Advertising must stay in the press, says UK Government

Nov 26 2009 by Alistair Watson, West Lothian Courier

THE UK Government have spoken out against plans to ditch public notices and public sector job advertising from newspapers.

At present, councils and other public bodies are duty-bound to advertise public information in newspapers.

But the SNP’s Holyrood administration are proposing to change the law to allow this information to be published only online.

And Scotland Office ministers have warned that Scotland’s 32 local authorities may be excluding up to 40 per cent of the country by shifting the vast majority of their job adverts and public notices online, breaching their duty to reach the whole population.

The latest Ofcom figures show only 60 per cent of Scots had access to broadband, compared with 68 per cent across the whole UK.

The controversial proposals are being trialled in five areas of Scotland — Edinburgh, Glasgow, Fife, Inverclyde and South Lanarkshire — and a consultation process, in which people can register their opinion, is due to start soon.

But following a probe into the future of the Scottish newspaper industry by the Commons’ Scottish Affairs Committee, the UK government are urging Scottish public bodies to continue using newspapers to publish their notices.

The Scotland Office report stated: “Whilst it is understandable that local authorities will want to reduce costs in the current economic climate, there are concerns that advertising jobs on public sector portals only was likely to limit the field of applicants to those already in the public sector rather than the wider audience of traditional print media.

“The Government takes the view that there should not be a policy of publishing notifications only online.

“Part of the duty when placing notices, such as job advertisements, is that they are effective in reaching their target population.

“While notifying bodies have a duty to be efficient, they must also use appropriate means to reach their target audience, and should not adopt a policy of publishing online simply to save money. “

Linlithgow MP Michael Connarty added: “Refusing to print public notices in local newspapers will deny people their right to know what the SNP are up to in the Scottish Government.

“The web is no substitute. What are the SNP trying to hide?”

Local authorities and other public sector organisations have already switched their job advertising to the web.

Under the Scottish Government’s proposals, important information about issues such as road closures, planning applications and councillors’ surgeries would be taken out of newspapers and put online.

As well as excluding large sections of society from access to vital information, the cost-cutting exercise would have serious financial implications for the newspaper industry, which is already battling against a drop in property and recruitment advertising since the onset of the recession.

SNP MSP Angela Constance said the public would be given the chance to have their say after the end of the pilot schemes.

Ms Constance added: “It is being tested in these local authorities and then it will be evaluated by citizens panels.

“The Scottish Government will need to take their views on board.

“I can understand that we are living in very difficult times and local authorities will want to reduce advertising costs but the crux of the matter for me is how this is received by the public and if it works for them.

“We will not really know that until the end of the pilot scheme when members of the public can give their opinions.

“I am not in favour of an over reliance on the internet and technology. It is good that we have it and we should be making full use of it but we still have to remember that not everyone has access to the internet and we should make sure we are not putting all our eggs in one basket.”

Jim Raeburn, director of the Scottish Daily Newspaper Society, said: “Advertising is the lifeblood of our industry and taking away public sector recruitment advertising and public notices to electronic portals is at complete odds with the stated wish of the Scottish Government for a strong, sustainable Scottish Press.

“There has to be a serious risk of more secretive, less open government and many grass roots issues being decided without consultation or debate if, as proposed, the obligation on local authorities and others to place public notices in newspapers is removed.

“It is difficult to understand how the Scottish Government can contemplate disenfranchising large numbers of the public by relying on less effective information channels.”