Early day motion tabled by primary sponsor Paul Burstow (Liberal Democrat), on Wednesday, 9 December 2009, in the House of Commons. It is signed by 99 members in total.

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CONTRIBUTION OF REGIONAL AND LOCAL NEWSPAPERS

That this House believes that local and regional newspapers have a long track record of serving and being at the heart of their communities; notes that local media are widely acknowledged as the most trusted of all media; further believes that the independence of local media is vitally important to proper scrutiny and accountability; is concerned that local authority subsidy of news can create unfair competition, making local commercial media unviable and pose a threat to free speech; is further concerned that 100 local newspapers across the UK closed in 2009; further believes that the requirement to place statutory notices with publications independent of the placing authority should be preserved; and calls on the Competition Commission and Audit Commission to review the impact of the growth of local authority funded newspapers on the local media market and free speech.

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Secondary information

Type

Early day motion

Reference

425 

Session

2009-10

Other sponsors

Lindsay Hoyle

Andrew Dismore

David Leslie Taylor

John Hemming

Andrew Pelling

Adrian Sanders

Subjects

Press

Link

View this Early day motion on www.parliament.uk