United Kingdom: a bill to protect the press from takeovers by foreign governments

2024-03-22T13:18:54.410Z

Highlights: In the UK, one of the major national daily newspapers is on sale. The Daily Telegraph, 700,000 subscribers, is on the verge of being bought by the RedBird IMI investment fund, majority owned by the vice-president of the United Arab Emirates. The government has just published a bill to prevent this takeover. With this bill, the government explains that it wants to protect the freedom of the press and its independence from any foreign influence. A fear of seeing the political debate influenced greatly worries the executive – especially since the daily is a historic supporter of the Conservative Party in power.

In the UK, one of the major national daily newspapers is on sale. The Daily Telegraph, 700,000 subscribers, is on the verge of being bought by the RedBird IMI investment fund, majority owned…

United Kingdom: a bill to protect the press from takeovers by foreign governments

In the UK, one of the major national daily newspapers is on sale. The

Daily Telegraph

, 700,000 subscribers, is on the verge of being bought by the RedBird IMI investment fund, majority owned by the vice-president of the United Arab Emirates. The government has just published a bill to prevent this takeover.

The Daily Telegraph headquarters in London. © Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 / Wikimedia commons

By: RFI Follow

With our correspondent in London,

Émeline Vin

In the

United Kingdom

, representatives of state and foreign governments will no longer have the right to own direct shares in British media groups. With this bill, the government explains that it wants to protect the

freedom of the press

and its independence from any foreign influence.

Once the text is validated by Parliament, it will make it impossible for the

Daily Telegraph

to be bought by an investment fund, RedBirdIMI, controlled by the vice-president of the United Arab Emirates.

A fear of seeing the political debate influenced

This sale, announced since November 2023, greatly worries the executive – especially since the daily is a historic supporter of the Conservative Party in power, in an ultra-politicized media landscape. The fear is that shareholders will use the newspaper to try to influence the political debate. An investigation has already been opened by the media regulator, which considers that the sale “

could contravene the public interest

”.

The text could come into force in the coming weeks. RedBird IMI has already indicated that it is considering selling the shares it already owns, in the face of the hostility it encounters.

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United Kingdom: a bill to protect the press from takeovers by foreign governments

United Kingdom: a bill to protect the press from takeovers by foreign governments

A fear of seeing the political debate influenced

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