Clause 2 - Initial function of OFCOM
Office of Communications Bill [Lords]
4:45 pm
Mr Laurence Robertson (Tewkesbury, Conservative)
I wish to speak briefly to amendments Nos. 61 and 62. The objectives for setting up Ofcom are simplification, which I will come back to in a moment, standards in broadcasting and protection of the public. We discussed standards at some length earlier today when we talked about decency and good taste. I would be called to order if I restarted the discussion.
However, we must consider the influence that the media has on the public. It influences perceptions of good or bad taste and decency or indecency, but it also has an overall influence, perhaps of a political or religious nature. That is one reason why we need regulation, and rules and laws on competition.
I speak from bitter personal experience—perhaps all hon. Members can—of undue media influence, which can damage one's career. One part of the media may pursue someone who they have something against, or someone who belongs to a group that they wish to embarrass. Let us say that a newspaper is pursuing an individual. If several newspapers are under the same ownership, they can network and use local bases. They can snoop into every article that the individual has written for the local press and publicise them in the national press. We must be conscious of
the great power held by such media groups and examine it closely. I am pleased that the White Paper discusses the issue in some detail.
However, we must also be fair to the industry. The White Paper says that this Bill and the next one will have to strike a balance between creating a free and open society and protecting the public from undue influence, bad taste and indecency. I hope that we will be able to shape the legislation into that form. As I have often said, I believe in a free society, but not necessarily in a libertarian one. There is a difference.
In talking about regulation, we must be conscious of a point that I have raised many times, although I fear that I will be called to order if I go too deeply into it. We need to look at the position of the BBC with regard to regulation and competition. I do not understand how the BBC can be considered a fair competitor in the marketplace when non-consumers have to pay the licence fee. How can that be considered fair, free or competitive?