Executive Summary

• The Newspaper Society represents the regional newspaper industry. Its members publish around 1,300 titles targeting different regions, cities, towns and neighbourhoods across the UK. Regional and local newspapers play a crucial role for the communities they serve: by providing news and essential information, by enabling local businesses to reach their customers effectively and efficiently, and by leading campaigns on local issues as the voice of their communities. In short, the regional press has a long heritage of building substantial public value without recourse to public funding.

• The industry’s ability to sustain this role over the long term is at risk from the BBC’s planned expansion in local and regional media. Far from remedying an instance of market failure, this expansion will more likely precipitate one. In spite of long standing discussions with both the Government and the BBC, as well as a detailed submission to the Graf Review of BBC online, we do not believe that this risk is widely understood. This document sets out the context behind these concerns, as well as the Newspaper Society’s recommendations for safeguarding long-term plurality in the provision of local news and information services.

1. The regional press at the heart of local communities

• Ofcom, DCMS, the BBC and many consultation respondents have underscored the importance that audiences attribute to locally-focused news and information. The Newspaper Society concurs with this view. Our own research and experience confirms that people’s interests and activities remain firmly rooted in their local communities, in spite of the proliferation of news, information and entertainment from across the UK, and around the world.

• The regional press have long been at the forefront of meeting this need. Local newspapers have earned the trust of their communities through decades of service to readers and to local businesses. Their commercial model funds an extensive – and expanding – “infrastructure” of over 13,000 editorial staff who don’t just write about their communities, but live, work and interact in them. No other medium is as uniquely positioned to understand and reflect the granularity of local life across the UK. “Ultra-local” is our USP.

2. Evolving local media landscape

• Local newspapers are market – rather than product – driven. Historically, the industry’s ability to serve their local markets with multiple media “products” has been restrained by cross-media regulation. Emerging technologies and convergence are eroding these constraints, and offer a rich potential to expand and enhance local media offerings in future. From a broadcaster’s perspective, this could mean far more localised TV services than the analogue terrestrial network could allow. From a regional press perspective, it will mean complementing our traditional content and service portfolio of text and pictures with audio, video and interactivity.

• The blurring of media boundaries bring opportunity, but also harsher competition. The regional press have invested and innovated to meet this challenge, as have many of our competitors in the commercial arena. While different newspaper groups will pursue different strategies across different digital media platforms, the underlying migration from the printed page alone to print alongside TV/PC or mobile phone screens is a fundamental trend for our industry, and an imperative for its long term viability.

3. BBC market impact

• This migration is under threat from the BBC’s “ultra-local” ambitions, and the experience of BBC Online suggests a track record of interpreting a widely drawn remit as a mandate for dominance of a nascent medium.

• Yet it is far from clear that the BBC is best placed to spearhead the development of local digital media – other than by its privileged access to risk-free public funding. Indeed, the BBC does not come close to matching the depth of resource that local newspapers have deployed in their communities for decades. As a result, its “ultra-local” TV service may ultimately resort to sourcing stories from local newspapers, and repackaging them for TV.

• The regional press is therefore less concerned about competition from a BBC striving to offer more or better local news. It is very concerned, however in how the BBC will compete in delivering that news – namely through unfair recourse to scale economies at a national level, guaranteed funding, cross-promotional muscle, privileged distribution, and strong brand association with TV – as well as occasional forays into local magazine publishing.

• At a stage when local online or TV services are starting to become commercially viable, a large scale BBC rollout could undermine the business case for commercial innovation, and distort investment decisions. Over the long term, local digital media could be restricted to effective monopoly provision by the BBC, as innovation, choice and diversity fail to develop. This will likely occur through a combination of inflating costs, undercutting subscription-based revenue models, and preventing commercial ventures from achieving the necessary critical mass of audiences to attract local advertisers to new digital media.

4. Safeguarding plurality over the long term

• The Newspaper Society welcomes Ofcom’s aspiration to preserve long-term plurality in local PSB – but would extend the definition to include non-broadcast media that also perform a public service role in local communities. We urge DCMS to consider the following proposals for the Charter Review White Paper:

i. Reject the BBC’s proposed model of large-scale rollout of “ultra-local” TV / broadband internet to 50-60 cities at this stage of the market’s development.

ii. Deny additional licence-fee funding for either “ultra-local” TV or for further development of the BBC’s “where I live” sites. iii. Ensure greater transparency in the BBC’s investments in local services through publication of detailed accounts for these services

iv. Deploy public funding to research/pilot programmes of local commercial media services on digital platforms – and publish the findings in the public domain.

