Informed 12 Update


“Dog’s dinner” bill may harm free speech


Aſter five years in gestation, the government’s long-awaited plan for reducing online harms has instead prompted fears for the future health of journalism. Te Online Safety Bill, which had its first


reading on 17 March, is intended to set an international standard in addressing the many problems of the internet, from cyber-flashing to terror activities and from online scams to hate speech. Instead, it has alarmed journalism bodies and freedom of speech campaigners who warn that it will give undue power to platform algorithms and politicians for defining the parameters of what can be published online. “It’s a complete dog’s dinner,” said NUJ general secretary Michelle Stanistreet. “It’s trying to do lots of things and I don’t think it’s effectively doing anything well.” While the bill contains provisions for making news organisations exempt from having their content taken down by platforms, the protection of journalism appears far from comprehensive.


Media fat cats revealed


A rich list of media executives compiled by the Press Gazete has revealed multi-million pound salaries for newspaper executives, some of whom pocketed eye- watering sums despite parts of their company making losses. Topping the chart of the


news media bosses was the Daily Mail’s Lord Rothermere on £10,910,000 and chief executive Paul Zwillenberg


publishers will not protect most journalists, including community-based outlets and bloggers, warned Lexie Kirkconnell-Kawana, head of regulation at press regulator Impress. “Of full-time employed journalists only 11,000 out of around 100,000 in the UK are affiliated with a news publisher,” she said. Ruth Smeeth, chief executive of Index on Censorship, says the bill’s proposal for designating some content as “legal but harmful” gives excessive power to the Secretary of State. “Nadine Dorries could just decide what she wants removed from the internet,” she said. Te bill allows media watchdog Ofcom


Nadine Dorries, the Culture Secretary,


went on ITV’s Tis Morning to claim that the bill “carves out journalists completely”. She promised an amendment requiring platforms to notify and give a right of appeal to journalists if their material is identified for removal and that “the content remains online while that happens”. Owen Meredith, chief executive of the News Media Association, which represents large publishers was “reassured”, but wanted to see the exact wording. Te bill’s exemption for large


on £9,720,000. Zillah Byng- Torne, chief executive of the magazine company Future, was third highest with renumerations of £8,180,000. News UK’s chief executive Rebekah Brooks came in fiſth, despite the Sun, where she was once editor, recording a loss of £51m and in 2021 had its value writen down to zero by Rupert Murdoch. Last year was also when the Sun lost its title of UK’s bestselling newspaper to the Daily Mail Sixth and seventh on


to impose fines of up to 10 per cent of turnover on platforms hosting harmful content. It affects 24,000 sites, not just the Silicon Valley tech giants. “Tey are going to set their algorithms in a strict way and are going to be very risk averse,” said Michelle Stanistreet on the likely impact on freedom of speech. Nadine Dorries (pictured with Carol


Vorderman) held an event with various celebrities, also including Love Island’s Sharon Gafa and ex-footballer Anton Ferdinand, to discuss online abuse. Dorries, known her for her own colourful tweets, said: “I’ve heard too many horrific stories about how online trolls have seriously impacted people’s lives.”


the list were Reach chief executive Jim Mullen, £3,539,000, and chief financial officer Simon Fuller, on 2,940,000. Te two men had been given a 600 per cent rise in remuneration according to the Press Gazete – the group has now offered a 3 per cent rise to its staff. In all, 17 media bosses at 12 companies grossed more than £1m in remuneration last year. Only a third (36 per cent) of the named executives in the top-50


list were female. Te mean average salary for named female executives was £1.41m, versus £2.5m for their male counterparts. Among broadcasting


executives, Carolyn McCall, ITV chief executive, was top cat on £1,102,000, followed by Channel 4’s Alex Mahon on £991,000 – in sixth place Tim Davie, BBC director general, proved a slim cat on £525,000, and came in at 34th on the top-50 list. For the full list: htps://bit. ly/3NC4qtY


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