Opinionated 'Fox style' news coming to a British TV near you

Media watchdog Ofcom today conceded that relaxing the rules for broadcasters could lead to "shock jock" versions of Rupert Murdoch's Fox News in the US, often accused of pushing a Right-wing agenda.

The suggestion by Ofcom is aimed at creating more "interesting" news coverage by opinionated interviewers.

The future of regional news on ITV is also in doubt, Ofcom added.

Regional services cost the commercial broadcaster around £100 million a year but generate little in the way of advertising revenue.

Ofcom is committed to holding ITV licensees to their regional news obligations for until at least 2014.

But in its report on the future of TV news, Ofcom said that in the future:

"Economic circumstances make it much less likely that commercial broadcasters would choose to carry news for the UK nations and regions at anything like its current level, in the absence of effective regulatory intervention."

It said that "new forms of regulatory intervention are likely to be needed to ensure its long-term presence, because of the disproportionate cost of producing simultaneous programmes in all regions of the network".

And it called for "more imaginative approaches" if regional news is to continue into the next decade.

Suggestions include giving greater priority to news in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland rather than the English regions - and for devolved governments to have a role in funding it.

Another possibility would be to award the existing regional licences "to other organisations with more regionally-based business models".

Viewers attach high importance to news from their local area, particularly those in Scotland and Northern Ireland, Ofcom's research found.

Overall, 29 per cent of viewers said they wanted to see more regional news on TV, while only 3 per cent said they wanted less.

Ofcom's report also revealed that young people and ethnic minorities are switching off the TV news in increasing numbers.

The proportion of 16 to 24-year-olds who say they only follow the news "when something important is happening" has risen from 33 per cent to 50 per cent in the last five years.

They watch just 40 hours a year - or 45 minutes per week - compared to around 90 hours for the overall population.

Ethnic minorities are also becoming increasingly disengaged.

In the survey carried out by Ofcom, ethnic minorities expressed strong feelings of disillusionment and distrust with TV news coverage, believing issues relating to their culture, race or faith were not treated fairly.

Nearly half (46 per cent) feel ethnic minorities are given too little airtime in mainstream news coverage.

Muslims said they feared the media linked them to extremism.

Amongst young Asians, 28 per cent said they turned to the internet rather than TV bulletins for their current affairs.

In its report on the future of TV news, Ofcom warned: "Broadcasters have clear incentives to engage with disaffected groups - not least commercial considerations.

"Failure to engage with ethnic communities, in particular, will further encourage the use of alternative sources of news and information, such as the internet and overseas channels."

The report added that "for large numbers of young people - always a difficult target for news broadcasters - there is strong evidence to suggest that they feel news of any kind, whether from TV or elsewhere, is of little current relevance to them".