Des Freedman argues for a full and open debate about concentrated media power. In light of the forthcoming consideration by the government of the two rival Royal Charters, this is the first of a series of pieces on press power we will be publishing. If any single article demonstrates the abuse of press power, the Daily Mail’s hatchet job on Ralph Miliband, the father of … [Read more...]
A tale of two British summers: phone hacking and a royal baby
This post by Des Freedman was originally published at Open Democracy, and is reprinted with their kind permission. The royal birth is set to be the face of the 2013 summer, but to what extent does this reveal how little the media has changed since the phone hacking scandal in 2011? What happened to media reform? Prepare for an avalanche of wild speculation, idle gossip, … [Read more...]
Report from the Lords select committee on plurality, 25 June
As MPs call on Lord Justice Leveson to comment on the shameful stalemate that has prevailed over press regulation since the agreement of the Royal Charter in March, the House of Lords select committee on communications is quietly and seriously examining the question of what to do about media ownership. We observed the committee on 25 June as it heard evidence from three … [Read more...]
Tell the government they must reject the press barons’ charter
The government is launching a consultation on the press industry's 'rival' Royal Charter - and we need your help to defeat it. When this new, alternative Charter appeared at the end of last month, our opinion was unambiguous: we called it the "press barons' charter". The three main parties had agreed, after intense negotiation, an instrument which broadly worked; now the … [Read more...]
Report finds Leveson coverage heavy on invective, light on facts
On some days, reading press coverage of the Leveson Report and its convoluted aftermath feels like having Fleet Street line up behind one megaphone and shout in your face through it. Now a report from the Media Standards Trust indicates that this hyperbole isn't far off the mark - and reveals a near-unanimous front of negative opinion in the run-up to the report's … [Read more...]
It’s a myth that Parliament hasn’t approved the cross-party Charter
There is a strange kind of hypocrisy in the way some Fleet Street representatives use and abuse the notion of Parliamentary approval. As it happens, the claim that the cross-party Royal Charter - which will now be delayed beyond May 15 - has not been approved by Parliament is misleading at best. On the one hand, Roy Greenslade was "taken to task" on May 2 (by whom?) for … [Read more...]
Our detractors attack anything about us except our ideas
With first the Telegraph and now the Times launching substance-free wink-nudge coverage of the Media Reform Coalition, we can say with confidence: we've finally made it. We're famous! … [Read more...]