Jeremy Hunt has asked Ofcom to recommend new media plurality measures following challenges raised against News Corporation bid for BSkyB
The culture secretary Jeremy Hunt has asked Ofcom to propose new ways of assessing cross-platform media plurality within the news industry after challenges were raised in the regulator's review of News Corporation's bid for BSkyB.
In his speech to the Royal Television Society last night, culture secretary Jeremy Hunt outlined his proposed framework of the new communications act, including improvements to the protection of media plurality.
He called for a platform-neutral framework to be established, in particular asking Ofcom to look at whether or not it is practical or advisable to set limits on news market share.
One of the initial hurdles for Ofcom to overcome will be how to handle the variations of audience measurement which currently exist across different media forms.
In its report to the culture secretary on News Corporation's bid, Ofcom had already suggested the different ways in which plurality could be measured, but Hunt says this now needs to be addressed in more detail and recommendations made for an agreed approach in the future.
Ofcom's resulting report will be submitted as part of its evidence to the Leveson inquiry, which, in its first stage, is looking at the issues of media regulation and standards.
A spokesman for Ofcom said it welcomed the opportunity to provide assistance.
In his speech, published in full here, Hunt also said he believed media plurality should more closely reflect competition policy and allow independent regulators to investigate media plurality even when a takeover bid has not been made.
He also called for politicians to be removed from takeover processes to ensure justice is not only done but seen to be done.
His speech also showed support for an independent regulatory framework, which could then be applied across all platforms.
"Our free press has served us incredibly well," he said.
"So we do not want any changes to result in the back door imposition of statutory broadcast-style regulation.
"But if we are to avoid this, the public will insist on a system of robust, independent regulation with credible sanction-making power."
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