The next item of business is a members’ business debate on motion S4M-15408, in the name of Graeme Dey, on the importance of local newspapers. The debate will be concluded without any question being put. I would be grateful if members who wish to speak in the debate could please press their request-to-speak button now.
Motion debated,
That the Parliament celebrates the importance of local newspapers to communities across Scotland; believes that a well-resourced, diverse, free press is vital to democracy in Scotland and provides a type of coverage not available via other platforms; notes with concern the trading update made by Johnston Press on 19 January 2016 in which it states “a number of brands have been identified that are not part of its long-term future, as they fall outside its selected markets, do not match the audience focus, or do not offer the levels of digital growth sought by the Group. A process has been initiated to explore the sale of these assets to identified parties”; understands that the Press Gazette has published a Johnston Press classification of its titles, with its newspapers falling into four categories, uber, primary, core and sub-core, with Scottish titles including the East Fife Mail, The Galloway Gazette, The Glasgow South and Eastwood Extra, the Midlothian Advertiser, the Arbroath Herald, the Buchan Observer, the Carrick Gazette, the Deeside Piper, The Ellon Times, the Hawick News, the Linlithgow Gazette, the Mearns Leader, the Selkirk Weekend Advertiser, The Buteman and Angus County Press Weekly, which serves Brechin, Forfar and Montrose, having been marked as being sub-core; notes that the Press Gazette has stated that Johnston Press has shed half of its journalists since 2009, and expresses concern at the decline in fortunes of traditional, local papers and the impact that this is having on journalistic employment.
12:32
I thank colleagues whose support for the motion has enabled us to have this debate today. The fact that 38 MSPs from across the political spectrum have supported it does, I suggest, endorse the motion’s title, “The Importance of Local Newspapers”. That expression of concern over the threat to the future existence or, at the very least, the future direction of a sizeable number of Scottish weekly titles stretching from east Fife to Ellon, Carrick to Carnoustie and Galloway to Glenrothes reflects the value that we all place on the history and traditions of the papers in question.
The Arbroath Herald in my constituency can trace its roots back to 1838. Just last week, with the passing of Arthur Binnie, we were reminded of the contribution that those papers have made to journalism not just in Scotland and the United Kingdom, but far wider. Arthur Binnie’s main claim to fame may have been that he was the man who got the scoop on the discovery of the stone of destiny at Arbroath abbey following its liberation from Westminster abbey in 1951, but in a distinguished career he went on to be instrumental in the founding in Wales of a training centre for journalists from third-world countries.
Local newspapers have done much to nurture journalistic talent down the years, so we permit their demise at our peril. Although circulation may be declining across the Johnston Press titles that are highlighted in the motion—declining, in part, as a consequence of cuts—the communities that are served by those papers still care about them, as is evidenced by events in Lanark. The Carluke Gazette and the Lanark Gazette used to have offices in both Carluke and Lanark. The former was closed last year, followed more recently by the closure of the office in Lanark. I understand that the depleted ranks of journalists are having to work from home. A local petition has been raised to get the Lanark decision reversed.
In signing the motion and debating the issue today, we are speaking for our constituents and sending a message to Johnston Press that we want our papers to survive, and that we will work with it to try to achieve that. Of course, that requires the company to be willing to engage and not to become defensive following coverage of its infamous labelling of a number of titles in the stable as “sub-core”, which is giving rise to concerns being expressed about what exactly that means for the future of those papers. We need clarity on just how many titles are affected and we need detailed information on reported plans to split the Scottish titles into four geographical groupings. We also want to understand why, while that doubt has been cast over the future of those titles and a reported 20 redundancies are being sought from the weeklies portfolio, the group is in advanced talks about buying i newspaper for a reputed £24 million.
