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News impartiality ensured by regulatory body in the UK

POSTED BY: KPO
UPDATED: Friday, August 13, 2010 04:35
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Tuesday, August 10, 2010 12:07 PM

KPO

Sometimes you own the libs. Sometimes, the libs own you.


An interesting revelation (to me) and discussion that came up in the 'Why facts no longer matter' thread: News services are required (and regulated) to be impartial in the UK. I thought I'd move to its own thread and add some extra information:

OFCOM's (the independent regulatory body) broadcasting code: http://www.independentproducerhandbook.co.uk/232/4f-due-impartiality/k
ey-points.html


Quote:

News, in whatever form, must be reported with due accuracy and presented with due impartiality. Presenting a story or item with "due impartiality" means presenting it in an appropriately balanced and fair way.

The idea seems to be that the viewing public make complaints of partiality (or other complaints) to OFCOM, who then look into the matter, and take action if necessary.

I didn't realise it was a requirement for broadcasters here, although it makes a lot of sense. Some people might not be surprised to hear Rupert Murdoch is one of the most vocal critics of the impartiality requirement: http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/media/
article6814178.ece


Quote:

Mr Murdoch, who is also the chief executive of BSkyB, 39.1 per cent owned by News Corp, made clear that he believed that broadcasters such as Sky should be freed from the long-standing requirement to produce impartial news.

He argued that “the mere selection of stories and their place in the running order is itself a process full of unacknowledged partiality”. The impartiality rule was “an impingement on the freedom of speech”.



Here's some analysis of the regulation: http://adrianmonck.com/2007/11/impartiality-ofcom-retreats-from-a-fox-
news-future
/

It seems it's not just partisan channels like Fox News that we're seeking to avoid but also the idea of something like an extreme Islamist channel "ped­dling con­spir­acy the­or­ies and biased news with no oblig­a­tion to redress the balance" - and thus radicalising young Muslims.

Though really the article had me at 'a Fox News future'.

What do people think about the idea of news channels' impartiality being regulated?

It's not personal. It's just war.

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Tuesday, August 10, 2010 12:13 PM

WHOZIT


No one is talking about MSNBC or CNN or Headline News or the Food Network.

Those arn't boobs, they're lies! - Stewie Griffin

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Tuesday, August 10, 2010 12:14 PM

BYTEMITE


I think it would be troublesome to enforce and that Rupert Murdock's got a point, though I'm fully aware he has an alternative motive behind his statement.

But I agree that even just picking a story to report on and the parts to emphasize is not an impartial process.

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Tuesday, August 10, 2010 12:46 PM

KPO

Sometimes you own the libs. Sometimes, the libs own you.


Quote:

No one is talking about MSNBC or CNN or Headline News or the Food Network.


A friend of mine came back from America and said he was just as disgusted with MSNBC as Fox News (I was quite surprised). We're not used to partisan, politically aligned 'news' on TV over here. And when you think about it there's no reason why news should be political - it's just stuff that's happened - that's you know, newsworthy. Here, if you want politically filtered news, you can go out and buy a newspaper of course. But I quite like the idea that the ordinary guy who turns on his TV out of interest in what's going on in the world, gets theoretically 'unspun' reporting of events.

It's not personal. It's just war.

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Tuesday, August 10, 2010 1:01 PM

ANTHONYT

Freedom is Important because People are Important


Hello,

I think desiring impartiality in news is laudable.

However, I think it's a corruptible law, since even those enforcing it will have biases and agendas.

I can see some merit to the Free Speech argument, but I believe there is an 'out' for the would-be slanted news reporters. As long as they don't claim to be 'news' it seems they can say what they'd like. Perhaps they could take lessons from John Stewart and call themselves a 'Show' that reports 'fake news.'

News has generally been biased and skewed and used and abused since it was invented. I'm not sure that it's a curable condition, though I applaud efforts to try. I think the main impetus to balance the news needs to come from the consumer.

Sadly, many consumers are anxious to feed their preconceptions, and don't care about the fairness or balance of the news. That's why we see 'liberal' and 'conservative' labels being slapped on news providers. I think it's true. The news providers can't help but slide towards the preferences of their readership. It's how they stay in business.

If we really wanted un-biased news, we'd probably be able to find some, simply due to supply and demand.

