Media Reform Coalition

The new BBC Director-General must be a champion for audiences – and break with the failures of his predecessors

The BBC Board has appointed Matt Brittin, former boss of Google’s European operations, as the new Director-General of the BBC……

A permanent Charter is not enough to stop government control over the BBC

Media Reform Coalition response to Lisa Nandy’s speech to the Society of Editors: In a speech to the Society of…..

Public Media Ireland: a radical vision of PSM in a United Ireland

Trying to design a Public Service Media (PSM) organisation for a country that does not (yet) exist might seem a…..

The Daily Mail takeover of Telegraph Media Group – MRC letter to the Culture Secretary

On 20 January 2026, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport announced that she is “minded to” intervene…..

A blueprint for permanent decline: the DCMS Green Paper on BBC Charter review

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has officially launched the process of renewing the BBC’s Royal Charter, with the…..

The Daily Mail/Telegraph buyout: another nail in the media plurality coffin

On Sunday (23rd November 2025), Lord Rothermere’s Daily Mail & General Trust announced that it had reached an agreement to buy…..

BBC governance needs urgent and radical reform – MRC statement on BBC resignations & political interference

The Media Reform Coalition is calling for urgent and radical reform of the BBC’s governance, to free the UK’s national…..

ROGUE: The Rise and Fall of Mazher ‘Fake Sheikh’ Mahmood

by Roy Greenslade, former Guardian media commentator and Professor of Journalism When Mazher Mahmood was imprisoned nine years ago for…..

New: a ‘how-to’ handbook for registering your newsroom as a charity

Guest post from Eliz Mizon, Project Manager at the Charitable Journalism Project. Download the CJP handbook for registering a local…..

2025 Report: Who Owns The UK Media?

The Media Reform Coalition has published a new edition of its flagship ‘Who Owns the UK Media?’ report, highlighting the…..

State of Play: Why the Commons Select Committee needs to become a strong public voice in media policy debates

The Commons Select Committee on Culture, Media and Sport recently held an open consultation called ‘State of Play’, asking the…..

The UK’s media ownership laws aren’t fit for purpose – the MRC view on the DCMS mergers regime consultation

READ: The MRC’s submission to the DCMS consultation on updating the media mergers regime The UK is facing a severe…..

5 questions that Ofcom’s Public Service Media review must answer

In December Ofcom published the initial findings of its latest Public Service Media Review. This ‘Phase 1’ report highlights the…..

How well is Public Service Media serving the public? The MRC’s initial submission to Ofcom’s PSM Review

The UK’s public service broadcasters (PSBs) are facing a series of interconnected and existential challenges. As well as declining audiences,…..

Is Big Tech too big to regulate? Reflections from the MRC’s public event

On 26th November the Media Reform Coalition hosted a public panel discussion at the London School of Economics, asking “Is…..

BBC, bias and Gaza: A partial study of impartiality

The much-publicised Asserson Report, which claims the BBC is “heavily biased against Israel”, flies in the face of other specialist…..

Media policy briefing for the new parliament

Following the general election in July the Media Reform Coalition has produced a new briefing document, which highlights our analysis…..

Mainstream media’s complicity in far-right riots isn’t accidental – it’s structural

The mainstream media is reluctant to fully confront the nature of the far-right riots, and has a history of structural…..

'There is no Planet B' - photo from Climate March 21/09/14 by Garry Knight, licenced under Creative Commons 1.0

How the BBC platforms climate deniers and promotes ‘both-sideism’ on climate science

In this guest post for the Media Reform Coalition, Tom Hardy from Extinction Rebellion unpicks the BBC’s dismissal of the…..

There’s nothing new in the liberal media’s apologism for Labour

Tom Sykes, author and Associate Professor at the University of Portsmouth, gives an historical view on the Labour Party’s complicity…..

Politics and power in election campaign coverage: Are we missing something?

Ahead of Thursday’s general election, Lee Edwards, Professor of Strategic Communication and Public Engagement at the London School of Economics,…..