NG
It’s a shame that there’s the law of impartiality. Could two channel focused on the conservative parties and labour work?
Believe me - it really isn't. Look at the state of the UK print media, and the US news channels, to see what happens when impartiality in news reporting isn't a requirement. I don't think many people look at the UK and go 'What we really need is Fox News to replace Sky News'...
The US argument that biased news is acceptable because of the plurality of the marketplace ignores the fact that audiences gravitate towards outlets that 'they agree with', and don't get plurality of news provision as a result.
The suggestion of a Tory and a Labour pair of channels really doesn't work in a UK where you have the Liberal Democrats, the SNP, Plaid Cymru, the DUP, the UUP, Sinn Fein, the Alliance, UKIP, The Green Party, the Scottish Labour and Tory parties etc. One of the reasons for impartiality is to stop the polarisation of reporting and the crowding out of minor voices in politics - at least to a degree. We aren't a strict two party system here - we're becoming more like many of the countries in mainland Europe where a mix of parties co-exist. After all we had a coalition government in recent years. (Tories + Lib Dems - who are definitely not politically on the same page)
Of course once we move to the online world - impartiality and Ofcom regulation ceases to apply, Fake News proliferates etc.
It's important not to see impartiality as censorship too - they are very different things.
noggin
Founding member
Changes to BBC Parliament & Political Programming
It’s a shame that there’s the law of impartiality. Could two channel focused on the conservative parties and labour work?
Believe me - it really isn't. Look at the state of the UK print media, and the US news channels, to see what happens when impartiality in news reporting isn't a requirement. I don't think many people look at the UK and go 'What we really need is Fox News to replace Sky News'...
The US argument that biased news is acceptable because of the plurality of the marketplace ignores the fact that audiences gravitate towards outlets that 'they agree with', and don't get plurality of news provision as a result.
The suggestion of a Tory and a Labour pair of channels really doesn't work in a UK where you have the Liberal Democrats, the SNP, Plaid Cymru, the DUP, the UUP, Sinn Fein, the Alliance, UKIP, The Green Party, the Scottish Labour and Tory parties etc. One of the reasons for impartiality is to stop the polarisation of reporting and the crowding out of minor voices in politics - at least to a degree. We aren't a strict two party system here - we're becoming more like many of the countries in mainland Europe where a mix of parties co-exist. After all we had a coalition government in recent years. (Tories + Lib Dems - who are definitely not politically on the same page)
Of course once we move to the online world - impartiality and Ofcom regulation ceases to apply, Fake News proliferates etc.
It's important not to see impartiality as censorship too - they are very different things.