Having aired the issue at First Minister’s questions on 22 January, I wrote to Johnston Press seeking a meeting to discuss the future of the titles that are located in my constituency. In doing so, I raised the status of Carnoustie’s Guide & Gazette and the Kirriemuir Herald because, although neither title had been listed as being “sub-core”, they are produced in conjunction with the Arbroath Herald and Forfar Dispatch using shared staff. That approach has been met with deafening silence, but I can tell Parliament that both are indeed on the sub-core list, which means that it now amounts to at least 23 Scottish titles. I say “at least 23” because, if the company forgot about the Guide & Gazette and Kirriemuir Herald or viewed them simply as editions of the named titles, who is to say that other Scots papers are not looked upon as sub-core, whatever that means and whatever implications it might have? Indeed, I understand that a similar situation may exist not far from Parliament: the Linlithgow Journal and Gazette is on the list, but no reference is made to the Queensferry Gazette or Bo’ness Journal, which come from the same stable.
If we, looking in from the outside, have concerns about where this is headed, how must the journalists and other staff feel? It says everything about where the employees of the company are at that, on the back of highlighting the situation at First Minister’s question time, I was contacted by two sets of staff who thanked me for what they saw as a welcome supportive gesture. One long-serving editorial staff member told me that he and his colleagues feared that his newspaper might be allowed to wither to the point at which the doors would be closed. One former editor of a number of titles within the group revealed to me that such had been the level of cost cutting that members of the public had wandered into the office just to check whether it was still open. The ending of window cleaning to save a bit of cash had left the outside of the building looking as if had been closed.
Up my way, we have seen the full gamut of scaling back. Photographers have been done away with and reporters have had taking pictures added to the demands that are made on them, along with feeding the web presence and videoing interviews. The unique identities of titles that reflected the communities that they served have been diminished by increasing components of the papers becoming common in design and content, which leaves a reduced proportion of editions carrying genuinely local content—the lifeblood of local papers.
I will sympathise with Johnston Press for a second. Regardless of the wisdom of some of the acquisition decisions that it has taken—most notably the Scotsman Publications group—times are tough for print media. Johnston Press is not alone in making the kind of cutbacks that it has made. Papers are trapped in a vicious circle in which circulation and advertising revenues drop, so they cut costs, which leads to a diminished product, so circulation and advertising revenue fall further—and on it goes.
That problem is industry wide and is not confined to the Johnston Press group, but the focus of the debate is on a stable of papers that, in my experience, continue to try and practise local journalism in the right way in the face of shrinking staff numbers, increasing demands being made of them and rock-bottom morale. The thing is, I like the kind of stuff that we get in such papers. I want to read about the good that is going on in our communities rather than the unrelenting negativity that seems to characterise much of the daily press. I am with the community organisations that look forward to seeing a pic or wee story about them appear in print.
Moreover, in the midst of all the challenges that they face, such papers continue to give youngsters a start and to train them properly. If there is a threat to the continuing existence of those titles, how diminished will the opportunities be for youngsters to forge a career in journalism? That matters. If the print media are to have a future and those papers are to survive in some form, we need young journalists coming through, especially when titles such as those that operate under the Angus County Press umbrella train their staff to do the job in the traditional way—as an old hack, I say that it is the right way. We must do whatever is possible to protect that.
My purpose in securing the debate was not to give Johnston Press a kicking, but to highlight the importance of local newspapers—a subject about which I have spoken previously in the chamber. The fact that the company has—it is claimed—shed around 50 per cent of the editorial posts that it had seven years ago makes it little different to many others, as, it is sad to say, does the reputed prospect of further job losses. The debate is about the big picture: the future of local papers that matter to their communities.
12:39
I take the opportunity to thank Graeme Dey for bringing this important debate to Parliament. My colleague is quite right to highlight in his motion the importance of local newspapers to our communities.
It is concerning that publishers including Johnston Press are looking at the very existence of some of their titles, because we cannot stress enough how important local and independent newspapers are to our communities and to the local political process. Those papers report on community council meetings and find out and scrutinise what is happening in the local authority.
Paisley, too, has a vibrant local newspaper that has shadowed the expansion of our town and the difficulties and challenges that it has faced over the years. Graeme Dey’s local paper started publishing in 1838, but since 1874—three years before the inception of my beloved St Mirren Football Club—the Paisley Daily Express has brought to the people of Paisley news of what has been happening in the heart of our town. You could say that it has brought us dispatches from the very centre of the universe.
