South Yorkshire Festival, Wortley Hall Unison Room, Sunday 12 August 3pm Free admission. Nicholas Jones opens up the 1992 cabinet records to reveal as shameful episode of government duplicity and confusion when 30,000 miners were made redundant - the point of no return for the British coal industry. PLUS Debbie Wathews and Flis Callow from Sheffield Women Against Pit … [Read more...]
CPBF to close by 30 Nov 2018
The end of CPBF At the 2018 AGM of CPBF the following motion to close down the Campaign, proposed by our National Council (NC) passed: “In view of the continuing decline of the financial situation of our organisation this Annual General Meeting has decided to close down the CPBF and cease all campaigning, administrative and financial processes by no later than 30th November … [Read more...]
Why is the BBC so stupidly right wing?
PEOPLE who can’t stand the Radio 4 Today programme missed a rare flash of insight yesterday when Labour MP Dame Margaret Hodge was telling Martha Kearney about the anti-semitic hate messages she was receiving from social media, some of it through pro-Corbyn Facebook pages. Kearney, who is an honest journalist, remarked: “But you can’t be sure they are [from] Labour Party … [Read more...]
NUJ reaction to Mirror merger with the Express & Star newspapers
The Secretary of State, Matt Hancock, has approved Reach’s (formerly Trinity Mirror) takeover of Express Newspapers. Michelle Stanistreet, NUJ general secretary, said: Continuing to work with staff to improve the reach and commercial success of the titles should now be Simon Fox’s priority. Full and meaningful consultation with the NUJ is vital to address the concerns of … [Read more...]
The North Remembers: The Battle of Orgreave
Some basic facts bear repeating. The gap between rich and poor in the UK was at its narrowest in the 1970s, a decade when trade unionism was at its strongest. In 2018 there is an obscene gap between those flaunting great wealth and working people battered by austerity and privatisation. We have the prospect of millions of people working in low-wage or zero-hour contract … [Read more...]
Is this the end? CPBF’s AGM on 14 July 2018 could be its last
The Campaign's AGM on Saturday July 14 could well be its last. The National Council has decided to recommend that the CPBF be dissolved, and its officers have prepared a plan for winding down. The decision was, of course, not taken lightly. Many on the NC have been involved with CPBF since the beginning, fighting for media workers’ rights and campaigning for a better … [Read more...]
MRC statement on Fox/Sky merger decision
The Media Reform Coalition cautiously welcomes the Culture Secretary’s statement agreeing with the main finding of the Fox/Sky merger review: that the deal poses a serious risk to the public interest on plurality grounds. We are disappointed that neither he nor the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) have expressed similar concerns in regard to Fox’s commitment to … [Read more...]
Zero evidence Section 40 would gag and bankrupt the press
As we said to the Morning Star: In the run up to this important vote dozens of remarkably similar editorials in the local and national press made very spurious claims about how Leveson 2 and the implementation of Section 40 would somehow gag and bankrupt them. These accounts all fail to mention one very important fact: both the cross-party Department for Cultue Media and Sport … [Read more...]
A Minimum Viable Platform for Better Media? CPBF’s AGM 2018
How we might go about creating and funding a Minimum Viable Platform for Better Media? The Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom would like to invite all individual members of the CPBF and delegates from our affiliated organisations to attend our Annual General Meeting to be held on Saturday 14 July 2018 at the Diskus Centre, Unite HQ, 128 Theobalds Road, … [Read more...]
With Banners Held High 2018: The Fight for Consciousness
With Banners Held High is a free full-day community festival celebrating the culture and diversity of the Trade Union movement, and traditions of collective spirit. The event includes: Live Music and Poetry from Matt Hill the Quiet Loner Joe Solo Matt Abbott Jethro Platts Del Scott Miller and MANY more Drama Film Discussion sessions … [Read more...]