Green Party Would Force Daily Mail Owner to Sell Up Papers

The Green Party overhauled its policies on the UK’s media at its conference last weekend, in a largely ignored move towards a radically-toughened stance on the press.

The party’s previous policy committed the Green Party to “campaign to restrict ownership so that no individual or company owns more than 20% of a media market”.

However, the new policy drops this wording, instead “limiting ownership of the press to 20% maximum for any one company and requiring divestment for companies with larger market shares”.

Owners of more than 10% of the market would also need “a licence to operate in the UK granted by the regulator”, with further obligations “such as the use of profits to fund local media, or introducing a public service media element to operations”. That could see the likes of the Daily Mail‘s owner DMGT and Murdoch’s News UK forced to fund smaller, rival publishers.

DMGT held 50.6% of daily national print circulation, according to the Government’s January 2026 letter on its bid to buy the Telegraph. Under a 20% cap it would have to shed well over half its share. It is not clear whether ‘the market’ means revenue or, for print outlets, circulation.

The old cap applied to any “media market”, print or broadcast. The new one applies to “the press”, with broadcasters facing only a “presumption against aggregation of ownership both within and across media types”, likely protecting public service broadcasters such as the BBC and Channel 4.

The chapter also says co-operative and other democratic ownership models “may be mandatory for larger (financial/employment) platforms and organisations”, raising the prospect of enforced co-operative ownership of titles such as The Sun.

Media organisations would only be allowed to platform the work of think tanks that are “transparent about their funding”, in a move that could hit the think tanks rated least transparent, which are largely on the right.

The old policy committed the party to extending broadcast regulator Ofcom’s powers to “take on statutory responsibility and regulation for matters relating to print media”. The new text does not mention Ofcom, but goes further: “The Green Party will seek for independent, statutory regulation of all Cultural, Sporting and Media activity.”

The policy defines culture as including everything from poetry to digital gaming, music, theatre and dance, adding that “this is not an exhaustive list”.

Currently the press is ‘self-regulated’, mostly through Ipso and the smaller rival regulator Impress (of which Byline Times is a member). Publishers do not have to belong to any regulator, and the main incentive to join one proposed after the Leveson inquiry – costs penalties for publishers outside a recognised regulator – was repealed in 2024 without ever coming into force.

Regulators would have to “ensure their members and chairs are democratically, inclusively and fairly elected, and independent from industry and Government”. The old text named trade unions and NGOs among those who would nominate members. The new text sets out no electorate.

Regulators must now give social and cultural concerns “greater weight than commercial factors”, up from “equal weight”. Money from penalties would go to “the most local endeavours possible” in each industry, such as hyper-local news outlets.

The party would also introduce “a levy on large international social media corporations operating in the UK” to fund local and independent journalism, including new ‘local news forums’. These forums would hold the BBC-funded Local Democracy Reporting Service “democratically accountable”.

The policy pledges to “ensure a public service element in all areas of the press”, though the details are thin. The old text’s warning that a free press “should not be constrained by spurious definitions of the public interest” has gone.

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On Censorship

The party’s previous policy document on the media stated: “The Green Party is opposed to all forms of censorship in the media and cultural activities for adults.”

That language has now been ditched and replaced with: “The Green Party respects the right to freedom of expression where that right does not impinge on other people’s rights and freedoms or the rights of nature.”

The new policy also says media organisations have “a duty to prevent racist or other discriminatory content, and incitement to violence”, adding: “Failure to live up to these expectations should include being forced to cease operations.”

There is no definition of “discriminatory content” in the policy, though the party’s adoption of a ‘Zionism is Racism’ motion at the same conference – treating support for a Jewish state as a form of racism – raises the prospect that it could include Zionism.

Where free speech conflicted with offence, the previous text said this “should be dealt with by allowing the offended person equal right of reply”. That has been dropped.

The new policy pledges that the state “shall not censor freedom of artistic expression, journalism or freedom of speech, for example by applying economic or legal pressure”. That is likely to sit uneasily with the power to close down media outlets.

The party commits to “protect individual journalists from regulatory sanctions, ensuring publishers and organisations are held accountable for content published”. Regulatory frameworks would also have to include “conscience clauses in employees’ contracts”, which could protect staff from producing content they morally object to.

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The BBC, AI and Advertising

Perhaps most significant is the plan to “mutualise the BBC” so that “all citizens have the opportunity to participate actively and directly in the operations and governance of the BBC”.

“Democratic and representative forums of BBC members” would be given “guaranteed powers to oversee and shape BBC operations in key areas, such as editorial strategy, governance, and individual national and regional panels across the UK”. Charter reviews would be shaped by citizens’ assemblies.

The party has backed scrapping the licence fee since 2007, when it promised a “guaranteed inflation linked payment from general taxation”, with funding set at arm’s length by a Public Service Media Council. The new policy drops both safeguards, promising instead “direct government investment that does not allow for government interference in the BBC’s independence”.

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy told MPs in July that general taxation had been ruled out for the BBC because of the risk of political interference. The current Charter expires on 31 December 2027, and the BBC faces huge cuts after years of licence fee freezes and falling numbers of payers.

Little is said about social media, which has been left for a future conference. There is, however, a new commitment that “digital and physical media should be held to the same standards”.

On artificial intelligence, there would be “restrictions on the data mining of music/words/performance (and any other human produced cultural products) for training AI / machine learning models”.

The policy also states: “We will only allow informational advertising in public spaces.” Advertising and sponsorship by high-carbon products, tobacco and alcohol, gambling, “products that promote unsustainable consumption” and “products found to be harmful to individual or public health” would be banned outright. Those industries would also be barred from “lobbying in any form”, including “giving money, gifts or hospitality to political representatives”, which would hit the many MPs who have received hospitality from gambling firms in recent years.

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Reaction to the Policy

Dr Tom Chivers of the Media Reform Coalition told this outlet: “The Green Party’s new culture, media and sport policy paper features some of the most ambitious media reform proposals of any party in British political history.

“Our national news media and digital platforms are dominated by a tiny handful of billionaire media moguls and unaccountable tech barons.”

He added: “For too long political parties have either been too scared to challenge the power of the media, or too eager to wine and dine media moguls to secure their own careers.”

“This radical media reform agenda will almost certainly attract extreme opposition from Britain’s media elite, because it threatens to take away their power to decide our national conversation and who can take part in it,” Dr Chivers said.

Donnachadh McCarthy, director of the Media Freedom Act campaign (the new name for the Media Sovereignty Act proposal), added: “Britain will not have a free and fair democracy until we end its capture by a tiny 0.0001% billionaire media ownership class.”

A Green Party spokesperson called the new policy a “landmark” move to “shift media away from corporate control towards public participation”.

On the BBC, the party’s deputy leader Rachel Millward said: “This landmark motion puts forward bold and necessary steps to ensure the BBC remains what it is when it’s at its best. A strong, impartial, public service broadcaster free from private interest and shielded from the whims of politicians benefits us all.”

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