v. Where publicly-funded pilot programmes are conducted by the BBC – such as the Midlands local TV trials – ensure that the BBC both involves local media groups in the design/execution of the pilot, and publishes all findings in the public domain.

vi. Ensure that any future decisions on extending local BBC services be contingent not only on a public value/market impact test, but also on the completion of Ofcom’s review of local TV postswitchover and on a public consultation of the role for commercial media in light of its findings.

vii. Confirm that public value/market impact tests be undertaken by Ofcom and not the BBC trust, and that the process for conducting these assessments be open to public consultation.

viii. Reframe the BBC’s eventual remit in local communities as a cautious and selective intervention in certain areas – be they specific localities, types of service or audience segments – where there is clear evidence that commercial models will not be sustainable.

ix. Define a clear “exit plan” for any new BBC services that are approved – namely a set of measurable and transparent criteria under which the original justification for BBC intervention ceases to be valid, and at which point the BBC is compelled to withdraw from the provision of these services.

x. Define specific areas where the BBC should offer assistance to local commercial media in their migration from traditional to digital media platforms. This might include facilitating distribution, providing access to the BBC’s output and archive on favourable commercial terms, or promoting emerging commercial ventures.

1 The regional press at the heart of local communities

• Life is local. Most of what people do takes place close to home, and people’s interests remain firmly rooted in their local communities, in spite of the proliferation of news, information and entertainment, through digital media, from across the UK and around the world.

• Regional and local newspapers play a crucial role in meeting these needs for the communities they serve throughout the UK. They are generally turned to as the first port of call for local news and information, and enable local businesses to reach their customers effectively and efficiently through advertising that is targeted, credible, and relevant.

• “Local” means different things to different people, and local media need to deliver content and services that are relevant and distinctive at the level of individual regions, individual cities, and even individual neighbourhoods. With approximately 1,300 titles published across the UK, the regional press has an unparalleled ability to provide a multi-tiered service through regional titles like the Yorkshire Post to “ultra-local” papers such as the Morley Advertiser and Observer.

• With a heritage of decades of service at the heart of regional and local communities, the regional press emerges as the most trusted media in the eyes of consumers and businesses. This trust extends to playing a greater role than any other media in helping define a sense of identity for the communities they serve.







Life is local. Most activities and purchases take place within a dozen miles from home

Average distance normally travelled for various purposes* 2003

* Sample of over 2500 in-street interviews ** Secondary school. The average distance travelled to primary schools is 1.3 miles Source: DTR/ ONS/ Newspaper Society/ The Future Foundation

People’s interests are also local, with close to a majority primarily interested in events in the town/city where they live. While interest in local matters used to increase with age, the gap between generations has narrowed significantly.

Interest in local events
% agreeing that “what interests them above all are things that happen in the town/city where they live”*

Audiences express the strongest interest in regional/local news – though other topics are also important, and local media ultimately need to offer relevant content across a broad range of genre.

Top 10 genre of interest – Norwich example*
Average interest: 1= not at all interested, 5 = extremely interested

Local newspapers are generally turned to as the first port of call for local news and information.

First port of call for local news and information – Leeds Example
% of respondents expressing a preference*, 2004

Local newspapers also play a fundamental role in connecting buyers and sellers in the communities they serve.

First port of call for local advertising – Leeds Example
% of respondents expressing a preference*, 2004

They enable local businesses to reach their customers efficiently and effectively through advertising that is perceived by readers to be credible, useful, and relevant.

Audience perception of advertising by medium – Cumbria example
% of respondents* perceiving that advertising is…

“Local” means different things to different people, with a third of respondents defining “local” as under 5 miles. Local media need to deliver content and services that are relevant and distinctive not only at the level of individual towns/cities, but also at the level of individual neighbourhoods.


What is “local”
% defining local as…

Indeed, people express their sense of belonging at both a local and regional/national level. The former is generally manifested most strongly – but needs to be highly targeted, as news for neighbouring towns/counties/regions is of least interest.

Interest in issues by locality
% interested in hearing about issues and what’s going in in…

Regional and local newspapers have an unparalleled ability to cater to this need through titles pitched at different tiers of “localness” – from regional papers such as the Yorkshire Post to “ultra-local” papers such as the Morley Advertiser and Observer.

Yorkshire newspaper footprints



Source: Johnston Press

Thus, with their long heritage of service at the heart of regional and local communities, the regional press emerge as the most trusted media, in the eyes of consumers and businesses.

Most trusted media
%, 2003

This trust extends to reflecting the UK’s cultural diversity and playing a greater role than any other media in contributing to the sense of identity of the communities they serve.

Role of local newspapers in supporting regional identity*
2003