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A diversity of news provision is more likely to come from a plurality of owners and the regulation of media ownership is designed with this in mind. This is particularly important for the newspaper industry which, unlike the broadcast news, has never had to conform to any statutory regulation of content and standards. In the UK, media ownership and mergers rules are contained in the Communications Act and the Media Ownership Order 2003, the Enterprise Act 2002 and the Broadcasting Act 1990.251 These rules are reviewed every three years by Ofcom and currently
restrict political organisations from holding broadcast licences of any kind, for example. Ofcom also carries out a public interest test to assess media mergers focusing on television, radio and newspapers. In Ireland, the Minister for the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment established an Advisory Group on Media Mergers with the task of reviewing the current legislative framework regarding the public interest aspects of media mergers. The Group made eleven recommendations in their report published in January 2009252 which included: a statutory definition of media plurality, referring both to ownership and content; indicators on diversity of ownership in the media sector should be regularly collected and published; the amendment of the term ‘media business’ to include online publication of newspapers and periodicals and the broadcasting of certain audiovisual material over the internet; and statutory recognition of the important role of the media in a democracy. Given the growing power of internet companies in the news industry, it is important to consider the consolidation trends occurring in this sector (illustrated in Box 3.4) and the use of private data by these companies.
Box 3.4 Consolidation and commercialisation of the internet253 The internet remains by many measures the most decentralised medium in history, with hundreds of millions of different voices finding expression. In many fields the internet has bypassed the established media, particularly in creating channels for more marginal groups, whether among young people or minority ethnic communities. However, seen through another lens, consolidation of media and internet groups is occurring at an alarming rate, with $30 billion spent in 2007 in mergers and acquisitions by Microsoft, Time Warner (AOL), Yahoo! and WPP on interactive advertising companies. The stalled and unsolicited $44.6 billion bid by Microsoft for Yahoo! in 2008 highlights the aggressive battle for the online advertising market.254 According to Jupiter Media Metrix, a company that tracks internet and technology analysis and measurement, the number of companies that control 60% of all minutes spent
online in the United States decreased from 110 to 14 between 1999 and 2001. The new information providers – search engine companies, telecom companies, internet service providers, etc. – shape the selection, organisation and flow of information which means that media ownership in the age of convergence needs to be scrutinised. Growing consolidation will undermine diversity of content and could transform the internet from an open and global means of communications into one designed primarily to serve the interests of corporate brands and commercialism. As databases of private data and surfing patterns of internet users are being built up, for example, through the controversial Google/DoubleClick merger, concerns about the use of such information need to be addressed.
Democratising media ownership and content
National newspapers in the UK are mainly owned by private companies, such as the Telegraph Group, or by public companies, such as the Daily Mail and General Trust plc. The Guardian and the Observer, previously owned and governed by the Scott Trust, created in 1936, was transferred to a limited company at the end of 2008, which will continue the aim of preserving journalistic independence. The Scott Trust Limited is not permitted to pay dividends, and its constitution stipulates that no individual can ever benefit financially from the arrangement. In the unlikely event of its winding up, the assets of the company would be transferred to some other entity which has a similar purpose.