by Natalie Fenton, chair of the Media Reform Coalition The mediation of messages plays a key part in the outcome of most elections and the United Kingdom's December 12 general election was no exception. Incumbent Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Conservative Party took the single strapline "Get Brexit Done" and repeated it endlessly. The slogan was … [Read more...]
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: The media and the polls Outrage about the bias of the media has been a constant over many years of elections but the past four years allow us to make a fairly direct comparison between events. The main thing that has changed is not the … [Read more...]
Where’s the impartiality? #GenElec2019
by Justin Schlosberg Time for a review of impartiality rules during elections? It is frequently said that a free media is the cornerstone of a healthy democracy and none more so than during an election period. But democracy is only well served if all political views are given equal prominence and fair interrogation. We know we have a partisan press but during … [Read more...]
Community Radio: Deliberative Media Communities at the Heart of Media Reform
This is the second in our series of invited pieces about the importance of local and community radio. by Rob Watson You would have to be living under a rock not to sense the destructive tension of Brexit in our political debates of recent times. These strains are stretching and distorting our traditional social accords and norms in ways that are intensely polarising and … [Read more...]
MRC submission to BBC Editorial Guidelines consultation
The BBC is currently consulting on its editorial guidelines, the rules that govern the Corporation's relationship to, for example, impartiality, accuracy, commercial references and harm and offence. We believe that the draft guidelines set out important principles, provisions and protections. But the issue with the BBC has always been less with its official editorial … [Read more...]
What the BBC has to say about the papers
New evidence of BBC bias in its reporting of election newspaper coverage A new report suggests that the BBC is in violation of its Charter, Election Guidelines and the Broadcasting Code in its regular reporting of newspaper coverage on major bulletins and news programmes. The study, produced by a leading statistician in association with the Media Reform Coalition, focused … [Read more...]
Paul Mason: Reflections on Impartiality
I've quit jobs in the regulated broadcast ‘impartial’ media twice in the last five years. I left Newsnight to go and work for Channel 4. I left Channel 4 to go freelance with one 900 word column a week in the Guardian. Both times it was a shock and both times I woke up the next day and said to my partner: “I thought I was going to be terrified but I now feel like a secret … [Read more...]