2. You need to understand
•The impact of the regulatory framework on the
newspaper industry (how it is regulated) and the
impact of online news and social and participatory
media on regulation.
3. Regulation & Press freedom
Press freedom refers to freedom from government interference
and any state control.
It means that newspapers and magazines are free to publish
content which supports any political ideology (free speech).
There has not always been press freedom - The Licensing of the
Press Act 1662 meant that no publication was allowed without
the accompaniment of a government-granted license meaning
everything needed pre-approval before publishing. In effect the
press were censored.
In 1695 the need for licenses was abolished.
To hear more about this and what happened to those who broke the law,
listen to the first 6 minutes of the video, Regulating the Press on this
page.
A free press is seen as fundamental to a democratic society as it can
hold government or powerful people to account. Find out more here.
4. Regulation & Press freedom
So, for many years the press have been independent of state
controls and have been privately owned, operating in a free
market.
The press still have some restrictions on what they publish, e.g.
the British legal system has anti-discrimination and libel laws
amongst others that can be used against the press.
Read this article in The Independent:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/pre
ss/the-sun-and-daily-mail-fuelling-prejudice-racist-
violence-hate-crime-speech-uk-ecri-report-
a7351856.html
5. Regulation & Press freedom
The practices of some journalists and newspapers have come
under increasing criticism over the years for their approach to
getting stories and producing newspapers that will attract the
most readers.
The PCC (Press Complaints Commission), a regulatory body set
up in the 1990s by the press industry themselves and funded by
newspaper and magazine publishers, was criticised for not
acting in cases of inappropriate behaviour by newspaper
journalists.
Some critics believe self regulation fails because it is funded and
controlled by newspaper proprietors who are reluctant to
enforce standards that may effect their ability to make profit.
6. Regulation – the leveson inquiry
In response to allegations of phone hacking at The News of the World
(amongst others) a public inquiry into the culture, practices and ethics
of the British press was carried out by Lord Justice Leveson in 2011/12.
Watch the video here for an insight into the kind of complaints that
were being made about the press.
Explore witness accounts and evidence given in more detail
here.
7. Regulation – The Leveson inquiry
The Leveson Report (2012) deemed that the PCC
was not sufficient as a regulatory body and
suggested a code of conduct and tighter controls be
imposed.
Also useful to know but it gets complicated:
The Government at the time created a Royal Charter
(2013) in an attempt to address concerns about press
behaviour and ineffective self regulation.
There is currently only one Royal Charter backed regulator
– IMPRESS (but no national newspapers have signed up to
this).
8. Regulation & Press freedom
Not everyone agreed that more regulation was the answer. Watch this
Channel 4 News interview about press freedom and regulation from 2013.
What are the main arguments?
9. Regulation & Press freedom
There is a need for press
regulation in order to
tighten up on bad practice
by newspapers.
Regulation would take away from the
press freedom that is needed to hold
the powerful to account (and so
would restrict good journalism).
Not everyone agreed that more regulation was the answer. Watch this
Chanel 4 News interview about press freedom and regulation from 2013.
What are the main arguments?
There are very different views on regulation.
FOR
AGAINST
10. Unhappy with government proposals following the Leveson Report, the
press industry instead created their own new and improved regulating
body, the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) in 2014.
This took the place of the Press Complaints Commission and, like the PCC, was
funded by the newspapers who signed up to it. So, the press are still largely
self regulating.
Not all newspapers have signed up to IPSO - The Guardian, Independent and
Financial Times did not think it was independent enough.
Regulation
Explore what
IPSO do and
examples of
recent cases
11. Regulation & Press freedom
Despite the fact that the press are largely self-regulated today, there are
concerns over press freedom in the UK.
The UK was ranked one of the worst in Western Europe for press
freedom in 2017. Find out why: https://rsf.org/en/united-kingdom.
2018 World Press Freedom Index since 2013
12. Is the UK press trustworthy?
• https://www.theguardian.com/media/2018/apr/25/uk-among-
the-worst-in-western-europe-for-press-freedom
14. Why was this recent 'Mail
on Sunday' front
page controversial?
15. REGULATION – CURRENT POLITICAL
CONTEXT
The current Conservative government, led by Teresa May,
seem to favour less press regulation.
They do not want to go ahead with the second part of the
Leveson Inquiry proposed during David Cameron’s
leadership.
They are not following up on some of the previously
proposed measures that would put pressure on
newspapers to adhere to the Royal Charter.
Find out more about issues to do with regulation, the government’s latest positon
and ongoing battles over the Leveson Inquiry part 2 here and/or here
However, through changes that the government are bringing about in
other areas, such as data protection laws and legislation to do with
national security, the press can be seen to be restricted.
16. STUDENT TASK
Test your
understanding
so far
Write down answers to the following questions to
ensure you have understood the main points
covered:
1. Why is a free press important?
2. What was the Leveson Inquiry and why was it
commissioned?
3. How are most of the national newspapers now
regulated?
