The Scottish and UK governments must do everything in their power to safeguard the future of Scottish newspapers, an influential group of senior politicians said yesterday.

The Scottish and UK governments must do everything in their power to safeguard the future of Scottish newspapers, an influential group of senior politicians said yesterday.

An inquiry by MPs on the Commons Scottish Affairs Committee into the pressures faced by the industry warned the closure of newspapers risked the loss of "the important functions that newspapers performed that no-one else was doing - scrutinising local authorities and police forces, covering court cases, investigating hospital conditions and examining local education affairs".

Mohammad Sarwar, the committee chairman, said: "High-quality reporting that reflects Scottish culture and the interests and concerns of local communities is vital. The evidence my committee heard during this inquiry has raised significant questions and we urge the Scottish and UK governments to do everything in their power to safeguard the future of the industry."

The MPs were also concerned at the trend by local authorities to advertise public-sector jobs and publish statutory public notices only on websites owned or operated on their behalf, since it restricted who could see them. The take-up of broadband in Glasgow is 32% and across Scotland it is just 53%.

The MPs say "there are concerns that advertising jobs on public-sector portals only was likely to limit the field of applicants to those already in the public sector.

"We are concerned at suggestions of a move to publish public notices on public-sector portals while broadband take-up remains relatively low in some areas of Scotland."

Withdrawing this type of advertising cuts off an important revenue stream to newspapers and the committee urged the Scottish and UK governments to ensure the industry was not made "non-viable through overbearing competition from public sector advertising".

The report recognised that with 17 daily papers printed for a population of five million, the economic climate, diminishing advertising revenues and the explosion of alternative news sources had forced the industry into a dramatic restructuring.

In his evidence to the committee, Tim Blott, the regional managing director of Newsquest, owners of The Herald, Sunday Herald and Evening Times, stressed it was essential the papers reflected Scottish culture.

He said it was the "uniqueness and distinctiveness of our titles that will make them successful, and the fact that they are Scottish titles, the fact that they should reflect Scottish culture, is absolutely vital for our success going forward, even more so in a very competitive environment where we do have the Scottish editions of UK nationals."

Jim Raeburn, director of the Scottish Daily Newspaper Society, said taking public-sector recruitment advertising and public notices away from newspapers and putting them on local authorities' own websites was at odds with the Scottish Government's wish for a strong, sustainable Scottish press.

He warned: "There has to be a serious risk of more secretive, less open government and many grassroots issues being decided without consultation or debate if the obligation on local authorities and others to place public notices in newspapers is removed.

"It is difficult to understand how the Scottish Government can contemplate disenfranchising large numbers of the public by relying on less effective information channels."

A Cosla spokesman claimed online advertising was more cost-effective for many advertisers. He said: "Newspapers are suffering from falling readerships and this means that they are no longer necessarily the best way for councils to reach residents."

A Scottish Government spokesman said: "While we recognise industry concerns about the situation with public information notices, the public sector has a duty to deliver best value, and with the budget pressures we currently face we need to focus on delivering efficient and effective services to citizens of Scotland."

Donald Martin, editor-in-chief of The Herald, Sunday Herald and Evening Times, welcomed the "support and interest" of MPs and their recognition of the role newspapers play in a democratic society.

He said: "The newspaper market in Scotland is the most competitive in the world and we are operating in extremely challenging times. This is being exacerbated by the rush of some local authorities to put adverts on their websites. As the report identifies, this is a move that means large sections of the population will not see them."