NewsLine Column: A Step Towards Self-Regulation
With the media industry still trying to digest the Joint Scrutiny Committee’s report on the draft Communications Bill, ISBA’s director of public affairs, Ian Twinn, examines the Committee’s recommendations on the issue of self-regulation for broadcast advertising.
Understandably, the media focus on the Puttnam Committee report, published last week on the Communications Bill, was on their disagreement with the DCMS on foreign ownership of the media. However, there were other gems in the report, which may well outshine the immediate interest in who owns what. In particular, the Report’s strong support for advertisers’ arguments of the need to bring in a totally new system of accredited self-regulation for broadcast advertising could prove to be a key milestone.
It is no secret that we were disappointed that the Government’s encouragement of self-regulation in their White Paper had suffered from the Bill drafters’ desire to keep the job in house. We believe that this would be a wasted opportunity to design a new system to meet public interest concerns for responsible regulation as the media converges over the next decade. The draft Bill’s ‘do nothing’ option would result in demands for yet another Communication’s Bill in the next parliament.
Accredited self-regulation ensures any new regulator would have teeth. The ASA-CAP is a model of best practice self-regulation the world over and one which is being followed increasingly across Europe. The success of the independent ASA-CAP has been widely praised by the Government and is respected and paid for by the industry.
Advertisers, agencies and broadcasters are united though the AA in designing a new system. Details are yet to be fully discussed and developed, but there are key points, which any system will have to meet. Industry will want to own the codes just as it does through CAP for non-broadcast. Ofcom will need to set the broad policy objectives which are already reflected in the Bill and hold backstop regulatory powers just as the OFT does for the ASA. The new body must be independent and free to adjudicate on adverting without let or hindrance from advertisers or the Government. And we will want the BACC and RACC pre-clearance to continue.
Self-regulation is industry funded, so is at no cost to the taxpayer and it offers a direct consumer response mechanism, which genuinely empowers the public. What is more, as convergence blurs the lines between ‘broadcast’ and ‘non-broadcast’ media, a single model of regulation will be necessary. The alternative is confusion for advertisers, media owners and the public as to which body is responsible for regulating ads across different media. It is better for all parties that this is a self-regulatory model.
It remains to see how influential this innovative Joint Committee will be. Tessa Jowell, Culture Secretary, has said that the Report will play a key role in developing the final legislation, the Committee’s findings on the way forward for regulation of advertising in the digital age happily coincides with industry’s enthusiasm for sitting down with Government and hammering out the detail.
In years to come, the Puttnam Report could yet prove to be a major landmark for advertisers in the UK.
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