Internet sees change for newspapers

Jun 17 2009 By The Journal

THE Government's plans for a digital Britain could change the face of newspaper ownership in the UK.

A consultation on how to fund local, national and regional news will be launched as part of the plans which may see Newspaper takeovers approved.

Many publishers of local newspapers have called for the rules to be changed to allow them to buy up papers struggling to make a profit.

But ministers have insisted there is nothing to stop newspaper publishers proposing mergers, and added it would be wrong to introduce legislation without any merger in mind. The Government has indicated media watchdog Ofcom could allow newspapers to buy up competitors as a way of ensuring publishers have money to invest in local news.

It comes as MPs suggest newspapers should get a share of the profits made by internet search engines linking to their stories, media executives said yesterday, amid warnings that half of local papers could fold within five years.

They urged MPs to help the cash-strapped industry gain a share of advertising revenues generated by online "aggregators" which bring together a variety of stories on any subject searched for by web users.

Giving evidence to a Commons culture, media and sport committee investigation yesterday, Trinity Mirror chief executive Sly Bailey singled out Google as she called for new rules to ensure papers got their "slice".

"This site doesn’t spend a penny on any kind of journalism at all and yet is making money out of our journalism," she said.