Local Newspapers

Lord Vaizey of Didcot Excerpts

Wednesday 25th April 2012 Westminster Hall

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport (Mr Edward Vaizey)]

It is a great pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Main. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Corby (Louise Mensch) on securing this important debate. My hon. Friend the Member for Burton (Andrew Griffiths) compared it to speed dating but, as I heard the various interventions, it seemed more like the parliamentary equivalent of “Just a Minute”. The great deal of interest in the debate on the part of colleagues might not be unrelated to the fact that, last time I debated local newspapers, I managed to secure half a page on page 7 of my excellent local weekly, The Didcot Herald.

[Lisa Nandy (Wigan) (Lab)]

There is often good coverage in my local newspaper, the Wigan Evening Post, but it is not always comfortable, as should be the case. As the Minister knows, Johnston Press, which recently announced huge losses, employs people in Wigan and elsewhere. Can he tell us whether he can get some assurances from the management of Johnston Press for staff who are obviously concerned about their future?

[Mr Vaizey]

I thank the hon. Lady for her contribution, and I should also mention the excellent contributions of my hon. Friends the Members for Harlow (Robert Halfon), for Redditch (Karen Lumley), for Great Yarmouth (Brandon Lewis), for Brighton, Kemptown (Simon Kirby), for Worcester (Mr Walker), for Totnes (Dr Wollaston), for Ceredigion (Mr Williams), for Suffolk Coastal (Dr Coffey) and for Burton; of the right hon. Member for Exeter (Mr Bradshaw); and of the hon. Members for Ashfield (Gloria De Piero), for North Antrim (Ian Paisley), for Strangford (Jim Shannon) and for Halifax (Mrs Riordan). As Minister for fashion, I normally go out of my way to praise the sartorial elegance of my hon. Friend the Member for Corby, so I hope she does not think me ungallant if I make the point that today she is eclipsed by my hon. Friend the Member for Harlow who, in the parlance of fashion, is wearing a powder-blue corduroy suit with a rainbow accessory tie.

The issues are important and, as the hon. Member for Wigan (Lisa Nandy) indicated, local newspapers are under significant pressure. I was in touch with Simon O’Neill, the editor of The Oxford Times in my constituency, and he pointed out that between 2006 and 2011 the turnover of Oxfordshire publishing businesses halved, they closed their district offices and editorial numbers declined by 40%. He is also a man whose glass is half full, however, and he made the point that his own newspapers between them employ more journalists than all the other media outlets in Oxfordshire combined.

[Several hon. Members]

rose—

[Mr Vaizey]

I make it clear that I will happily accept as many interventions as hon. Members wish to make.

[Robert Halfon]

I thank the Minister for his kind comments about my suit. The Harlow Star is delivered to almost every home throughout Harlow free of charge, and it and many other local newspapers depend on traffic notices. Many old people—we have 11,500 pensioners —do not use the internet and depend on traffic notices from their local newspaper. Will he lobby the Department for Transport to ensure that traffic notices are kept in local newspapers?

[Mr Vaizey]

I hear what my hon. Friend says. Obviously, I was going to cover the consultation on traffic regulation orders conducted by the Department for Transport. The consultation opened in January and this is the second time we have debated it in the House, which is a reflection of the importance that hon. Members attach to this subject. When we debated the matter previously, I urged all hon. Members to make their own submissions on behalf of their local newspapers.

The consultation closed last Monday. I understand that last week, the Under-Secretary of State for Transport, my hon. Friend the Member for Lewes (Norman Baker), met representatives of newspaper groups. The Department for Transport is taking this seriously. I would not like to pre-empt the conclusions of that consultation. I made the frank points in the previous debate that there is a balance to be struck between saving the taxpayer money, effectively, by not having a statutory requirement and by deregulating, and recognising that local newspapers in particular depend on statutory notices for part of their revenue.

[Nick de Bois (Enfield North) (Con)]

This Government have pioneered transparency in local government finances with a requirement to publish such information. Anyone who has waded through it will see reams of pages. If the local press are not around to do that, few others will. Does the Minister agree that this is a real threat to local democracy and transparency, as wonderfully exemplified by the Enfield Independent and the Enfield Advertiser?

[Mr Vaizey]

As I said earlier, we should recognise that local newspapers take their responsibilities in this area seriously. The editor of The Oxford Times, Simon O’Neill, made the point that, although it has had radically to reduce its headcount because of commercial pressures, nevertheless it has tried to do that in the back office. I regret anyone’s losing their job, but that paper has focused on maintaining the quality of its journalism.

[Eric Ollerenshaw (Lancaster and Fleetwood) (Con)]

On the point made well by my hon. Friend the Member for Corby (Louise Mensch) about the uneven playing field in terms of council so-called free sheets, might it help the market to require councils to charge for each free sheet and thereby see how many they sell? That would bring competition back into the local market.

[Mr Vaizey]

As my hon. Friend is aware, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government made it one of his priorities when we came into office to consider council free sheets. We introduced a code of recommended practice a year ago, at the end of March 2011. Local authorities have to take account of that statutory guidance, restricting the number of newsletters that local authorities can issue quarterly. For example, I know anecdotally that Hammersmith and Fulham now produces its own free sheet as part of the local newspaper, the Fulham and Hammersmith Chronicle. So in effect, rather than being a competitor of the local newspaper, the council has ended up subsidising it, if one wants to use that word.

