Scottish Political Editor, The Herald
SNP ministers have been accused of undermining their own public health messaging on Covid by withdrawing business rates relief from struggling newspapers.
The current 100 per cent relief for the retail, hospitality, leisure and aviation sectors is due to be extended for at least three months from April at a cost of £185 million.
But when Finance Secretary Kate Forbes announced the move in the draft Scottish budget for 2021/22 last week, she left out newspapers, which are also covered at present.
The Government and the other Holyrood parties are due to hold talks on the draft budget before it goes to a final vote on March 9.
Giving the rates relief to newspapers for another three months would cost just over £1m.
The Government was forced to extend full rates relief to newspapers last May when MSPs amended the Coronavirus Scotland (No2) Bill as it went through parliament.
The opposition said newspapers were a vital source of information in the pandemic, and needed support to keep going after lockdown caused a sharp fall in advertising revenue.
However the Tory proposal passed with 41 votes to 38, with only the SNP against, and “premises for the production of newspapers, and related news platforms” were granted 100 per cent rates relief for the year to 31 March 2021.
However opposition parties said that immediate, concrete help was required, not long-term aspirations.
Scottish Tory economy spokesman Maurice Golden said: “Newspapers were rightly regarded as a key industry during the pandemic last year. However, the SNP failed to properly support them then and are shockingly prepared to let them down again.
“If the SNP oppose this extension, it would be another slap in the face to our newspaper industry. As people continue to look for vital information on the pandemic, we should be supporting trusted news sources more than ever.”
Scottish Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie, whose party has had the most impact in budget talks through this parliament, said: “Quality journalism is a vital part of stopping misinformation and holding government to account and this is more important now than ever.
“As always, we will defend the ability of the press to operate. If the working group isn’t due to report till summer, it does seem unfair that every other sector will be supported at least till then, with the exception of the newspaper industry.”
MSPs Patrick Harvie, Jackie Baillie, Katie Forbes and Willie Rennie.
Interim Scottish Labour leader Jackie Baillie added: “It is simply unacceptable for the SNP to consider cutting business relief for our embattled newspaper sector.
“The vital role that newspapers play in keeping people informed and connected has only been underlined by the pandemic. It’s time for the SNP to think again about cutting support for newspapers at the centre of communities across Scotland.”
“A thriving press is vital to any democracy. Scottish Liberal Democrats will oppose any efforts by the Scottish Government to cut support to the media industry at a time when the public need the truth more than ever.”
John McLellan, director of the Scottish Newspaper Society, said: “It is very disappointing to say the least that the Scottish Government is singling out news publishing for the withdrawal of emergency business rates relief, a vital financial support agreed by the Scottish Parliament, when the Pandemic is far from over. This is in sharp contrast with the Northern Ireland government which has just extended rates relief for its news publishers.
“Further, the Scottish Government has not renewed its commitment to invest in news publishing to communicate important public information about its Pandemic response and its vaccine roll-out, at a time when private sector advertising in Scotland has collapsed because of lockdown.
“There is no doubt this creates an immediate crisis for Scottish journalism, and if these decisions are not reconsidered, it could leave Scotland as one of the few, if not the only, democratic European nations to effectively abandon independent news publishing. “
“We continue to value high-quality journalism and have established a short-life working group to consider how to support public interest journalism. It is expected to make recommendations at the end of the summer.
“Details of the rates relief package for next year were announced in the Scottish Budget 2021-22. If other parties wish to make changes then we are willing to consider proposals to secure passage of the Budget.”
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A bit of a confused tale with a large dose of politics playing.
Newspapers in print form are in terminal decline. Take the Daily Record. At its high it sold about 700,000 copies daily. Now it sells about 78,000. Newspapers, at least in print form are therefore in terminal decline.
But journalism isn’t and shouldn’t be in terminal decline. Good journalism is important, very important, or should be. But two problems exist. Firstly much of the national press, or so called national press, is politically selective and biased in what it runs, what it says, and how it says it. Secondly, the industry has spectacularly, with some exception failed to make the transition to online pay to read.
Not a particularly happy state of affairs but that’s where it sits. Folks do not trust the so called main stream media, and with the move to digital, are not prepared to pay for it.
A double whammy really. And a real pity because good journalism is, or should be an absolutely essential strand of a properly functioning society.