The Paisley Daily Express has had to deal with the challenges of the modern world, including some of the issues that Johnston Press is facing at the moment, which my colleague Graeme Dey mentioned. At one time, the paper was printed, published and delivered in the town, for the town. In its current incarnation, it is part of the Trinity Mirror plc group. Although it is headquartered in Glasgow, it still retains an office in Paisley, which is staffed daily by one of its journalists. That means that anyone can still pop in and talk to a journalist from the wee express.
The fact that reporters such as Bill Leckie—who has gone on to be a sportswriter for a national newspaper—started their careers in journalism at the Paisley Daily Express shows the paper’s importance to the industry and to journalism itself.
I, for one, am extremely proud that we still have a local newspaper that brings buddies their daily dose of news and views. Local papers like the Paisley Daily Express come into their own when there is a local cause to fight for or a campaign to lead. Over the years, there have been many of those and the paper has faced up to that responsibility head on. An example of that is its current campaign to back the local council in its bid for Paisley to become the United Kingdom city of culture in 2021, which, as I have mentioned previously, has the hashtag #WhyILovePaisley. Members all know that I come to the chamber to tell everyone why I love Paisley and how important it is to me, but the fact that the paper has been very positive about Paisley’s case to become the city of culture in 2021 and has pushed forward and directed the campaign shows how important it is to our town. It believes that year of culture status can be a regenerational tool and that we can use culture as part of the regeneration process. It is very progressive for a local newspaper to take such a positive route.
There are obviously also negatives with local newspapers. I had an uncle who used to love to get the paper on a Monday or a Tuesday to find out who had been in court. He wanted to find out what had happened and whether he knew anyone who had been there. That is the kind of thing that local newspapers report on. The big national titles will not report on such issues, which are important to people in the community.
In these challenging times, it is important to stay positive about Paisley. As part of its #WhyILovePaisley campaign, the Paisley Daily Express has regularly had positive stories. I have here a copy of a front page from the paper, which features a local business—the ice cream maker G Porrelli & Co Ltd—explaining why it loves Paisley under the headline “Stick up for our Town” and Gary Kerr, a local businessman, talking about a potential £40 million investment in a picture house and theatre. Those are examples of stories that local newspapers are good at. Such issues will not see the light of day in a national newspaper.
Not everyone is lucky enough to be from Paisley. Other local newspapers are not lucky enough to be the Paisley Daily Express, but for as long as I am Paisley’s MSP and as long as the Paisley Daily Express continues to service our great town, Paisley’s collective voice will be heard.
Thank you, Mr Adam. Happily, the motion was drafted widely enough for you to focus on Paisley. However, I remind members that we do not usually have props in the chamber.
12:44
I welcome Graeme Dey’s motion for debate. It is clear from the number of MSP signatories that we recognise the challenges that the sector faces.
Local newspapers are important for coverage of local issues, for expression of local identity and for sharing of information. We all, no doubt, agree on the importance of good journalism and local papers. Graeme Dey gave a very good analysis of their value. However, the answers to the situation are not easy. Our media landscape is changing dramatically, and it presents challenges for many traditional outlets.
In the previous parliamentary session, I was a member of the Education, Lifelong Learning and Culture Committee, which conducted an inquiry into the local newspaper industry in Scotland. In evidence to that committee, the Scottish Daily Newspaper Society summed up well the importance of local newspapers when it said:
“local newspapers are integral to the communities they serve. Indeed, some go further by maintaining that local journalism is the bedrock of local democracy and public life. Certainly, there is no other part of the media providing the depth of coverage of local news and events in towns and villages throughout Scotland; reflecting the concerns of their communities; holding local government to account; or campaigning on local issues. They are the voice of their communities and, above all, are trusted.”
However, even back then, it was clear that the industry was facing a precarious future. The committee’s decision to take evidence on local newspapers resulted from reports that highlighted the difficulties. In particular, it was to do with the potential loss of advertising revenue. Those difficulties have only increased in the next six years—often in ways that were not foreseeable at that time.
