If Keir Starmer is serious about protecting UK journalism, he should enact some of the many existing proposals to fix a fourth estate on its knees (Journalism is the lifeblood of British democracy. My government will protect it, 28 October).
Tough new measures are needed to address the problem of concentrated media ownership and to stimulate a more plural environment. This means confronting the media monopolies, but also limiting the unaccountable power of big tech. Companies such as Meta, Google and X make millions from hosting journalism, yet they continue to pump capital into destructive technologies that threaten the industry.
The government also needs to address the crisis in local journalism, and the growing number of “news deserts” facing communities. Local journalism is a vital part of a functioning democracy and is crying out for the investment necessary to do the vital work of making political participation into something more than just observing the Punch and Judy show of Westminster.
Finally, the elephant in the room is the promised, but now abandoned, Leveson 2 inquiry that is necessary if we are to repair our broken system of press regulation. In the absence of tough controls, the priorities and agendas of our billionaire-owned press will continue to dominate domestic and foreign news.
Dr Tom Mills
Chair, Media Reform Coalition
The prime minister is right to say that a robust free press is the cornerstone of a free society. Sadly, Sir Keir is wrong when he proclaims in the same article that “thankfully there is no direct threat to press freedoms in our country”.
We urge him to pay closer attention to what’s happening in Northern Ireland, from revelations that the Police Service of Northern Ireland spied on journalists – Trevor Birney, Barry McCaffrey and others – to the murder of Martin O’Hagan for investigating the deeds of armed and illegal paramilitary groups.
Journalists deserve protection and, so far, there’s mounting proof that they are not safe in Northern Ireland. The chill factor on press freedom is palpable. The attention of the prime minister would be welcome.
Patrick Corrigan
Amnesty International UK’s Northern Ireland director
Keir Starmer needs to look at the grassroots, where local media has been treated appallingly by major companies more interested in their own profits than democracy. Labour must look again at the subsidies given to the local media giants through archaic rules about public notice advertisements. These rules lock out innovative independent publishers, both in print and digital. They also provide poor value for local councils, who are often forced to pay for ads in publications residents rarely see.
Darryl Chamberlain
Founder/editor, The Greenwich Wire, London
My first thought on seeing the headline on Keir Starmer’s article was: what about Palestinian journalists? Starmer acknowledges “the more than a hundred journalists killed reporting the unimaginable suffering in Gaza”, but does not mention the perpetrator of these killings: Israel. If he truly believed in protecting journalism, he would be calling these deaths out for what they are, war crimes, and would be implementing an arms embargo and sanctions. The rest is empty words.
Emma Thomas
Ascog, Isle of Bute
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