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Women's groups - Leveson must back ban on sexualized images in media
DATELINE: 5/2/12
Explicit newspaper pictures censored in inquiry evidence but Leveson warned change would require 'rock-solid legislation' When Lord Justice Leveson launched his inquiry into the ethics of the press, he may not have expected to be confronted with an enlarged photograph of near-naked bottoms. Or to be presented with evidence deemed so explicit it was censored before being circulated to other witnesses.
Lobbying official turned down reform meetings
DATELINE: 2/2/12
The official in charge of drawing up plans to regulate lobbying met industry officials four times in the run up to the publication of the Government's controversial consultation paper but refused to meet campaigners calling for reform once, it emerged yesterday (30 January). Eirian Walsh-Atkins stood down as head of constitutional policy at the Cabinet Office on Friday after posting a message on Twitter saying she hoped a group fighting for better regulation of the industry "would die".
Ofcom and BSkyB bid: We should have looked at News Corporation's political influence
DATELINE: 2/2/12
Ofcom, the broadcasting regulator, gave an assurance to the Leveson Inquiry (1.2.2012) that it would speed up its investigation into whether it has sufficient power to provide protection against media companies exercising too much political influence. Ed Richards, Ofcom's chief executive, told Lord Justice Leveson that if given another chance to look again at News Corporation's aborted bid for total control of BSkyB it would have placed more emphasis on the "risk to the democratic process."
Leveson Inquiry: PCC chief says appetite for fresh start
DATELINE: 31/1/12
Lord Hunt told the Leveson Inquiry into press ethics that he had seen state regulation "go very badly wrong". He had consulted on proposals, and felt "there is a willingness to accept a fresh start and a new body".
Internet under threat
DATELINE: 27/1/12
Right now, a new global treaty could encourage corporations to police everything that we do on the Internet. Last week we successfully pushed back the US censorship bills - if we act now, we can get the EU Parliament to bury this new threat to all of us - click below to sign the petition:Join the campaign here:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/eu_save_the_internet_spread/?sbc
Lord Patten calls for BBC local radio U-turn
DATELINE: 25/1/12
The BBC should perform a U-turn on planned cuts to local radio by putting back £10 million it had planned to axe, Lord Patten said today. The chairman of the BBC Trust said the governing body's decision was made after "real concerns" were raised by the public. In a speech to the Oxford Media Convention, Lord Patten said the corporation does need to make cuts, but he urged it to "look again" at plans for local radio.
Other recent stories
Chilling effect on BBC journalism of licence freeze: a warning to Leveson Inquiry
Co-ordinating Committee for Media Reform call for change
BBC Trust chairman Lord Patten rebukes David Cameron
It's time for transparency about lobbying if we are to clean up politics
Iran's Press TV loses UK licence
MP who took on Rupert Murdoch launches campaign to safeguard Freedom of Information Act
Opinion: "Leveson: reasons to be wary of press promises"
Lobbyists to face statutory register
Press Freedom: a democratic rubric
Mosley sues Google over sex video access
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Notices
Notices
Freedom of Information at risk
DATELINE: 31/1/12
Supporters of freedom of information are being urged to mobilise their forces to safeguard the scope of the 2000 Freedom of Information Act. Campaigners fear that a review into the operation of the provisions of the Act – which is being conducted by the House of Commons Justice Select Committee – could be used as an excuse by the coalition government to impose new restrictions and exemptions.
The first deadline for responses to the Justice Select Committee is Friday 3 February. But the necessity in the long term is to generate user and public support for the Act and to lobby MPs to vote against any move to limit its scope.
Wapping Returns to London
DATELINE: 4/1/12
The non-stop revelations in the phone-hacking scandal have ensured that Rupert Murdoch was never far from the headlines last year, which made the 25th anniversary of the Wapping events all the more relevant. To mark the onset of 2012, the Exhibition commemorating Wapping, "The Workers' Story", returns to London, where it can be seen at the Bishopsgate Institute Library, 230 Bishopsgate, London EC2M 4QH from 9th January to 29th February. The exhibition is open Monday to Thursday and Saturday 10.am - 5.30pm on Friday 10am to 2pm
The Exhibition has been on display since August in various locations in London, Liverpool, Salford, Manchester and Brighton - the Marx Memorial Library, TUC Congress House, St George-in-the-East, Wapping, Liverpool Unite office, Goldsmiths College, the People's History Museum, Manchester, the Working Class Movement Library in Salford, and Unite conferences in Brighton and London.
A special edition of the Wapping Post was produced for the Exhibition in September highlighting the essentially anti-democratic aspects of News International's activities, particularly the company's anti-union stance. Trade union rights to be re-asserted and reinforced at NI, and this means abolishing the legal loophole which allows the company-funded and run Staff Association to pose as a union defending workers' rights.
Free Press and this website continue to summarise and analyse media issues and developments.
Some copies of the Wapping Post special edition are still available, along with anniversary badges. If you would like to help with the information desk at the Exhibition, please contact Ann Field (ann.field@btinternet.com) as soon as possible.
Latest - UnionNews has done a film on the Wapping exhibition the link to film is here: http://union-news.co.uk/2012/01/wapping-25-years-on-sun-sets-on-murdoch/
A Chance for Change
DATELINE: 25/11/11
The CPBF's 'Leveson pamphlet', A Chance for Change, is now available as a download from the site - just click to retrieve it.
DOWNLOAD FREEPRESS NOW
DATELINE: 26/3/10
Download PDFs of Freepress here.
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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Random Links
Links
Public Voice, a voluntary sector coalition campaigning on citizens' interests in communications.
Ofcom website - the uk's broadcasting and telecoms regulator
Exiled Journalists Network
national union of journalists (UK & Ireland)
media watch mailing list
bectu (broadcast, entertainment, cinematograph and theatre union)
world commission on the social dimension of globalisation (ilo)
pr watch's 'spin of the day'
kurdishmedia.com
International Women's Media Foundation - US based organisation aimed at increasing women's participation in the media.
subscribe to 'the weekly spin'
ePolitix - get your own e-mail news feed
Disinformation - US site combining analysis, rumour, paranoia and alternative lifestyles.
wordpower: books to change our world
new internationalist
columbia journalism review
michael moore's site
media alliance (US)
Observatoire Français des Médias (French only)
arab media watch
One World TV
new internationalist online
world association for christian communication (WACC)
International Network for Cultural Diversity
alter-eu - The Alliance for Lobbying Transparency and Ethics Regulation
VLV (Voice of the Listener and Viewer - working for quality and diversity in British broadcasting)
british journalism review
committee to protect journalists
medialens: the real news from the US
sp media watch
One World
archives of the weekly spin
NUJ New Media website
al jazeera
european journalism centre
presswise
vertigo - independent UK film magazine
notwar.net - quirky international peace group with details of hundreds of campaigning peace groups
undercurrents (for the news you don't see on the news)
RAM (Refugees, Asylum-seekers and the Mass media) project bulletin
spinwatch - monitoring PR and spin in the public interest (independent UK-based group)
Corporate Europe Observatory: CEO is a European-based research and campaign group targeting the threats to democracy, equity, social justice and the environment posed by the economic and political power of corporations and their lobby groups.
truth out - a US Democrat news site
NUJ Brussels branch
European Institute for the Media
British Helsinki Human Rights Group
cris - the campaign for communication rights in the information society
save welsh tv
