UK Media industry faces a pivotal 2012

Britain’s media organizations are facing a pivotal year that could define the industry for a generation, according to academics and analysts, as the Leveson inquiry and a series of other probes reach their climaxes.

Lord Justice Leveson’s investigation into press standards is just one of at least 13 separate police, parliamentary and regulatory inquiries reporting in 2012 on either the ethics scandals of 2011 or the longer-term future of the broadcast, print and digital media industries. This drip-feed of negative stories may have ramifications for some of the biggest names in the UK media, including Rupert Murdoch, whose News Corp owns The Sun, The Times and The Sunday Times, and controls British Sky Broadcasting. Between them, his media assets have about 13 million regular customers in the UK.