They wrote the rule book...

07-02-08

Ofcom publishes guidelines for local content on radio

Ofcom today published new guidelines for the provision of local content on analogue (FM and AM) commercial radio. Ofcom’s approach simplifies regulation for the commercial radio sector while protecting local content for listeners.

For the duration of my undergrad degree I constantly thought about media regulation - for better or for worse. I could footnote from memory about a dozen Australian media regulation text books and am on anagram basis with the ACMA (ok... it's the Australian Communications and Media Authority).

But one thing I hadn't considered was the impact local content quotas have had on how dumb the news is - both at home and in my adopted home. I tread with caution here: in making any deduction on the scope of quota influence, I will indirectly pass judgement on the level of intellect in local news and the production values of regional radio and television stations.

But it is an important consideration. As the above article states, Ofcom has just last month moved to reduce the amount of local content required for commercial radio stations to keep their licences.

The new guidance states that:

FM local radio stations should broadcast at least ten hours of locally-made programmes each weekday during daytime (including breakfast) and at least four hours at weekends; and

AM stations should provide at least four hours of locally-made programming every day of the week. Stations based in the nations (Scotland , Wales and Northern Ireland) will be required to provide a further six weekday hours of programming from their home nation.

This means that NO station will be required to produce more local content then they presently are. In fact, it will see a distinct drop in local content for many licence holders and signifies further deregulation of radio output.

As it stands, licensees are currently required to produce between 13 and 24 hours of local content a day – a stipulation which must be adhered to for broadcasters to retain their licences.

There are a few knock-on effects of this at the regional news desk. News output constitutes a significant portion of local content (hourly bulletins, analysis programs, etc).

The full Ofcom report (available at http://www.ofcom.org.uk/media/news/2008/02/nr_20080206, with a useful analysis of Ofcom rules by The Guardian’s Caitlin Fitzsimmons available at http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/nov/22/radio1) suggests that one of the main factors for reducing the quotas was that commercial stations were unable to keep up with the BBC.

No doubt a result of the beeb’s brimming bank balance, it was thought that with so many journalists and resources at their fingertips, in all corners of Britain, even the biggest commercial networks were unable to compete.

But the value of local news remains. Cheryl and Steve want to know what is happening in their backyard.

Yet, with reduced quotas, I wonder if we will see an increase in the amount of syndicated news lifted from agencies and wires such as IRN. In terms of cost-cutting in regional newsrooms, it must surely be cheaper to take wire content than to employ local journalists to cover local stories…and considering the state of regional newsrooms, and the high proportion of entertainment news on the IRN wires, this can hardly bode well for the fight against dumb news.