Newspaper regulation: blog tasks

 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?

At its peak the Leicester Mercury had employed 130 journalists. Perch see's the paper in 10 years' time struggling due to the rapid rise of technology and how the internet is taking over with if the Leicester Mercury is still in print, it will be weekly, extremely expensive, and have a very small circulation; if it is online only – the likeliest outcome – it will be unlikely to make money, and so would employ as few as five or six staff.

2) How does Perch view the phone hacking scandal?

Perch's views with the phone hacking scandal is that it was wrong but it should have been dealt with

legally as it was not being dealt with by the police but by the government instead. Perch believes that regulation is not the answer and that they should 'tame' the press instead. 

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

IPSO (Independent Press Standard Organisation) is a regulator for newspapers making sure the news they are sharing and providing is correct and within the rules. 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?

Perch's view of newspaper ownership is that he does not believe 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?

Yes I do agree with his view. This is because if broadcasters were allowed to talk about their views and who they agree on instead of giving the 'balance' of both sides it will help to generate more views. This is because the public may be more on the side for the left wing side of the party more than the right and will not focus on or care as much as what the broadcasters have to say about the right wing of the party and will perhaps lose interest and switch the channel over to something else. So if broadcasters had less of a regulation on them and wanted to speak freely of which party they are on this could help to increase engagement and views within the audience to see how the show pans out.  


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.

I somewhat agree with this question of what are the for and against for statutory regulation of the newspaper industry as I do think it is severely needed.  

I agree to an extent as with regulation within the newspaper industry this can help keep away the fake news from the real. This is because if there was no regulation within the newspaper industry, newspaper such as The Guardian or even The Daily Mail they could go write about and post anything they want on their newspapers and bringing people to believe what they are writing is true when in fact it is fake. With regulation this helps to prevent such disasters happening and keeping the public safe from this kind of news. 

Another reason why I agree with regulation to be done in the newspaper industry is to protect famous celebrities and stars and their private life. This is because back in 2011 there was a huge and major incident that broke out over the death of a young girl called Millie Dowler and how a newspaper company News Of The World was tampering into her parents phones and listening into their voicemails so they get first hand knowledge of what is going on. This was a major phone hacking scandal that happened and was founded by the government. This whole incident was called The Levenson Inquiry. In addition to this major stars such as Hugh Grant and even the Royal family were found victims to this scandal which messed up and destroyed their reputation within the media which was all because of News Of The World. Having regulation within the newspaper industry is crucial and important so not another incident such as the Leveson Inquriy happens again keeping the public and celebrities safe from the news' eyes. 

However, some arguments for not using regulation in the newspaper industry is that it will give more control over to the government then. This could be seen as a potential bad thing as the government could hide away important facts away from the public that could expose their party of wrongdoings so if there was no regulation the government could use this to their advantage and only show the people what they want them to see and not the bigger picture instead. 

In conclusion, I believe that even though there are some good sides and bad sides to having statutory regulation for the newspaper industry I believe it will do more good than bad. This is because the current newspaper regulator Independent Press Standard Organisation (IPSO) which started right after the Levenson Enquiry helped to bring about the awareness that we do need a newspaper regulator as before IPSO it was the Press Complaints Comission (PCC) which did not do such an amazing job at regulation as these were voluntary regulators with no legal power and the PCC was regulated by newspaper editors themselves which made it an unfair judgement which was brought upon them and they were heavily criticised for.  So having regulation for the newspaper industry is important as this will help to maintain what kind of news is published and read by people and seeing if it is harmful or not with IPSO keeping a close eye on it.