Plurality and Media Power: new policy approaches to protecting the public interest in the 21st century

In most mature democracies around the world, preserving media plurality has become a major political and regulatory issue. As powerful media enterprises seek to consolidate in a hostile economic environment, governments are struggling to prevent too much media power becoming concentrated in too few hands. At risk is the diversity of voice and editorial output which are the lifeblood of a healthy democracy.

In the UK over the last 2 years, we have seen vivid examples of this accretion of corporate power, the apparent unwillingness (or inability) of policy-makers to intervene, and the failure of existing policy and regulatory regimes to protect the public interest. Evidence to the Leveson Inquiry has provided abundant testimony of the problems being posed.

This project will address these issues at one of the most crucial junctures of policy-making in recent political history. Publication of the Leveson report in Autumn 2012 will be followed by a 2-3 year legislative process which will include major policy debates on a new framework for media plurality. Beyond that, there will be implications for how this framework will operate in the longer term.

The research is designed to promote more effective, more ambitious and more citizen-focussed policies in this area, and therefore to animate and inform current policy thinking as well as the policy and regulatory environment which will follow. The proposed Research Fellow, Prof Steven Barnett, has conducted research in this area for over 20 years, and has advised ministers and Parliamentary committees. Because of his immersion in the policy process, he is well acquainted at the highest levels with all the key political, industrial and regulatory figures.

Through a series of interviews, seminars and events aimed at key stakeholders, including groups who are not traditionally part of the policy conversation, this project will generate new and innovative ideas and will contribute to a broadening agenda around media plurality which will feed into the legislative process.

The key objectives are threefold. First, to assess different approaches to defining and measuring plurality, and the challenges posed by new and convergent media; second, to examine the drawbacks of the current policy regime, and to propose ideas for a more robust policy framework; third, to evaluate new and existing ideas for structural initiatives or solutions which might exploit new media opportunities to promote plurality.

Research will be conducted in three ways. First, it will analyse the wealth of valuable information and ideas in written and oral submissions to the Leveson Inquiry. Second, interviews will be held with 12 leading political, regulatory and industry figures involved in recent policy debates around plurality and the public interest. Third, a series of six seminars will be convened, including one in Scotland, one in Wales, and one including European experts in the area. In each one, a group of around 20 academics, regulators, politicians, policy-makers and representatives of civil society will address the key research questions and respond to ideas generated during the first two stages.

Results of the research will be disseminated through a planned series of networking events as well as through two books, conferences and a dedicated website. Events will be directed at key politicians and policy-makers such as special advisers, senior civil servants and regulators; media industry executives and umbrella groups; civil society groups; and academics from media, law and politics.

As well as proceeds from the seminars and networking events, outputs will include an 80,000 word monograph (already commissioned), conference papers, and an edited collection of essays. The project will involve a part-time post-doctoral Research Assistant who will be fully involved in the seminars and networking events, will co-author conference papers, and will assist in producing the edited collection.

An integral part of this project is that it should reach beyond the academic community and engage with a number of key stakeholder groups involved in developing or responding to policy and regulatory issues around media ownership. Traditionally, this area has been dominated by industry and business arguments, while other stakeholder groups (particularly politicians) have lacked the confidence, knowledge or opportunity to think imaginatively and act collaboratively. This research is designed to inform and feed into the process of developing a new, robust legislative and regulatory framework which will promote a more democratic media while being economically sustainable.

These stakeholder groups will therefore benefit first from having access to a thorough analysis of relevant testimony to the Leveson Inquiry; second, being exposed to a number of different and innovative ideas - including international and European approaches - around measuring, legislating for and promoting media plurality in the longer term; and third, having the opportunity to debate new public interest policy and regulatory initiatives with other stakeholders, experts and interested parties in different fora.

The following groups will benefit:

- Politicians, particularly those involved in creating or responding to legislation around media power. This includes ministers, shadow ministers, and relevant select committee members in both Houses as well as MPs and Peers who have taken an active interest in media plurality debates over the last ten years.
- Policy analysts and policy advisers, particularly those currently working for MPs and ministers in developing policy ideas around media plurality and the public interest. This will include relevant advisers at Downing Street as well as independent industry analysts.
- Think tanks such as IPPR, Institute of Economic Affairs, Adam Smith Institute, CentreForum, Demos and Reform which have all shown a keen interest in developing and sharing new ideas and creative thinking in this area.
- Senior civil servants at DCMS and DBIS who have previously been responsible for media policy or are currently in the process of developing ideas and initiatives for the new Communications Bill.
- Senior individuals involved in the key regulatory agencies, in particular Ofcom, the Competition Commission and the Office of Fair Trading. Through their direct involvement in recent investigations involving News Corp and BSkyB (as well as BSkyB and ITV in 2006-8), they have been working within and interpreting current statutory requirements, and will play a crucial role in implementing new policy initiatives on media plurality.
- Civil Society Groups and NGOs such as Voice of the Listener and Viewer, Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom, Media Standards Trust, and the Community Media Association, which have traditionally supported citizen-based initiatives but have had neither the resources nor the influence to make a significant impact on media ownership policy.
- Relevant charities and Trusts such as the Journalism Foundation and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism which are developing new models for funding new journalism enterprises and projects.
- Policy-makers specifically in the nations of Scotland and Wales, where some policy-making is devolved and where different issues arise around media power and sustainable media enterprises.
- Industry executives in the private sector, including the main privately owned broadcasters, all the major newspaper groups, and the major online social media players such as Google, AOL and Facebook.
- Senior executives from the BBC and Channel 4 where arguments about media power are interwoven with issues around impartiality, internal plurality, and editorial accountability. They will also benefit from involvement in discussions about how the public sector can work in partnership with the private to promote new and diverse small media enterprises.