The BBC has been abusing its monopoly by competing with commercial news providers, according to John McLellan, director of the Scottish Newspaper Society.

His comments came as the government-commissioned Cairncross Review called on Ofcom to explore the impact of the BBC’s news coverage on journalism and said the corporation should do more to share its technical and digital expertise.

The review headed by Dame Frances Cairncross was not asked to comment on the role of the BBC but chose to do so after hearing concerns from many of those in the publishing industry that the corporation’s news coverage cuts across efforts to establish a viable future for public service journalism.

Mr McLellan welcomed the decision by the review to highlight the issues which were raised in evidence sessions. “Given that Ofcom dismissed our concerns when we raised them around the proposals for the new BBC Scotland channel, this is most welcome,” he said. “An overall examination of what the BBC offers is overdue, even if it only disproves our concerns. These questions are serious and they need proper consideration and scrutiny.”

He said the BBC’s provision of news coverage online for free was making it difficult for news publishers to sell content and subscriptions, and could be undermining funding for journalism as a result. “Nobody argues that the BBC’s content is not good, but if it is always free it is difficult for commercial publishers to establish a sound basis to operate,” he said. “The BBC, funded by the licence-payer, has been abusing its monopoly.”

Mr McLellan said the BBC was operating in areas, including long-form written journalism which was nothing to do with its core role. A lot of the written material it produces is in direct competition with commercial news providers and is not part of its core function as a public service broadcaster. Much of the material the BBC is publishing now is independent of their programming. You see it in sport every weekend,” he said.

“There are many factors affecting us in publishing and the BBC’s online operation is only one of them. Changing that itself is not going to change the basic issue of the monopolising of advertising revenues by the tech giants, but it doesn’t help us when we are trying to construct viable alternatives.”

The Shawcross report does not make a judgement about the extent to which the BBC’s online coverage is harming the press. But the review “urges the BBC to think more carefully about how its news provision can act as a complement to, rather than a substitute for commercial news.”

Meanwhile, it adds: “Ofcom should assess whether BBC News Online is striking the right balance between aiming for the widest reach for its own content on the one hand and driving traffic from its online site to commercial publishers (particularly local ones) on the other,” and says “the BBC should do more to share its technical and digital expertise for the benefit of local publishers.”

Critics have questioned to what extent news coverage of TV ‘events’ like Love Island and I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here should be a part of its role as a public service broadcaster, but the BBC argues a diverse spread of material is essential in order to reach all audiences, particularly young people.

The BBC also funds Local Democracy Reporters under a scheme which provides publishers with reporters to enhance coverage of councils and other local issues. The review calls for an expansion of the scheme. However it has been difficult to recruit candidates in some areas. Mr McLellan welcomed this suggestion and said the principle had been established but added: “The strengths of the programme now need to be built on and the weaknesses tackled.”

In response to the review the Culture secretary Jeremy Right said:”The BBC offers the very thing that this Review aims to encourage: a source of reliable and high quality news, with a focus on objectivity and impartiality, and independent from government. However, it is right that the role of the BBC, as a Public Service Broadcaster, is appropriately transparent and clear.”

A spokesman for the BBC said there was no evidence of the BBC “crowding out” other providers. “It’s vital that people of all ages have access to impartial news which is relevant to them, and we provide younger audiences with a wide range of stories,” he said. “ We’re happy to look at what more we can do to share our technical and digital expertise for the benefit of local publishers, but as the review itself says, any curtailing of the BBC’s news offering would be counter-productive.”