by barry | Mar 11, 2023 | Government, nuj, Reviews, unions
Yorkshireman Sir Bernard Ingham who died on 24 February aged 90 is best known for being Margaret Thatcher’s high profile press secretary a post he held for eleven years. He was regarded as a highly effective propagandist for the Thatcher cause. But he was not always a...
by barry | Jul 18, 2022 | Campaigns, media freedom, Reviews, whistle blowing
Last month, Home Secretary Priti Patel approved Julian Assange’s extradition to the US to face 17 charges of espionage and one charge of computer misuse. Subsequently his legal team lodged an appeal at the High Court in London against the decision. The court must give...
by admin | Jul 18, 2021 | Government, media freedom, Press, Reviews
Last month saw the publication of a new report from University of Westminster which reveals for the first time how the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) the press regulator which covers most of the UK’s largest print and online publishers, was set up...
by admin | Apr 28, 2021 | Campaigns, Government, nuj, Press, Reviews
The other day I came across a surprising quotation from Sir Alan Moses (see below in paragraph 5). He was the first head of the Independent Press Standards Organisation (Ipso), the latest incarnation of what passes for a UK press regulator. Ipso came into being...
by admin | Aug 3, 2020 | Reviews
The other week I watched for the second time the 2015 TV film An Inspector Calls by J B Priestley, based on a play that revolves around the apparent suicide of a young woman called Eva Smith. As was the case when I first saw it, I found it gripping from beginning to...
by admin | Feb 9, 2020 | Press, Reviews
Almost a year after it was published, the government has finally responded the recommendations of Dame Frances Cairncross’s review into the sustainability of the UK news industry (see my 20 February 2019 blog at: http://thespark.me.uk/?p=1074 ) . Whilst accepting most...