UK media experts: Independent regulation needed
Updated: 2011-07-20 15:39
(chinadaily.com.cn)
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David Hesmondhalgh
Head of the Institute of Communications Studies and Professor of Media and Music Industries，University of Leeds
Regulation for the media sector is vital to ensure that the press fulfills its potential to act on behalf of citizens, rather than simply to make profit for shareholders. The PCC (Press Complaints Commission) has proved itself to be largely ineffective and it is now vital that a stronger body is set up. This needn't be a threat to the freedom of the press, it simply needs to prevent the worst kind of abuses, and to allow for adequate right of reply.
The Murdoch Empire was just one element in a highly concentrated oligopoly. What distinguished Murdoch's papers was its relentless pursuit of a far right-wing political agenda - as witnessed by the fact that practically all his papers supported Bush and Blair's Iraq War in 2003. They also constantly lobby governments to reduce protections that favour citizens, and carry a huge amount of political influence. So the threat is to democracy and citizenship rather than to free competition.
The scandal reveals the appalling standards of some British newspapers, and the very high standards of others. One thing to note is that News International's main rival, Associated Newspapers (owners of the Daily Mail) are likely to benefit significantly from problems at News International. They offer a right-wing political perspective which is similar to that of Murdoch's stable.
Jonathan Hewett
Director, Newspaper Journalism MA and Interactive Journalism MA
The PCC has not been effective. What comes out of the inquiry will determine how the future unfolds. It is important that we don’t move to state regulation, as this would stop the best of investigative journalism. Because look at how the crisis was uncovered, it was not uncovered by police or politicians but the press.
After the crisis I believe people will investigate how widespread illegal practices are in other news organizations. I suspect they’ll find cases where it has happened.
We should move to a tougher form of regulation, which is independent and has teeth.
PCC is less of a regulatory body than a complaint mechanism. The code is voluntary, so there is no statutory rule to follow it. In many cases sanction does not follow as they claim to. It does not have teeth.
I agree with the principals of the code, but the regulation is not effective. The PCC is run and funded by newspapers so the regulators are editors of these papers. It is not independent.
British media have for hundreds of carried contents on gossip, sex and celebrity stories in line with mainstream news, so it has a bad reputation to start with. This crisis has not made a significant difference. But we also have to keep the investigative journalism going, because they are the first to uncover the scandal.
Norman Bartlett
President, Chartered Institute of Journalists (CIoJ)
This crisis is not necessarily a failure of the regulatory body than the failure of individuals. The police, the politicians and the press have got closer than they should have. If everyone declared their interests then the scandal would not have taken place. Currently the regulatory body does not have the power to investigate illegal activities should they take place, but we should not give the regulatory body the power to investigate either because that would limit press freedom. So we ideally should have a system of more transparency where everyone declares their interests.
Murdoch’s ownership of too many channels and papers is a problem. It restricts competition in the industry and that is harmful for our journalists. To maintain media trustworthiness, there are two aspects. The first is that regulators should keep an ethical balance, and secondly journalists should practice more self-regulation and be more aware of the ethical issue involved themselves. This is where CIoJ needs to play a stronger role.
Professor John Tulloch
Head, Lincoln School of Journalism and Co-Director, Centre for Research in Journalism (CRJ), University of Lincoln
I believe that some regulation is necessary but it should be undertaken by a body that is completely independent of politicians. Ideally this independent regulatory body should be paid for by the press. It should have the power to fine newspapers and websites and enforce a code of conduct.”
The British peoples' trust in journalists was already low - with the exception of broadcast journalists and the BBC and some of the 'quality' newspapers like the Guardian and Independent. I'm sure that it will make even fewer people trust journalists. What is shocking is the indication that the police have colluded with the press - public trust in the police has historically been high. This will undoubtedly be damaged.
Professor Steve Schiffers
City University
The PCC is more or less finished. It has been extremely ineffective in regulating the media sector. We need to relook at how to effectively regulate the print media sector with a model closer to the broadcasting model. We need to look at how to achieve tighter regulation with more fairness and balance. The broadcasting model places more emphasis on making sure the holders of licenses are legitimate individuals doing legitimate journalism work.
The press needs a certain degree of freedom in order to investigate politicians’ legitimacies. So the resulting model will involve government regulators, the legal system (e.g. libel law) and the newspapers themselves working together.
We are in an era of significant change affected by digital media and changing relations between the press, politicians and police. We should reduce concentration of media ownership.