LONDON (Alliance News) - UK Culture Secretary Matt Hancock said late Monday he is considering intervening in the purchase of the national Express and Star titles by the publisher of the Daily Mirror.
Hancock said he was "minded" to issue a public interest intervention notice after the sale was formally brought to his attention by the Competition & Markets Authority.
In a statement, he cited the need to ensure both "free expression of opinion" and a "sufficient plurality of views" in newspapers as far as was "reasonable or practicable".
The move comes after Trinity Mirror PLC announced in February that it had struck a GBP126.7 million deal to buy a string of titles from Richard Desmond's Northern & Shell, including the Daily Express, the Daily Star and OK! Magazine.
In his statement, Hancock said: "In coming to this minded-to decision I have taken into account that the merged entity would own the largest share of national titles within the UK newspaper market, owning nine out of 20 national newspaper titles, and become the second largest national newspaper organisation in circulation terms, with a 28% share of average monthly circulation based on circulation figures for 2017 among national titles, including daily and Sunday titles."
Hancock also referred to concerns about the potential impact the sale would have on editorial decision-making at the Express and Star titles.
"In coming to this decision I have given consideration to the issue of formal mechanisms to ensure that editorial independence is maintained at the acquired titles," he said.
He said that he had notified both parties that he aimed to come to a final decision on whether to intervene "shortly".
The deal, if it does go through, would mark a major shake-up of Britain's media landscape, bringing together the politically left-leaning Mirror titles, with more right-wing publications such as the Daily Express and the Daily Star and their Sunday counterparts.
At the time of the announcement in February, Trinity Mirror chief executive Simon Fox said the deal was "good for our readers, good for our customers and good for our shareholders".
The print media industry is grappling with a decline in advertising and any combination could herald cost savings and a shared cut of a larger advertising pool.
Simon Fox, chief executive of Trinity Mirror, said: "This is a part of the process that we were aware was possible following our acquisition of the Northern & Shell publishing assets. We continue to believe there are no plurality or competition issues.
"We would expect any review by Ofcom arising from this DCMS statement would happen in parallel with the CMA review, which we expect to conclude by June 7 2018."
By Gavin Cordon, Press Association Whitehall Editor
source: Press Association