Government to allow Times and Sunday Times resource pooling

UK culture secretary Jeremy Wright said on Thursday that he will allow The Times and The Sunday Times to pool their journalistic resources on the condition that its owners clarify their governance structure.

News UK, which owns the two publications, had requested the pooling of resources in order to save money and adapt to the digital age, potentially compromising the guarantee of editorial independence between the two papers that Rupert Murdoch gave when he acquired them in 1981.

Wright said he felt compelled to at least consider the application given the "material change in circumstances" that has taken place since 1981 and said that a merging of resources would not jeopardise the "plurality of views" required from UK newspapers in the 2002 UK Enterprise Act.

However, the culture secretary said News UK's governance of the publications "lacks clarity and certainty over roles and responsibilities" and stated that these arrangements must be updated before any application to merge resources can be accepted.

A statement from News UK said: "The Times and The Sunday Times are committed to remaining as separate newspapers but persistent cost pressures facing our industry means both titles need the freedom and ability to work more closely to avoid unnecessary duplication. We are now engaging with the DCMS (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport) on any further relevant updates."