--Anthony

Due to the use of Naomi 3.3.2 Beta web filtering, the following people may need to private-message me if they wish to contact me: Auraptor, Kaneman, Piratenews. I apologize for the inconvenience.

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Wednesday, August 11, 2010 8:08 AM

KPO

Sometimes you own the libs. Sometimes, the libs own you.


Quote:

I think it's a corruptible law, since even those enforcing it will have biases and agendas.


True, but it's not like the regulators cannot be criticised in the media - and indeed that's what happens: every ruling and board-appointment is scrutinised for bias.

So it seems like a workable, pragmatic system to me (if not without some flaws): regulators regulating the TV news, a free press regulating the regulators.

It's not personal. It's just war.

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Wednesday, August 11, 2010 8:30 AM

BYTEMITE


In America, if you want fair and balanced news, you have to watch left and right biased news and look for some truth in the middle, or look at news sources from outside in.

Technically, our news is "regulated" by the FCC, but they're worthless. And in the pockets of television and telecommunications corporations.

I know nothing about your regulators, but they could theoretically be bought off, or they might have an agenda to push. Similarly, private enterprise, such as your news organizations, will also have their own agenda. Your solution is to have two agenda driven groups monitor and regulate each other?

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Wednesday, August 11, 2010 8:41 AM

KPO

Sometimes you own the libs. Sometimes, the libs own you.


Quote:

Your solution is to have two agenda driven groups monitor and regulate each other?

That's a cynical way of putting it but essentially, yes.

Unless both 'agenda driven' groups merge into one, they should both limit each other in what they can get away with, just by doing their job.

It's not personal. It's just war.

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Wednesday, August 11, 2010 8:49 AM

BYTEMITE


But merging is what is bound to happen. Both agendas get a boost by helping each other and looking the other way.

U.S. gets it's oil for a possible war in Iran... BP gets it's money. US FDA approves unsafe drugs for market... Regulation has a tendency to become over-friendly with the regulated.

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Wednesday, August 11, 2010 9:04 AM

KPO

Sometimes you own the libs. Sometimes, the libs own you.


Quote:

But merging is what is bound to happen. Both agendas get a boost by helping each other


You're assuming that all the news sources (all tv broadcasters/newspapers etc. across the political spectrum) are a single entity, and will all go hand in hand together to enter into a corrupt deal with the regulators. This seems far fetched to me.

The 2 doomsday scenarios I can think of:

1) One big Corporation buys up all the major news providers, TV and print. And then buys up the government (to get to the regulators).

2) The government decides to take over control of the news media, effectively shutting down the country's free press.

Neither one seems bound to happen, and both plans would instantly raise a storm. And neither plan is facilitated by the existence of a regulating body... if anything they would make it harder.

It's not personal. It's just war.

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Wednesday, August 11, 2010 9:27 AM

BYTEMITE


U.S.: Disney, Newscorp, Time-AOL-Warner...

How is this NOT happening, exactly?

The politics don't really matter. PROFIT is what matters. If diametrically opposing news stations could merger and make a profit, they will.

Left and right actually have the same agenda: how do we run off with everything the same stupid people who put us in power have? Politics is just a convenient way to pit the general public against each other while they do so.

Fascism: via corporatism (corporations taking control of industry), despotism, cronism, and etc., the rich and the friends of the leadership establish themselves as an elite class.

Stalinist Communism: via centralizing the economy (government taking control of industry), a single party is propped up as the nation's elite, and live a far higher standard of living compared to the general population.

It's all pretty similar, and at some point the two end goals MEET. They're after the same thing, really. Everything else is just shadow play.

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Wednesday, August 11, 2010 12:51 PM

FREMDFIRMA



*blink*
(insert obligatory flirtatious remark here)

And now that you KNOW that, how do you propose to drop sand in their gears, hmmmm ?

Inquiring minds wanna know.

-Frem

I do not serve the Blind God.

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Wednesday, August 11, 2010 1:14 PM

BYTEMITE


Well, this seems like a good conversation for another thread. But a few quick thoughts:

There's one end goal that I can see, where the over-ambitious and greedy end up screwing themselves over, and this is going to be pretty much inevitable at some point. They're self-destructive.

What I'm concerned about is the people they could drag with them. So those of us who would oppose them and undermine them and help others do need to act.

