Simon Kelner says that his Independent is now a "Viewspaper" rather than a "newspaper", but will TV channels in the digital age go down this road too?
BBC chairman Michael Grade argues today:
"I do not believe we are more than two or three elections away from the moment when some commercial channels will be ready to proclaim: "We win it for Tony, Dave, Ming (or whoever)."
He goes on:
"In the UK we have developed quite different expectations of different media. With broadcasting, balance and impartiality have been statutory requirements: democracy is judged to be served by the absence of bias and partisan editorial agendas. For print, with its long history of struggle against state censorship, democracy is seen to be served by freedom of expression, and is characterised by partisan editorialising... "But I sense that the familiar distinction between print and what we now call broadcasting is not going to survive the unfolding digital revolution. The internet is a low cost publishing medium which has already opened the floodgates of unfiltered opinions onscreen... "The very abundance of this output promises to make old-style regulation unsustainable in the longer term and will produce irresistible pressure to abandon the old rules on impartiality. Like newspapers, partiality is one sure way to distinguish your electronic content. Fox TV, now followed by other US networks, has adopted a highly opinionated approach to television news with profitable results."
Sales of the Independent newspaper soared when it was guest edited by Bono for his Red campaign to help African Aids victims. The paper wears its heart on its sleeve again today when it is "guest designed" by Giorgio Armani for the same cause.
Should television companies follow this route? Should they be allowed to? Will they be forced to?
Tomorrow the BBC Governors will be webcasting a debate on the challenges of delivering impartiality - which Grade and the BBC remain committed to - in the digital future.
