Industry News

Dame Frances Cairncross appointed to lead review of UK press sustainability

This week, the government confirmed the appointment of Dame Frances Cairncross as Chair of the new review to examine the sustainability of high-quality journalism.

Cairncross is an Author, Academic Administrator and former Economic Journalist. She is currently Chair of the Court of Heriot-Watt University and a Trustee at the Natural History Museum. She was previously Senior Editor on The Economist and Principal Economic Columnist for The Guardian.

In 2014, she was made a Dame of the British Empire for services to education.

Cairncross commented: “Having spent much of my working life as a journalist and having seen how the digital revolution has changed both the fortunes of newspapers and the opportunities for distributing news, I am excited to be undertaking this review.

“This is both a challenging and an exciting time for the press, both locally and nationally, and I hope the review will clarify both ways to ensure the future of high-quality journalism and the options for public policy.”

She will be supported by a panel of journalism, academia, advertising and technology experts. This includes: Peter Wright, Matt Rogerson, Ashley Highfield, Geraldine Allinson, Mimi Turner, Douglas McCabe, Stephen Woodford, Akshat Rathi, Polly Curtis and Azeem Azhar.

Speaking at the Oxford Media Convention, Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Matt Hancock said:

“Although the internet has been an immense force for good, it has torn apart the established order and raised real questions about the sustainability and profitability of traditional journalism.

“Dame Frances Cairncross will bring her experience in journalism and academia to tackle these issues with a view to examine the press and protect the future of high-quality journalism,” he added.

The government has also published the terms of reference, confirming the term “press” includes both consumer and B2B magazine media. The aim of the review is to examine the current and future market environment facing the press and high-quality journalism in the UK, including:

  • the overall state of the market, in terms of profitability and the numbers of news publishers and individual titles, frequency and means of publication, circulation and reader numbers, assessed at local, regional and national levels;
  • the threats to financial sustainability and the business models being developed in response, including opportunities for further innovation for the news publishing industry and any relevant lessons from overseas markets;
  • content and data flows – examination of how content and data flows operate and are managed, in particular regarding content created by news publications and distribution through platforms, including questions around the ownership of data;
  • the particular role of the digital advertising supply chain, and whether it incentivises the proliferation of inaccurate and/or misleading news, whether it is operating fairly and transparently, and whether it is funnelling advertising revenues away from content producers;
  • the particular role and impact of digital search engines, social media platforms and other digital content aggregation platforms with regards to press sustainability – including an assessment of the effectiveness of initiatives which have been put in place by these platforms to support the provision of a wide range of high quality, pluralistic news journalism, and identification of where further action may be needed whether in the form of regulation or further collaboration between the platforms and publishers.

PPA Managing Director Owen Meredith welcomed the review: “We all know how fast our industry is changing – we are adapting to the digital age with innovative new products and new ways to speak to our audiences across multiple platforms. We also know the many challenges this creates, from dissemination of fake news, to shifting advertising revenues.

“The review will provide an opportunity for the industry to voice concerns and explore potential actions the government could take to ensure a competitive environment in which publishers are able to sustain profitable business models – driving investment in quality journalism that educates, informs and entertains millions of readers.”

The PPA will be contributing to this review over the coming year to give a voice to magazine and business media publishers and to champion diversity across the sector.

The review is expected to report later this year.

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