In its response to the Media Green Paper, the News Media Association (NMA) welcomes the Government's recognition of the importance of trusted journalism, but a narrow definition of 'trustworthy' news risks advantaging a small number of public service broadcasters and publishers at the expense of media plurality. News titles outside the regime could see PSB coverage of stories they originally investigated and broke made prominent instead of the original reporting, potentially disincentivising investment in investigative journalism.
NMA chief executive, Theo Bamber, said: “We support the Government’s ambition to make sure more people consume more high-quality journalism – and that news publishers can produce more of it. Any regime making publishers’ visibility dependent on a government-backed definition of trustworthiness raises questions about press freedom and editorial independence.
“Instead of bringing forward narrow solutions that fail to address the root causes of the problem, the Government should tackle large platforms' market power – whether it be in search, social media, video, or AI. The Government must back the CMA to deliver remedies through the Digital Markets Unit. This will be faster, more effective, and future-proofed – and comes without the substantial dangers of a prominence regime.”
A broader definition could mitigate these press-freedom concerns, but risks making the regime so broad it becomes ineffective. Nor is greater prominence through regulation guaranteed to increase engagement: audiences may distrust content they perceive as promoted through regulatory intervention rather than their own choices, which risks undermining trust in online news, added the NMA.
The risks are particularly acute for local news, the NMA continued. Many local publishers may fall outside the regime altogether, while those included operate across complex and overlapping markets, making consistent monitoring and enforcement difficult. The Government must explain how it would prevent a prominence regime from inadvertently disadvantaging local titles, particularly as the Government’s devolution agenda makes local reporting more important than ever.
The CMA already has the powers to require dominant platforms to improve algorithmic transparency, promote high-quality content, and address the use of news content in AI-generated answers. The NMA says the Government should now back the CMA in using them effectively.
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