Hold the front page: Increasing public interest scrutiny of newspaper mergers
1 July 2020
Since 2017, there have been more public interest interventions in media transactions in the UK than the total number of such cases over the previous 14 years, since the regime under the Enterprise Act 2002 came into force in 2003. Indeed, the relevant Secretary of State has recently intervened four times in quick succession. While the media industry has experienced significant changes to the consumption of news since the implementation of the regime, the rules and guidance to be applied by Ofcom (who is responsible for advising the Secretary of State on the public interest aspects of media mergers) have not followed. The article aims to review (i) the regime for reviewing media transactions on public interest grounds of media plurality, accurate presentation of news and free expression of opinion; (ii) highlight novel issues; and (iii) explore the trends arising from the flurry of recent interventions.
The authors are senior associate Aniko Adam and trainee lawyer Amelia McWhirter. This article was first published in Competition Law Insight, July 2020 (Vol 19, Issue 7).
Clifford Chance
