Category: Blog

NUJ head Michelle Stanistreet on independent regulation

This is a message from Michelle Stanistreet, the General Secretary of the National Union of Journalists, which was sent this…..

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What can we learn from press regulation overseas?

The outcome of the Leveson Inquiry will require a new constitutional design for press regulation. Reform has the potential to transform the newsroom culture that bred pervasive phone hacking, while securing freedom of expression and the press. But how do they do it abroad?

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Russia, China, Syria…where will Leveson lead us next?

As the publication of the Leveson Report looms, it’s natural to compare the British press with that of other countries……

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Would independent regulation have “shackled” the press?

We wouldn’t want to shackle the press. Not us. So when, over the weekend, the Free Speech Network asked: “If…..

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Our ethics chair, Angela Phillips, talks levies and Leveson

Angela Phillips, our ethics committee chair, has been interviewed by the free knowledge base Pod Academy to get the story…..

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Press regulation is about protecting the powerless

On Thursday 22, Fraser Nelson, the editor of the Spectator, wrote a piece on the Telegraph calling on the Prime…..

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Freedom of expression argument should not be misused

Padraig Reidy’s piece in the New Statesman today , claiming that self-regulation of the press is the only way to…..

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The BBC: Is This the Corporation’s Hacking Crisis?

Media Reform Coalition chair Des Freedman asks how the recent crisis at Newsnight relates to the hacking scandal which precipitated…..

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Who is talking about statutory CONTROL of the Press?

Mike Jempson, Director of The MediaWise Trust and Vice Chair NUJ Ethics Council, looks at recent press coverage in the…..

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The Free Speech Network: Corporate media close ranks

The Free Speech Network has emerged as a megaphone in defence of the status quo of media regulation. Its arguments…..

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Monopoly ownership is bad for democracy

We all know that it wasn’t just the impunity from the lack of a proper press complaints system that led…..

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Communications White Paper: The Deregulation Bandwagon is on the Road

Des Freedman from Goldsmiths, University of London, responds to DCMS’ Comms Review seminar arguing that the consultation runs the risk of cementing deregulation as the preferred policy approach.

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Regulation: The plans explained

Ahead of her appearance before Lord Leveson with James Curran, Angela Phillips offers an outline of the proposals for press regulation currently on the table.

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Media Reform witnesses to appear at the Leveson Inquiry

James Curran and Angela Phillips will be giving testimony to Lord Leveson this Friday 13th July at 10am.

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Ed Miliband and John Major call for ownership caps in line with Media Reform proposals

Yesterday Ed Miliband and John Major both called for new ownership caps to be applied to the media. John Major…..

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Has Leveson thrown in the towel?

Damian Tambini wonders whether media watchers will look back on May 2012 as the month in which Leveson made two fateful moves to narrow the remit of his Inquiry

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A Regulated Free Press – Compromise or Contradiction?

Angela Phillips takes on Lord Hunt over Media Reform proposals for press regulation. She calls for the establishment of a News Publishing Commission, run by representatives of civil society organisations and journalists, which “embraces the internet, protects real journalism from the pressures exerted by power and recognises that freedom of speech belongs not just to proprietors and editors but to everyone.”

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James Curran’s Rally Speech

We have just heard very moving, eloquent testimonies about press abuse. However, the problem is not only that newspapers can…..

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It’s not just about Murdoch…

This week we are likely to see yet more drama and revelations in the saga that is the Leveson Inquiry as the prime minister’s former spin doctor Andy Coulson and former Sun editor and horse owner Rebekah Brooks take the stand. You may be starting to tire of the blanket coverage but please don’t switch off just yet. Des Freedman offers a reminder of the big issues at stake…

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Murdoch and the Big Lie

Anthony Barnett argues that the malign political influence of the Murdochs poses a fundamental challenge to British democracy. This will not be dealt with by selling off the ownership of their papers, welcome though this might be, or the removal of their influence from BSkyB on the grounds that the Murdochs are not fit and proper people. The scandal has now clarified a far more breathtaking question: is Britain governed by a big lie?

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Did Jeremy Hunt work for the government – or Murdoch?

Des Freedman reflects in CNN’s Edition on the staggering e-mails between Frédéric Michel, News Corp’s chief lobbyist in Europe, and James Murdoch regarding the company’s bid to take over BSkyB – “A government hell-bent on making ordinary people pay for a crisis caused by financial elites has been seen to be in cahoots with a media organization that has a long record of celebrating the debt-fueled consumer boom that so badly went wrong.”

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