The government’s recent White Paper on the future of the broadcasting sector represents a concerted ideological attack on public service media in the UK. Today, MRC has published a policy briefing on their proposed reforms. Our headline findings are: The proposed revisions to the remit and regulatory frameworks for PSB are inadequate, and do not capture the full … [Read more...]
Playing to the Press Gallery: the repeal of Section 40
Natalie Fenton Lurking in this week's Queen’s Speech were five bills that could impact upon news organisations and journalists: the draft Digital Markets, Competition and Consumer Bill; the Online Safety Bill; the Media Bill; the Data Reform Bill and the National Security Bill. Over the coming weeks, MRC will be interrogating all of them. But here, we focus on one small … [Read more...]
Media News Round-Up: May 8th
Hi everyone, Eliz Mizon here with the Media Reform Coalition blog every week. For even more media news and analysis, the latest media reform campaigns, and relevant content from around the web, follow me at Chompsky: Power and Pop Culture. For now, here's your media news digest: “Evil doesn’t begin to approach it” - Noam Chomsky speaks to Just Stop … [Read more...]
Spiteful and ideological: the government’s broadcasting white paper
The government has published its broadcasting white paper, Up Next: the government’s vision for the broadcasting sector. The white paper touches on many different issues from content regulation of streaming services, to BBC funding, the prominence of and obligation on public service broadcasters, and the licensing of local TV stations. However, it is the proposed privatisation … [Read more...]
New Briefing on the Online Safety Bill
The Media Reform Coalition is today publishing a Briefing that includes a summary of the historical context and key debates concerning the government’s Online Safety Bill ahead of its second reading in Spring 2022. The analysis draws on the UK Media Influence Matrix report, exploring the impact of shifts in policy, funding and contemporary journalism, that was published in … [Read more...]
“Crucial for the future of UK democracy”: The Media Democracy Festival 2022
By Eliz Mizon #MDF22 was an uplifting, thought-provoking, and urgent gathering of some of the UK’s leading media experts and citizens who understand the need to revitalise the media, a system that underpins our ability to understand all others. We kicked off with five days of international livestreamed panels, all of which are now available in a playlist: For the first … [Read more...]
MRC submission to DCMS inquiry on sustainability of local journalism
The Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee put out a call for evidence looking at a sustainable future for local journalism. This is a summary of the MRC submission, which you can read in full here. The Media Reform Coalition has been researching the crisis in local news, and campaigning for solutions, for many years. Two decades of consolidations and cost-cutting … [Read more...]