Sustainable journalism - a submission to the Cairncross Review

The Cairncross Review is examining the sustainability of high quality journalism, including an investigation of the impact of digital platforms.

Rob Kenny and Robin Foster, in their submission to the Review, argue that the challenges facing newspapers have been developing over decades, and largely pre-date the advent of the platforms. In particular, newspapers' offers to both advertisers and readers have been unbundled, with multiple fierce competitors for each element of the former bundles.

Newspapers have been investing and experimenting with a range of business models in response, and there are early signs of success, at least for certain types of outlet. However, a significant shake-out seems likely for those offering more commoditised news.

A clear public interest in journalism remains, and Rob and Robin offer some suggestions as to how this might be supported.