Independent newsagents have welcomed the Scottish Government’s decision to scrap plans to only place public information notices online.
President of the Scottish National Federation of Retail Newsagents (NFRN) Abdul Qadar said: “Such a move would have sounded the death knell for local and weekly newspapers and at the same time would have posed a very serious threat to the survival of independent retailers who are dependent on having healthy titles to sell.
“We are delighted that common sense has prevailed.”
The NFRN – which represents 1,500 independent newsagents and convenience stores throughout Scotland – had fiercely opposed the proposal.
Besides setting out the threats to newspapers and newsagents, in its submission to the government it warned that the radical move could backfire, with both the job adverts and notices being viewed by a smaller audience as people aged 35 and over were more likely to acquire their information through the printed word.
Local and weekly newspapers were a truly easy form of access to local information and readily available. The NFRN believed these should remain the principal information provider, with the internet used as a supplementary source of information communication.
Source: NFRN
