Report proposes taxing Google and other aggregators to help local newspapers
Anne Cassidy
LONDON – Google and other companies who make money by aggregating news should be taxed to provide funds for ailing local newspapers, according to a new report.
If Google was taxed for its news content, it could raise £100m that could be used by traditional regional news organisations suffering financial pressures, the report by The Commission of Inquiry into the Future of Civil Society in UK and Ireland said.
The report, which examines ways to improve civic society, warned that original journalism is being replaced by “creative cannibalisation” in the newspaper industry, due to economic restrictions.
It argues that media control is centred on too few players, with four publishers controlling 70% of local and regional press, three broadcasters produce national news, and 80% of the commercial radio market is controlled by four companies.
It also cites Newspaper Society claims that more than 100 local titles closed in 2009.
