The Radio Authority have told commercial broadcasters "news operations should remain part of the 'locally produced and presented' programming requirements which currently exist and should therefore be carried out, in the main, from within a station's measured coverage area". The decision followed moves by some radio groups to centralise their news operations in much the same way they have centralised their music policies (to regional, and in some cases, national centres) in recent years. However, with the Authority soon to be merged with the new government regulator OfCom, they were pretty vague about their decision.
Chairman Richard Hooper told reporters: "There are already rules in place relating to local news and information provision.
However, the Authority was asked whether these could be eased. We consulted on this basis and found that many consultees were opposed to such a change. We know Ofcom is to be given a duty in respect of local content in the draft Communications Bill and felt it would be inappropriate to bind our successor at this time of transition. We are unwilling to allow news services outside a station's measured coverage area to take over local news roles to any greater degree than would be expected from normal news networking and sharing." Some cynics feel the phrase ’normal networking and sharing’ gives radio stations the freedom to put all but the bare minimum of their news resources into a central news room.