by Calum Rosie Criticising the current state of the English language can be risky; one can easily (and in many cases, justifiably) be accused of snobbishness and elitism, countered with the argument that language evolves and that we should all be willing to adapt to it. And while this is true to a point, it’s incredibly important to remember that language is a tool developed … [Read more...]
Media in Lockdown debate
Media Reform Coalition partnered with Liverpool's Writing on the Wall Festival to host a debate on Tuesday 19 May to discuss the role of the media in the Covid-19 pandemic. Speakers were Kerry-Anne Mendoza (editor at large of The Canary), Tom Mills (author of The BBC: Myth of a Public Service and vice-chair of MRC), and Victor Pickard (author of Democracy without Journalism: … [Read more...]
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 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...]
Reflections on the election from a journalism student
by Clara Hill There are many things that attracted me to pursue a career in journalism. Mainly, that I might as well monetise my irritating love of 24 hour news I inherited from my father. In some ways, this is an unfortunate ambition because it is no secret that the British media is largely biased towards the right. From my point of view, it is unclear whether this … [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...]
MRC calls out misleading coverage and malicious attacks on left-wing Jewish voices across the national media
The Media Reform Coalition condemns the distorted and skewed coverage of anti-semitism within the Labour Party by large sections of the UK media. To give one recent example of the countless inaccuracies and misleading statements made by the ‘serious’ press, the Sunday Times has claimed to have exposed a ‘hate factory’ targeting Jews on closed Facebook groups that support Jeremy … [Read more...]