Technology is undoubtedly changing the newspaper industry, and it will continue to have profound effects on the future landscape. Newspapers, from nationals to locals, have made the progression to online content while embracing the popularity of social media—they have broken news on Twitter and Facebook in attempts to direct readers to their websites.
When the committee’s report was published, Facebook was steadily growing, but it had yet to reach the heights of today. Twitter was only four years old, and it began to have an impact on politics and journalism really only in the run-up to the 2010 general election. It is now clear that technology and, to an extent, cultural changes are having an impact on an increasingly altered media landscape.
Despite the long-term acknowledgement of the difficulties that the industry faces, each news story of impending job losses in Scottish titles is unwelcome. Last month’s news that Johnston Press had designated 16 local newspapers as “sub-core” came as a surprise to many people—not least the staff at the affected titles.
If we consider my region, we can see the types of changes in publications. It has not gone unnoticed that many local publications have slimmed in size in recent months, and that there is an increasing duplication of stories by the bigger newspapers and the smaller more localised ones. There are concerns that more local titles, such as the East Fife Mail and the Glenrothes Gazette will be phased out—Graeme Dey used the word “wither”. We can see the changes in the type of coverage that those papers offer. In leaving out the smaller communities, it looks like papers will rely more on a bigger, more Fife-wide publication. That would be highly regrettable, because the local publications, which have professional journalists working on them, make a huge contribution to their communities.
In recent months, I have worked closely with the East Fife Mail on a campaign to stop antisocial use of quad bikes in the area, and on jobs for the area. That paper’s coverage has been invaluable, and I thank it for its contribution to those campaigns. Through the coverage, I have been able to raise issues, including with the Government, put pressure on local agencies, and support the local community. The communities would be poorer without those titles, which have served them for many years.
I appreciate that these are difficult times for Johnston Press. Since 2009—around the time of the Education, Lifelong Learning and Culture Committee’s report—the downturn has been severe. As has been pointed out, production staff have been lost—they are down from more than 1,000 to just 355. Graeme Dey made good points about young reporters and the opportunities that local papers give them. However, Johnston Press has also said that the audience has grown from just over 18 million to 27 million over the same period. That really comes from the increase in online readership, but it highlights the biggest struggle. News is now current, self-selecting, free, online and on our phones. How does a local publication survive in such times?
Graeme Dey is right that we need clarity and detailed information on Johnston Press’s future plans. There are also questions about why it is in negotiations with i newspaper—that news broke just today. I recognise that there are commercial interests and that newspapers cannot run without income, but loss of local titles and diminution of the professional journalism that they offer need to be challenged. We need to find ways to support them.
12:49
I draw members’ attention to my entry in the register of members’ interests, which shows that I am employed by the Daily Record newspaper, which is part of the Trinity Mirror group. In the past, I have been employed by Johnston Press as a columnist.
I congratulate Graeme Dey on securing the debate and associate myself strongly with his remarks and his motion.
I began my career on the Carluke Gazette and was very disappointed to hear about events there and the closure of the office. I went on from the Carluke Gazette, where I was employed for a summer, to join the Greenock Telegraph, which is one of the last surviving local daily newspapers, along with the Paisley Daily Express, which my colleague George Adam mentioned.
I grew up reading the Greenock Telegraph and at that time I think that they took copy from Reuters rather than from the Press Association. We got all the news from Greenock, Gourock and Port Glasgow—and from Senegal and different parts of the world that we would never otherwise hear about. That whetted my interest in the wider world, and perhaps steered me and others in a particular direction in terms of our careers.
I associate myself with the others’ remarks that local newspapers act as barometers of opinion. Many of the stories that impact widely and are discussed in the chamber begin life in local newspapers, which act as a forum as well as a mirror for the communities that they serve.
Despite often being small in size, those communities are incredibly diverse and distinctive—I think of some of the newspapers that I most regularly have contact with in my South Scotland region, such as the Eskdale & Liddlesdale Advertiser, which covers communities in Langholm, Canonbie, Newcastleton and Eskdalemuir. As Graeme Dey and others have mentioned, such communities, despite their small size, often have a great deal going on, with hundreds of voluntary groups. It is in local newspapers that those activities are publicised and recorded.
