Public to have say on media ownership

The government is to consult publicly on how best to regulate ownership of the media.

A consultation paper will be published which will cover a wide range of regulation issues.

The period for comment will last two months, after which a Communications Bill will be published.

People are reading newspapers on the internet - before long, they will be watching TV on their mobile phones

Tessa Jowell

Issues to be covered in the consultation paper include:

How many ITV news providers a single company can own

Possible reform of the special newspaper regime of the Fair Trading Act

Religious ownership of broadcasters

Power-sharing between an independent regulator and the government

Cross-media ownership

Regulation in a fast-changing environment.

Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell told the Society of Editors' annual conference in Belfast that the government wanted to be as deregulatory as possible and allow as much market consolidation as it could.

"Communications industries are in revolution," said Ms Jowell.

"People are reading newspapers on the internet. Before long, they will be watching TV on their mobile phones.

"This revolution will bring with it new opportunities for competition, and we are determined that British companies should be able to take advantage.

Tessa Jowell: Balance between economic growth and democratic health

"It may require a different approach to regulation in new markets. And it means that the legislation we introduce will have to stand the test of time in a rapidly changing market."

But it was as important to preserve the responsibility of the media, and its independence, as it was to build a competitive market, she said.

Diversity

The potential power of media owners was "enormous" she said, as commercial operators with the ability to cross-promote products and services, and as political opinion-formers with access to a mass audience.

"Governments would be rightly concerned about the dangers if too much of the media was in too few hands," she said.

The government, she said, had two aims - to uphold the interests of citizens who must continue to receive a diversity of content from their media and diversity from multiple sources.

Ms Jowell added: "We also want to encourage competition and to make Britain home to the most dynamic and competitive media market in the world."

She said there would be further consultation after publication of the draft Communications Bill.

"In devising these rules, we have to strike a balance between economic growth and our nation's democratic health," she said.

" We need both if we are to preserve the unique culture of dissent, debate and public service that is our media."