Final details for Thursday’s lobby

By Media Reform Coalition / Wednesday November 28, 2012 Read More
Our lobby of Parliament on media reform is taking place this Thursday afternoon, just after Leveson publishes his long-awaited report. If you want to join us, use our simple form to EMAIL YOUR MP asking them to meet you on the day. Don’t worry about the lack of time between now and the lobby for your MP to get back to you.  If they don’t reply that’s fine – we will use the Green Card system to try and get hold of them on Thursday.  Even if your MP cannot meet you it is important that they know you are concerned about this issue and that they see our demands in writing, so it’s still worth contacting them! Arriving at Parliament The briefing meeting will begin around 12.30pm in Committee Room 10 in the Houses of Parliament, which can be accessed through the Cromwell Green visitor entrance. This is the main entrance to the right hand side of the building, which usually has a long queue of people going into it, so please allow at least 30 minutes to get through security. When you are asked why you’re going into Parliament, just say that you’re attending the media reform lobby in Committee Room 10. You may wish to print out our eflier to show to them, though this isn’t strictly necessary. The Committee Room is through the Central Lobby and up one flight of stairs – we’ll have stewards directing you there from the entrance, or just ask any of the Parliamentary staff. The plan for the day We will assemble in Committee Room 10 12.30-45pm, and start by talking through our demands and our hopes for the report, before listening to Leveson’s statement live at 1.30pm. After this we’ll be joined by some of the core participants who’ve spent the morning reading the report who will help us ascertain how far it matches up to our demands, and then send people off to meet or Green Card their MPs. We have to move down the corridor to Committee Room 7 at 2.30pm, and may have further room changes on the day, which we will try to keep you updated on. It now looks like David Cameron will be giving his own statement at 3pm, which we will also broadcast in the Committee Room. Preparing for the lobby If you’ve signed up you should have received a brief document about our demands. If you have time to look into the issue in more depth, you may want to read the summary of our proposals, or the NUJ final statement to the Leveson Inquiry. If you don’t already follow us on Twitter, MediareformUK has a good stream of information about media reform. You may also be interested in the work of our partners Hacked Off and The Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom.  Chasing up your MP If you have emailed your MP and they have not replied, you may wish to follow up your email with a phone call today or tomorrow morning – just ring Parliament’s switchboard on 020 7219 3000 and ask to speak to their office. If they say they are unavailable, ask if you can meet a staff member instead. Whatever their response (or lack of response), do still come along on Thursday – just our presence in the building will have an impact, showing politicians that the public care about media reform and that we expect them to take action.   Contact us – by Twitter, Facebook, comment or email – if you have any questions, or read our FAQs here.