Speaking on Apil 19 in the first House of Commons debate on the Bill since its publication last month, the former Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport stated that he has spent a great deal of time speaking with press and media about the protections that journalism needs.

Whittingdale raised a concern from the PPA that specialist magazines appear at the moment to be outside definitions of content that will receive enhanced protections, and stated that he hoped this can be addressed because there are specialist titles that deserve the same level of protection as other media forms.

Also speaking in the debate, Damian Green MP stated that the UK’s reputation for journalism is a national asset that needs protecting. He asked Secretary of State Nadine Dorries if she intends to table amendments that will ensure platforms and search engines protect access to journalism and content from ‘recognised news publishers’ and also ensure it is not moderated, restricted or removed without notice or right of appeal.

Dorries replied that journalistic content is protected in the Bill, and added that there is a right of appeal in the works. In his closing remarks, Minister Chris Philp confirmed that the Government will table an amendment to ensure journalists are able to appeal before any content is removed.