Media: Press Sustainability Debate

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Department: Scotland Office

Media: Press Sustainability

Lord Soley Excerpts
Thursday 22nd March 2018

(6 years, 1 month ago)

Lords Chamber
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Lord Keen of Elie Portrait Lord Keen of Elie
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Ultimately, the scope of the review will be a matter for the chair. It is going to be an independent, expert review but clearly it is intended to address the issue of the local press, where we have seen such impact from digital media in the past 10 years.

Lord Soley Portrait Lord Soley (Lab)
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Does the Minister accept that the press will not be able to go back to its old role of doing news in small bits? It will need to do a deeper analysis and to focus on what is true news and go deeper into it. Some newspapers are beginning to do that—not before time. Will he take on board the importance of the British public being able to get in-depth and thoughtful news, as well as instant news? The two are important, but they are different.

Lord Keen of Elie Portrait Lord Keen of Elie
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My Lords, we fully recognise and accept the importance of such developments and, indeed, it is one means by which we can address the insidious development of fake news.