Big Four 'profiteering' publishers can't be trusted with future of local press, NUJ tells OFT

The NUJ in a submission to the Office of Fair Trading has claimed it would be "a disaster" for the local press if the current rules surrounding local newspaper mergers and acquistions are relaxed. It is a move that pits the union against the views of the chief executives of the seven major regional publishers.
The union has told the OFT that the "intense profiteering by the four main groups – Trinity Mirror, Newsquest, Johnston Press and Northcliffe Newspapers -- and their lack of investment in journalism and new media, means they cannot continue to control the local press.
“The inevitable fact is there is no longer the prospect of sufficient returns from local newspapers (and their websites) to sustain a model of ownership that requires a quarter or more of their revenues to be siphoned off to holding companies and their shareholders.
“If they were now to be permitted to consolidate their control of substantial areas of the country there would simply be a continued contraction of the industry – more than 50 papers were closed in the second half of last year – with fewer titles, even fewer journalists and a rapid fall in the amount and quality of news. It would be to accelerate a spiral of decline."
The NUJ document informs the OFT that there is “anger among journalists about the way the businesses have been run, very similar to that of the population at large about the banks.”
What the industry needs, the union says, is “new capital and new managers."
The NUJ claims that new companies would enhance competition in the sector, both through new launches and by taking over existing publications, buying individual titles or series on favourable terms from the present publishers. The latter course should be encouraged by such regulatory means as can be found.”
The union wants all takeovers sanctioned by the OFT and Competition Commission to carry enforceable conditions. These could include “commitments to invest in newsgathering, with a specified proportion of profits going into editorial resources and requirements over staffing ratios.
“There should be undertakings to retain titles in circulation, with locally and originally produced content. Companies could be required to make a convincing economic case when looking to cut jobs."
The NUJ's submission