Tech giants should have duty to ensure ‘quality news’, says review
Report commissioned by the Prime Minister calls for tax breaks for public interest journalism..
Tech giants like Google and Facebook should have a “news quality obligation” – overseen by a regulator – to improve trust in the content they host, a Government-commissioned review has found.
In a wide-ranging report, the Cairncross Review into the future of the UK news industry called for ministers to look at new tax breaks for “public interest” journalism, with direct funding for local public interest news.
It recommended the creation of a new institute of public interest news, along the lines of the Arts Council, to channel a combination of public and private finance into those parts of the industry deemed most worthy of support.
Culture Secretary Jeremy Wright welcomed the review’s findings, saying that while some could be acted on immediately, others would require “further careful consideration” with interested parties on the way forward.
The review, chaired by former senior journalist and academic Dame Frances Cairncross, was commissioned by Theresa May to investigate the sustainability of quality journalism in the face of declining newspaper sales and falling revenues.
It concluded that after evidence of “market failure” in the supply of public interest news, Government intervention may be the only solution.
The review noted that investigative journalism and “democracy reporting” – such as local courts and councils – were the areas under the greatest threat, as they rarely paid for themselves.
