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Brown must open up lobbying to win public trust
DATELINE: 5/1/09
Transparency campaigners have welcomed a new Parliamentary report urging the Government to introduce rules that would allow greater public scrutiny of the normally secret world of lobbying.
The key recommendations of the report published today (Monday 5 January) by the influential Public Administration Select Committee are the introduction of a statutory register of lobbying activity and a strengthening of the system overseeing the 'revolving door' between government and business.
David Miller of the Alliance for Lobbying Transparency (ALT) , a coalition of civil society groups, said: "Gordon Brown must follow the recommendations of this report and reform lobbying to bring it out of the shadows. The public has a right to know which groups are bending the Government's ear to influence policy."
"We welcome too the Committee's recommendations for controlling the movement of personnel between Whitehall and business, the so-called revolving door. When public funds are tight, there must be no suspicion that Ministers and officials are working for anything other than the public good."
The lobbying industry's attempts at self-regulation are also heavily criticised in the report, which describes the existing system of as, 'little better than the Emperor's new clothes'. Industry arguments against regulation were also dismissed, with the Committee concluding that most of their fears were 'over-stated.' It also points out that lobbyists are regulated in a number of other jurisdictions including the United States, Canada, Australia and Brussels.
The report follows an 18 month inquiry into lobbying by the Committee of MPs, led by Dr. Tony Wright. Members of the Alliance for Lobbying Transparency (which is supported by the CPBF and the NUJ) gave both oral and written evidence to the Committee calling for reform.
LINKSDownload the full PASC report (PDF format)
Last modified: Wednesday, January 7, 2009
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World Press Freedom Day
More reporters are currently imprisoned in Turkey than in any other country in the world. Only a matter of weeks ago lawyers failed to persuade a Turkish court to release a 76-year-old journalist from a Turkish internet news station.
World Press Freedom Day on Friday May 3, 2013 is being marked in Britain by a rally to highlight the dangers facing journalists in Turkey and in this podcast, Nicholas Jones speaks to Barry White, Organiser at the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom, and Sam Bamford, the TUC's policy officer for Eastern Europe and Africa about the importance of a campaign to highlight international press freedom.
The World Press Freedom Day rally is being staged by the National Union of Journalists at the NUJ head office, Gray’s Inn Road, London WC1 on Thursday May 2, 6pm-8pm.
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UK launch of EU media campaign
DATELINE: 13/3/13
The UK launch of a 'European Citizens' Initiative' calling for EU rules against concentration of media power will take place on Thursday March 21 from 11:00am – 12:30pm in Committee Room 4A at the House of Lords, London. Guest speakers will include actor and activist Hugh Grant (pictured), media consultant Claire Enders, Professor Steven Barnett, Barry McCall (President of the NUJ) and Marc Gruber (Director of the European Federation of Journalists).
A European Citizens' Initiative is an official petition, like a Downing Street petition. If it succeeds in gathering a million signatures across the EU, the Commission is obliged to respond.
This petition calls for the EU to act to protect media pluralism and press freedom.
CPBF Annual General Meeting
DATELINE: 1/3/13
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Saturday 13 July 2013 from 10.00am
NUJ HQ, 308/312 Gray's Inn Road, London WC1.
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MEDIA MANIFESTO
DATELINE: 26/3/10
The media’s job is to inform and entertain us but we rely on them too to tell us what our rulers and representatives are up to. In the run-up to the Iraq war the government used spin and disinformation in the media to create panic and mislead people. The truth is coming out now, but we need stronger, more independent media to be able to scrutinise governments and make informed choices.
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Previous stories
Lobbying
Reining in the influence industry
Lobbyists under the spotlight
Companies 'try to co-opt sector'
Slow and shaky start for EU lobbying register
Alliance for Lobbying Transparency meeting
Legal blow to secret government lobbying
EU lobbying - it's now or never
Parliamentary Inquiry into lobbying gets underway
EU Worst Lobby Awards Go Public
