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Lords take stand against media barons
Sometimes support can come from the most unlikely quarter and when it comes to standing up to the media barons, it took another lot of barons to do just that!
DATELINE: 9/7/08
On Friday 27 June the House of Lords Communications Committee published the result of their extensive eight-month inquiry into the ownership of the news to which the CPBF gave both written and oral evidence. It made some welcome recommendations.
'Media ownership rules still have an important role to play in protecting the diversity of news' and 'The public service broadcasters are of crucial importance' was the double deck headline of the Committee's news release which summarized their Lordship's findings. In an age where such views are regarded as old fashioned and out of step with the working of the free market, and where there are regular calls from the industry for the relaxation of media ownership rules, this was a breath of fresh air.
Granville Williams, director of the CPBF Media Ownership in the Age of Convergence project, welcomed the report. 'Evidence submitted demolished the idea that internet news sites provide information diversity. In fact they are reliant on information generated by a handful of established news organizations,' he said. And Julian Petley, who gave evidence to the Committee, said that 'they were remarkably well informed about the state of the contemporary media, and notably devoid of the modish preconceptions and dogmas which all too often dominate contemporary debates about the media at the political level'.
The report highlighted the fact that 'the increase of news platforms and high tech ways of accessing the news have not been matched by an increase in resources for news gathering or investigative journalism, and do not justify any attempts to reduce media ownership regulation'. It added that 'the consolidation of ownership in the media that has taken place over the last years has added to the risk of disproportionate influence being exercised by a small number of companies and owners', pointing out that in the UK 'the national newspaper industry is dominated by eight companies- with one company controlling 35% of all national newspaper circulation. Four companies now control 70% of regional and local newspaper circulation'. Turning to television it pointed out that 'television news is produced by only three companies, and in radio the BBC faces competition from only two commercial news organisations that produce national news.
To protect diversity of news provision the Committee propose strengthening the public interest test for media mergers and that Ofcom should be given the power to initiate the public interest test in such cases; this would mean that it would not be only ministers who could decide whether a media merger investigation should take place, leaving the Competition Commission to consider only the competition aspects of a merger. Interestingly the report further recommends that 'when Ofcom considers the public interest considerations of a media merger it should be required to put the needs if the citizen ahead if the needs of the consumer' and that 'citizenship issues should be at the centre of its considerations'.
On public service broadcasting the report says that the BBC occupies a pivotal position and it is vital that nothing should be done to diminish that role. However it believes that public service broadcasting should not just be left to the BBC alone. It is also concerned that commercial PSBs may decide to abandon their PSB role and makes some suggestions about how they should be supported. However the committee comes down against 'top slicing the licence fee stating that 'the commercial public service broadcasters should not be supported at the expense of the ability of the BBC to do what it does best'.
The report is also critical of the current situation whereby foreign companies can own UK broadcast licences, but UK companies do not always have reciprocal rights abroad, which prevents their legitimate expansion into new markets. It calls on the Government to continue its efforts to achieve reciprocal rights for UK companies. The Committee also want to see greater parliamentary scrutiny of decisions about the BBC licence fee and calls for the corporation to be placed on a statutory basis. Also highlighted is the BBC's spending on the salaries of its presenters and personalities which the committee believes represent a considerable proportion of the BBC's licence-fee funded budget. The Committee calls for the BBC Trust to monitor closely spending growth in this area to ensure that the Corporation can adequately fulfil and fund all its public purposes - particularly news and current affairs.
There is much to commend in this report, and much that the CPBF has been proposing over the years. It is now up to the government to act in favour of positive regulation in the interests of diversity and quality in the media.
The report is available online. Just follow the link below.
LINKSThe full Lords report
Last modified: Wednesday, July 9, 2008
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Notices
Events & Announcements
World Press Freedom Day
More reporters are currently imprisoned in Turkey than in any other country in the world. Only a matter of weeks ago lawyers failed to persuade a Turkish court to release a 76-year-old journalist from a Turkish internet news station.
World Press Freedom Day on Friday May 3, 2013 is being marked in Britain by a rally to highlight the dangers facing journalists in Turkey and in this podcast, Nicholas Jones speaks to Barry White, Organiser at the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom, and Sam Bamford, the TUC's policy officer for Eastern Europe and Africa about the importance of a campaign to highlight international press freedom.
The World Press Freedom Day rally is being staged by the National Union of Journalists at the NUJ head office, Gray’s Inn Road, London WC1 on Thursday May 2, 6pm-8pm.
DATELINE: 27/4/13
UK launch of EU media campaign
DATELINE: 13/3/13
The UK launch of a 'European Citizens' Initiative' calling for EU rules against concentration of media power will take place on Thursday March 21 from 11:00am – 12:30pm in Committee Room 4A at the House of Lords, London. Guest speakers will include actor and activist Hugh Grant (pictured), media consultant Claire Enders, Professor Steven Barnett, Barry McCall (President of the NUJ) and Marc Gruber (Director of the European Federation of Journalists).
A European Citizens' Initiative is an official petition, like a Downing Street petition. If it succeeds in gathering a million signatures across the EU, the Commission is obliged to respond.
This petition calls for the EU to act to protect media pluralism and press freedom.
CPBF Annual General Meeting
DATELINE: 1/3/13
Make a note in your diary
Saturday 13 July 2013 from 10.00am
NUJ HQ, 308/312 Gray's Inn Road, London WC1.
Leveson, media ownership, CPBF future work.
DOWNLOAD FREEPRESS NOW
DATELINE: 26/3/10
Download Freepress in PDF, ePub or mobi format. Issue 194 now available.
MEDIA FOR ALL CONFERENCE
DATELINE: 26/3/10
Papers from the Media for All Conference
MEDIA MANIFESTO
DATELINE: 26/3/10
The media’s job is to inform and entertain us but we rely on them too to tell us what our rulers and representatives are up to. In the run-up to the Iraq war the government used spin and disinformation in the media to create panic and mislead people. The truth is coming out now, but we need stronger, more independent media to be able to scrutinise governments and make informed choices.
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Previous stories
Media Ownership
BBC Trust concludes its review of bbc.co.uk
Murdoch company tried on sabotage allegations
Sky and Virgin go to law
Lords Probe Media Ownership and News - Part 2
BSkyB and ITV
BSkyB and ITV
Campaign welcomes government ruling on ITV shares
Murdoch: Sky News should be like Fox
Murdoch and ITV
BSkyB 'should sell shares in ITV'
Internet Television
Murdoch must sell his stake in ITV
New inquiries into ownership
Murdoch Junior takes the money
Murdoch's Journal deal - another blow for journalism
MediaChannel faces closure for lack of funds
Murdoch faces probe
Lords Probe Media Ownership and News
A Waiting Game
Review: Labour's missed opportunities
Stopping Murdoch Now 5
Rivals clarify complaints over Sky dominance
Stopping Murdoch Now (2)
Stopping Murdoch now!
Stopping Murdoch Now!
Early Day Motion 309: Attempted takeover of ITV by Sky
Stopping Murdoch now
Turmoil at the Telegraph
Independent news network expands
Australian media law reform plan goes off air indefinitely
