LONDON: A landmark bill set to modernise the UK’s media law has cleared the both Houses of Parliament and is ready for royal assent.
The Media Bill, which will update broadcasting laws for the streaming age, has been rushed through its remaining stages ahead of the general election on July 4, reported PA Media.
The UK government made two 11th-hour concessions on public service broadcasting, and accepted amendments put forward by BBC presenter and independent crossbench peer Deborah Bull.
The first amendment ensures that Reithian principles to inform, educate and entertain remain an explicit part of public service broadcasting.
Stephen Parkinson, minister in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, said: “They are admirable and important principles, and we do want them to remain key to the public service broadcasting ecosystem.”
The government also accepted Bull’s amendment which clarifies the importance of educational programming for children and young people.
Parkinson said: “I am, of course, in favour of high-quality programming which supports children to learn and grow, and I believe that the public service broadcasters have an important role in providing this.”
However, some peers were left disgruntled that the bill will repeal Section 40 of the Crime and Courts Act 2013, a law which forces publishers to pay the legal costs of people who sue them, even if they win, unless they sign up to a state-approved regulator.
This law was passed after the Leveson Inquiry (the inquiry a judicial panel set up to probe media ethics in the wake of the huge phone-hacking scandal at Murdoch’s News International newspaper group) but never implemented.
Now, more than 10 years later, the government believes it should be repealed, as they say it poses a threat to press freedom.
Independent crossbench peer Sheila Hollins disagreed with the government, and said that Parliament should “create an incentive for newspapers to do the right thing and join a regulator that would protect the public.”
Liberal Democrat former minister Thomas McNally accused the government of “fixing a deal” with the national newspapers over the repeal of Section 40.
He said: “We all know it has been put into this Bill like a sore thumb, to fix a deal between the Conservative Party and the major newspaper proprietors, that’s the wicked world we live in.”
Parkinson told the Lords that repealing the law is a manifesto commitment, and said: “The government is committed to protecting media freedom and the invaluable role of press freedom in our society and our democracy.
“As part of this, we’re committed to independent self-regulation of the press, and that extends to endorsing regulators of which they should become members.”
Meanwhile, other peers accused the government of trying to “smuggle things through” in the so-called wash-up period, the last few days of Parliament before dissolution, when legislation is either pushed through quickly or lost.
Labour peer David Lipsey, who said he has been involved in 11 wash-ups during his more than 50 years in Parliament, said: “I think that the government is trying to smuggle things through under wash-up which should not be in the legislation.”
He said that wash-up is designed for Bills on which there is consensus, and on the issue of Section 40, he insisted: “There is no consensus on this among the cross benches, there is no consensus among the Lib Dems and there is no consensus, if I’m honest about it, among Labour back benches.”
However, the Labour front bench said they had agreed to this legislation going through, with Roy Kennedy saying: “The motion has been agreed by the House.”
Lords Leader Nicholas True acknowledged that it is “uncomfortable,” but told peers: “The raw reality of politics apply and only things can be done which have the agreement of the official Opposition and the agreement of the government.” – BERNAMA-PA Media/dpa
