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MP tells AGM
DATELINE: 22/7/11
John McDonnell MP told last Saturday's CPBF annual general meeting, held in London, that the events of the past few weeks around 'phone hacking and the withdrawal of Murdoch's BSkyB bid had proved that "our time has come". But he warned that the one thing we knew about the establishment was that they could very easily allow the waters to close over issues. "This means that media reformers have a window of opportunity of between six months and a year to get our case across."
Turning to the Inquiry under Lord Justice Leveson, he warned that the Inquiry's scope could be narrowed down, drag on and finally produce a report which would only suggest modest reform. In the light of these dangers, the Campaign needed to decide whether it should set up a parallel inquiry. "We must get our concerns into the Inquiry's agenda and force a wide ranging discussion about media policy. "We can't allow monopoly and oligarchy ownership in the media any more. "We also need to re-open the BBC licence fee debate."
He continued; "When twelve months ago we were putting down Early Day Motions (EDMs) expressing our concerns about what was happening in the media, we could not have imagined how the situation would change. We now have a tight window of opportunity that we need to be extremely professional about – how we seize the opportunities presented by organising our research, making our submissions to the Inquiry and lobbying for a successful outcome."
He urged the Campaign to work with the NUJ and others to ensure that the Inquiry looked at issues beyond journalistic ethics and the code of conduct, important as they were. There were critical questions around media ownership, trade union rights to enforce the NUJ ethical code of conduct, and press regulation to strengthened freedom of expression. This would involve building a coalition with others, who share our aims and values.
Professor Brian Cathcart, a former Independent journalist and now professor of journalism at Kingston University, and founder of the 'Hacked Off 'campaign agreed that this was a window of opportunity, and spoke of the recent success of the campaign and the support they had received from Lords, MPs celebrities, journalists and hundreds of other people. Referring to the recent revelations about 'phone hacking, he said that he was astonished by the Millie Dowler revelations, but much of the other information was out in the public domain in 2008. He mentioned the important investigative journalism by Guardian reporter Nick Davies, but said he was fearful that in the near future the issues would die down because of lack of public interest. He said that the inquiry had to look at the three 'Ps' the press, the politicians and the police. It was vital that these issues were not kicked into the long grass.
The meeting agreed with James Curran that the Campaign needed to make well-prepared submissions to the Inquiry and later to the consultation on the Communications Bill, while others suggested that the Campaign needed to look at compulsory levies on the media to fund a truly independent press regulator.
Earlier the meeting decided not to change the name of the Campaign. With a heavy work load and an uncertain financial future, all agreed that now was not the time. The proposal could of course be considered next year in the light of developments.
Summing up, Campaign chair Julian Petley thanked the speakers and other contributors for a very positive and constructive debate and emphasised the need for the Campaign to work with others to achieve common objectives.
Last modified: Friday, August 12, 2011
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Notices
Events & Announcements
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.
DATELINE: 27/4/13
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
Make a note in your diary
Saturday 13 July 2013 from 10.00am
NUJ HQ, 308/312 Gray's Inn Road, London WC1.
Leveson, media ownership, CPBF future work.
DOWNLOAD FREEPRESS NOW
DATELINE: 26/3/10
Download Freepress in PDF, ePub or mobi format. Issue 194 now available.
MEDIA FOR ALL CONFERENCE
DATELINE: 26/3/10
Papers from the Media for All Conference
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
Reviews
Campaign 2010: the Making of the Prime Minister by Nicholas Jones
Embedded with the Bankers
A call for greater openness is destroyed by off-the-record quotes
Miners in the Front Line
REVIEW: Marching to the Fault Line
New pamphlet from Spinwatch: Spinning the Wheels
Review: Trading Information: Leaks, Lies and Tip-offs
Review: The History of The Times Vol VII 1981-2002 The Murdoch Years
‘Big Brother’ - the perfect neoliberal TV programme
A must read for anyone concerned about Vanunu and Israel
Review: Demons, Dragons and Bogeymen
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