Media merger guidelines are impotent and an act of cowardice

It was a barefaced cheek of the minister to make a virtue out of the new guidelines, writes Alison O’ Connor

THE general lack of reaction to the Government’s new media-merger guidelines, which were published last week, says a lot.

In the midst of a massive national controversy about the concentration of media ownership and censorship, Alex White, the communications minister, finally publishes the new rules for governing this area. Sure, they got a few headlines and some discussion, but then most people, and the media, shrugged their shoulders.