The Association of News Retailing (ANR) has welcomed an announcement from communities secretary Eric Pickles on a consultation to stop councils using taxpayer-funded town hall newspapers to directly compete with independent publications.
The consultation will update The Local Authority Publicity Code, which is designed to guard against campaigning with public funds.
ANR managing director John Lennon, said: “ANR has long been pressing for restrictions on local authority communications in order to support the whole newspaper industry from publishers through to retailers.
“It’s wrong that local authorities are taking market share away from local newspapers and we will be playing a full part in this consultation to ensure that council publications are used to inform ratepayers of changes to local services, leaving local newspapers to offer the news, opinion and human interest stories that make them such an important part of community life.”
Source: ANR
