Tag: news

Read all about it – Pickles weighs in to support local newspapers

Local newspapers received support from an unlikely source yesterday – no less a formidable figure than Westminster heavyweight Eric Pickles! Read on …

Communities Secretary Eric Pickles is throwing his support behind Local Newspaper Week with a new law that will enshrine free press and help independent local newspapers thrive.

In a letter to the Newspaper Society, praising them for their campaign to highlight the contribution of the local newspaper industry, Mr Pickles says that when “local news flourishes, local democracy succeeds” and so he will be stopping councils from publishing regular “Pravda-style” free-sheets which, threaten local newspapers and waste taxpayers’ money printing up “town hall propaganda”.

Free press vital

Mr Pickles said he believes the 1,100 local newspapers across the country are important for preserving a healthy democracy by holding local authorities and politicians to account through informing readers of council activities. Local papers are read by over 30 million people every week and are viewed as one of the most trustworthy forms of media.

Publicity law necessary

Legislation proposed in the Local Audit and Accountability Bill will bring a new code of recommended practice on local authority publicity onto a statutory, rather than voluntary, footing limiting publication to 4 times a year, obliging councils to be cost effective and objective in any publicity material they publish.

Some councils have deliberately disregarded the current code and continue to publish free papers in direct competition to local newspapers. The new legislation will prevent this waste of tax payers’ money and misuse of council resources.

Mr Pickles (pictured below) said: “The spread of the town hall ‘Pravda’ is manifestly unfair because they offer cut price local news, but mixed in with council propaganda that pours taxpayers money down the drain. These free-sheets are often confused for the real thing by residents. I want our news to be told and sold under the masthead of an independent and free press, not through a knock-off Rolex imitation.”

Fair enough, this is English legislation, but

‘when local news flourishes, local democracy succeeds’

… I really couldn’t have put it better myself!

Eric-Pickles-007[1]

 

STV to operate new local Edinburgh TV channel

Edinburgh

STV has won the new local TV licences for both Edinburgh and Glasgow, the first of the new generation of local broadcasting services to be awarded in Scotland by media regulator Ofcom. The separate licences for Glasgow and Edinburgh will see new services for the two cities broadcast free on terrestrial television.

STV, which holds the Channel 3 licence for North and Central Scotland, will run the services in partnership with universities, providing peak time content including local news and current affairs programming as well as magazine shows.

Bobby Hain, STV Director of Channels, said: “STV is delighted to have been awarded the Local TV licences for Glasgow and Edinburgh. The two services, GTV and ETV, will be delivered in partnership with Glasgow Caledonian University and Edinburgh Napier University. GTV and ETV will provide an innovative television service to the communities they serve complementing STV’s existing broadcast, online and mobile services. These new ventures will also provide media students with opportunities to work and learn in a live broadcast environment.”

Professor Dame Joan Stringer, principal and vice chancellor at Edinburgh Napier University, added: “This presents a unique opportunity not only for our students but for the wider community of Edinburgh. The university has a track record of producing top journalism and media graduates who benefit from fantastic facilities and industry-experienced staff. I am sure the contribution of our students will be invaluable to the community programming planned for ETV.”

Ofcom will award up to 21 local TV licences, including Belfast, Brighton, Bristol, Cardiff, Grimsby, Norwich, Nottingham, Sheffield and Southampton. Although not part of the current bidding process, there are another 44 locations where a local television licence is “technically possible”, including Aberdeen, Dundee, Inverness and Ayr.

Following the announcement that local TV licences in Scotland have been awarded to STV, Cabinet Secretary for Culture and External Affairs Fiona Hyslop said: “I would like to congratulate STV on being awarded the local TV licences for Edinburgh and Glasgow. However, these services – which focus on the two largest centres of population that are already well served by media – should not have been the priority for broadcasting in Scotland.

“The priority should be delivering for viewers in the South of Scotland – who are arguably most in need of local television as they currently receive local news on Channel 3 which is broadcast from Gateshead – and addressing the need for choice in public service broadcasting across Scotland, such as through a publicly-funded Scottish Digital Network.

“The television licence fee has been frozen and top sliced by the UK Government to pay for local television and the Welsh channel S4C, at the expense of audiences across Scotland. This damaging settlement has led to job cuts at BBC Scotland, with up to 120 posts going by 2017 – and these cuts are beginning to bite.
“I am committed to protecting public service broadcasting. Under independence, Scotland would have full responsibility for broadcasting, which provides opportunities to better meet the needs of audiences here while reflecting Scottish life, culture and interests.”