While broadcast newsrooms continue to have significant resources to devote to investigative journalism, economic pressures are limiting the capacity of some – but not all – commercial news organizations to engage in costly investigative or international journalism.
Professional training is generally available to UK journalists, and the majority who do undertake training are funded by their employers when doing so. Larger news organizations such as the BBC operate their own internal training schemes.
UK broadcasters are obliged to perform certain functions fulfilling the watchdog role of journalism and devote significant resources to investigative journalism. Many newspapers specify their watchdog functions in mission statements or adhere to standards codes that emphasise the importance of the public interest in their work.
Detailed access to information legislation is in place in the UK and open to all citizens. There are some restrictions on availability and evidence shows that certain government departments in practice tend to withhold requested information, initially at least.
Journalists are more likely than not to be in stable employment, but economic pressures, particularly at the local level, have led to recent cuts and made many jobs precarious. Journalists generally enjoy contractual protections and whistleblowing channels if pressured to breach professional ethics codes.
Journalism qualifications are now widely held, and training, including ethics training, is freely available and used by a majority of journalists. Some journalists report increasing newsroom pressures as exerting a detrimental effect on their quality of work.
Information on media companies, including accounts, ownership and Board composition, is compiled by the government and available to view online. Publicly-traded companies and some broadcasters publish detailed revenue information annually, and Ofcom provides several annual market reports.
UK broadcasters are broadly insulated from interference, despite recent government pressure on the BBC. Commercial news organisations are owned by media companies, and there is no recent tradition of party, church, or industry-owned news organisations.
Though UK news outlets have in the past been criticised for a reluctance to investigate or scrutinise their peers, several publications and broadcast channels have dedicated media beats, including indirect scrutiny through news review programmes. NGOs and
UK broadcast news is subject to strict rules on impartiality and the representation of views on any programming dealing with controversial or political matters. Newspapers are free to be partisan but usually provide at least some space for opposing voices or views.
The Media for Democracy Monitor (MDM) is a research project from The Euromedia Research Group. This is a network of researchers that collects and exchanges information that help to describe and analyse developments in media structure and policy in Europe.
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