FLEET STREET'S 300TH ANNIVERSARY

Early day motion 965, tabled 7 March 2002 by Bob Russell (Liberal Democrat). Signed by 12 members.

That this House notes that Monday 11th March is the 300th anniversay of the establishment of the first newspaper printed in Fleet Street, the Daily Courant; pays tribute to the journalists and all other members of the wider newspaper family who over three centuries made the British newspaper industry the finest in the world; regrets the passing of so many titles and in recent years the departure from Fleet Street of every national newspaper to production sites elsewhere; deplores the lowering of the high journalistic standards which British newspaper owners once held and aspired to; and congratulates the London Press Club for staging an exhibition to commemorate Fleet Street's 300th anniversary at St Bride's Institute from 12th to 22nd March.

Signatures by party: Labour 6, Liberal Democrat 4, Conservative 2.