5:51pm Monday 25th January 2010
Mayor of London Boris Johnson described taxpayer funded council-run “newspapers” as a ludicrous waste of money.
Speaking exclusively to the Your Local Guardian series, Mayor Johnson spoke out a week after Members of Parliament criticised London town halls for producing “propaganda masquerading as independent newspapers”.
Mayor of London Boris Johnson told the Guardian: “Council produced newspapers are a ludicrous waste of money and a very real threat to the democratic process, which is why I instantly scrapped Ken Livingstone's self-serving propaganda sheet The Londoner saving £2.9 million of council tax payers' money a year to be spent on, amongst other things, 10,000 trees.
“We simply cannot afford to find that we've suddenly arrived in a future where independent local newspapers cease to exist and the local council paper is all there is to go on.
“Some of London's independent local papers have been holding the executive to account for over a hundred years and too many of these valuable publications are already closing. Without them we face dark days of partial news management.”
MPs called on the Government on January 14 to do more to safeguard local and regional newspapers against unfair competition during a 90-minute debate at Westminster lead by Liberal Democrat Chief Whip and Sutton and Cheam MP Paul Burstow.
Minister for Creative Industries MP Sion Simon said he would refer issue of council newspapers to the Office of Fair Trading and ask Ofcom – the independent regulator and competition authority for the UK communications industries – to also look into the issue.
In June last year the Digital Britain report acknowledged the negative impact on independent local newspapers of local authority newspapers.
It said council-run newspapers will “inevitably not be as rigorous in holding local institutions to account as independent local media.”
Mr Burstow said it was estimated that in London alone council-run “pseudo-newspapers” were costing the taxpayer about £10m a year.
He said: “Without action the risk is the creation of 21st century rotten boroughs, where the only news freely available to everyone is provided by the council.”
Central Croydon MP Andrew Pelling, Malden and East Chelmsford MP John Whittingdale, MP for Sittingbourne and Sheppey Derek Wyatt were also among those who raised concerns during the debate.
MP for Wokingham John Redwood, MP for Wantage Edward Vaizey, MP for Nuneaton Bill Olner, MP for Bath Don Foster, MP for Argyll and Bute Alan Reid, MP for North Southwark and Bermondsey Simon Hughes, MP for Leyton and Wanstead Harry Cohen, MP for Stroud David Drew and MP for Wallington and Carshalton Tom Brake also spoke at the Westminster debate.
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