Culture secretary Andy Burnham says that some local councils are "overstepping" the mark when they publish their own newspapers.
In-tray overflowing
He added that he’ll be asking the Local Government Association to answer questions about their tax-payer funded papers and local advertising.
The comments came in an interview with the Scarborough Evening News, in which he also questioned whether councils were "encroaching" rather than playing an "enabling role."
"The issue of council newspapers is top of my in-tray at the moment. There has to be a balance and councils are overstepping that."
Stephen Kingston, editor of the Salford Star told How-Do he wanted action rather than words:
"We're still waiting for a reply to our open letter that we sent to his mate, Hazel Blears, last November about public funding for magazines and newspapers like ours. With the Salford Advertiser shutting shop in the city and moving its operations to the MEN, and with the Salford Star's print issue `sleeping' there's now no independent media at all in Salford - that's Salford, Media City UK. It's a joke. Well it would be if it didn't have such grave consequences for accountability."
Supporters of council newspapers say it’s a no-win situation as they have to provide publications to communicate with the general public.
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