Charity Commission—written submission (FOJ0086)

Select Committee on Communications and Digital – Future of Journalism Inquiry

1.       The independent Cairncross Review’s report published on 12 February 2019 made a number of recommendations intended to safeguard the sustainability of the UK press. These included a recommendation that: “the government gives priority to exploring the development of a form of tax relief, ideally under the Charities Act but if necessary along the lines of the Creative Sector reliefs, to support public interest journalism.” The Government’s response to the Cairncross Review of the sustainability of high-quality journalism confirmed that it was not proposing to amend the Charities Act 2011 in response to the recommendation that “the government gives priority to exploring the development of a form of tax relief, ideally under the Charities Act but if necessary, along the lines of the Creative Sector reliefs, to support public interest journalism.”[1]

2.       The Commission has published a statement on when journalism can be charitable which recognises that charities can and do use journalism as a tool to further their charitable purposes and that high-quality public interest journalism can play an important role in improving lives and strengthening society. Our public statement makes it clear that what matters is that a clear link can be drawn between journalism and the charitable purposes to be advanced.[2]

June 2020