Lords interrogate Alan Rusbridger's plurality reforms
On Tuesday 9 July, the House of Lords Communications Committee will get to grips with a suite of proposals for reform to the media plurality rules, put forward by Alan Rusbridger and the Guardian Media Group.
The Guardian Media Group, representatives of which will be appearing before the Committee on Tuesday, formed part of the Alliance of media organisations which took a critical view of the proposed acquisition of the remaining shares in BSkyB by News Corp.
They have developed a set of reforms to the media plurality rules which they argue would have helped avert the concerns they had at the time.
The Committee will put questions to them on these recommendations, ranging from new powers of discretion for Ofcom to investigate and intervene, a reformed public interest test and transparent procedures around the Secretary of State's ‘quasi-judicial' final decision to act.
Appearing before the Committee will be:
- Alan Rusbridger, Editor-in-Chief of The Guardian and The Observer;
- Andrew Miller, Chief Executive, Guardian Media Group; and
- Sarah Davis, Commercial Legal Director, Guardian Media Group.
The evidence session will take place on Tuesday 9 July from 3.30pm in Committee Room 2 of the House of Lords.
The session will be webcast at www.parliamentlive.tv and is also open to the public. Journalists wishing to attend should go to Parliament's Cromwell Green Entrance and should allow time for security screening.