I praise the DNG Media Ltd group in the south of Scotland, which publishes the Dumfries Courier, the Annandale Observer, the Annandale Herald and the Moffat News. It is very important that it is an independent newspaper group. That independence means that it focuses only on local news and gives it a priority that perhaps papers that are owned by larger groups do not. For example, in papers that are owned by larger groups, the journalists are often encouraged to write the kind of stories that are picked up by the national titles. As Mr Dey said, the national titles often give a very negative slant in how they cover stories. DNG adheres to the principles of journalism that I was taught in local newspapers. A local newspaper should appeal to the whole community, whatever people’s political views. It has to achieve balance as much as possible and not put a slant on the stories. Because DNG Media is independent and really values local news, it is looking at innovative ways to develop. It has launched its own website—dng24.co.uk—and an app, which is very encouraging.
I support local newspapers. They are far from “sub-core”; they are the bedrock of our communities. I try to support my local newspapers through advertising my surgeries and vacancies in my office. I encourage others to do the same.
I praise the work that local newspapers do, not only in the communities that I cover, but across Scotland.
12:54
I regret that I will have to leave the chamber before the closing speeches and apologise in advance for doing so.
I agree strongly with the motion that local newspapers are extremely valuable to constituents and communities across Scotland. They are also very valuable to politicians as a vehicle for expressing our sentiments and policies, and of course our photographs—where would we be without them? They are able to cover local affairs and issues in a level of detail that other media cannot provide and are often at the forefront of local campaigns on vital subjects. Local newspapers play a big role in supporting community cohesion and are important for public notices and as a platform for local businesses to advertise their goods and services.
Many of our local newspapers have been working in our communities for generations—some of them for centuries. The famous Oban Times of Argyll has distribution not only Highland-wide but internationally, within the Scottish diaspora. Next month, the Caithness Courier will celebrate its 150th anniversary, having first been published on 31 March 1866.
Local newspapers are important in providing jobs to young journalists and trainees at the start of their careers. They provide a good training for journalists, who often move upwards to regional or national newspapers, or indeed other media forms. Many members of our esteemed parliamentary press corps started off on local newspapers, which provided them with an excellent grounding.
In the Highlands and Islands, we have some fantastic freelance journalists working for local, regional and national papers. I was delighted to see Oban-based Moira Kerr win the 2016 Diageo journalist of the year award at the recent Highlands and Islands press ball. She is a credit to her profession. Congratulations should also go to the Strathspey and Badenoch Herald for winning the newspaper of the year award for the second year in succession, and Chatterbox, which serves the Black Isle, for being named community newspaper of the year. Those are just a few papers in my region, the Highlands and Islands—I do not have time to name them all.
Graeme Dey is right to voice concern about the future of a number of local newspaper titles in the ownership of Johnston Press, given their possible sale to other parties. I note that the motion identifies The Buteman in Argyll and Bute in my region as a newspaper deemed “sub-core”. Many Bute residents would be surprised to hear that, as The Buteman has such a good reputation and is very much embedded in the community of that beautiful island. The idea of losing it is one that we can scarcely contemplate.
At the same time, I understand the economic realities and the financial pressures facing newspaper owners and publishers as reading habits and readership demographics change. More and more people choose to get their news online rather than by buying a newspaper, and local businesses choose to use one of the many other kinds of advertising that were not available just a few years ago. I think that most people my children’s age would go to news websites, Google or Twitter for their news and, instead of buying a local paper, would try to get local news there as well. In that context, I must mention forargyll.com, whose coverage of all the key issues in Argyll and Bute and insightful analysis makes it a popular news source. The site is run by Linda Henderson, who is a first-class journalist.
Changes in how we access news are a huge threat to the future of traditional local papers and indeed all printed productions. However, there will be opportunities for local newspapers if they can adapt and digitise services and make them user friendly for people of all ages. Some national newspapers have achieved that. There is potential, therefore, but it takes investment from newspaper owners and publishers.
