A Scottish politician has lodged a parliamentary motion against charging journalists for using power points in the country’s largest conference centre.
Journalists covering the count for the recent North-East Glasgow by-election were charged £101.97 +VAT by the city’s Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre to plug their laptops into power points.
The motion was put forward by MSP Bob Doris who feared the costs would have a “substantial effect on the finances of small community news providers”, holdthefrontpage.co.uk reported today.
The motion also highlighted how the venue’s owners SEC Ltd had reported a 47 per cent increase in trading profits to £627,812 in 2008-09.
Glasgow City Council, which has a 91 per cent share in the venue, has urged SEC Ltd to carry out a review of their pricing policy as current pricing may “prohibit local journalists being able to report on the democratic process”.
Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog
