Sex, Lies and Democracy by Hugh Stephenson Michael Bromley

Author:Hugh Stephenson, Michael Bromley [Hugh Stephenson, Michael Bromley]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Social History, Social Science, Sociology, General
ISBN: 9781317886549
Google: E9B2DwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2018-09-03T03:39:56+00:00

A wider sense of accountability

Examining the terms of reference and the kinds of social groups who offered evidence to each of the Commissions illustrates how these bodies were reflecting a broadening of public concerns about the press and a widening of the types of groups who felt they had a role in commenting on the nature and functions of the press.

The terms of reference of the 1947–49 Commission were as follows:

furthering the free expression of opinion through the Press and the greatest practicable accuracy in the presentation of news, to inquire into the control, management and ownership of the newspaper and periodical Press and the news agencies, including the financial structure and the monopolistic tendencies in control. (RCP 1949: iii)

The concerns here are with freedom of expression and opinion and accuracy, and how they connected with ownership and monopoly. The issues were not about direct accountability to the State or the public, but how the industry’s structure affected the way the press fulfilled its function as a vehicle for the freedom of expression.

By 1961–62, although the focus was economic, the range of concerns was broadened and spelled out more fully:

examine the economic and financial factors affecting the production and sale of newspapers, magazines and other periodicals in the United Kingdom, including (a) manufacturing, printing, distribution and other costs; (b) efficiency of production; and (c) advertising and other revenue, including any revenue derived from interests in television; to consider whether these factors tend to diminish diversity of ownership and control or the number or variety of such publications, having regard to the importance, in the public interest, of the accurate presentation of news and the free expression of opinion. (RCP 1962: 3)

This Commission considered the issues in economic terms that emphasized questions of efficiency in contrast to the preceding Commission’s emphasis on monopolistic tendencies. Both Commissions were concerned with accuracy and freedom of expression. But the 1961–62 Com-mission was concerned, overtly, with advertising and the link with television. This reflected the postwar realization that it was advertising that impacted most heavily on a newspaper’s chances of survival. It also reflected the concerns about television as both a rival to the press and as a possible problem in terms of media concentration. The two Commis-sions shared an interest in ownership but read off different consequences. The 1961–62 Commission’s terms articulated the goals of the press in relation to ‘diversity’ and the ‘public interest’. This registered a widening of concerns from those focused on in 1947–49 by including the need for pluralism and to consider the press more directly in relation, not just to its function as vehicle for freedom of expression, but also its relation to a wider public interest that it was meant to serve.

The terms of the 1974–77 Commission were longer, more complex and reflected a further broadening of the concerns registered in 1961–62:

to inquire into the factors affecting the maintenance of the independence, diversity and editorial standards of newspapers and periodicals, and the public’s freedom of choice of newspapers

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