I restate the Scottish Conservatives’ full support for local newspapers and pay tribute to the efforts of all those journalists and local newspaper employees who work so hard to keep us informed each and every week.
I note Mr McGrigor’s courtesy in informing the chamber that he cannot stay for the rest of the debate.
12:59
I, too, congratulate Graeme Dey on securing the debate. Although the motion refers to announcements by Johnston Press, it has a wider remit. Johnston Press includes a paper in my constituency, the Midlothian Advertiser. Local papers are all important in keeping my constituents and me informed. There is a range of them in my constituency; unlike my colleague George Adam, I do not just have one. I have the Peeblesshire News, which covers Peebles and Tweeddale west. The Border Telegraph and the Southern Reporter cover the central Borders, including the corridor of the A7 and the A68. There is the Midlothian Advertiser in the Midlothian part of my constituency, while the Edinburgh Evening News serves communities in Penicuik, Gorebridge and Newtongrange.
All those local papers are, for me, essential. They go into detail about controversial planning, whether schools are to close, the state of the roads, why a bridge is down if a river has overflowed, the announcements of hatches, matches and dispatches, who has been jailed, who has been fined—they make local justice public. They print all the wonderful photographs from all the local festivals. They even conduct campaigns, raise funds and tell everyone what local charities are doing. They also report on councils and community councils. They are not only embedded in the community, but are knowledgeable about the community.
When I first came to Parliament 17 years ago—as you did, Deputy Presiding Officer; how time flies—local papers were rich in staff with reporters, photographers and cub reporters who honed their reporting skill at the local press. Now, with 24-hour news on television and online, the national press’s raison d’être has really been challenged but local papers are not quite so vulnerable. They are vulnerable to losing advertising but not their reporting of news. They can take time over local stories and let something controversial run for weeks, not just churn it over. They sometimes break national stories and give local reporters their break into the national news.
I am a reader and a contributor, through my comments in the press, press releases and fortnightly and monthly columns, and local newspapers keep me and my constituents in touch, while keeping me on my toes. They might not be as vulnerable as the nationals but they are vulnerable and must not be lost or diminished. They remain key to keeping politicians accountable locally and nationally.
Local papers are generally without party-political bias, which one cannot say about the national press. We will all rely on them in the weeks leading up to the Scottish parliamentary elections when they will carry our manifestos, hustings and so on. They are vital to democracy. To quote a Borders expression, they’ve aye been. We must make sure that they are aye gonnae be.
I will finish my short speech with two of my favourite headlines from two of my local papers when I lived in Galloway and the paper was the Galloway Gazette. One was a big banner headline, which said “Rammy at Whauphill”. It was about two women who had a bit too much alcohol in them battering each other with their handbags—a wonderful headline. The other one was “The Tup That Wouldn’t”. The tup cost a fortune, but I am afraid that it turned out that it was not interested in the ewes. To prove that, the sheriff and the entire court went out into the middle of the field to watch the tup paying no attention to the ewes. Where else would we get such wonderful headlines that I can still recall to this day? I celebrate local papers and hope that local people will continue to buy them.
13:03
I thank Graeme Dey for bringing such an important motion to the chamber. It does not matter which part of the country we cover, from the north to the south or the east to the west, all our constituencies have a local paper, if not a number of them.
The local press is hugely important and the Scottish Government very much supports local news and papers. A number of the reasons why have already been mentioned, but I will reiterate some of them. The stories that we see in local papers often do not see the light of day nationally. I was interested to hear about George Adam’s uncle looking out for whoever was being taken to court. I say that in the knowledge that he never saw his nephew on the front of those papers in any negative way. In my region, stories that happen in a big city such as Glasgow are often missed by the national press because so many other things dominate in the city.
The point was well made by George Adam and other members that good news also gets a platform in local papers and we do not often see that in national papers. That can be anything from a local church group’s bake sale raising money for Macmillan right through to a fantastic feat like a marathon run to raise money for another good cause. Many stories about good causes do not see the light of day but they can remind us that some good is happening in the world as well as the bad that we are often bombarded with.
