How does a Tory chancellor help struggling local papers (just before an election)? He starts a consultation exercise, which editors won’t forget. It might recommend subsidies for public service reporting – courts, say. It could help with investment grants in the age of digital transition. It could even reward the growth of editorial resources: hard-working journalists would love that. But there’s the problem of sticky fingers: politicians don’t usually give something for nothing.
Which means that one of the easiest helping hands around involves newspaper offices and business rates. Local papers need to be part of their community. That means a site at the heart of things, visible, welcoming – and often expensive. Lifting the weight of local tax, to a clear formula, would make a difference.
But what, you may ask, about all those burgeoning production hubs dozens – or hundreds – of miles away? Would any of them qualify for relief? Surely not: local means local, community means community. It’s a notion with a purpose as well as a band-aid.
