Image source, Getty Images By Brian WheelerPolitical Reporter
Foreign governments will be banned from owning British newspapers and news magazines, the government has announced.
It follows criticism of a proposed takeover of the Daily Telegraph and the Spectator by a UAE-backed investment firm, RedBird IMI.
The government said the proposed legislation would “provide additional protections for a free press”.
A door Spokesman for the UAE-funded group said he was "extremely disappointed by the current development." Labor said it would support the change, which will be the subject of an amendment to a new law debated next week.
There had been increasing pressure from all parties on government to act and he faced a possible defeat in the House of Lords on Wednesday from his peers who wanted to see urgent action.
In announcing the ban, Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay said the new law would "exclude mergers of newspapers and periodical news magazines involving ownership, influence or control by foreign states".
The government will introduce an amendment to the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill - which goes to third reading next week - to block such deals, a -he added.
Image source, Getty Images By Brian WheelerPolitical Reporter
Foreign governments will be banned from owning British newspapers and news magazines, the government has announced.
It follows criticism of a proposed takeover of the Daily Telegraph and the Spectator by a UAE-backed investment firm, RedBird IMI.
The government said the proposed legislation would “provide additional protections for a free press”.
A door Spokesman for the UAE-funded group said he was "extremely disappointed by the current development." Labor said it would support the change, which will be the subject of an amendment to a new law debated next week.
There had been increasing pressure from all parties on government to act and he faced a possible defeat in the House of Lords on Wednesday from his peers who wanted to see urgent action.
In announcing the ban, Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay said the new law would "exclude mergers of newspapers and periodical news magazines involving ownership, influence or control by foreign states".
The government will introduce an amendment to the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill - which goes to third reading next week - to block such deals, a -he added.
Image source, Getty Images 
