“There are lots of grounds to be concerned about this on reasons of plurality, for competition, but more than anything else this Labour government should consider whether it is good for Britain, and good for its democracy.”
Just when it seemed Britain’s media landscape couldn’t tilt much further to the right, news broke that the Daily Mail’s owner is set to buy the Telegraph. The move marks the apparent end of a turbulent two-and-a-half-year battle for the paper, which was put up for sale after the Barclay family defaulted on debts.
On 22 November, the Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) confirmed it had agreed a £500 million deal with the Telegraph’s owners, RedBird IMI. The announcement came just days after RedBird Capital, the US group led by Gerry Cardinale, withdrew its own bid amid pressure from inside the Telegraph newsroom to scrutinise its alleged links to China. An earlier RedBird offer, backed by Abu Dhabi, had also prompted calls for government intervention over concerns about foreign state influence in the British press.
If approved, the deal would bring the Telegraph into the same stable as the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, iPaper, and Metro, tightening DMGT’s grip on yet another major national title. The company insists the Telegraph will retain editorial independence, but critics see the acquisition as yet another step toward an ever more concentrated, and ever more right-right media landscape.
Tom Baldwin, former political editor of the Sunday Telegraph and ex-communications director to Ed Miliband as Labour leader, said:
“Britain’s media is already tilted dangerously to a homogenous, right-wing, angry point of view. A merger between the Mail and the Telegraph will only exacerbate that.
“There are lots of grounds to be concerned about this on reasons of plurality, for competition, but more than anything else this Labour government should consider whether it is good for Britain, and good for its democracy, for the Daily Mail to strengthen its pernicious grip on Britain’s media.”
Former Labour leader Lord Kinnock shared the same concerns: “Everyone should be able to recognise that the creation of a right-wing press giant will plainly not improve balance of opinion and presentation.
“Indeed, it is likely to diminish competition and diversity in providing information and opinion – the most precious of all commodities.
“That would harm discernment and, therefore, democracy. I hope that the competition authority will attach prime significance to that reality.”
Online, many noted how ideologically allied the two papers are already. One Reddit user said that the Telegraph is “just the Daily Mail wearing a cravat.”
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