23 June 2026
Responding to the Media Green Paper, News Media Association chairman Lord Black of Brentwood said: “A strong and healthy democracy depends upon a wide range of voices, including a diverse and plural media, to debate the issues that matter.
“The government is right to highlight the growing problem of misinformation online, but the solution must ensure that media diversity is protected, maintaining public access to diverse and plural sources of trusted information.”
NMA chief executive Theo Bamber said: ” Trusted journalism is the antidote to the growing problem of misinformation on social platforms, but any prominence regime must support the diverse media environment that we have in the UK – a key part of our democratic framework.
“So, while we support the government’s intentions in wanting to get people to access trusted news, the method they are proposing here risks obscuring the high-quality, agenda-setting journalism produced everyday by the UK’s independent news publishers and narrowing the range of trusted voices available to people across the country.”
Notes:
- NMA chief executive Theo Bamber is available for interview on the Media Green Paper.
- Huge print and digital audiences – some 45.9 million people every month – for our diverse and plural news media show the public recognise the enormous value of having a wide variety of trusted sources of information available in an increasingly challenged online information ecosystem.
- Government must not narrow definitions beyond the ‘recognised news publisher’ in the Online Safety Act. Introducing new criteria to decide which organisations, or what kind of news, gets elevated will create ‘winners’ and ‘losers’ and have a negative impact on public trust.