MRG Conference 1995

The 10th Media Research Group conference opened in Barcelona this morning with the theme of “Who should call the tune? – Are we paying a fair price for harmony?”

The opening session gave the opportunity for the media owner, the media journalist, the politician, and the city to have a say. The key issues of regulation; control; quality of product versus share value; the superhighway; media ownership and open access (the role of the “gatekeeper”) were all discussed. However, what emerged was an acknowledgement of an imperfect media world, where clearer (maybe greater) government regulation is required, but where market forces and the pace of change may move faster to shape the key issues and determine control of vital communication channels.

MEDIA OF THE FUTURE

Raymond Snoddy of the Financial Times suggested that satellites may yet be the superhighway, but that amongst all the developments, traditional media proved “amazingly robust”. “Consumer spending will be the real guide to the success or failure of the new media of the future”, he said.

MEDIA OWNERSHIP

Snoddy suggested a simple points system to determine media ownership rules (e.g. 5 points for a TV station, 1 for a local newspaper, etc.) and Chris Smith (until recently, the Shadow Heritage spokesman) could not add to this any indications of how a Labour government might handle the issue. He was “not adverse to national newspapers owning ITV licences”, and stated that any system “must not penalise success”.

THE GATEKEEPER

Both Smith and Snoddy stressed that no one company should be allowed to control the information supply through the “black box” that will control all TV pictures in the digital broadcasting world.

However, David Forster (media analyst, Merrill Lynch) believed that Rupert Murdoch would own this technology within two years, and suggested that at that point the government would probably still be debating regulation for control of this.