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Why Can’t The Market Decide?

Why Can’t The Market Decide?. Richard Tait, Director, Centre for Journalism Studies, Cardiff University. News as a Public Good. Most Trusted Source of Information: Television 71% Radio 14% Newspapers 6%.

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Why Can’t The Market Decide?

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  1. Why Can’t The Market Decide? Richard Tait, Director, Centre for Journalism Studies, Cardiff University

  2. News as a Public Good Most Trusted Source of Information: Television 71% Radio 14% Newspapers 6%

  3. News as a Public Good Most Used Source of Information: Weekly Reach: BBC 65.7% ITN 63% Sky 6.7%

  4. News as Public Good Value of impartiality: 92% of viewers believe television news should be impartial and objective

  5. News on ITV in 1992 • Flagship programme at 22.00 • Audience around 6 million • Indicative budget of £55-60 million • Comparable in quality to BBC News

  6. News on ITV in 2004 • News at When? ( soon 22.30) • Audience halved to 3 – 3.5 million • Budget halved in real terms from £54 million to £36 million • ITC fears about competitiveness with BBC News (budget £400 million)

  7. News - A Regulatory Fiasco • Failure to enforce key public service obligations • Inconsistent approach to News at Ten (1993, 1998, 2000, 2003..) • Commercially inept – gifted BBC1 a competitive schedule

  8. News Channels • 24 hour channels make traditional bulletins irrelevant • Market can provide quality and range without regulation

  9. UK News Channels • ITV News – depends on size of ITV News operation – regulation • BBC News 24 – depends on size of licence fee – political decision • Sky News – depends on Rupert Murdoch – proprietorial whim

  10. Other News Channels • Fox News, CNN, CNBC, Bloomberg,EuroNews, Al-Jazeera… • Lack of UK content • Bend UK impartiality rules? • Limited audience appeal

  11. Market View of Regulation • All regulation is negotiable • Public service obligations unsustainable in long term without subsidy • Multi-channel television makes commercially funded PSB unnecessary

  12. Regulator’s View ‘as a regulator you can have a pop and get headlines but you cannot be effective in changing the culture of that organisation’ Patricia Hodgson, Chief Executive, ITC

  13. New Zealand • 1988 deregulation • Dumbing down of news • 2003 Re-regulation with obligation to produce high quality news • ‘the experiment is deemed to have failed’

  14. The Role of the BBC • BBC distorts the market • BBC a restraint on market • Common editorial values – impartiality, agenda • Competition a spur to innovation

  15. Why Can’t the Market Decide? • Shareholder value hostile to regulation/indifferent to public good • Minimum public service obligations affordable in medium term • Regulation to preserve values, not a continuous negotiation

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