Virus-hit news industry needs tech giant aid: UK union
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Thursday
February 09, 2023

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 09, 2023
Virus-hit news industry needs tech giant aid: UK union

Global Economy

BSS/AFP
22 April, 2020, 10:35 am
Last modified: 22 April, 2020, 11:18 am

Related News

  • US, UK and Australia carry out China-focused air drills
  • New British stamp with image of King Charles unveiled
  • Giving Ukraine jets would need 'months if not years' of training: UK PM
  • 'No magic wand' in Ukraine war, says UK's Wallace on question of supplying jets
  • UK economy fares worst among G7 countries in 2023

Virus-hit news industry needs tech giant aid: UK union

The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) said urgent action was now needed, and the government should look to increase its new digital services tax on tech heavyweights to fund a wider, more long-term “news recovery plan”

BSS/AFP
22 April, 2020, 10:35 am
Last modified: 22 April, 2020, 11:18 am
Virus-hit news industry needs tech giant aid: UK union

The main union representing journalists in Britain is calling on the government to triple a tax on global tech giants to support the industry, as it faces fresh shocks from the coronavirus outbreak.

Sector analysts predict that as many as 5,000 journalists could lose their jobs without state intervention, as the national lockdown hits already declining print sales and dwindling advertising revenue.

The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) said urgent action was now needed, and the government should look to increase its new digital services tax on tech heavyweights to fund a wider, more long-term "news recovery plan".

"It has been estimated that the current proposals by the UK government could raise as much as $620 million (570 million euros) in a year," NUJ assistant general secretary Seamus Dooley told AFP.

"That's the two percent they plan. We're saying triple it. That would represent a sizeable immediate injection if treated as a windfall tax."

The digital services tax, which came into effect on April 1, targets search engines, social media services and online marketplaces of British users, provided the company's revenue is more than o25 million.

It is expected to raise o280 million in its first year and o500 million by the end of 2025, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility.

The levy was introduced after controversy about foreign-based online platforms such as Google and Facebook, which generate huge advertising revenues in Britain but pay relatively little domestic tax.

"There's very much common cause between employers and owners that effectively these are platform providers that are eating our lunch," said Dooley.

"They're reliant on the work of media organisations — of journalists, photographers and videographers — and the real challenge for media organisations who are dependent on commercial revenue has been the haemorrhaging of advertising to online."

Layoffs and leave

Broadcasters such as the BBC have reported record audiences while websites have seen a surge in traffic since the start of the outbreak, and Britain's lockdown which began on March 24.

Ian Murray, executive director at the Society of Editors, said the apparent increase in trust in traditional media was "a very thin silver lining from a horrible dark cloud".

Photojournalists and TV camera persons covering a raid in Dhaka. Photo: Mumit M
Photojournalists and TV camera persons covering a raid in Dhaka. Photo: Mumit M

But there remains concern about the economic and social fall-out on journalists, including freelancers not covered by government rescue plans.

Nearly 250 local newspaper titles closed between 2005 and 2018, and the current crisis has seen more than 2,000 mainly non-editorial staff at some 500 newspapers temporarily laid off, according to industry magazine Press Gazette.

Some companies are predicting multimillion-pound losses in revenue, have cut salaries or asked staff to work fewer hours and take unpaid leave.

Others have announced mergers or warned they could close completely.

Media research firm Enders Analysis has predicted advertising sales in the British press could fall by o330 million or 30 percent this year, and circulation could be cut in two.

Britain's culture secretary Oliver Dowden has warned the news industry could lose o50 million during the crisis, particularly as big firms had blocked online ads alongside stories on COVID-19.

Existential threat

The editorial director of the Yorkshire Post in northern England, James Mitchinson, said his team had been working hard to provide accurate, reliable information on the outbreak.

But he warned that many titles could close without "immediate" government support.

"The measures we have taken to cut costs don't make up for the reduction in ad revenue," he was quoted as saying in the Sunday Times recently.

"We need grants and a change to the furlough scheme to pay journalists — key workers — to work, not down tools."

Roy Greenslade, a former editor of the Daily Mirror and now media commentator for The Guardian, said the financial impact on companies and consumers could leave many organisations unable to recover when the lockdown ends.

Companies were likely to reassess their newsroom operations, print or online strategies and ultimately look at their bottom line, as they take a hit on the stock market, he said.

The period after the outbreak "will likely mark the final stage in newsprint's long decline", he predicted.

