The Society of Editors supports the Government’s decision to allow newsagents to stay open in the face of revised measures to help contain the spread of Covid-19.

On Friday, March 20, the Society of Editors called on the Government to ensure news distribution during the Covid-19 crisis was safeguarded.

The SoE wrote to the Number 10, the Home Secretary Priti Patel MP and Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden MP, urging the Government to continue to recognise the essential role played by the media and to ensure newsagents and other news outlets remained open if further restrictions were implemented.  

As anticipated, the Government announced tighter restrictions on the nation’s movement on Monday night, forcing people to stay at home beyond a small range of very limited circumstances.

Under the terms explained by Boris Johnson in his television address, it was announced that shops will follow pubs, restaurants and cinemas being shut in a nationwide effort to stem the spread of Covid-19.

People will be allowed to leave their homes only to shop for necessities, exercise, attend to any medical needs or travel to and from work.

The Society welcomes the fact that newsagents and corner shops are amongst those which are exempt from the Government’s ban, as they are deemed to be providing ‘essential’ services.

The Society is pleased the government has continued to value the mainstream media as a trusted method to keep the public informed and to ensure the public is able to maintain access to news and information that it provides in these unprecedented times.