The arrest of Julian Assange and extradition charges brought against him set a grave precedent for press freedom. Both the US and UK governments have once again demonstrated contempt and cynicism for some of the basic principles of watchdog reporting in the public interest. Whatever the legal and political manoeuvrings at play in an attempt to disguise this brazen attack on … [Read more...]
Media Manifesto 2019
MRC has pulled together extensive academic research and a number of briefing reports produced by, and in consultation with, a broad range of experts and stakeholders to produce our latest Media Manifesto. It charts a roadmap towards genuine progressive reform that is both practical and radical; replacing legacy frameworks with a media policy fit for the 21st century. It … [Read more...]
Media Democracy Festival 2019
Tickets for our annual Media Democracy Festival are now on sale! The festival brings together media democracy campaigners, journalists, researchers and citizens to take part in discussions on a range of issues from challenging bias to confronting islamophobia and from how we can take on the tech platforms to producing a media manifesto for the next election. It has a fantastic … [Read more...]
A Public Service Internet for Europe?
By Professor Angela Phillips (Goldsmiths, University of London) The French Government announced in October that the National Assembly and Army Ministry would no longer be relying on American digital companies for Internet search. They are in future going to be using the French and German developed Quant search system which doesn’t track its users’ personal data and doesn’t … [Read more...]
An open letter to the Guardian Reader’s Editor
Both before and since publishing our research, which raised serious concerns about the Guardian's coverage of antisemitism within the Labour Party, we have made strident efforts to engage in constructive dialogue with both editorial and public affairs staff. Unfortunately, these efforts do not appear to have borne any fruit to date. There has also been no reporting or … [Read more...]
New MRC research finds inaccuracies and distortions in media coverage of antisemitism and the Labour Party
The Media Reform Coalition has conducted in-depth research on the controversy surrounding antisemitism in the Labour Party, focusing on media coverage of the crisis during the summer of 2018. Following extensive case study research, we identified myriad inaccuracies and distortions in online and television news including marked skews in sourcing, omission of essential context … [Read more...]
MRC submission to Cairncross Review
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport established the Cairncross Review to examinine the sustainability of high-quality journalism in the UK. The Review is particularly concerned with the Press and says that it will give equal weight to the needs of consumers and industry. But many fear its real intention is to justify subsidising corporate news organisations … [Read more...]