Hunt makes new claims to change UK’s regulatory system
Jeremy Hunt, the shadow secretary for Culture, Media and Sport, has promised to relax regulations that govern the UK media industry.
Hunt claims the Conservative government will encourage self-regulation if they get in at the election, which he believes will enable digital media to thrive.
In addition, the minister insists he will make sure that the BBC does not have a negative impact on the online commercial market, an issue which was the basis for James Murdoch’s attack on the BBC at last year’s MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival.
Hunt said he also hopes to support a new structure for online copyright and IP, ensuring privacy concerns do not become a problem for commercial models, and create an environment that will be sought after by global digital media companies.
In an interview with NMA, Hunt said the Conservative’s focus will be to lighten regulations that currently surround the media industry, an industry that he says is crucial to the UK economy.
“We’re one of the most advanced countries in the world for creating digital content,” Hunt said. “Central to that is a government embracing it but knowing when to regulate and when to step back.”
Talking about online privacy, Hunt said that he was confident the government could find a “solution because in the end there’s a massive commercial self-interest in solving this”.
On the BBC, he promised there would be stricter boundaries on the corporation’s online activities. “The BBC’s online presence should be within defined boundaries that relate closely to its broadcast output. We’ll have discussions with the BBC when it’s negotiating the next licence fee in 2012,” he said.
Hunt’s latest claims follow his previous promises to abolish local cross-media ownership rules and take away Ofcom’s policy-making responsibilities if the Tories win at the next election.
In November, Hunt complained that the media industry is in crisis as a result of “heavy-handed regulation”.
“It is why no major international players have come forward to buy ITV and major US networks are not interested in investing in Britain,” he said. “They are driven away by the top-down, paternalistic regulations which are strangling our creative media industries. We will strip away the regulations.”
The shadow secretary has openly criticised Ofcom’s regulatory position, and has made it clear that he plans to change its role to focus on areas such as “decency, impartiality and taste”.
Hunt’s claims largely follow the themes set out in Murdoch Junior’s MacTaggart Lecture last summer. News Corporation’s chairman and chief executive for Europe and Asia used his spotlight at the festival to damn Britain’s flagship public service broadcaster and regulatory body.
James Murdoch insisted that Ofcom’s regulations suffocate the market and restrict new media innovation. He made no secret of the fact that he’d like to see a new market with less, if any, regulation, and as such will support Hunt’s strategy.
The BBC also came under Murdoch’s fire. Not only does Murdoch believe that the BBC should be starved of funds to lose weight, he was also quick to attack the BBC’s online offering.
He even went as far as to say that BBC’s digital news service needs to “be dealt with” as it is, in his eyes, causing huge problems for commercial news.
Hunt seemed to agree with Murdoch. Just over a month later, Hunt suggested the Conservatives would “rip up” the BBC’s royal charter and licence fee agreement. It was around then that The Sun, the biggest-selling national newspaper in the UK, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, withdrew its support for Labour and started backing the Conservative party.
However, a month later, Hunt changed his mind and ruled out making such changes to the BBC’s charter.