The review was commissioned in March 2018 by Prime Minister Theresa May to investigate how high-quality journalism could be sustained in the digital age. Former journalist and academic Dame Frances Cairncross was appointed to oversee the review.

Today, the Cairncross Review has been published, calling for a range of actions to protect quality news, including a clamping down on anticompetitive practices in the online advertising space, and regulation of news hosted by major online platforms. According to Cairncross, this sort of government intervention may be necessary given the evident “market failure” in the supply of public interest news.

Cairncross concluded that Google and Facebook were dominant in the online advertising space, scooping up the vast majority of revenue and making it increasingly difficult for traditional platforms – such as newspapers – to compete; the market has become “simply much more crowded and less profitable”. For most publishers, online advertising revenue does not come close to compensating for the halving of print revenue that occurred between 2007 and 2017, and a drive to encourage more clicks has led to some platforms “dramatising” headlines to drive traffic.

“As industry transforms, regulatory frameworks often must change too. The economics of the internet are fundamentally different from those of the pre-digital age, and are likely to require new policies too,” Cairncross wrote. “The news publishing industry is now in the throes of a technological revolution. The appropriate role for government should be to ensure that markets are working well and, where it can, to promote innovation.”

The Cairncross Review has recommended the establishment of a regulator and a code of conduct to create a “level playing field” in the online advertising market. This code of conduct could forbid online platforms from imposing their own advertising software on news publishers, as well as forcing them to lay out transparent terms and conditions explaining how online revenue is shared. The review also called for the Competition and Markets Authority to investigate the online advertising market to ensure fair competition.

The report examined the quality of news shared on online platforms, concluding that platforms like Facebook and Google have an obligation to ensure that their users understand the origin and trustworthiness of the news they are presented with.

“Online platforms are not simply newsagents, offering a selection of publications, without regard to their reliability or merits. The choices they make, with respect to which stories or publishers are given prominence above others, have an immediate and significant effect on readers’ choices,” the report said.

The report recommended regulation to ensure that these platforms are fulfilling their “News Quality Obligation” by helping users identify reliable and unreliable news sources; Facebook has already introduced some basic tools to flag up misleading news.

“While each platform should devise solutions which best fit the needs of their particular users, their efforts should be placed under regulatory scrutiny – this task is too important to leave entirely to the judgement of commercial entities,” the report said. “If it becomes clear that efforts have not increased the reach of high quality news, or had a measurable impact on the quality of people’s engagement with online news, it may be necessary to impose stricter provisions.”

A range of other recommendations include tax relief to protect public interest journalism, such as by extending the zero VAT rating for printed newspapers to subscriptions to online publications, working with the regulator, Ofcom, on a media literacy strategy, and by creating an Institute of Public Interest News to funnel public and private funding into parts of the industry most in need of support.

“The proposals I have put forward have the potential to improve the outlook for high-quality journalism,” said Cairncross. “They are designed to encourage new models to emerge, with the help of innovation not just in technology but in business systems and journalistic techniques.”

Jeremy Wright, the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Minister, said: “A healthy democracy needs high-quality journalism to thrive and this report sets out the challenges to putting our news media on a stronger and more sustainable footing, in the face of changing technology and rising disinformation. There are some things we can take action on immediately while others will need further careful consideration with stakeholders on the best way forward.”

The review was commissioned in March 2018 by Prime Minister Theresa May to investigate how high-quality journalism could be sustained in the digital age. Former journalist and academic Dame Frances Cairncross was appointed to oversee the review.

Today, the Cairncross Review has been published, calling for a range of actions to protect quality news, including a clamping down on anticompetitive practices in the online advertising space, and regulation of news hosted by major online platforms. According to Cairncross, this sort of government intervention may be necessary given the evident “market failure” in the supply of public interest news.

Cairncross concluded that Google and Facebook were dominant in the online advertising space, scooping up the vast majority of revenue and making it increasingly difficult for traditional platforms – such as newspapers – to compete; the market has become “simply much more crowded and less profitable”. For most publishers, online advertising revenue does not come close to compensating for the halving of print revenue that occurred between 2007 and 2017, and a drive to encourage more clicks has led to some platforms “dramatising” headlines to drive traffic.

“As industry transforms, regulatory frameworks often must change too. The economics of the internet are fundamentally different from those of the pre-digital age, and are likely to require new policies too,” Cairncross wrote. “The news publishing industry is now in the throes of a technological revolution. The appropriate role for government should be to ensure that markets are working well and, where it can, to promote innovation.”

The Cairncross Review has recommended the establishment of a regulator and a code of conduct to create a “level playing field” in the online advertising market. This code of conduct could forbid online platforms from imposing their own advertising software on news publishers, as well as forcing them to lay out transparent terms and conditions explaining how online revenue is shared. The review also called for the Competition and Markets Authority to investigate the online advertising market to ensure fair competition.

The report examined the quality of news shared on online platforms, concluding that platforms like Facebook and Google have an obligation to ensure that their users understand the origin and trustworthiness of the news they are presented with.

“Online platforms are not simply newsagents, offering a selection of publications, without regard to their reliability or merits. The choices they make, with respect to which stories or publishers are given prominence above others, have an immediate and significant effect on readers’ choices,” the report said.

The report recommended regulation to ensure that these platforms are fulfilling their “News Quality Obligation” by helping users identify reliable and unreliable news sources; Facebook has already introduced some basic tools to flag up misleading news.

“While each platform should devise solutions which best fit the needs of their particular users, their efforts should be placed under regulatory scrutiny – this task is too important to leave entirely to the judgement of commercial entities,” the report said. “If it becomes clear that efforts have not increased the reach of high quality news, or had a measurable impact on the quality of people’s engagement with online news, it may be necessary to impose stricter provisions.”

A range of other recommendations include tax relief to protect public interest journalism, such as by extending the zero VAT rating for printed newspapers to subscriptions to online publications, working with the regulator, Ofcom, on a media literacy strategy, and by creating an Institute of Public Interest News to funnel public and private funding into parts of the industry most in need of support.

“The proposals I have put forward have the potential to improve the outlook for high-quality journalism,” said Cairncross. “They are designed to encourage new models to emerge, with the help of innovation not just in technology but in business systems and journalistic techniques.”

Jeremy Wright, the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Minister, said: “A healthy democracy needs high-quality journalism to thrive and this report sets out the challenges to putting our news media on a stronger and more sustainable footing, in the face of changing technology and rising disinformation. There are some things we can take action on immediately while others will need further careful consideration with stakeholders on the best way forward.”