Rob Watson, an experienced community radio practitioner and advocate, reports on how community media can play a key role during the Coronavirus pandemic by providing "a different space for discussion, deliberation and creative expression that is a valuable alternative to the mainstream way of presenting information and engaging with audiences." by Dr Rob Watson According … [Read more...]
Democratise the BBC!
by Des Freedman With the resignation of Tony Hall as director general, there is talk of an ‘existential crisis’ at the BBC. The corporation is facing yet more budget cuts and the further centralisation of commissioning. Hall’s departure follows Boris Johnson’s threat to boycott the Today programme and Samira Ahmed’s … [Read more...]
Election 2019 manifesto pledges on media reform: what’s in and what’s not
by Natalie Fenton The media have been central actors in this General Election campaign. Research by Loughborough University has shown the dominance of pro-Conservative party and anti-Labour Party coverage in the national press and others have claimed forcefully that the BBC has failed in its duty of impartial reporting. Cries of misrepresentation, under-representation, … [Read more...]
MRC submission to online harms white paper
Earlier this year, the government published its white paper outlining plans for a new regulatory approach to tackling "illegal and harmful content and activity online". In particular, it discusses the threat to "our way of life" posed by "disinformation" which has huge implications for the conduct of journalism. We reproduce below our submission to the ongoing … [Read more...]
A model motion for media reform
This meeting/branch/conference/ believes that: our current media suffer from concentration of media ownership, lack of accountability, lack of independence from government and from commercial pressures and do not adequately represent a diverse range of people and views;a flourishing, diverse and accountable media is essential for a healthy, functioning democracy. Media … [Read more...]
Unmasked: Andrew Norfolk, the Times and anti-Muslim reporting – a case to answer
A detailed study out today finds that three times in 15 months the chief investigative reporter of the Times, Andrew Norfolk, published sensational series of front-page articles portraying Muslims as threatening – and in every case central allegations were unfounded. The study, written by investigative journalists Brian Cathcart and Paddy French and supported by the … [Read more...]
Stop the deregulation of local commercial radio
MRC has invited the Local Radio Group to offer its own thoughts on some worrying developments in local commercial radio. A further comment piece is forthcoming on the impact of community radio. by The Local Radio Group We need to talk about deregulation. Unnecessary and extreme deregulation of the commercial radio industry has recently caused hundreds of job losses. … [Read more...]