I don't think you can win by force, and there's some good arguments not to (self-perpetuating cycle, etc.), so using information against them is their downfall, I'm sure of it. Average people may be sheep, but they don't abide corruption when it's exposed. You might just be directing the public to cut off another head of the hydra, but each time you do, maybe someone wakes up and starts questioning their biases and what they've been told.

First though, safe haven. Safe, self-sufficient, sustainable, possibly mobile haven. Make a safety net and save some people out from under the gears, old and young. Even if it's just to wait for the first scenario, even if we never expose anything or win any fight, at least we might still be standing when everything else crumbles. If anyone else wants to act before then, it'll be their choice.

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Wednesday, August 11, 2010 1:35 PM

FREMDFIRMA


Quote:

Originally posted by Bytemite:
First though, safe haven. Safe, self-sufficient, sustainable, possibly mobile haven. Make a safety net and save some people out from under the gears, old and young. Even if it's just to wait for the first scenario, even if we never expose anything or win any fight, at least we might still be standing when everything else crumbles. If anyone else wants to act before then, it'll be their choice.


You win the Kewpie doll.

The $64,000.00 question is - do you know what step three: intermediate is ?

Should be obvious, as you've seen it in practice.

-Frem

I do not serve the Blind God.

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Wednesday, August 11, 2010 1:48 PM

BYTEMITE


Hmm... Making sure they aren't crushed out immediately just for the gall of being independent, instead of good little boot-licking consumer slaves?

Because I know that's going to be a problem, but I haven't figured out how to address it beyond mobility, or maybe as a hard to trace network. Easier to organize and care when you see each other face to face though, so I'm not sure I'd be willing to sacrifice the humanity of interacting with people on the same side, you know.

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Wednesday, August 11, 2010 3:49 PM

FREMDFIRMA



Teach each of them that is capable, to do exactly what you have just done, and send them on their merry with a few resources and flunkies to do it.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

Along the way, tip the scales any way you can, even without an iota of communication they'll be damn quick to exploit the hole, and it prevents TPTB from tracing it to a single source since it looks like the actions of individual radicals.

-Frem

I do not serve the Blind God.

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Wednesday, August 11, 2010 10:51 PM

MAGONSDAUGHTER


Quote:

Originally posted by kpo:
Quote:


1) One big Corporation buys up all the major news providers, TV and print.


That is what tends to happen here, because we are such a small market. But we have regulations (don't you just love em) on how much of a percentage of the media you can own. Otherwise Rupert Murdoch would be President.

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Thursday, August 12, 2010 3:50 AM

BYTEMITE


There are ways around that too. It's similar to monopoly laws in the US, Anti-trust enforcement can be very inconsistent. The US hasn't had a big corporate break-up since AT&T in 1984, and there's now influences at work to discourage anyone who might want to look good to their constituents from going after corporations with anti-trust lawsuits.

Probably what we're seeing at work with the newsmedia is a cartel or oligopoly. They may not be owned by one person, and they may seem competitive on the surface, but behind the scenes I suspect there's actually a lot of cooperation between them in the pursuit of profit as well as with government officials. In the US, the existence of the AP means there's no real competitive drive between news agencies to break a story before anyone else. Competition between them seems to also be one big show, much like the politics.

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Thursday, August 12, 2010 5:30 AM

KANEMAN


Maybe that is why the British press is telling the truth about Michelle Obama while our media is quite.

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Friday, August 13, 2010 4:35 AM

KPO

Sometimes you own the libs. Sometimes, the libs own you.


*shrug*

What is the British media saying?




Quote:

That is what tends to happen here, because we are such a small market. But we have regulations (don't you just love em)

I think it's the way forward.

Some news clips that OFCOM has looked into (after viewer complaints), from Rupert Murdoch's Sky News: http://www.beehivecity.com/newspapers/adam-boulton-vs-alistair-campbel
l-ofcom-complaints-mount130510
/

Although OFCOM ruled in Sky News' favour both of these cases. One broadcaster that seems to get into trouble a lot is Iranian-funded channel Press TV:
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/broadcasting/news/a254806/ofcom-raps-press
-tvs-palestine-special.html


http://blogs.journalism.co.uk/editors/2009/08/03/ofcom-galloways-press
-tv-programmes-in-breach-of-code
/

It's not personal. It's just war.

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