Almost everything we hear, read or watch in print, online or on our screens in Britain is being shaped by a tiny handful of global media billionaires.
They use this domination to protect their narrow financial interests rather than the public’s.
Today, the Media Sovereignty Act Campaign has published “The UK Media Billionaire List 2026.”
Click the image to view the details of the billionaires who dominate our media.
Of the fifteen media billionaires listed, all but one are based abroad!
Caspar Hughes, Co-director of the Media Sovereignty Act Campaign said:
“It is time to end UK media billionairism for good. We need to take back control of our media from the 0.0001% and spread media ownership across British society.”
Donnachadh McCarthy, Co-director of the Media Sovereignty Act Campaign added:
“We cannot have a free and fair democracy if media ownership is captured by a tiny foreign billionaire elite and their narrow vested interests.
It is time for Parliament to end the media billionairist domination of our democracy and urgently pass the Media Sovereignty Act.”
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Press Contact:
Donnachadh McCarthy
T: 07947 884299
E: dmc@mediasovereignty.org
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Notes to Editors:
- The Media Sovereignty Act Campaign’s sole aim is to get the Media Sovereignty Act adopted by Parliament.
Link to full draft: mediasovereignty.org/full-draft/
- The Parliamentary Petition backing the adoption of the Act has already attracted over 18,000 signatures, and the government has issued its response after the 10,000-signature target was reached.
Link to Labour government response: petition.parliament.uk/petitions/760061
- The campaign is currently fundraising for a YouGov Poll on the British public’s views on ending media billionaires and support for the Act: crowdfunder.co.uk/…/crowdfunder-for-polling…
- Just 3 non-dom media billionaires own 82% of the UK newspaper market.
- Some of the research was sourced from the excellent Media Reform Coalition report on who owns UK media: mediareform.org.uk/resources/reports
The Media Sovereignty Act has five measures
- Bans foreign media ownership.
Just 3 foreign billionaires own 77% of UK newspapers. - Bans the concentration of UK national media ownership by one person or corporation.
Just 7 media billionaires own almost all UK newspapers & social media. - Funds independent and local media with a Social Media Levy.
Over two-thirds of all UK media advertising is siphoned off by three huge US tech-billionaire corporations, leading to 1,000s of UK journalists being fired and the decimation of UK national and local news production. - Requires national media to be under the remit of the statutory regulator.
The billionaire media refused to join the independent media regulator Impress after the phone-hacking scandals. The billionaire media instead “self-regulate. - Requires “dark-money funded think-tanks” that are covered by the media to declare donations in real time.
Think-tanks are privately funded policy institutions seeking to influence government policy.
Currently, many are corruptly dark-money funded by foreign billionaires, oil corporations and others to run propaganda campaigns to manipulate UK government policy in favour of their billionaire vested interests.