[Fiona Bruce (Congleton) (Con)]

Does the Minister agree that a fully independent, strong local paper such as the Congleton Chronicle, the strength of which is in its independence, makes a unique contribution to strengthening community life—in many ways acting as its glue—for just a few pence a week? Will he join me in congratulating the paper, which is bucking the trend that we have heard about today by having not only three long-running titles—the Congleton, Sandbach and Biddulph Chronicles—but this year launching a new title, the Alsager Chronicle, which is proof that a well-resourced and supported independent local paper can flourish in the internet age?

[Mr Vaizey]

I happily join my hon. Friend in congratulating that newspaper on its success. Well-run local newspapers producing content that local people want to read will be successful.

I was interviewed recently by GQ Magazine, which my hon. Friend the Member for Corby is familiar with, about how to get elected to Parliament. I made the point, which I think hon. Members would agree with, that a page in a local newspaper is worth much more, still, than a Facebook campaign. That is worth remembering.

[Anne Marie Morris (Newton Abbot) (Con)]

Will the Minister join me in congratulating my Herald Express, which won the national award for creative bravery when it converted from being a daily to a weekly? If he wants some advice and guidance about how to do it yourself and get it right, that is a good example: that paper did it, and kept the sales and circulation.

[Mr Vaizey]

I join my hon. Friend in recognising the achievement of her local newspaper in receiving that award and in moving from a daily to a weekly. That echoes the point made by the right hon. Member for Exeter—that, although painful to say it, it is better that a newspaper survive and prosper, albeit in a different format, than close entirely.

[Mark Menzies (Fylde) (Con)]

All three of my local papers, the Blackpool Gazette, Lytham St Anne’s Express and the Lancashire Evening Post are Johnston Press papers. I urge the Minister to seek a meeting with senior management at Johnston Press to see in what practical ways we can help.

[Mr Vaizey]

I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention, which reminds me that I was remiss in not addressing the point put to me by the hon. Member for Wigan. I have called the managing director of Johnston Press and hope to have a meeting with him, simply to engage with him and hear his strategy. As a matter of principle, it is not the job of Government to tell a commercial business how it should be run or what its requirements are.

Ashley Highfield, the new managing director of Johnston Press—I knew him at the BBC when he was putting together the iPlayer, and he was then at Microsoft—has been hired because of an explicit recognition that we are moving into a digital age. Members will say that not everyone has an iPad yet, and it is still important to maintain the traditional format of a local newspaper, on which so many of our constituents still depend to get their local news.

[Louise Mensch]

Not only does not everyone have an iPad at this stage, but residents in my constituency of Corby were unbelievably insulted to be told that the Corby Evening Telegraph would be replaced by an iPad app, which excludes both people on low incomes and elderly people who are not familiar with the internet. I firmly agree with the Minister that a Facebook campaign is no substitute. He is, like me, a great lover of social media. Does he not recognise, as I do, that we will lose much photojournalism and in-depth coverage if we switch from true local stories to a couple of tweets?

[Mr Vaizey]

Yes. I should say that I often get myself into trouble making offers to Members; but, as and when I am able to set up a meeting with the managing director of Johnston Press, I will issue an open invitation to that meeting to all Members who may or may not have had the opportunity to meet him, so that they can put their points to him. It would be useful for him to hear from the grassroots. We Members of Parliament can forget that we are the grassroots of our communities.

[Jim Shannon]

So far, no Member has mentioned the opportunities that come through local papers for those starting on the first rung of journalism. They go from local and provincial papers to national papers, and on to TV and radio. Many people in Northern Ireland depend on that. Does the Minister feel that that cannot be replaced?

[Mr Vaizey]

The hon. Gentleman makes his point. Time and again, we hear about the much wider impact of local newspapers, not just in delivering news to their local communities but the tangential impact on skills and training. That is why, for example, to return to my own patch in Oxfordshire, I am heartened that there is a drive by the editor-in-chief, Simon O’Neill, to continue to invest in journalism because of the recognition that quality journalism sits at the heart not just of the success of local newspapers, but of media generally.

[Simon Kirby]

Does the Minister agree that local newspapers often create a fertile environment for other print publications, such as Love Brighton, What’s Happening and The Latest magazines in Brighton and Hove?

[Mr Vaizey]

Yes.

I shall wind up the debate, but I will not prevent any further interventions—

[Jonathan Lord (Woking) (Con)]

I have to inform the Chamber that, unfortunately, the long-established Woking News and Mail closed a few months ago, but a new Woking News and Mail, which started as a monthly publication, is now fortnightly and supplements the excellent coverage of the Surrey Advertiser. Surely, if the demand is there people will buy the local press.

[Mr Vaizey]

I agree.

We have relaxed the media ownership rules to allow local newspaper groups to merge; we have conducted a consultation on traffic regulation orders, which has just concluded; we have restricted the use of council free sheets; we have introduced local television, which I think will supplement and support local newspapers; and we continue to support community radio. Above all, the message goes out from the House and from this lively, well-informed debate about the passionate support in this House and among our local communities for our local newspapers. I will happily organise a series of meetings with the managing directors of newspaper groups, whether Johnston Press, Newsquest or Northcliffe, if Members would find that helpful.