The International Press Institute (IPI) on Wednesday expressed concern after the leader of the British Labour Party, Ed Miliband, argued yesterday that Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation should be forced to sell one of its newspapers.

Miliband told the Leveson inquiry set up to examine media ethics following the explosion of last year’s phone-hacking scandal that News Corporation should sell either the Times or the Sun in order to lower the reported 34 percent market share held by its United Kingdom publishing division, News International, Britain’s The Daily Telegraph newspaper reported.

The Labour leader said that such a level of market share gave the publisher “power without responsibility”, according to Britain’s The Guardian newspaper, and he argued for the enforcement of a 30 percent share limit on the newspaper market. Commenting that 34 percent was more than any one person should hold, Miliband said it gave News International a “sense of immunity” that paved the way for the phone-hacking scandal.

Miliband yesterday also argued for the introduction of legislation recognising the authority of the successor to the Press Complaints Commission, an independent regulator slated to be replaced with a new independent body once the Leveson inquiry concludes its work. He said he believed in some form of statutory regulation of the press, but he emphasized that any related bill should safeguard media freedom.

IPI Deputy Director Anthony Mills said: “While we are of course in favour of media diversity, we are always concerned when politicians start talking about who should own which newspapers, especially if the implication is that the government should force a newspaper owner to sell a newspaper because it believes that a 34 percent market share is too high. I would reiterate our concern that the aftermath of the News of the World scandal has created an environment in which some elements of press freedom may be under threat in the UK. To our alarm, both the Prime Minister and now Ed Miliband have expressed support for statutory regulation.”

Earlier this year, a report on the phone-hacking scandal at the News of the World by a Commons select committee produced a damning picture of Murdoch’s ability to lead an international company. The committee – which was unanimous in criticising the conduct of other former News International employees – concluded in part of the report approved by a 6-5 vote that Murdoch was “not a fit person” to exercise such stewardship and that he had “exhibited wilful blindness” towards the goings-on at his paper, according to The Guardian.

Miliband called for an inquiry into phone hacking in July 2011 after the scandal broke, but he conceded during yesterday’s evidence session that his party had been too close to News International and that he himself had been “too slow to speak out.”