The author and others discussing diversity in broadcasting at the Royal Television Society. Image: Royal Television Society.
There is phenomenon called “regulatory capture.” It is a form of failure that occurs when a regulatory agency, created to act in the public interest, instead advances the commercial or political concerns of special interest groups that dominate the industry or sector it is charged with regulating.
Regulatory capture often happens because people from the industries they represent have privileged access to the regulator in the course of their work and at expensive industry events, beyond those without corporate expenses, where the regulated and the regulators mix and mingle informally. To be fair, Ofcom says that holding one public meeting a year in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, where the public is given 30 minutes to ask questions about the Ofcom annual plan, demonstrates that no one has privileged access.
