Lisa Nandy, UK Culture Secretary On Wednesday it revealed plans to expand the scope of the UK’s media merger laws, updating them “so that the digital age reflects modern news consumption habits and better protects media freedom and plurality”. The current regulatory regime only covers television, radio and print publications.

The changes would allow for “greater public interest scrutiny” of deals including the purchase of UK online news magazines and publications “that could adversely affect accurate reporting, freedom of expression and media plurality.” .

Currently, the media merger regime established in the Companies Act 2002 allows the Culture Secretary to “intervene in mergers and acquisitions of broadcasters (defined as services requiring a license under the Broadcasting Act 1996) as well as newspapers. UK daily and Sunday print publications. , and local newspapers, which circulate mainly in the United Kingdom”, the Labor Party Government highlighted.

Nandy has launched a consultation seeking views on expanding the scope of regulation, saying: “Since the media merger regime came into force more than 20 years ago, our laws have not kept pace with technology and Evolving news consumption habits. As people get more and more news online, we need a future-proof regime. “That is why I propose further reforms to protect the availability of accurate, high-quality news from a variety of sources, ensuring that press freedom continues to be defended.”

He said the update would also cover deals involving companies that own online news publications that are “connected to the UK, for example online-only news providers, as HuffPost either the independentor the online branches of print publications.”

The proposed changes would not apply retrospectively to historical transactions.