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Tories urge support for newspapers

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Published Date: 13 March 2009
TORY media spokesman Ted Brocklebank has called on the Scottish Government to re- consider its decision to switch its advertising to the internet in a bid to tackle the financial problems in the newspaper industry.
Brocklebank wrote to enterprise minister Jim Mather asking him to act after Scotsman owner Johnston Press on Wednesday reported pre-tax losses of £429.3 million and said advertising revenues were down 19.5 per cent year on year.

Brocklebank said: "I believe the SNP administration has to address the question of governmental advertising, particularly public notices, many of which are now being switched to the net."

He also highlighted the recent £600m government bail-out to the French media industry.

A spokesman for Mather said: "We recognise that Scotland's newspaper industry is facing a number of challenges in the current climate.

"There is an absolute shared conviction that newspapers still have an important role to play in the economic and democratic fabric of Scotland."



The full article contains 165 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
Page 1 of 1

 
1

Analytical,

Edinburgh 13/03/2009 10:41:07
Where do I start with this stupidity? Let's all throw money at outdated and outmoded institutions that are haemorrhaging cash. That will solve the problem.

If the newspapers had not resisted online change so fiercely to begin with and embraced it instead they would probably have some half-decent job sites to host those public notices.

I'd rather the government's money was spend using cost effective marketing and the remainder can go to far more worthy causes than the black hole that the Scottish newspaper industry has become.

I'm also quite sure Ted's opinions haven't been swayed in any way by the fact he used to be a journalist http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/MSP/MembersPages/ted_brocklebank/index.htm
2

Proximaking,

Dundee 14/03/2009 12:08:54
And I'm sure the newspaper proprietors will of course thank the Tories in their usual manner for this attempted "bung". Every time a Tory opens its mouth it is to feather its own nest. What a pathetic bunch of greed sodden losers.

 

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