The Society of Editors has written to the Prime Minster and newly-appointed Culture Secretary, Lisa Nandy MP, urging the Government to adopt measures in order to ensure the sustainability of the UK news media industry.

The letter covers four ‘key areas’. First is a call for the Government to “prioritise the needs of news publishers as the Digital Markets Unit [“DMU”] becomes operational” following the passage of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act. The authors argue that “in order to help secure a sustainable future for the industry, it is essential that the DMU has the powers that it requires to really level the playing field between publishers and platforms”. Second, the letter stresses the “urgent need for more support for the local and regional sector”, stating that local journalism is the “lifeblood of local democracy”. It invites Government proposals as to how the sector can be supported, including finding alternative sources of funding to secure the Community News Project, after Meta decided to cut funding last year.

The letter also raises the subject of SLAPPs. Whilst the authors welcome the passage of the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act, they argue for the “urgent need for primary legislation to tackle” SLAPPs, something that a Private Member’s Bill in the previous parliamentary session had sought to achieve (on which we have commented here), only for it to fail to be passed prior to the calling of the general election. Finally, the letter calls on the Government to consider the impact of AI models on journalism, arguing that the intellectual property of news platforms must be protected as the technology develops.

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