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Digital Economy Bill [HL]

Let me begin by once again declaring my interest in this matter as chairman of the Press Complaints Commission and making it clear that I am not here to represent or support the newspaper industry. My interest relates wholly and directly to the crucial issue of self-regulation or, as I would prefer to call it, regulation that is entirely independent of the state. My concern is to ensure that the Bill does not diminish the freedom of the press and magazine industry to publish news online that may be partial, including news where there is a person exercising editorial control over that published material. I am grateful to the Minister for taking the time to discuss this matter with me between Committee and Report. The issue is a thorny one. I accept without reservation that, where news is disseminated by what can be clearly defined as public service broadcasting, the provision of that news must be subject to the usual rules of impartiality. What is not clear in the Bill is the situation with regard to newspaper and magazine websites, which are not regulated by Ofcom and are not subject to any rules or codes of impartiality. They are regulated by the Press Complaints Commission, which, of course, is a body that itself is not regulated by statute and is independent both of the newspaper industry and of the state. I am concerned that the proposed amendment to the Communications Act in Clause 1(5)(c) appears to give Ofcom new powers to regulate newspaper and magazine websites. I appreciate that Ofcom has given clarification and guidance notes that this will not be its intention, but clearly, if that is not incorporated into primary legislation, theoretically at least the power will exist. As I am sure the Minister is aware, the audiovisual media services directive recital states: ""The scope of this directive should not cover electronic versions of newspapers and magazines"." I am concerned that the exemption of newspaper and magazine websites, explicitly mentioned in the AVMS directive, has still not been incorporated into English law, either in the Audiovisual Media Services Regulations 2009 or, thus far, by the Bill as currently drafted, and that the audiovisual material on the websites of magazines and business publishers may be caught by the regulations despite this not being the intention of the directive. It is important to note that the Press Complaints Commission remit covers editorial material on newspaper and magazine websites where it meets two key requirements: that the editor of the newspaper or magazine is responsible for it and could reasonably have been expected both to exercise editorial control over it and apply the terms of the code; and that it was not pre-edited to conform to the online or offline standard of any other media regulatory body. In effect, if the material is not sourced from broadcasters, such as the BBC or ITN, but is original to the paper, it is covered by the Press Complaints Commission, not by Ofcom. In moving this amendment, I am therefore respectfully asking the Government to make it clear that the Bill’s extensions of Ofcom’s general duties will not give Ofcom any new powers over any content, including audiovisual content, on newspaper and magazine websites. I beg to move.