Off the agenda: Why press silence speaks volumes about the dangers of concentrated media | Media Reform Coalition

Category: Media Democracy

A year after Leveson – is press power still in control?

One year ago, Lord Justice Leveson delivered his damning report on the ‘culture, practices and ethics’ of the British press. Called into action following the revelations of widespread phone hacking at the then best-selling (and now defunct) News of the World, Leveson concluded – after 2000 pages of detailed analysis – that sections of the press ‘had wreaked havoc with the lives of innocent people whose rights and liberties have been disdained.’ He called for a new form of independent press self-regulation to be overseen by a recognition body established in law to replace a system, managed by the industry-backed Press Complaints Commission (PCC), that had, by that time, been utterly discredited. …

Take Action: Demand an End to Mass Surveillance

Over the past year, 300 organisations have come together to coordinate an international response to the mass surveillance of the NSA and GCHQ exposed by whistleblower Edward Snowden. In response to the ‘need to update understandings of existing human rights law to reflect modern surveillance technologies and techniques’, they have developed the International Principles on the Application of Human Rights to Communications Surveillance. …

Politicians and the Press a Year after Leveson: Has Anything Changed?

The Media Reform Coalition publishes today, just ahead of the first anniversary of the publication of Lord Justice Leveson’s report into press standards, a dossier on the corrosive relationship between politicians and the press as revealed by testimony to the Leveson Inquiry.

IPSO FACTO – No EU conspiracy for state control of the press (P.S. The PCC is useless)

After seven weary months and a correspondence running to more than 20,000 words, the Press Complaints Commission has made a final ‘adjudication’ about Andrew Gilligan’s ludicrous claim in the Sunday Telegraph last April that a motley bunch of academics and voluntary organisations are part of a European Union-funded conspiracy to hand control of the press to the state.

UN alarmed by threat to press freedom and investigative journalism in the UK

In the wake of the Snowden intelligence leaks, the UK government’s attacks on journalists and editors for political purposes are undermining the role of a free press and its ability to hold power to account. International opposition to the government’s position is growing.

Addressing the decline of local media: A response to Theresa May

Dave Boyle writes on the root causes of the decline of local media and why Theresa May is wrong to lay blame with the BBC.

The lies of the tabloid press reveal the need for accountability

Guy Taylor of the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants writes on sensationalism in the press and the need for accountability.

‘Press freedom canard’ – Professor James Curran’s letter to the Guardian

Chris Huhne (Comment, 4 November) cites the Express’s claim that “freedom of the press is cast aside after 300 years” without questioning its historical veracity. This absurd claim implies that we had a free press in 1790 when criticism of the social system was a criminal offence, and guilt or innocence could be determined solely by a judge. It suggests that we had a free press in 1850 when the stamp, advertisement and paper duties were still fixed to price newspapers beyond the reach of ordinary people. And it suggests that this embedded press freedom, hallowed by time, will come to an end with the introduction of a cheap and open system of redress for press victims, with a state-underpinned audit every few years to ensure that press self-regulation (unlike its predecessors) works.

Argentine Supreme Court challenges concentration of media ownership

On Tuesday 29 October, the Argentine Supreme Court ruled for the constitutionality of the 2009 Audiovisual Communication Services Act, against which Argentina’s largest media group, Grupo Clarín, had taken up a legal challenge. The ruling orders the implementation of the law which mandates that broadcast licences must be equally split between commercial, public and non-profit organisations. Clarín, which has long argued that the Act affected its property rights, must now immediately comply with the law (as the deadline for compliance has already passed), and divest itself of several cable TV licences.

Hacking trial: Coulson-Brooks affair assists Crown’s conspiracy claim

By Martin Hickman, 31 October 2013 The News of the World ordered the hacking of Milly Dowler’s phone on the same day it sympathised with her distraught parents’ anguish, the phone hacking trial heard today. Milly went missing near her home in Walton on Thames, Surrey, in March 2002, sparking a large public police investigation and a parallel, covert one at the News of the World, the Old Bailey was told.

Power in the Dock

MEDIA REFORM COALITION RESPONDS TO PM’S THREATS TO GUARDIAN As five senior journalists stand in the dock of the Old…..

Double standards? Why unsupported claims of ‘threats to national security’ are the real threats to press freedom

By Justin Schlosberg Last week, MP’s announced plans to formally inquire into the Guardian’s coverage of the Edward Snowden leaks,…..

Des Freedman: The Press’ Terror of Voluntary Regulation

Weekends are supposed to be for calm reflection of the week that has passed and some rest before the challenges…..

Westminster Media Forum on Media Ownership, Plurality and Convergence

When: 21 November 2013, 08:30 – 13:00 Where: Johnnie Walker Room, The Caledonian Club, 9 Halkin Street, London, SW1X 7DR…..

Time for government to stand firm on press regulation

Written by Julian Petley, Professor of Screen Media at Brunel University. Republished from The Conversation. On Monday evening, the BBC’s…..

Lesson From History – A Message to David Cameron

Written by Steven Barnett, Professor of Communications at the University of Westminster. Reposted with kind permission from Huff Post UK……

Natalie Bennett: ‘How to Tackle Press Power’

Natalie Bennett is the leader of the Green Party. She was the editor of The Guardian Weekly between 2007 and 2012 and has previously…..

The Mail and intrusion into grief – an isolated incident?

Written by Martin Moore. Reposted with kind permission from the Media Standards Trust. When a Mail on Sunday journalist intruded on…..

Professor James Curran comments on the Daily Mail

Letter to the Evening Standard The Daily Mail’s attack on Ed Miliband’s father as ‘the man who hated Britain’ because…..

The Daily Mail knows all about ‘hate’

Des Freedman argues for a full and open debate about concentrated media power. In light of the forthcoming consideration by the…..

Barack Obama takes on Rupert Murdoch, the last media baron

This article originally appeared at the Daily Mirror. President Obama has had enough of Rupert Murdoch. His target is the…..

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