REGIONAL NEWSPAPERS AND LOCAL DEMOCRACY

Early day motion 1717, tabled 22 June 2009 by George Galloway (Respect). Signed by 10 members.

That this House notes that there is an ongoing crisis in regional newspapers due to the fall in advertising revenues which has been compounded by the credit crunch; further notes that regional newspapers play a vital role in ensuring democracy at local level; congratulates the East London Advertiser for winning regional newspaper of the year for the second year running; believes that the demise of regional newspapers would seriously undermine local democracy; further believes that the establishment of weekly newspapers distributed free to every household by local councils further undermines the viability of regional newspapers; further believes that these council-run newspapers, like Eastendlife in Tower Hamlets, are primarily established in order to promote the political interests of the ruling group on these councils rather than to provide impartial and essential information; and further believes that legislation needs to be passed urgently to restrict councils from spending taxpayers' money on regular council newspapers.

Signatures by party: Labour 6, Liberal Democrat 2, Conservative 1, Respect 1.