HOUSE OF LORDS Communications and Digital Committee 1st Report of Session 2019–21 Breaking News? The Future of UK Journalism Ordered to be printed 19 November 2020 and published 27 November 2020 Published by the Authority of the House of Lords HL Paper 176 Select Committee on Communications and Digital The Select Committee on Communications and Digital is appointed by the House of Lords in each session “to consider the media, digital and the creative industries and highlight areas of concern to Parliament and the public”. Membership The Members of the Select Committee on Communications and Digital are: Lord Allen of Kensington Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall Baroness Bull Baroness Quin Baroness Buscombe Baroness Rebuck Viscount Colville of Culross Lord Storey Lord Gilbert of Panteg (Chair) Lord Vaizey of Didcot Baroness Grender The Lord Bishop of Worcester Lord McInnes of Kilwinning Declaration of interests See Appendix 1. A full list of Members’ interests can be found in the Register of Lords’ Interests: http://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/standards-and-interests/register-of-lords- interests Publications All publications of the Committee are available at: https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/170/communications-and-digital-committee/ publications/ Parliament Live Live coverage of debates and public sessions of the Committee’s meetings are available at: http://www.parliamentlive.tv Further information Further information about the House of Lords and its Committees, including guidance to witnesses, details of current inquiries and forthcoming meetings is available at: http://www.parliament.uk/business/lords Committee staff The staff who worked on this inquiry were Alasdair Love (Clerk), Theo Demolder (Policy Analyst) and Rita Cohen (Committee Assistant). Contact details All correspondence should be addressed to the Select Committee on Communications and Digital, Committee Office, House of Lords, London SW1A 0PW. Telephone 020 7219 6076. Email [email protected] Twitter You can follow the Committee on Twitter: @LordsCommsComm. CONTENTS Page Summary 3 Chapter 1: Introduction 5 Figure 1: Average circulation per issue, UK national newspapers and regional publications 5 Figure 2: Average circulation per issue, UK consumer magazines 6 Box 1: The Cairncross Review and the Government’s response 8 Chapter 2: The changing production and consumption of journalism 11 Introduction 11 The news market 12 Figure 3: Advertising expenditure 2011–19, UK 13 Figure 4: Advertising expenditure 2011–19, UK 13 Innovation 14 Differences in the industry 17 Box 2: Citizen journalism 18 Trust in journalism 19 Figure 5: Trust in different occupations (per cent of population) 20 Figure 6: Trust in media (per cent of population, 2019) 21 Figure 7: Brand trust scores, 2019 22 Impartiality 24 Figure 8: UK Twitter v non-Twitter users by age 26 Figure 9: UK Twitter v non-Twitter users by education 26 Media literacy 27 Box 3: CLEMI 30 Relevance to communities 32 Court reporting 35 Chapter 3: Journalism as a career 38 Diversity 38 Table 1: Number of journalists by employment type 38 Table 2: Percentage breakdown of journalists working in each area 38 Educational background of journalists 45 Freelance journalists 51 Chapter 4: A sustainable future for journalism 56 Online platforms 56 Advertising 56 Figure 10: Digital ad spend in the UK as a share of total advertising revenue (in 2019 prices) 56 Box 4: The open display advertising market 58 Figure 11: Google’s roles in advertising intermediation 59 Box 5: Regulating in a Digital World 63 Platforms’ use of news 64 Table 3: Sources of website traffic for online publishers 65 Encouraging pluralism 70 Innovation funding 70 Box 6: Journalism funding schemes 72 Local Democracy Reporting Service 73 The BBC’s effect on pluralism 75 Table 4: Use of news sources, 2020 75 Charitable status 77 Box 7: Charitable status criteria 79 Summary of conclusions and recommendations 83 Appendix 1: List of Members and declarations of interest 88 Appendix 2: List of witnesses 90 Appendix 3: Call for evidence 96 Evidence is published online at https://committees.parliament.uk/work/28/ the-future-of-journalism/publications/ and available for inspection at the Parliamentary Archives (020 7219 3074). Q in footnotes refers to a question in oral evidence. Breaking News? The Future of UK Journalism 3 SUMMARY The landscape of journalism has radically changed over the past 20 years, recently accelerated by COVID-19: print circulations have declined while online journalism has grown; new technologies and innovative models have presented new opportunities; the dividing lines between print and broadcast have blurred; advertising revenue across print and digital has declined; the nature of journalists’ work and their demographics have changed; and publishers’ relationships with platforms have become increasingly important and contentious. However, the fundamental role that journalism should play in a healthy democracy has remained constant. The UK is in a strong position to take advantage of this changing environment. The