17. Test your understanding so far
• Write down answers to the following questions to ensure you
have understood the main points covered:
• 1. Why is a free press important?
• 2. What was the Leveson Inquiry and why was it
commissioned?
• 3. How are most of the national newspapers now
regulated?
18. Online media provides further challenges in terms
of regulation.
Regulation – impact of online media
What is the
impact of
online media
on regulation?
Mind map
your ideas
19. Social media has had a significant impact upon media regulation. It does
not fit clearly into traditional models of regulation and this undermines
how such media may be regulated
Regulation – impact of online media
Online platforms give
audiences access to global
media content which are
not regulated within the UK.
Social media often relies on users
themselves to flag up
inappropriate content and so
happens after publication – so
regulation is then only applied
retrospectively rather than an
editor having to review if material
is inappropriate before
publishing.
No longer just professional journalists publishing
content. Individuals sharing and commenting on news
stories do not have to adhere to a journalistic code of
conduct - UGC is unregulated.
Some possible
ideas
Press regulation is
undermined by the open
nature of the WWW.
Social and participatory
media brings new
challenges of fake news,
filter bubbles, 'echo
chambers’ etc.
What is the
impact of
online media
on regulation?
22. Government interventions
Spend 5 minutes researching the following and writing a one sentence
summary on each.
Digital Charter 2018
Committee looking into the need for internet regulation
https://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/lords-
select/communications-committee/inquiries/parliament-2017/the-
internet-to-regulate-or-not-to-regulate/
Extension task – consider how these might effect the press
industry
23. Additional reading
Guardian article about free press in the digital age -
https://www.theguardian.com/media/media-
blog/2018/feb/18/how-can-we-regulate-our-savage-market-for-
instant-news
Interesting twitter feed:
https://twitter.com/mediareformUK
24. Sample Exam Question
Explain how the political context in which newspapers are
produced, influences their ownership and regulation. Refer to
The Guardian and The Daily Mail newspapers you have studied
to support your answer.
10 marks (15-20 minutes as a guide)
Discuss with the person next to you what you might include in a
response to this question.
25.
26. Ownership
The Times, The Sunday Times
and The Sun are both owned
by Rupert Murdoch’s News UK
which is owned by News Corp
(formed as a spin from the
original News Corporation –
forced to split in 2013 – the
other ‘half’ is 21st Century Fox)
Previous newspapers included:
News of the World (closed
2011 following phone hacking
and Today
27. Explain how the political context in which newspapers are produced,
influences their ownership and regulation. Refer to The Guardian and
The Daily Mail newspapers you have studied to support your answer.
10 marks (15-20 minutes as a guide)
Have a go at a short essay answering the question. Possible content to discuss:
• Explanation of the political significance of the concept of ‘press freedom’ and its relationship to
representative democracy.
• Reference to ‘press freedom’ and policies about regulation of content.
• Explanation of debates about regulation, e.g. the traditional reliance on self-regulation and the debate
about post-Leveson press regulators.
• Examples of editorialised content that would not fit ‘impartial’ television news (e.g. social or political
opinion) from The Guardian and The Daily Mail print or online editions.
• Making connections between ‘press freedom’ and policies about concentration of press ownership which
allow oligopolistic ownership.
• Examples of ownership models, e.g. The Guardian’s trust ownership and The Daily Mail’s proprietor
model, and the opportunities offered by the latter model for control by ‘press barons’.
• Explanation of the power of the press to shape political discourse, e.g. the influence of proprietors on
politicians to support policies promoting cross-media ownership or holding back from regulation.
• Explanation of the role of political parties to offer newspapers opportunities for affiliation, e.g. The Daily
Mail as a right wing newspaper is partly defined by its support for the Conservative party, The Guardian
as a centre-left newspaper is partly defined by its support for Labour or the Liberal Democrats
28. Peer Review of your response
What you need to provide to gain the highest marks (10-7):
A comprehensive demonstration of knowledge and
understanding of how political contexts influence newspaper
ownership and regulation.
Comprehensive, detailed and accurate knowledge and
understanding of relevant political contexts and their influence
on newspaper ownership and regulation.
Answer is well supported by detailed and accurate reference to
The Guardian and The Daily Mail
29. Candidate style answer from OCR exam board
• See this top mark example response from OCR – please note
they went way overboard for a 10 mark question – you are not
expected to write this much.
• Also, look out for the errors (i.e. is IPSO backed by a Royal
Charter?)
• http://www.ocr.org.uk/Images/472303-media-messages-
candidate-style-answers.pdf
30. Can you answer these
questions?
1. Who regulates the UK press?
2. How is it different to for example Ofcom? (TV and radio)
3. What was the phone hacking incident?
4. Which newspaper closed because of it
5. Who owned that news paper?
6. What is Freedom of the Press and why does the newspaper
industry feel it is so important?
7. What is Citizen’s journalism
8. How does on-line content differ to printed news?
9. Who owns The Guardian?
10. Who owns the Daily Mail?
