UK: Trinity Mirror deal referred to media watchdog

Trinity Mirror’s £126.7 million (US$172.5 million) deal to buy titles including the Daily Express and the Daily Star from Richard Desmond has been referred to Britain’s media watchdog after the Government intervened on the grounds of public interest, reported the Financial Times.

Culture secretary Matt Hancock has issued a “public interest intervention notice” which requires media regulator Ofcom to examine the implications of putting the right-leaning Express portfolio into the same company as the left-leaning Mirror titles. Trinity Mirror, which is renaming itself Reach, owns the Mirror, Sunday Mirror and Sunday People, as well as a large portfolio of regional titles such as the Manchester Evening News.

The titles being sold by Mr Desmond’s Northern & Shell group include the Express, Sunday Express and Star. Mr Hancock said he was concerned that the deal, which represents the biggest shake-up in UK newspaper ownership in more than a decade, had public interest considerations.

“The first public-interest ground is the need for free expression of opinion, and concerns the potential impact the transfer of newspapers would have on editorial decision-making,” he said in a statement. The second public interest ground concerned “the need for a sufficient plurality of views in newspapers.”

Full Content: Financial Times

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