Independent left-wing magazine Red Pepper is launching a charter demanding more rights for the minority press.
The charter has received backing from MPs and the NUJ and will run in association with the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom.
It aims to give the UK’s minority press similar rights to other European titles by calling for the right of all legal publications to be sold in newsagents, for the reintroduction of the Royal Mail’s Newspaper Registration Service (providing first-class delivery at second-class prices for publications) and for tax-deductible subscriptions to non-profit publications.
Hilary Wainwright, editor of Red Pepper, said: “In Britain, Red Pepper, New Internationalist, Tribune, The Ecologist and all the rest of the alternative press have to compete with crisps and sandwiches for space on the shelves of WH Smith.
“But publishing is not just another industry – the free flow of information and ideas is a human right.”
By Andy Keeble
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