Media Brief

I'm the BBC's media correspondent and this is my brief selection of what's going on.

The Office of Fair Trading should investigate the impact of local authority newspapers on their commercial rivals, say MPs on the Culture, Media & Sport committee. Their report says more council papers are competing for local advertising and some fail to make clear they are "vehicles for political propaganda" reports the BBC.

The Digital Economy Bill is to be rushed through the Commons before the election. The BBC reports that critics say there should be more debate.

The BNP is to be given an interview on the Today programme after the Prime Ministerial TV election debates. It's part of the BBC's plans to ensure balance, but has come under fire from some senior BBC journalists report the Independent and the Telegraph.

The BBC director general Mark Thompson says in the Guardian that the Corporation will show neither fear nor favour in the campaign.

SamCam has appeared on WebCameron in the first Conservative video of the campaign according to the Daily Mail.

The Labour Party's plans for a poster campaign portraying David Cameron as Gene Hunt, the politically incorrect 1980s policeman from Ashes to Ashes, have been welcomed by the Tories, and hijacked for their own posters the BBC reports.

As the election campaign begins, the Guardian says it has more evidence about phone-hacking at the News of the World during the editorship of Andy Coulson, who is now David Cameron's media adviser.

The heated debate over women's place on the airwaves is fuelled by a new report from Selina Scott, attacking women TV bosses and Anne Robinson, but a Radio Times analysis suggests the TV gender age gap is shrinking according to the BBC and the Daily Mail.

As Gordon Brown is due to confirm the general election will be held on 6 May, the papers are awash with party politics as reflected in the BBC's newspaper review.

The Conservatives' relationship with the Murdoch media empire has been highlighted by Ofcom's report on pay-TV, ordering BSkyB to cut the price of its sports channels. The Sun has switched allegiance to the Tories. I ask their culture spokesman Jeremy Hunt about claims they have a deal with Rupert and James Murdoch.

Links in full

BBC | MPs call for inquiry into free council newspapers
Parliament UK | Future for local and regional media
BBC | Call for 'fuller' debate on Digital Economy Bill
Ian Burrell | Independent | BBC grants BNP an election interview on Today programme
Robert Mendick | Telegraph | BBC plunged into BNP election row
John Plunkett | Guardian | BBC will 'show neither fear nor favour' in election coverage
Daily Mail | Tory leader's wife (and bump) hit the campaign trail video diary
BBC | Gene Hunt poster sparks propaganda battle
Nick Davies | Guardian | Police 'ignored News of the World phone hacking evidence'
BBC | Radio Times says TV gender age gap may be closing
Vanessa Allen | Daily Mail | Selina Scott takes aim at 'Cruella de Vil' Anne Robinson
BBC | Newspaper review
Torin Douglas | BBC | Tory links to Murdoch under scrutiny after Ofcom ruling