News Release

Minister for Communications, Technology and Broadcasting Stephen Carter said yesterday that plural provision of news was “an absolute priority” for the government. “Alternative, independently-funded, impartial news provision is an essential part of a democratic society,” he told a Westminster Media Forum seminar.

 

He spoke about the need for an alternative digital infrastructure, a strong and fully funded BBC, and a viable alternative to the BBC. Lord Carter’s interim Digital Britain report is due to be published at the end of the month.

 

Panel speaker Guardian Media Group chief executive Carolyn McCall, highlighted three areas for government intervention: local media ownership regulation; the role and dominance of online aggregators and search engines such as Google; and limiting the aggressive expansion plans of the BBC.

 

“Independent local and regional journalism is a hugely important part of our democracy that is certainly under threat,” she said. There was a need for further consolidation which would encourage commercial players to continue to invest in quality local news and journalism. “Regulatory intervention is absolutely required to address this.”

 

On search engines and aggregators, she said that value was increasingly flowing away from the creators of content to search engines who made no investment in content. “The display model is extremely difficult online. What you can charge for that inventory is unbelievably low. In an online ad market, one player takes nearly half of all revenue.” She said this was one area not currently being addressed but that the government must put this on their agenda otherwise “it will be difficult to put in place the building blocks for a successful digital economy.”

 

Peter Phillips, Ofcom’s partner in strategic and market developments, also spoke of the importance of local and regional news and said the regulator “will be looking at cross-media ownership rules to see if they are still fit for purpose in a converged world.” Ofcom is due to publish its final report on the future of public service broadcasting next week.

 

Meanwhile, Culture Secretary Andy Burnham was the guest speaker at a lunch at the Newspaper Society on Tuesday hosted by the Society of Editors. Issues discussed included ways in which government policy could help media companies meet some of the challenges they face as a result of structural changes in the industry and the wider advertising and economic downturn.

 

For further information please contact Lynne Anderson on 020 7632 7421 or e-mail lynne_anderson@newspapersoc.org.uk.