UK has a developed media infrastructure and good levels of funding. The most successful forms of innovation in the UK have included targeting a specific audience. To achieve this, innovation has involved new technologies, such as artificial intelligence, and engagement and collaboration with audiences, for example by audience involvement in the production of journalism. Engagement with audiences in turn may increase trust in journalism. Building media literacy is crucial. This should go beyond simply identifying ‘fake news’; rather, media literacy is about understanding journalistic processes and their value, how news is presented, how it is funded and to what degree funding is transparent. This should be a key part of young people’s education. Levels of media literacy in the UK vary, with people from lower socio-economic backgrounds and the elderly generally having lower levels. Coordination between the many media literacy bodies is important in remedying this. Improving the job prospects of those from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds who aspire to go into journalism is also important to building confidence in the media. Aspiring journalists face a range of barriers, including often having to complete several internships—which are frequently unpaid or low paid. Journalists are now generally expected to have at least a Bachelor’s degree. While universities can be a valuable route into journalism, they should be one of several routes available. The Government should reform the Apprenticeship Levy to make it work better for young people and the industry. Although online platforms have created new opportunities for publishers to distribute content, they have challenged established funding models and disrupted the relationship between publishers and consumers. There is a fundamental imbalance of power between platforms and publishers. Publishers need platforms far more than the platforms need them; and publishers are disadvantaged by a dysfunctional online advertising market. It is essential that the Government acts swiftly to remedy this and sets aside legislative time to establish a Digital Markets Unit. In the meantime, the Online Harms Bill should include a mandatory bargaining code to ensure that publishers are fairly compensated for platforms’ use of their content. Addressing these structural problems should be the priority. It is essential if the news industry is to survive and thrive. However, the Government should also look to help to bring greater coherence to the various initiatives which financially support journalism. There are many promising schemes, both publicly and privately run, but there is scope for a more joined-up approach. It should also be possible to expand the opportunities for philanthropic support 4 Breaking News? The Future of UK Journalism for journalism. In September 2020 public interest journalism was recognised as a charitable purpose by the Charity Commission, a decision which has helped the sustainability of the industry. 1 [accessed November 23 2020]. Note: membership ofABC may change over time. Source: Audit Bureau ofCirculations available Data Hub’, ‘ABC at: (ABC), 10,000,000 15,000,000 20,000,000 25,000,000 30,000,000 1. 5,000,000 Figure 1: Average circulationFigure Average UK per issue, 1: national newspapers and Ofcom,News Consumptionp 17: inthe July (24 UK: 2019), 2019 data/assets/pdf_file/0027/157914/uk-news-consumption- occupation?compare= time’ (2020): Statistics, ‘Annual Population Survey 2019—Occupation by sex, employment status and full/part thereInwere 2019 46,500 employed self-employedand 33,700 journalists (Office for National not offsetnot overall asteep decline in advertising revenue. CH Journalism Breaking The Future UK of News? per cent viaper cent radio. viacompared via with per cent per cent 66 television, the75 internet and 43 viaaccessed per via cent news print print magazines, newspapers and 11 UK of only per cent adults 38 Figure fallen have dramatically. 2) In 2019, and monthlyFigure consumerprint print1) newspapers (see magazines (see the first 20 years this of century.The circulationUK of national and regional Theproductionand journalism consumption of been transformed have in 0 apter 2000 2001 1: 1: https://www.nomisweb.co. 2002 INTRODUCTION National newspapers K02000001 2003 1 In parallel, digital subscriptions risen, have these yet have 2004 regional publications [accessed 2October 2020]) 2005 2006 2007 uk/datasets/aps210/reports/employment-by-status-and- 2008 2009 2010 2019-report.pdf Regional publications 2011 2012 https://www.abc.org.uk/data 2013 https://www.ofcom. [accessed 27 July 2020]. 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 org.uk/__ 2019 6 Breaking News? The Future of UK Journalism Figure 2: Average circulation per issue, UK consumer magazines 100,000,000 90,000,000 80,000,000 70,000,000 60,000,000 50,000,000 40,000,000 30,000,000 20,000,000 10,000,000 0 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 Source: Audit Bureau of Circulations, ‘Consumer Magazine Data’, available at: https://www.abc.org.uk/data/ consumer-magazines [accessed 23 November 2020].