Search

Justin Schlosberg, from Birkbeck, University of London, responds to this week’s publication of Ofcom’s measurement framework for media plurality, arguing that the choice of metrics and the lack of ‘clear bright lines’ in the framework hamper a proper review of media concentration, and instead simply preserve the status quo. He has previously written a policy brief on Modelling Media Ownership Limits for the Media Policy Project.

Justin Schlosberg of Birkbeck, University of London looks at why the media ownership and plurality debates are stuck on the issue of measurement and argues that better assessment is needed before the right metrics can be chosen.

Political parties may be in stalemate over the underpinnings for a new self-regulator for the press, but Justin Schlosberg of Birkbeck, University of London and author of Power Beyond Scrutiny: Media Justice and Accountability argues that the problem policymakers should be dealing with is ownership concentration.

Since the Leveson Inquiry, academic and civil society experts have proposed a range of new limits on media ownership, both ceiling limits and threshold triggers of targeted behavioural intervention. The impact of these limits in the current situation would be relatively minor, even if the ceiling limits were set at the lower bounds of 15% or 20%, and need not necessarily result in enforced divestment or equate to a cap on growth. The BBC should be included in the measurement and monitoring of media plurality, but not in prescribed remedies. Plurality policy should address both individual markets for news and information (newspapers, radio, television and internet) as well as the total media market that extends beyond news providers.