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 17 May 2023 (deadline 9 May 2023).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government welcomes the Committee's report and agrees with its overall assessment of journalism's role and the sector's financial challenges, while setting out varied positions on individual recommendations.
- On a long-term public interest news fund, it "continue[s] to explore options for additional fiscal measures", while "mindful of the current financial climate". Any further funding would build on the Future News Fund model.
- On statutory notices, it does "not intend to conduct a review" of rules and practices, citing the risk that intervention could harm an "already fragile industry". It is monitoring the sector's Public Notice Portal.
- On an audit of public money for local news, it says it "would therefore not be appropriate" to analyse expenditure with a view to redistribution. It describes a Cabinet Office pilot with Nub News to test its value as an advertising channel after the local elections.
- On fair remuneration for smaller publishers, it points to the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill, under which the DMU "could" set conduct requirements, including on "fair and reasonable payment terms". These would vary case by case.