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...]
Media Democracy and Radical Social Change
Last weekend the Media Reform Coalition welcomed former Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell to deliver the keynote at the annual Media Democracy Festival in London. Below are the opening remarks from our chair Tom Mills welcoming John and kicking off the festival. Our huge thanks to John for joining us and for everyone who participated in the event. Hello everyone and … [Read more...]
The Media Democracy Festival ’22 has started – don’t miss out!
Our free yearly Media Democracy Festival has already started, but there’s still plenty of opportunities to get involved and watch important discussions on a wide range of topics! The Media Democracy Festival kicked off on Monday 21st March with Framing the Climate Emergency, which was an interesting look at how the media has been reacting to the climate emergency. Click here … [Read more...]
MRC submission to House of Lords Communications and Digital Committee inquiry on BBC Future Funding
The House of Lords Communications Committee set up an inquiry on BBC funding earlier this year. This is a summary of the MRC submission which you can read in full here. The future broadcasting landscape is likely to see a continuation of the trends of the past decade, which together pose major challenges for the media and communications ecology as a whole. However, … [Read more...]
Media and the manipulation of language
by Calum Rosie Criticising the current state of the English language can be risky; one can easily (and in many cases, justifiably) be accused of snobbishness and elitism, countered with the argument that language evolves and that we should all be willing to adapt to it. And while this is true to a point, it’s incredibly important to remember that language is a tool developed … [Read more...]
Report: Who Owns the UK Media?
NEW REPORT ON UK MEDIA OWNERSHIP JUST PUBLISHED We produced our first comprehensive report on media ownership in the UK back in 2015 when we argued concentrated ownership was a significant problem for any modern democracy. In 2019, we produced an updated version that suggests that, not only does concentrated ownership persist but that the problem may be getting worse. … [Read more...]