From The Telegraph:
The European Union is quietly pouring millions of pounds into initiatives and groups seeking state-backed regulation of the press, including key allies of the controversial Hacked Off campaign.
These groups apparently want to see the same restrictions on print outlets that are currently imposed on broadcast outlets.
The recommendations call for the press to be controlled by the same body and on the same basis as broadcasters, who are currently tightly regulated with statutory “balance” obligations that do not apply to newspapers.
Nothing pisses off government more than when the press doesn’t play along like they should and nothing makes a media outlet more of a team player than when their right to exist is controlled by the government.
The group wants a new media regulator to correct the “national conversation” which it says has been “distorted” by Right-wing newspapers and to change the “terms of public debate” by “imposing public-service duties” on the press.