Local newspapers give a real boost and lease of life to local campaigns on anything from planning for wind farms, which often invoke a lot of emotion, to the planning of incinerators and so on. Local campaigns are very much given a lifeline by local newspapers.
The point about training for journalists was well made by Joan McAlpine, Graeme Dey and Jamie McGrigor. I think that Jamie McGrigor used the phrase “our esteemed press corps in Holyrood”, and of course I would concur with that description. Many journalists come through the ranks of local papers, where they are given the grounding that they need by doing the graft of local papers. Often they do not just write the stories but have to take the pictures and do everything else. That gives them a great grounding for national titles. I know that Joan McAlpine took that route and Graeme Dey wrote for a weekly newspaper. Although I did not write for a local paper, my dad still has the cut-out from the Fraserburgh Herald from the time when I was interning for one Alex Salmond and I got a piece in the press about a local curry shop that had come third in a national curry competition. It said: “Mr Sawhney’s—The competition too hot to handle”. At the age of 19 I was delighted with that headline.
We should mention that many small businesses cannot afford to advertise in national newspapers—not that it would make sense for them to do so. Having local papers in which to advertise can be a lifeline for them in these times, when profit margins are very tight. Indeed, local takeaways, convenience stores, shops and other services and businesses rely on the advertising and the spread that local papers give them.
What I think is most important about local papers—this is why the Johnston Press decision is deeply worrying—is that they hold us politicians to account, sometimes even more than national newspapers do. The Government gets inquiries from national newspapers coming in left, right and centre, but for those members who are not in government, be they in opposition or on the back benches, often it is the local papers that come in with inquiries and hold us to account. They ask us our opinions on X, Y or Z issue that is happening locally, and force us to make a decision on those issues by using our sound judgment. That is true of not just MSP colleagues but local government councillors and MPs.
It goes without saying that often I do not agree with what is in the papers. Many stories are written in Johnston Press titles that I think are unfair to the Government or unfair to me personally, but frankly that is irrelevant. They are vital for a healthy democracy. Even though there are papers that might be biased against the Government or a particular political party, it is in all our interests to come together to defend them. That is why I am delighted that Graeme Dey’s motion had the support of 38 MSPs from across the parliamentary chamber.
I accept that Johnston Press must face up to the economic realities. No newspaper has cracked how to make money off the internet. Even the newspapers whose websites are viewed the most will tell us that that only helps to subsidise the print editions and that at best they are breaking even. Even the newspapers with the very best websites, which have the most clicks per day, will tell us that that only helps them to break even.
Some of what Graeme Dey said in his opening remarks would be good advice for Johnston Press. Some of the issue is about tone. We understand the economic realities of what is happening, but a number of communities and a number of staff who work for its titles have been upset by the labelling of titles as “sub-core”. What Graeme Dey said about engaging is incredibly important. All of us understand the financial circumstances that Johnston Press is under. We read about them and we hear about them when we meet with staff. Johnston Press should engage with MSPs and local communities. Let us see whether there is an alternative to the worst-case scenario, which would be closing down the offices.
Johnston Press and other newspaper groups have many opportunities in addition to the challenges that they face. As every member of the Scottish Parliament will recognise, there is a huge appetite for news, particularly post the referendum and particularly among young people, more of whom are going online to find out what is happening in their world. It would be a real shame if young people—or anybody, for that matter—knew everything that was happening in the home of Kim Kardashian but had no idea what was going on in their local community in Kirkintilloch.
I do not want to make an ageist comment, but a lot of elderly people do not go online, and they in particular rely on local papers.
I accept and agree with that point, although I have many older family members who use the internet to get their information. That is not to say that people should not go online to look for news that is of interest to them, but it would be a real shame if that was to the detriment of enabling people to know what is happening in their local community.
The Government whole-heartedly supports Graeme Dey’s motion. The local press and local newspapers are important for a variety of reasons that have been expressed in the debate, and I thank Mr Dey once again for bringing the debate to the chamber.
That concludes Graeme Dey’s debate on the importance of local newspapers. I ask members to note the earlier time of 2pm for returning to the chamber today.
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