The UK has said that it will back legislation that will ban foreign ownership from owning British newspapers and magazines.
This move could bring to and end the takeover of The Telegraph group by a United Arab Emirates-led consortium.
The decision was taken after ministers cutting across political parties urged for a ban, as they felt it would be the best way to bar news publications from parroting state actors.
Media minister Stephen Parkinson, announced in Parliament that the Conservative government would amend proposed legislation so that it “prevents foreign state ownership of newspapers”.
A government spokesperson added that the move would “deliver additional protections for a free press, a pillar of our democracy”.
The minister said that the freedom of press is fundamental to a functioning democracy and that it also means freedom from government, added Parkinson.
The government decision comes in the midst of a proposed Daily Telegraph newspaper and Spectator magazine by Red IMI, which is backed by US financial firm RedBird Capital Partners and Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a member of Abu Dhabi’s royal family, who is also the UAE’s vice president.
Mansour is a known figure in British sporting circles after his takeover of the British football club Manchester City in 2008.
The takeover has been a concern for a lot of Tory lawmakers who have ideologically been close to right-leaning newspapers and magazines.
Spectator’s editor Fraser Nelson had opposed the takeover. In an interview to Sky News, he said, “If governments start to own newspapers, whether they’re British governments, European governments or an Arab government, you end up with press freedom compromised fatally.”
The government said that the amended bill would be brought into force soon.
The ban, however, will not be applicable to broadcasters and the new measures would make it mandatory for the government to refer any relevant media merger to the Competition and Markets Authority watchdog, Parkison added.
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