1. The politics of plurality: new policy approaches
to media ownership in a convergent media
environment
Presentation to ECREA Workshop
26 October 2013
Steven Barnett, Professor of Communications, University of Westminster
s.barnett@wmin.ac.uk @stevenjbarnett
Judith Townend, Research Associate, University of Westminster
j.townend@wmin.ac.uk @jtownend

2. AHRC funded study 2013-14:
Media Power and Plurality: New policy approaches to
protecting the public interest in the 21st century
• assess different approaches to defining and measuring
plurality
• examine the drawbacks of the current policy regime and the
challenges posed by new and convergent media
• evaluate new and existing ideas for structural initiatives
which might exploit new media opportunities.
• Facilitate consultation between politicians, policy makers,
regulators, industry and the academy.
• Facilitate sharing of ideas/papers/blogs in UK and Europe
www.mediaplurality.com going live next week!

3. 2 contextualising factors
• “Perfect storm” of economic and
structural decline for journalism:
– Recession-led decline in advertising
– Irreversible shift of press adv/g → online
– Fragmented audiences
– Growth of non-linear consumption
• Burgeoning digital, online, social media sector:
“digital intermediaries”, e.g. Google

4. Challenges and Opportunities
Challenge = highly political problem of “top
down” dealing with power of
conglomerates
UK: little has been done for decades to curb
expansion of media oligopoly, esp Rupert
Murdoch’s News Corp.
Integral element of Leveson Inquiry’s Terms
of Reference was around plurality…..

5. Leveson: to make recommendations
“a. for a new more effective policy and
regulatory regime which supports…. the
plurality of the media….;
b. for how future concerns about press
behaviour, media policy, regulation and
cross-media ownership should be dealt with
by all the relevant authorities….”.

6. Leveson Report =1987 pages
• Of which 15 devoted to recommendations
on plurality.
• Pitched at level of “desirable outcomes
and broad policy framework”.
• Unlike his detailed scheme for
independent press self-regulation, detail
left to government.
• Consultation Paper published in July 2013.

7. “A new measurement framework”
• the types of media it should include
• the genres it should cover
• the types of organisation and services to
which it should apply
• the inclusion of the BBC
• the audiences with which it should be
concerned

8. 3 major lacunae
• Nothing about political decision-making
process and role of regulatory bodies.
• Nothing about potential for new policy
initiatives to promote plurality.
• Simplistic approach to measurement
focussed entirely on consumption.
Will concentrate on first two issues…….

9. How (UK) governments approach
concentration of media power
Two views:
-Assumptions about media power create
fear of political action = pragmatic inaction
-Belief in market-driven solutions =
ideological inaction

10. Case study of Labour gov’t 1997-07
• Blamed media power for 1992 defeat
• Reassessed relationship with media
companies 1994-97
• Fundamentally shifted media ownership
policy from interventionist to laissez faire
• July 1995 Blair →Hayman Islands and
Murdoch’s News Corp conference
• Within 3 months opposed all o’ship caps

11. Case study of Labour gov’t 1997-07
• 2003 Communications Act –
– Allowed foreign ownership of TV companies
– Allowed cross-ownership of Channel 5
• Conventional wisdom: buying support of
powerful proprietor who could ease path to
political power (and sustain it).
• But need to revise view based on Blair evidence

12. Case study of Labour gov’t 1997-07
• On Hayman Islands: “my speech held closely to
all the policies I believed in”.
• Guardian report: “a bold pitch for the new
Labour Party he is shaping”.
• Nothing given away in media policy
• “Between 1994-1997, we did change Labour’s
policy on media ownership” but “sound
objective reasons” for doing so.
• Formed the basis of CA03 ownership changes.

13. Rationale for ownership changes
• Media concentration is “best dealt with as
a competition issue”.
• “The issue is the culture and rules under
which people play.”
• “….it was necessary to have other media
owners with heft, with the ability to put
major investment in”.

14. 6 issues where Murdoch was defied
•
•
•
•
Buying Man Utd (complied with MMT rec)
Sky opposed new BBC channels and online…
and fiercely opposed BBC licence fee increases
Introduced Ofcom, strong converged regulator
which put Sky under far greater scrutiny.
• Stopped Sky being able to buy ITV (“which they
really wanted, not Channel 5”).
• Ignored their opposition to listed events for
sport – “we protected and extended them”.

15. Conclusion on the Challenge
• Revisionist theory of New Labour and CA03:
ideology rather than pragmatism
• Top-down structural reform will be constrained
by market-driven neo-liberal thinking
• Though ?within a social democratic framework,
tempered by behavioural interventions
• Cf Robert Reich and “Supercapitalism” –
regulation to safeguard citizen values

16. Reich, Supercapitalism, p126
“Markets have become hugely efficient at
responding to individual desires for better deals
but are quite bad at responding to goals we
would like to achieve together. As companies
are pressured to show profits, tougher
measures are needed to guard public health,
safety, the environment, and human rights
against the possibility that executives may feel
compelled to cut corners.”

17. Gibbons and Humphreys, p4
“Within a context of globalisation,
commercialisation and technological change,
regulatory competition between jurisdictions
keen to maximise media investment is leading
to substantive (if not formal) deregulation (a
‘race to the bottom’).
Hypothesis No.1

18. And the opportunity…..
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Charitable journalism
Not for profit models
Foundation funding
University journalism depts
Local online startups
Community radio
Partnerships with PSBs
Partnerships with established local press

19. Needs money AND creative policies
• In UK Community Radio Order 2004, means…
• Ofcom can license nfp stations according to
criteria which relate to “social gain”.
• Small grants available from DCMS.
• Local subsidies confined to the press. Why?
• Journalism not defined as charitable. Why not?
• ISP levies, aggregator levies, recording device
levies: to subsidise new and original content at
local, regional, national level = greater plurality