Dooley said the crisis was an opportunity to act, to prevent large parts of the country having no local media representation to hold public bodies to account or reflect community life.

"Doing nothing is not an option," he said.

"The irony is that journalism has never been in a more precarious position but also in our lifetime probably never more important."

Coronavirus chronicle / World+Biz / Top News

News industry / The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) / Tech giants / Digital services tax / UK / UK government

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Bangladesh RMG adds more value to products
    Bangladesh RMG adds more value to products
  • Abdulalim Muaini holds onto a rope as rescuers try to pull him out from under the rubble, in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake in Hatay, Turkey, February 8, 2023. REUTERS/Umit Bektas.
    Turkish leader admits 'shortcomings' as quake toll tops 15,800
  • Photo: TBS
    Ganga Vilas: World's longest river cruise anchors in Barishal

MOST VIEWED

  • FILE PHOTO: The logo of the Adani Group is seen on the facade of its Corporate House on the outskirts of Ahmedabad, India, January 27, 2023. REUTERS/Amit Dave/File Photo
    Adani stocks slip after 2 days of gains as MSCI to review free float status
  • Oil pumping jacks in an oilfield near Neftekamsk, in the Republic of Bashkortostan, Russia.Source: Bloomberg
    Oil settles up for third day as interest rate concerns ease
  • U.S. President Joe Biden makes a statement about the U.S. midterm elections during his visit in Phnom Penh, Cambodia November 13, 2022. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
    Biden says he sees no recession in 2023 or 2024
  • An electronic stock quotation board is displayed inside a conference hall in Tokyo, Japan November 1, 2021. REUTERS/Issei Kato
    Asian shares track Wall Street lower amid chorus of Fed speakers
  • People walk by the JP Morgan & Chase Co. building in New York in an October 24, 2013 file photo. REUTERS/Eric Thayer/Files
    JPMorgan lays off hundreds of mortgage employees
  • Container ships are berthed at the Port of Belfast, Northern Ireland January 2, 2021. REUTERS/Phil Noble
    Britain and the EU remain in talks over N Ireland trade rules

Related News

  • US, UK and Australia carry out China-focused air drills
  • New British stamp with image of King Charles unveiled
  • Giving Ukraine jets would need 'months if not years' of training: UK PM
  • 'No magic wand' in Ukraine war, says UK's Wallace on question of supplying jets
  • UK economy fares worst among G7 countries in 2023

Features

Caption1: One of Shaker Ibne Amin’s earliest and most favourite builds which he calls the ‘Soul’. Photo: Saikat Roy

3Monkey Custom Builds: Building custom bicycles in Bangladesh

3h | Wheels
Chinese automobile manufacturers dominate the 2023 Dhaka Motor Fest

Chinese automobile manufacturers dominate the 2023 Dhaka Motor Fest

2h | Wheels
Subhash Chandra Ghosh. Sketch: TBS

No conflicts, no frills: How ABC Ltd remained united for 3 generations and expanded its businesses

3h | Panorama
Illustration: TBS

Planning to study abroad? Explore these four underrated scholarships

1d | Pursuit

More Videos from TBS

Ekushey book fair to see fewer releases this year

Ekushey book fair to see fewer releases this year

49m | TBS Stories
Sirajdikhan's delicious Patkhir is also in demand abroad

Sirajdikhan's delicious Patkhir is also in demand abroad

1h | TBS Stories
LeBron James NBA's all-time highest scorer

LeBron James NBA's all-time highest scorer

1h | TBS SPORTS
Turkaslan's fate is the contrast of Atsu's

Turkaslan's fate is the contrast of Atsu's

1h | TBS SPORTS

Most Read

1
Photo: Courtesy
Panorama

From 'Made in Bangladesh' to 'Designed in Bangladesh'

2
Master plan for futuristic Chattogram city in the making
Districts

Master plan for futuristic Chattogram city in the making

3
Photo: Collected
Crime

Prime Distribution MD Mamun arrested in fraud case

4
Maqsuda Begum made new executive director of Bangladesh Bank
Banking

Maqsuda Begum made new executive director of Bangladesh Bank

5
Photo: Rajib Dhar/TBS
Bangladesh

HSC results to be published Wednesday

6
30% companies see double-digit growth even in hard times
Economy

30% companies see double-digit growth even in hard times

EMAIL US
[email protected]
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2023
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - [email protected]

For advertisement- [email protected]