Newspaper Regulation

 Task One: Media Magazine article and questions

Read the Media Magazine article: From Local Press to National Regulator in MM56 (p55). You'll find the article in our Media Magazine archive here. Once you've read the article, answer the following questions:

1) Keith Perch used to edit the Leicester Mercury. How many staff did it have at its peak and where does Perch see the paper in 10 years' time?

Staff at it's peak - 130 journalists

Perch believes that if the paper is still in print in 10yrs time it will be very expensive, print weekly, have a very small circulation, and would make very little money, and so would employ as few as five or six staff

2) How does Perch view the phone hacking scandal?

A small section of the press was behaving in a totally unacceptable way, but it should have been dealt with

legally. I don’t think regulation is the answer.

3) What does IPSO stand for and how does it work?

Independent Press Standards Organisation - work? A newspaper has 28 days to deal with a complaint. If it hasn’t been resolved, the complainant can then take it to the IPSO Complaints Committee, which will decide if the Editor’s Code of Practice has been broken. If it has, the Committee can insist on corrections and demand that they be placed on a particular page.

4) What is Perch's view of newspaper ownership?

Keith does not believe that businesses such as Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, which owns The Sun, The Times and 39% of Sky, should be forced to sell some of their titles to ensure that no one person or company can control too much of the media industry and therefore control the agenda.

5) Do you agree with his view that broadcast news should have less regulation so that TV channels can support particular political parties or people?

No, I think broadcast news should be regulated as it is able to reach more of the electorate and therefore can influence political outcomes, despite them being allowed to promote any one political party or person in their print products, this is because they are able to reach a smaller number of people. 

Task Two: Newspaper regulation exam question

Write an answer on your blog answering the following exam question:

What are the arguments for and against statutory regulation of the newspaper industry? [20 marks]

Aim to write an answer of around 400-500 words featuring at least three detailed paragraphs. Make sure you cover both sides of the debate. This topic could well be our 20-mark essay at the end of Paper 1, Section B so it's great preparation for the summer exams.

Extension task: The role of media in democracies

Read this excellent article from the Constitution Unit on why media plays such an important role in democracies - and how regulation and affect this. Does this change your opinion on whether the newspaper industry should face statutory regulation?