by barry | Jan 8, 2023 | Campaigns, media ownership, Public Service Broadcasting
Campaigners including media unions have welcomed the Culture Secretary Michelle Donelan announcement that the government has scrapped plans to privatise Channel 4. Instead it proposes to introduce measures to allow for its “long-term sustainability” and help it...
by barry | Dec 28, 2022 | Campaigns, Climate Change
If you watched ‘The Oil Machine’ on BBC iPlayer: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m001gf42/the-oil-machine you may recall a statement by a spokesperson from BP who stressed the importance of being part of the transition to a lower carbon economy. He went on to...
by barry | Nov 30, 2022 | Campaigns, censorship, international, media freedom, whistle blowing
The editors and publishers of the five media organisations who partnered with WikiLeaks – The Guardian, Le Monde, El País, Der Spiegel and New York Times – have called for end to the prosecution of Julian Assange. The New York Times reports...
by barry | Nov 27, 2022 | Campaigns, Climate Change, international, Press
The sand has settled following COP 27 in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt – a country whose prisons are heaving with political prisoners including Egyptian-British pro-democracy activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah. Now it’s time to evaluate just how the press covered this most...
by barry | Nov 10, 2022 | Campaigns, censorship, freedom of information, Government, media freedom
In June I blogged that the government had introduced its much heralded National Security Bill into Parliament: https://thespark.me.uk/2022/06/15/governments-new-security-bill-threatens-whistle-blowers-and-journalists-and-our-right-to-know/. In the government’s view...
by barry | Nov 7, 2022 | Campaigns, Government, media ownership, Public Service Broadcasting
It’s reasonable to say that there have been a number of twists and turns since the Johnson government first announced it was considering privatising the commercially-funded public service broadcaster. Last July the broadcaster published its delayed Annual Report with...
