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We need a million free press devotees
Tim Gopsill
DATELINE: 27/3/13
People who care about having fairer and more diverse media now have the chance to sign up to a Europe-wide petition asking the EU to legislate against the concentration of ownership and control in the hands of too few companies. The European Initiative on Media Plurality had its UK launch in London on March 21. The initiative has to attract a million signatures across the continent; if it achieves that the EU commission must discus issuing a directive to ensure that commercial media in every state must be widely owned to ensure their independence from both the state and the influence of powerful corporate owners.
Academics, journalists and media campaigners came together at the launch event in the House of Lords on March 21 to work out the petition campaign.
"This is an ambitious and inspiring project to develop a clear, democratic framework for the media across the European Union," said Granville Williams, the UK co-ordinator for the initiative. "It involves cooperation amongst over more than 100 organisations who care about free and independent media."
Granville Williams is a writer and campaigner on media freedom and a member of the CPBF national council. The CPBF is supporting the online petition.
The petition is at www.mediainitiative.eu. It calls for:
• Effective legislation to avoid concentration of ownership in the media and advertisement sectors;
• Guaranteed independence of media supervisory bodies from political power and influence;
• Definition of conflict of interests to avoid media moguls occupying high political office;
• Clearer European monitoring systems to check up regularly on the health and independence of the media in member states.It specifically rules out any government interference in journalism. Editorial content must remain independent of legislation.
Steve Barnett of Westminster University, a prominent commentator and Parliamentary adviser on the media, said the campaign was needed because politicians were "wary of grasping this political nettle."
In Britain the problem was exemplified by the power of News Corporation, the Murdoch-owned group that effectively controls both 37 per cent of the national press and the biggest commercial TV network, BSkyB. The Leveson Inquiry had investigated the journalistic malpractice and political corruption that arose from this media power, but the report had shied away from recommending any action to restrict it.
There were participants in the event from European nations with media concentration problems of their own.
Giovanni Melogli, who jointly instigated the initiative, told of the political corruption that had arisen from the immense media power of Silvio Berlusconi, who controlled the three biggest commercial TV networks as well as the public broadcaster RAI in his capacity as the country's longest-serving Prime Minister.
Bill Emmott, a former editor of the Economist and expert on Italy, said: "The concept of a businessman taking over government is not acceptable. It is not a question of singling out one man, terrible as he is. The problem lies in the political parties as well."
Istvan Hegedus of the Hungarian Europe Society said the problem was the oppressive power of the nationalist government that had set up a Media Council to control both broadcasting and the press. "We need competent European institutions to give legal instruments to the ongoing struggle for freedom of media in Europe.
From Ireland, Barry McCall, who is President of the National Union of Journalists of Britain and Ireland, said: "There are only two owners of the national press and both of them have right of centre political views." The NUJ was convening a group of campaigners to launch the petition in Dublin.Marc Gruber, Director of the Brussels-based European Federation of Journalists, spoke of the problem of German and Nordic companies moving into eastern Europe. "They expand there because they can't expand in their own countries because there are rules on media ownership. They own 100 per cent of regional newspapers in some countries, which is badly undemocratic."
To sign the petition go to www.mediainitiative.eu
For pics of the event go to http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.509623252431545.1073741826.167298123330728&type=1&l=114fd9a20a
Last modified: Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Your comments:
Mine is the first comment?!
Come on people, are we going to continue to acquiesce to our imperialistic leader’s promotion of class hatred? Don’t we need to know that out of public spending (the almighty budget) only 3% is spent on benefits, the so-called ‘shirkers’ and ‘work-shy’, and less than 1% is lost to fraudsters; compared to 60% of tax avoidance at the other elite end of the spectrum. An elite who already enjoy huge tax cuts anyway? We won’t find this out from our media whose purpose is to echo government policy. Policies whose main purpose is, it seems, to enrich the rich at all and any cost, while punishing the impoverished. Don’t we realise that as so many of our nation’s children grow up in poverty, we’re just as much to blame? Who will give the poor in this country a voice? Not the media, that’s for sure. We have to fight for political transparency in these times of mass propaganda, illegal wars and obscene corporate control and manipulation.
And what about the genocide taking place in the Middle East in our names? Are we going to sit by and allow the media to normalise the unthinkable? Without honest investigative journalism – brought to us by the likes of John Pilger, for instance – and unless we insist on unbiased, uncensored news and an end to embedded journalism, we are just as guilty for the millions of deaths as the politicians ‘leading’ us here, in the West. We have to make it our business to know what’s going on.
Posted by: Andy: 12 Apr, 2013 09:34:27
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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
Media Ownership
Berlusconi brothers get jail terms in Il Giornale case
Tackling 'The Elephant Next Door'
European citizens' media pluralism initiative launched
Media corporations: too big to fail?
FCC plan to gut media ownership rules would benefit Rupert Murdoch
James Murdoch - time to go
News Corp rejects separating top jobs
Boris Johnson courts controversy by inviting Rupert Murdoch as his 'personal guest' to Olympic swimming final
News Corporation directors could face charges for neglect of duties
Rupert Murdoch quits as News International director
Rupert Murdoch concedes News Corp faces divided future
Rupert Murdoch concedes News Corp faces divided future
Rupert Murdoch 'not a fit person' to lead News Corp - MPs
Ofcom escalates BSkyB probe
Local newspapers: Read all about it? If only ...
Going, going….
James Murdoch to resign as BSkyB chair
Rupert Murdoch-linked pirate website targeted rivals, online file shows
BSkyB denies order to pull F1 story undermines Sky News's independence
Reining in the media barons
"Taking on the Media Barons": restraints which Labour says could be imposed immediately
Hacking scandal prompts Unite call for review of UK media ownership
Ofcom steps up test of James Murdoch's fitness to keep BSkyB role
Ofcom steps up test of James Murdoch's fitness to keep BSkyB role
Before it's too late: action on media ownership
Sunday’s Sun will be more of the same
Rupert Murdoch to launch Sun on Sunday newspaper 'soon'
Northcliffe to axe two Kent weeklies in wake of failed deal
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Submission on Media Pluralism to Ofcom
