UK parties offer patchy policies on media

The main UK party manifestos were launched this week amid much fanfare and hype but how much substance is there when it comes to policies on the media and press freedom?

Labour’s manifesto was carefully crafted to avoid too many specific policy commitments. When it comes to the media there is virtually nothing, apart from a token mention of protecting people from harm caused by social media. They are offering us few clues as to what they might do in this crucial area in government after 4 July, assuming the current opinion poll trends hold.

Gone are its previous commitments to implement Section 40 of the Crime and Courts Act. This was the post-Leveson proposal for a state-backed press regulator with the power to impose costs on media organisations that refused to join by allowing courts to award all costs against the media in cases even when they were successful. It was opposed by most major media organisations. The clause was repealed – without opposition from Labour – in the Media Act that was rushed through its final stages as Parliament was dissolved when the General Election was called.

The Liberal Democrats and the Greens remain committed to reviving the second part of the 2012 Leveson enquiry with the Liberal Democrats saying they “support independent, Leveson-compliant regulation”.

SLAPPS not forgetten entirely
The bill to extend the protection against SLAPPS (strategic lawsuits against public participation) to non-economic crime did not survive the legislative cull at dissolution. This was promoted by Labour backbencher Wayne David, who is not re-standing, and had attracted all-party support. 

There is no mention of SLAPPS in the Labour manifesto, although Shadow Foreign Secretary David Lammy is on record during the campaign as saying a future Labour government would take further action to curtail the use of SLAPPS. The Liberal Democrats included a commitment to back anti-SLAPPS laws in their manifesto.

The Conservative manifesto contains the usual sabre-rattling at the BBC, saying it “should represent the perspectives of the entire nation with diversity of thought, accuracy and impartiality as its guiding principles. We will carefully consider the findings of the Funding Review ahead of the next Royal Charter and ensure it upholds these principles”.

The Green Party raised concerns about media ownership saying it would put forward measures to prevent any one company or person from owning more than a fifth of the media market.

Artificial intelligence looks to be in the ‘too hard’ tray
All the parties dance around the subject of artificial intelligence, especially the potential impact of large language models and generative AI on copyright and the quality of digital information.

Labour proposes a Regulatory Innovation Office, a sort of super-regulator that would ensure other regulators keep pace with changes in technology and market practice. It would have a brief that would stretch well beyond the media, taking in financial services among other highly regulated sectors.

The Liberal Democrats have more to say on the digital world than other parties, saying they “support modern and flexible patent, copyright and licensing rules” as part of a reform of copyright. They also propose increasing the Digital Services Tax paid by big tech firms from 2% to 6%

On misinformation, the party said it would push “for a global convention or treaty to combat disinformation and electoral interference, supplemented by an annual conference and Global Counter-Disinformation Fund”.

It also proposes a Digital Bill of Rights, which it says would cover rights to privacy, free expression, and participation and include powers to prevent harassment and abuse online.

The Conservatives can point to the Digital Markets Act, which was passed as Parliament was dissolved, with new powers to regulate big tech and create a new regulator – the Digital Markets Unit – which can compel tech companies to pay for news content which appears on their platforms and also fine them for abusing their market position.

Comes down to votes
The overall conclusion has to be that the policies on the media put forward by the main UK parties are patchy, perhaps surprisingly so given how much people discuss the press and media and how fast the worlds of news, information, artificial intelligence and social media are changing. It probably comes down to the first question parties ask themselves at election time when compiling their manifestos: “Are there any votes in it?”

• Reform UK has yet to produce a detailed manifesto and its website is pretty threadbare. It says it will publish a “Contract with the People” next week.

• Press Gazette has a more detailed review of the media policies of the main parties and additional commentary.