House of Commons debate discusses media's democratic role in UK society

The internet has been a "hugely disruptive" technology for local media, said Labour MP Tom Watson, during today's parliamentary debate looking at the future of local media.

The meeting followed the government's response to the Department of Culture Media and Sport select committee's report that argued local journalism and local content remains "fundamentally important for our society".

Watson, a member of the committee which produced the report on the Future for Local and Regional Media in April, said the internet had created a "commune of despair when it comes to looking at how we can keep a strong and rigorous local news business in the UK".

However, Watson stressed the importance of local media organisations to build a "participatory relationship with readers in the digital age".

Role of local media
Minister for culture, communications and creative industries, Ed Vaizey, discussed the important democratic role local media plays.

"As we empower local government and local people to make decisions; reporting on those decisions, or the environment or climate where those decisions take place, will be a vital role for local news sources," he said. "There is a huge opportunity for the local media to get hold of this information and lead the debate (....) at the local level."

He illustrated the challenges to local media with a series of statistics, such as the 26 per cent decline in UK print advertising revenues in 2009, the steepest fall in Europe.

Vaizey also highlighted the struggles of regional newspapers, who have experienced a sharper decline in circulation since 2004 than the national printing press.

Increasing convergence
Suggesting ways to move forward, Vaizey encouraged increased convergence between media forms as well as using the internet to connect with local people. "It is vital we see the landscape as interlinked and [we] have to be active across all areas," he said.

He also supported the implementation of a more focused local news system.

"Local news is very often regional and highly irrelevant," Vaizey said. "We need a local TV network enabled by a new regulatory regime, which could form a core plank of local journalism and democracy in a thriving local platform media eco-system."

Funding
Government subsidies should be avoided, said Vaizey. "It can be done without straightforward subsidy which could cause organisations to become dependent and threaten impartiality," he said.

"Local media should be given the opportunity to become commercially viable." He also objected to Labour's proposals to 'top-slice' the BBC licence fee to fund regional news services.

However, Don Foster, MP for Bath and former shadow culture secretary, said he would support a model which looked to the BBC and ITV for some assistance.

"I hope the review will look at a model that could get the BBC and ITV to provide some of the programming provisions (...) I genuinely believe that this could provide a new route forward," he said.

Watch the full debate here...

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