Ofcom to tackle local media

Ofcom is to reconsider the regulatory framework surrounding local and regional newspapers.

According to FT.com

The investigation will focus on whether the markets that newspapers serve should still be considered “self-contained” in relation to advertisers or readership and the extent to which other entities that provide news are in competition with local media companies

I can here collective sighs of relieve from the local industry but also the collective gasps from those that believe the market should be left to hasten the death of local print operations

Guardian media reports that

David Newell, director of the Newspaper Society, the body that represents regional publishers, said: "The NS welcomes today's announcement that the OFT is reviewing the local and regional merger regime within the time frame of the Digital Britain report. It is helpful that the government has specifically asked for the review to examine a number of the main issues which the NS has been asking the government to address as a matter of urgency."

Newswatch launches

Is your industry, company or organisation ever affected by unfair reporting or media bias? If so, Newswatch is a powerful analytical tool that can help.
The first casualty of today's cut-throat 24-hour media environment is often the truth, with potentially damaging effects on business and personal reputation

That is the statement on the website of Newswatch which has launched aimed at helping organisations in monitoring bias and impartiality in the media.



Founded by David Keighley and boasting clients such as the Tory Party and the Telegraph,it aims to in its words

to help you get to the nitty-gritty of what is being said
about your organisation on television and radio news programmes
by first tracking, then exploring in depth how topics are handled on air.

Roy Greenslade has been examining its track record on his media blog and suggests

So where, you might ask, is Newswatch coming from? What examples does it provide to back up its claims?
Only one, in fact, but that's good enough to give some idea because Newswatch has emerged from a research body founded in 1999 that famously carried out an analysis of the BBC's coverage of the European Union and found it unduly biased in favour of the EU.
It also scrutinised Radio 4's Today Programme over a three-month period this summer and found, says Keighley, that there was "serious under-representation of the arguments both for the referendum and against the new treaty from Eurosceptics".