Murdoch and our newspapers

As candidates we have received a large number of emails from 38 degrees members in the last few days on the subject of the media billionaires and the Leveson inquiry which is due to report soon. We believe that there is a proper democratic case for limiting cross media ownership by trans-national companies. We would have tighter rules on cross-media ownership. We are not convinced that arguments around globalisation and competition are any justification for loosening restrictions. Allowing individuals and companies to have too much influence undermines the operation of healthy informed democracy, not just in the UK, but across the EU and beyond. The Green Party will campaign to restrict ownership so that no individual or company owns more than 20% of a media market, and that if it owns more than 15%, controls be put in place including transparent governance into which the public can have access. The role of OFCOM will be further expanded to take on statutory responsibility and regulation for matters relating to print media. In the first instance OFCOM may delegate front line complaint handling to the Press Complaints Commission (PCC), but OFCOM will provide a regulatory framework for the work of the PCC.