Media policy and regulation

Having worked in the industry for a decade, I am keenly interested in the way that Government policy, regulators and self-regulation affects the media business. Over the course of 2009 I've written several articles about the PCC in particular - and this seems an appropriate moment for a reminder that this is a personal blog, and the views expressed do not reflect the views of Guardian News and Media Limited, or any current or former employers or clients.

"Let's have a PCC for the 21st century" summed up my position, that whilst I would hate to see state-sponsored regulation of the press, the current system is simply unworkable in a digital age - since it neither effectively represents the views of consumers, nor holds publications to account.

"Why the PCC is broken - a case study in trying to complain" looked at how the PCC deemed it acceptable to call a 14 year old girl a slut on a newspaper website, and "the PCC turns a deaf ear to complaints about press coverage of Alfie Patten" looked at their failure to act on behalf of the public in one of the biggest media stories of the year.

I was also unable to interest the PCC in investigating whether it was acceptable for the Prime Minister's private phone calls to be recorded and broadcast in full on a newspaper website.

Away from the PCC, in 2009 I also wrote about the Digital Britain report, and Ofcom's examination of the future of public service broadcasting:

• 'From programming to funding' - Ofcom's PSB documents as word clouds
• Are Ofcom's regional news funding proposals an opportunity for the local press?
• Ofcom framing a digital content strategy in a vacuum
• John Redwood's blog response to the Ofcom Public Service Broadcasting review
• Digital Britain around the blog'n'tweetosphere
• Digital Britain Interim report - first impressions
• 'Delivering Digital Britain' still too much about 'delivery'

Having worked at the BBC for several years I was in the new media department during the Charter renewal process and the Graf report into the BBC's online activities. I have written several blog posts about regulatory issues surrounding the corporation, both during my time as an employee, and subsequently as an ex-employee.

• Begging more questions than answers - the BBC Trust bbc.co.uk review: Search - June 2006
• Begging more questions than answers - the BBC Trust bbc.co.uk review: External links - June 2006
• Begging more questions than answers - the BBC Trust bbc.co.uk review: Embedded content - June 2006
• BBC Trust abolished not just the BBC Governors, but their URLs as well - April 2007
• BBC Jam closes today - how far will the repercussions be felt? - March 2007
• OFCOM and the BBC Trust do not appear to have heard of games - February 2007
• The BBC's definition of "stackable series" in the iPlayer doesn't make commercial sense to me - February 2007
• Paul Dacre's claim that, due to the BBC, commercial radio is "ailing" - February 2007
• The BBC iPlayer's odd bookmarking restriction - February 2007
• Mostly good - Governors response to the review of bbc.co.uk - November 2004
• DCMS Review of the BBC's Digital Radio services - November 2004
• A fortnight after Graf - and what it might mean for the homepage and for external spend - July 2004
• DCMS Assessment of BBC Online's use of RealMedia and Search - July 2004
• The BBC's digital future - one day on - July 2004
• The off switch looms - some of the BBC's Online sites to close - June 2004
• DCMS publishes BBC Charter Review responses - February 2004
• BBC Charter Review responses about BBC.co.uk - February 2004
• Would the Tories close the BBC website? - August 2003
• Free access to the BBC's archive, or sale to the highest bidder? - August 2003