Vote Conservatives… to save our local papers

Local newspapers are the heart of local communities, and provide valuable local information on news, events, sports, jobs, housing, etc., which is why it is heartbreaking to hear that more than 50 have closed due to the recession.

The Medway Towns are fortunate enough to be served by three local newspaper groups: Kent Regional News & Media (News), The KM Group (Medway Extra, Medway Messenger) and KOS Media (Kent on Saturday, Kent on Sunday, Yourmedway).

All of Medway’s local newspapers are informative, reasonably balanced and fulfil their role of holding elected officials to account wonderfully. It would be shameful to allow any of these titles to disappear from local newsagents.

The Conservative Party is campaigning to save local papers, such as those in Medway, after they have been hit hard by a big decline in advertising revenues and competition from the Internet, with two key proposals:

1. The Government should relax the merger regulations that prevent consolidation between papers.
2. The media ownership rules that prevent local newspapers expanding into other media platforms such as local television and local radio must be relaxed.

The Labour Government is looking into the first proposal, but it simply does not go far enough to protect local papers and local jobs.

Only the Conservatives’ proposals will go any considerable way to ensuring that your local paper won’t be disappearing from your local newsagent.

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The Vote Conservatives… series looks at the reasons why you should Vote Conservatives at the 2010 General Election, without commenting on the merits of any particular candidate. This is because Alan W Collins firmly believes that policy is far more important than personality.