| Media Reform Coalition

Playing to the Press Gallery: the repeal of Section 40

Natalie Fenton Lurking in this week’s Queen’s Speech were five bills that could impact upon news organisations and journalists: the…..

MRC Weekly Digest – 27 September 2021

Hi everyone, Eliz Mizon here, back after a summer break ☀☀☀ with the Media Reform Coalition blog every Friday. For…..

What will the coronavirus pandemic mean for the business of news?

At a time when we need trusted information and analysis more than ever, Covid-19 threatens the very fabric of…..

How the media helped Boris Johnson win the election

by Natalie Fenton, chair of the Media Reform Coalition The mediation of messages plays a key part in the…..

Election campaign reveals a media system that’s not fit for purpose

MRC asked some leading advocates of media reform for their reaction to the result of the general election. Angela Phillips:…..

A Media Reform Agenda for 2018

A fragile government, an embittered citizenry, an emboldened opposition and a media system that’s not fit for purpose – this…..

Big media and big money in 2017: from Disney/Murdoch to Net Neutrality

by Des Freedman Two seminal events that took place this week – the FCC’s vote to scrap net neutrality rules…..

A dismal future for the BBC? MRC’s response to the White Paper

by Angela Phillips The White Paper on the BBC was cleverly introduced to undermine its most prominent critics. None of…..

Media Reform Coalition submission to BBC Charter Review

Executive Summary The BBC and the Market The MRC does not accept the premise of the Green Paper that the…..

BBC Charter Review: This is Not the Place to Start

by Des Freedman, chair, Media Reform Coalition Who would have expected that one of the central debates about the…..

From the Financial Times – “The power of the US cable barons must be challenged”

With much of the UK press still opposed to any progressive measures to combat concentration of media ownership, journalists and…..

Maria Miller had to go. How will her replacement handle the big decisions?

by Tom Chivers Corrupt? Perhaps. Foolish? Certainly. Maria Miller did herself no favours in handling the row over her expenses…..

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. …

Lords support limits on ownership

Today, several members of the House of Lords voiced their support for limits on media ownership in the Lords debate on the Leveson Report. The following quotes echo many of the arguments and recommendations put forward by the Media Reform Coalition:

Bills and shills: how to make sure Leveson sticks

Amidst all the storm that Leveson has caused, it’s worth noting how similar his proposals are to ones made in…..