BBC regional TV news network to benefit local press, says chief

Mark Thompson proposed a partnership with local newspapers to avoid a head-on collision as television and newspapers moved into broadcasting on the web.

He told a Society of Editors gathering in Glasgow attended by 400 newspaper industry leaders the BBC's plans for a local TV service, broadcast by satellite and over the internet, did not threaten a "Big Brother" grip on local news.

"Rather than compete with [local media], or attempt to replace them, we want to partner them," he said. "We want to draw on the news gathering clout of the UK's local and regional newspapers - and we'll pay for it."

In the changing media market, said Mr Thompson, newspapers and broadcasters were crossing lines and "everyone is bumping into everyone".

As the BBC builds up its web presence, newspapers from the Hereford Times to the Lancashire Evening Post have added video broadcasts to increasingly sophisticated websites.

"For newspapers that want to add sound and moving pictures to their websites, a partnership with the BBC could make a lot of sense," said Mr Thompson.

The conference has been dominated by the question of how newspapers face the challenge of the web.

Mr Thompson faced sceptics. Steve Egginton, of Worldwide Media, said: "My fear is that the BBC's approach will create a terrifying monopoly.

"The BBC has been stealing material from newspapers, local radio and local television for years without paying for it."

Adrian Monck, a media analyst and professor of journalism at the City University in London, said: "The BBC is a 3 billion media operation and when it says it's going into local news, it's going to undermine a lot of commercial local media operations."

"The BBC doesn't need permission to walk into local commercial markets and stomp all over them. This is a sign to local newspapers that it is coming."

The Hereford Times's editor, Liz Griffin, said: "I still think it's a misuse of the license fee for the BBC to seek to provide the grass-roots coverage we are doing. But obviously, if we have discussions about you paying our journalists, that might be different."

The BBC would not cash in on features such as entertainment listings that could link to buying tickets, or classified advertisements, Mr Thompson said.

Mr Thompson confronted claims repeated by the publisher and broadcaster Andrew Neil in a Sunday speech that BBC Scotland was making 25 per cent cuts in an election year.

He said: "We plan to increase net license fee spend in Scotland and our spend on journalism."

"We see our services in Scotland as our test bed for the BBC of the future."

The new local TV network would include six stations in Scotland.