LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - The culture secretary has urged the UK competition authorities to study the digital advertising sector for evidence illegal dominance by tech giants, and has pledged to look at creating tax reliefs for online news publishers.
Earlier in the week, Frances Cairncross published her government-commissioned report in which she made several proposals, including that digital news products should enjoy the same VAT exemption as printed papers, setting up a regulator to monitor news quality and check the spread of misinformation, the expansion of a scheme for 150 BBC funded reporters to be placed in local newsrooms, suggested the BBC online news was an obstacle for-profit local newspapers by publishing material they cover for free, but did not propose a levy on tech giants as some in the news media had wanted.

Jeremy Wright on Wednesday said that he would raise the issue of an extension of VAT exemptions with and

With news outlets continuing to suffer from the switch in advertising to platforms such as Facebook or Google's YouTube, Jeremy Wright argued that without the proper regulation there could be a threat to high quality journalism.

There are currently around 6,000 fewer journalists in the UK than ten years ago and print circulation of daily national papers has fallen from 11.5m to 5.8m over the past decade.

The change in how people consume news content has also affected the advertising market but Wright argues that Google and Facebook capture the largest share of online advertising revenue since they hold an array of data on their users that news publishers cannot replicate.

The Cairncross review proposed that the Competition & Markets Authority examine whether the online advertising marketplace is operating effectively, and whether it enables or prevents fair competition.

Wright suggested Ofcom review content on the BBC news page online for potential harm for-profit local newspapers by publishing material they cover for free: "The BBC offers the very thing that this review aims to encourage, a source of reliable and high quality news, with a focus on objectivity and impartiality, and independent from government".

"However, it is right that the role of the BBC, as a public service broadcaster, is appropriately transparent and clear," he added.

"Ofcom should assess whether BBC News Online is striking the right balance, between aiming for the widest reach for its own content, and driving traffic from its online site to commercial publishers, particularly local ones."

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