We have just produced a short briefing document that provides an overview of critical debates currently taking place in UK media policy. Each of these issues involves serious policy failures, corporate abuses of power or underlying structural crises that threaten the ability of media organisations to hold powerful groups to account, serve the public interest and support the … [Read more...]
BBC and Beyond Town Hall events
Upcoming Events Reimagining Public Service Media in Wales - 11am BST, Thursday July 1st Can public media be antiracist? - 6pm BST, Weds July 14th Past events 'Scottish media, for everyone?' June 28th 2021, jointly organised with Pass the Mic. With Talat Yaqoob, Pass the Mic; Tasnim Nazeer, freelance journalist; Marcus Ryder, Lenny Henry Centre for Media … [Read more...]
Decriminalising TV licence fee evasion will cut BBC funding without helping the poorest
by Leo Watkins On 9 December last year, mere days before the General Election, Boris Johnson was having a bad news day. He was televised in the morning trying to avoid being confronted by a reporter’s evidence of a young boy sleeping on the floor of an NHS hospital (with the insinuation being that he was being denied proper medical care). Later in the day, his health … [Read more...]
MRC submission to ‘Future of Public Service Broadcasting’ inquiry
Immediately after the outbreak of the pandemic, the Culture Select Committee launched an inquiry into the funding, regulation and remit of public service broadcasting. Given recent attacks on the BBC in particular by senior members of the government, including the prime minister, MRC believes it is vital both to defend the principle of public media but also to emphasise, once … [Read more...]
Zombie economics, post Covid-19 and the media video
You can watch a full recording of our first Media Democracy Festival lunchtime debate involving Grace Blakeley, Noni Makuyana and Mike Berry on our YouTube channel here. The event was first streamed on Wednesday 3 June 2020. … [Read more...]
The fake choice around decriminalising the licence fee
by Des Freedman and Tom Mills A licence fee worth defending? Decriminalising the licence fee may not seem like the highest priority for a government that’s facing economic meltdown and social crisis. Nevertheless, Boris Johnson’s administration has ploughed on with its official consultation on decriminalisation and maintained its commitment to respond to comments by the … [Read more...]
Coronavirus has strengthened the case for the BBC
Our second article on the impact of Coronavirus on media policy debate features a contribution from Professor Jonathan Hardy who argues that the need for the "collective provision of information and creative communications as a public service" - as epitomised by the BBC - has been strengthened by Covid-19. His article comes days before the deadline for the government's … [Read more...]