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| Press regulation: the royal charter deal is a move towards a better democracy | Press regulation: the royal charter deal is a move towards a better democracy |
| (6 months later) | |
| This has been a fairly historic week in the UK. In fact, depending on your point of view, or maybe your pay cheque, it's either been the end of 300 years of press freedom, or an early but significant victory in the battle to ensure a free and fair media, a media that genuinely serve the interests of citizens, and the development of an ever better informed democracy. | This has been a fairly historic week in the UK. In fact, depending on your point of view, or maybe your pay cheque, it's either been the end of 300 years of press freedom, or an early but significant victory in the battle to ensure a free and fair media, a media that genuinely serve the interests of citizens, and the development of an ever better informed democracy. |
| In the early hours of Monday morning, an agreement was reached by all three political parties to create a royal charter that would, in effect, both underpin the regulation of the British press and guarantee its independence from government. | In the early hours of Monday morning, an agreement was reached by all three political parties to create a royal charter that would, in effect, both underpin the regulation of the British press and guarantee its independence from government. |
| Go back a little under two years and I think it's fair to say that few people in Britain, or anywhere else, could possibly have imagined that when news became public that a missing girl's phone had been "hacked" the result would be a horrifying and long drawn-out exposure of important sections of the UK media; one that has at times beggared belief in its allegations of criminal behaviour by those who, for many years, had been thought of as being all but "untouchable". | Go back a little under two years and I think it's fair to say that few people in Britain, or anywhere else, could possibly have imagined that when news became public that a missing girl's phone had been "hacked" the result would be a horrifying and long drawn-out exposure of important sections of the UK media; one that has at times beggared belief in its allegations of criminal behaviour by those who, for many years, had been thought of as being all but "untouchable". |
| Here were a relatively small, but immensely powerful, clique of people who appear to have acknowledged no rules other than those that accelerated their personal and political ambitions. | Here were a relatively small, but immensely powerful, clique of people who appear to have acknowledged no rules other than those that accelerated their personal and political ambitions. |
| In recent days, I've been reflecting on some of the turmoil of the past two years. There are a number of common problems that affect the whole of our media spectrum, all of which have at some point to be wrestled to the ground if we're to ever move beyond what I see as this potentially self-destructive phase in our historical development. The first is the issue of media plurality. The situation in the UK (as in Italy) continues to be insupportable, yet somewhat like "serfs", we've seemed resigned to suffering it, as if no serious alternative existed. | In recent days, I've been reflecting on some of the turmoil of the past two years. There are a number of common problems that affect the whole of our media spectrum, all of which have at some point to be wrestled to the ground if we're to ever move beyond what I see as this potentially self-destructive phase in our historical development. The first is the issue of media plurality. The situation in the UK (as in Italy) continues to be insupportable, yet somewhat like "serfs", we've seemed resigned to suffering it, as if no serious alternative existed. |
| One example: the free cash flow that will be generated by BSkyB over the next few years will unquestionably make it the dominant media player in the UK, and possibly the whole of Europe's content acquisition and distribution business – with all the implications for plurality and choice that necessarily go with it. | One example: the free cash flow that will be generated by BSkyB over the next few years will unquestionably make it the dominant media player in the UK, and possibly the whole of Europe's content acquisition and distribution business – with all the implications for plurality and choice that necessarily go with it. |
| In my view that will remain the case despite, for example, the power of Apple in technological hardware, Google in search, and Facebook in social media. None of those companies is, for the foreseeable future, seriously interested in challenging BSkyB on its home turf of buying, distributing, aggregating and, increasingly making, premium content. | In my view that will remain the case despite, for example, the power of Apple in technological hardware, Google in search, and Facebook in social media. None of those companies is, for the foreseeable future, seriously interested in challenging BSkyB on its home turf of buying, distributing, aggregating and, increasingly making, premium content. |
| Only a fool would conclude that News Corporation's designs on BSkyB have been forever abandoned. All the more so given the imminent split between its entertainment and print assets – and the fact that very strong growth at the US cable networks makes the former unit more powerful than ever. | Only a fool would conclude that News Corporation's designs on BSkyB have been forever abandoned. All the more so given the imminent split between its entertainment and print assets – and the fact that very strong growth at the US cable networks makes the former unit more powerful than ever. |
| Which leads, quite naturally, to the implications surrounding "foreign and non-domiciled ownership" – the social and political impact of the "national media" being something very different from that of, for example, the automobile industry; yet here again we have been lulled into accepting some bizarre form of commercial equivalence. We have allowed a situation to develop that would be wholly unacceptable in the US as well as the vast majority of other western democracies. | Which leads, quite naturally, to the implications surrounding "foreign and non-domiciled ownership" – the social and political impact of the "national media" being something very different from that of, for example, the automobile industry; yet here again we have been lulled into accepting some bizarre form of commercial equivalence. We have allowed a situation to develop that would be wholly unacceptable in the US as well as the vast majority of other western democracies. |
| I believe there is a need to totally re-evaluate the way we look at the relationship between the media and democracy. Over the past decade or so, a great deal of thinking has developed around the notion of "a duty of care" – as it relates to a number of aspects of civil society. This has principally focused on obvious areas, such as our empathetic response to the elderly and infirm, to children and young people, to our service personnel. It has seldom, if ever, extended to equally important arguments around the fragility of democracy itself: to the notion that honesty, accuracy and impartiality are fundamental to the process of building and embedding informed, participatory societies. I believe our developing concept of a duty of care should be extended to "a care" for our shared but fragile democratic values. | I believe there is a need to totally re-evaluate the way we look at the relationship between the media and democracy. Over the past decade or so, a great deal of thinking has developed around the notion of "a duty of care" – as it relates to a number of aspects of civil society. This has principally focused on obvious areas, such as our empathetic response to the elderly and infirm, to children and young people, to our service personnel. It has seldom, if ever, extended to equally important arguments around the fragility of democracy itself: to the notion that honesty, accuracy and impartiality are fundamental to the process of building and embedding informed, participatory societies. I believe our developing concept of a duty of care should be extended to "a care" for our shared but fragile democratic values. |
| After all, the absence of a duty of care within many professions can amount to accusations of negligence, and that being the case, are we really comfortable with the thought that we are being, in effect, negligent in regard to the long-term health of our own democracies, and the values that underpin them? | After all, the absence of a duty of care within many professions can amount to accusations of negligence, and that being the case, are we really comfortable with the thought that we are being, in effect, negligent in regard to the long-term health of our own democracies, and the values that underpin them? |
| For those who remain in doubt, the clearest possible case is made out in the Hansard Society's recently published Audit of Political Engagement 9, Part Two, Media and Politics. | For those who remain in doubt, the clearest possible case is made out in the Hansard Society's recently published Audit of Political Engagement 9, Part Two, Media and Politics. |
| I hope the events of this past week signify that we have collectively turned the page, and that politicians of all persuasions now recognise that the regulation of the media, entirely independent of government, and backed by appropriate powers of civil enforcement, is one of the fundamental guarantors of a healthy democracy in the 21st century. | I hope the events of this past week signify that we have collectively turned the page, and that politicians of all persuasions now recognise that the regulation of the media, entirely independent of government, and backed by appropriate powers of civil enforcement, is one of the fundamental guarantors of a healthy democracy in the 21st century. |
| This is an edited extract from a speech Lord Puttnam is giving today at the Institute of International and European Affairs, Dublin | This is an edited extract from a speech Lord Puttnam is giving today at the Institute of International and European Affairs, Dublin |
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