Comments on: Media ownership matters http://www.howtoliveinthe21stcentury.org.uk/submissions/media-ownership-matters Sat, 11 Sep 2010 05:53:48 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 By: herbal ecstacy http://www.howtoliveinthe21stcentury.org.uk/submissions/media-ownership-matters#comment-141076 herbal ecstacy Wed, 17 Mar 2010 19:23:32 +0000 http://www.howtoliveinthe21stcentury.org.uk/?p=550#comment-141076 Hi, just came here when i did a fast yahoo search. Fine post you got here! Keep it up! Hi, just came here when i did a fast yahoo search. Fine post you got here! Keep it up!

]]> By: Tony Lennon http://www.howtoliveinthe21stcentury.org.uk/submissions/media-ownership-matters#comment-19711 Tony Lennon Mon, 16 Mar 2009 14:52:35 +0000 http://www.howtoliveinthe21stcentury.org.uk/?p=550#comment-19711 Democracies need definitive and deep sources of information to function properly, not the business-led agenda which has informed the reportage of for-profit media over many decades. The question to ask is not how much media ownership regulation will cost, but what is the cost of poor political decision-taking by society proper regulation in the interests of plurality is absent. There is no question that most media in recent years have happily trotted out the now discredited mantra of small government and individual choice, and they are partly responsible for the collective sense of shock over the economic crisis. Although there have been contrary voices in the media - I cite Larry Elliott, Gillian Tett, and Graham Turner - it was in the interests of most media organisations to continue supporting the neo-liberal orthodoxy, not least because it was good for their share prices. Democracies need definitive and deep sources of information to function properly, not the business-led agenda which has informed the reportage of for-profit media over many decades.

The question to ask is not how much media ownership regulation will cost, but what is the cost of poor political decision-taking by society proper regulation in the interests of plurality is absent.

There is no question that most media in recent years have happily trotted out the now discredited mantra of small government and individual choice, and they are partly responsible for the collective sense of shock over the economic crisis.

Although there have been contrary voices in the media - I cite Larry Elliott, Gillian Tett, and Graham Turner - it was in the interests of most media organisations to continue supporting the neo-liberal orthodoxy, not least because it was good for their share prices.

]]> By: Nicholas Jones http://www.howtoliveinthe21stcentury.org.uk/submissions/media-ownership-matters#comment-18611 Nicholas Jones Sat, 14 Mar 2009 17:13:54 +0000 http://www.howtoliveinthe21stcentury.org.uk/?p=550#comment-18611 The relaxation of the rules on cross-media ownership seems a certainty. Media companies have worked behind the scenes to twist the arm of officials in Peter Mandelson's department BERR and it seems it will only be a question of time before further consolidation is given the green light. On the one hand the government seems ready to allow the creation of local monopolies across newspapers, radio, television and the internet yet, at the same time, these proprietors succeeded in putting the frighteners on ministers over the BBC's plans to create ultra-local websites and this initiative had to be abandoned. What the regulators seem to have forgotten is that it is these self same local newspaper groups which are only now waking up the fact that they failed in previous years to invest in their online output and have lost advertising income as a result. The government's objective should be to assist the creation of new media outlets, such as citizen newspapers and websites instead of letting failed media proprietors have it all their own way. The relaxation of the rules on cross-media ownership seems a certainty. Media companies have worked behind the scenes to twist the arm of officials in Peter Mandelson’s department BERR and it seems it will only be a question of time before further consolidation is given the green light. On the one hand the government seems ready to allow the creation of local monopolies across newspapers, radio, television and the internet yet, at the same time, these proprietors succeeded in putting the frighteners on ministers over the BBC’s plans to create ultra-local websites and this initiative had to be abandoned. What the regulators seem to have forgotten is that it is these self same local newspaper groups which are only now waking up the fact that they failed in previous years to invest in their online output and have lost advertising income as a result. The government’s objective should be to assist the creation of new media outlets, such as citizen newspapers and websites instead of letting failed media proprietors have it all their own way.

]]> By: Nicholas Jones http://www.howtoliveinthe21stcentury.org.uk/submissions/media-ownership-matters#comment-18602 Nicholas Jones Sat, 14 Mar 2009 17:00:09 +0000 http://www.howtoliveinthe21stcentury.org.uk/?p=550#comment-18602 Public service broadcasting in the UK has established standards over political impartiality and the protection of minorities which are admired around the world. The question which needs answering is why the heirarchy of the BBC have failed in recent years to defend the principle of a universal licence fee. The decline set in during the years John Birt was director general. Instead of fighting publicly to defend the BBC -- by setting out a clear argument which the public would understand and support -- he preferred the New Labour way of doing business, via consultants, policy advisers and think tanks. In the process the BBC has lost its way, unable to identify, let alone defend, what it is best about public service broadcasting at a time when ITV is on its knees, through its own mismanagement and the effects of the credit crunch. Public service broadcasting in the UK has established standards over political impartiality and the protection of minorities which are admired around the world. The question which needs answering is why the heirarchy of the BBC have failed in recent years to defend the principle of a universal licence fee. The decline set in during the years John Birt was director general. Instead of fighting publicly to defend the BBC — by setting out a clear argument which the public would understand and support — he preferred the New Labour way of doing business, via consultants, policy advisers and think tanks. In the process the BBC has lost its way, unable to identify, let alone defend, what it is best about public service broadcasting at a time when ITV is on its knees, through its own mismanagement and the effects of the credit crunch.

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