As Liverpool hosts the Labour party conference, News Media Association Chief Executive Theo Bamber has called for journalism to be championed as a means of holding power to account. On World News Day, he argues that journalism is too often treated as 'just another commercial sector', rather than the means by which power is scrutinised.
Evidence of journalism's wider value
Bamber points to a UNESCO-commissioned report finding that countries with stronger, freer media are better equipped to support economic development, reduce corruption, and strengthen resilience against malicious interference. He cites trusted titles like the Liverpool Echo as challenging misinformation and giving readers the truth, even when facts are uncomfortable.
Recent reporting examples show the impact of journalism. The Guardian's exclusive stories on Reform UK's finances dominated the national agenda for weeks, while The Mirror's exposé of routine mistreatment of dementia patients in NHS hospitals brought important facts to light. The Liverpool Echo's reporting led to the repair of city-centre CCTV cameras that the council knew had been broken for eight months. The Edinburgh Evening News exposed plans to dismantle a specialist social-work team without committee approval, prompting councillors to halt the closure and investigate.
Devolution and media regulation
Bamber argues that if the government agrees people have a right to know, it must protect the conditions that make independent scrutiny possible. This does not mean handouts, but recognising a simple democratic principle: power must be open to scrutiny, and journalism must be protected as critical social infrastructure.
He says the devolution agenda is an ideal place for the government to show it understands this point, warning that moving decisions closer to communities does not automatically increase transparency. Without journalism, he argues, Andy Burnham's headline proposition will fail. He urges Burnham to explain how his plan for stronger devolved institutions will also strengthen the local media that will scrutinise them.
Media Green Paper concerns
The prominence proposals in the Media Green Paper are another test of the government's willingness to protect journalism, Bamber says. Although framed as a method of combatting mis and disinformation online, the plans risk giving ministers, regulators, or an algorithm control over what news people read. The proposals would prioritise national broadcasters, entrenching their existing advantages even though news publishers' reporting is often the original source of broadcasters' leading stories, weakening local titles and compromising press freedom.
Bamber concludes that supporting a plural and varied media landscape, while holding platforms responsible for the misinformation they distribute, is the answer rather than selecting certain publishers for preferential treatment. He stresses that scrutiny, transparency and accountability journalism delivers are fundamental to society, and that a government truly of the people must protect their right to know, even when the truth is uncomfortable.
