The Cairncross review suggests ‘news quality obligations’ overseen by a regulator.
Background: The UK Government tasked a review back in March 2018 on ‘sustainable high-quality journalism in the UK’. Dame Frances Cairncross chaired the review, which gathered evidence up until September 2018. Today, the Government published the final report of the review.
What does the review suggest? The report makes a number of recommendations, spanning across several issues. Tech companies should continue to help readers understand the reliability of news sources; however, their efforts should be ‘placed under regulatory scrutiny’. In other words, a ‘News Quality Obligation’ should be imposed on them. The review does not suggest Google and Facebook should start paying publishers for news content; however, it calls for new codes of conduct to rebalance the relationship between publishers and online platforms; and for the CMA to investigate competition in the online advertising market.
How will this translate into action? The Government has committed to responding to the review later in 2019. To this end, it will now start a discussion with the CMA, Ofcom and other authorities on how to best approach the recommendations of the report.
