Question reference: S5W-30126
- Asked by: Bill Bowman, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 19 June 2020
-
Current status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 3 July 2020
Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has had any discussions with the BBC in Scotland about its local democracy reporter scheme, with respect to the viability of weekly newspapers.
Answer
The Scottish Government has regular discussions with BBC Scotland on a number of topics and the BBC has informed the Scottish Government about the development of the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
The Scottish Government has provided a range of business support to the Scottish newspaper industry and media outlets during the covid-19 pandemic. Businesses were able to access the business support set out in find business support website at https://findbusinesssupport.gov.scot/.
In addition to this support, on 14 May 2020 the Cabinet Secretary for Finance announced that the Scottish Government will invest £3 million in additional marketing activity with Scottish newspapers across the rest of the year. This is on top of the additional £440,000 it has already invested in increasing marketing of public health messages. On 20 May 2020 the Coronavirus (Scotland) (No. 2) Bill was passed by the Scottish Parliament, including an amendment that gives the newspaper industry 100% rates relief for a year by placing them in the same category as the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors.