by Mike Jempson After seven weary months and a correspondence running to more than 20,000 words, the Press Complaints Commission has made a final ‘adjudication’ about Andrew Gilligan’s ludicrous claim in the Sunday Telegraph last April that a motley bunch of academics and voluntary organisations are part of a European Union-funded conspiracy to hand control of the press … [Read more...]
No, Andrew Gilligan, we do not want content regulation
Have you heard? The Media Reform Coalition is part of a plot by the European Union to take control of the British press. At least that’s what seems to be implied in an article by Andrew Gilligan in this week’s Sunday Telegraph. Normally, we turn the other cheek to these kinds of attacks. But in between the shocking revelations that media academics sometimes talk to each … [Read more...]
Job done, Lord Puttnam: the “terrible silence” is broken
By Mike Jempson In tabling his contentious amendments to the Defamation Bill, Lord Puttnam made clear that they were “designed to break that terrible silence” which had come over formal discussions of Lord Justice Leveson’s proposals for a new regulatory regime to improve ‘the culture, ethics and practice of the press’. He was certainly not the only one who feared that … [Read more...]
Leveson makes way for PCC Mark II
Well, well, well... Who would have thought it. It's back to the bad old days as 2013 kicks off with some gentle back-slapping from the Press Complaints Commission. In their annual 'self-satisfaction' survey, the PCC claim that 86% (of those who gave an opinion) said their staff were either very helpful, helpful or satisfactory (goodness me!); 79% of those who provided an … [Read more...]
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 the past. How do we draft a bill that works? Maybe we already have. Mike Jempson, Director of the MediaWise Trust, looks at the precedents and warns that the press is already banding together to try and subvert the process. … [Read more...]