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...]
BBC Panorama on anti-semitism: a catalogue of reporting failures
The BBC transmitted an edition of Panorama on 10 July called ‘Is Labour Anti-Semitic?’, presented by John Ware. It contained allegations that senior Labour figures close to Jeremy Corbyn had interfered with the internal investigations process and that the Party was insufficiently committed to tackling anti-semitism within its own ranks. In response, the Labour … [Read more...]
Should he stay or should he go? Television and online news coverage of the Labour Party in crisis
As the second Labour leadership election in less than a year gathers pace, research produced jointly by the Department of Film, Media and Cultural Studies at Birkbeck, University of London and the Media Reform Coalition, based at Goldsmiths, University of London, has found clear and consistent bias in favour of critics of Jeremy Corbyn. The researchers analysed 465 online … [Read more...]
The case for caps: how to make media ownership policy work
By Justin Schlosberg Last night’s Radio 4 Media Show featured an interview with shadow culture secretary Harriet Harman where she was pressed by Steve Hewlett on the burgeoning issue of what to do about media plurality. In response, she reiterated Labour’s support for a system of thresholds to be applied to media ownership – particularly in respect of newspapers – arguing … [Read more...]
Victory, or ‘Leveson lite’? Our experts respond
Today the prospect of a Parliamentary game of chicken over a fair and independent regulator for the press has been averted with the announcement of a cross-party Leveson deal. The new Royal Charter, backed by a law forbidding ministerial meddling, includes concessions from both sides. Crucially, however, it is underpinned by a 'dab of statute', it prevents the press from … [Read more...]
The Post-Leveson Quest for The Recogniser
In his Report Lord Justice Leveson recommended statutory underpinning for a replacement to the PCC. Although the Prime Minister adamantly opposed that idea at the time of the report’s release, based on the rather frank discussions at the Oxford Media Convention on 23 January it seems that all the proposals on the table involve some kind of statute. The sticking point appears to … [Read more...]
Labour promises to vote on statutory underpinning
By Carolina Are According to the Press Gazette, the Labour Party has promised to vote on the issue of statutory underpinning for a new press regulator. Deputy Labour leader and shadow culture secretary Harriet Harman challenged the Government to draft their proposal for the new press regulator by the end of this month. This way the proposal can be recognised via a Royal … [Read more...]