The UK should ensure that the budding online news community becomes a medium for quality journalism, according to a report from the Lords communications committee.

Media companies have become too laissez-faire with their "news gathering" amid the rush for online advertising revenue, the report says. Many companies are relying on news agencies and PR firms for their news.

Lord Fowler, the committee chairman, said that the BBC should put less focus on paying "talent" - such as talk show host Jonathan Ross - and more focus on generating original, quality news.

"Much of the news available on the Internet and on the new television channels is not new. It is repackaged from elsewhere," the report stated.

Fowler believes the Internet boom has resulted in a weakened environment for journalism.

"With the expansion of the Internet, what has not happened is...a similar expansion of news gathering and journalists being employed to get the news," he said.

The report made several other recommendations. Here are a few of them:

1) Strengthen Ofcom's (UK media regulator) powers to allow independent investigations into media mergers.

2) Let the Competition Commission (another regulator) investigate competition issues, and let Ofcom evaluate public interest.

3) Investigate mergers on a case-by-case basis. Under the current laws, an online company buying a newspaper could not be investigated.

Related:

Because the online news community is so nascent, media companies (and legislators) are still figuring out how to approach it.

The Guardian's Roy Greenslade thinks newspapers should embrace blogs and online news. Read his argument here.

Source: The Guardian