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Digital Economy Bill [HL]

My Lords, as the noble Lord, Lord Puttnam, indicated, we have a new situation because of the consortia coming together, and perhaps underlying this is a certain suspicion of the press. I used to be chairman of the Yorkshire Post. We were called Yorkshire Conservative Newspapers but had to change the name when the Queen came to open the building because it was not regarded as satisfactory. By the time I became chairman, it was called Regional Independent Media and everything was left to the editors, as I think is right and proper. Having been brought up on the old Times, when impartiality and accuracy were the criteria, I think that what the noble Lord says is very sensible: impartiality and accuracy should be the objective. However, that should not preclude such services campaigning on particular issues. The BBC, which is governed by very much the same confines, also campaigns on particular issues. Therefore, the requirement is very much that any broadcasting organisation should be fair in what it does. Even if it is campaigning, it should be fair about how it presents the campaign. However, the noble Lord has made a very important point. Having slightly disagreed with him at a previous stage, which was very unusual for me, I am very glad that our alliance now continues as before.