We campaign for a more democratic & accountable media, where diversity, public interest & ethical journalism come before the private gain of a few media moguls.
The UK media are failing our democracy.
The Media Manifesto shows the radical reforms we urgently need to build an independent, democratic & accountable media that works in the public interest.
🎥 Watch, share & join the movement to fix our broken media:
At the Leveson Inquiry Piers Morgan said under oath he had "no reason or knowledge to believe" phone hacking took place at the Daily Mirror.
He was "100% sure" he didn't see it.
Today the High Court ruled Morgan knew about phone hacking & was involved while he was Mirror editor
Just published: our new report on UK media ownership. 3 companies control 90% of national newspaper circulation & 80% of combined online/offline brand reach. These are agenda-setting voices in a concentrated market. Is this what we mean by a free media?
Letter from
@KenLoachSixteen
, Sir Geoffrey Bindman, Mike Leigh, Tim Llewellyn & MRC calling on
@BAFTA
to reconsider its nomination for the
@BBCPanorama
programme, 'Is Labour Antisemitic?' on the basis of serious editorial flaws
Saw Piers Morgan's statement disparaging the High Court & Mirror hacking victims? Here's what Leveson said about his inquiry testimony in 2012:
"side-swiping", "utterly unpersuasive", trying to "draw attention away" from awkward questions & incriminating evidence...
One week to go until our Media Democracy Festival - kicking off with a keynote speech and Q&A with
@jeremycorbyn
! The event will be on Youtube Live and via our partners. Sign up to Eventbrite for a reminder before the event - you don't want to miss this!
"The new editor of Britain’s only black national newspaper has warned the UK is going backwards in recognising institutional racism in the media and wider society."
We need a media that isn't afraid to hold the rich & powerful to account. But how do we build one & what would it look like?
Join
@jeremycorbyn
for his keynote speech on media reform, and a Q&A, to kick off our Media Democracy Festival
#MDF21
Sign up:
"In the coming weeks we will announce some exciting projects, shared infrastructure to support independent media and more ways for you to get involved with supporting them and building campaigns for a democratic media." -
@jeremycorbyn
on
@corbyn_project
#MDF21
The state of the UK media! 3 companies control 80% of national newspaper circulation & 5 companies dominate 80% of total online & offline reach. Seeing similar concentration in local news & digital markets. Read our new report
@OwenJones84
@labourlewis
Much of the media are playthings of oligarchs - owning a newspaper gives direct access to politicians. Not about making money but about influence and patronage argues
@OwenJones84
#MDF2019
Bywire News is currently working with a number of other Independent Media outlets on a massive project that will allow them to collectively take on the mainstream media.
But we will need your help to succeed - so please follow
@bywirenews
now!
“BBC is not independent of the establishment but at its very epicentre” argues
@OwenJones84
outlining a series of progressive reforms that are needed for a democratised, localised broadcaster
#MDF2019
🔥The full line-up for
#MDF2019
is out! 🔥
Join us on 16 March and be part of the movement to fix Britain's broken media.
Get your tickets here: …
More info:
"I encourage everyone taking part today and through the festival to support independent media any way you can. Read it, listen to it and watch it." -
@jeremycorbyn
during
#MDF21
A brilliant piece from
@bywirenews
highlighting the fact that Boris Johnson’s flat refurbishment was paid by Lord Brownlow, whose company, Huntswood CTC, has previously been awarded government contracts worth up to £120m.
NEW 📰 Our 'Who Owns the UK Media?' 2023 report shows the dangerous levels of concentrated ownership across the UK's newspapers, TV and radio stations, online platforms and streaming services. READ:
Cummings confirms what we knew all along: while Covid ravaged the country, the Johnson government propped up the right-wing corporate press with £m's in public subsidies. Read
@BrianCathcart
for
@BylineTimes
:
Cummings on the newspapers (and their proprietors):
“There were specific concerns about his relationship to the Barclays and the Daily Telegraph. And specific concerns about corruption with Osborne and funnelling money to the Evening Standard.”
🚨JUST ANNOUNCED!
For this year's keynote, we are delighted to welcome outgoing Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn as we reflect on the last election and look towards a democratic media of the future.
Pre-registration essential:
#MDF2020
A brilliant article from
@medialens
about the silence from the media after a witness in the US case against Julian Assange admitted fabricating accusations in the indictment against the Wikileaks founder:
“If you want more working class, more disabled people in the media, you have to start paying them properly. The only thing that is stopping people isn’t aspiration, it’s finance.”
@DawnHFoster
at the media diversity panel
#MDF2019
"The IPSO – the so-called press regulator which in seven years has never investigated or fined even one of its members – appears to be paralysed in the face of a very obvious collapse of standards at the Jewish Chronicle." -
@BylineTimes
The longer UK media fails to hold power to account, the longer our governments will continue to lie and deceive us.
There is a blatant need for change in our media scene.
News Corporation CEO Rupert Murdoch and Rebekah Brooks held SEVEN private meetings with five senior ministers over a seven-week period in August and September 2020.
@bylinetimes
:
The Foreign Office may have breached transparency laws by gathering info on
@kennardmatt
from
@declassifiedUK
before denying his Freedom of Information requests...
We’re excited to announce these speakers for the Media Democracy Festival 2019! Watch this space for more announcements...
Get your tickets here:
#MDF2019
"Progressive social change is much harder to achieve if you don't have a strong, independent media that is challenging power." -
@jeremycorbyn
says during our
#MDF21
#mediareform
Shameful!
#Leveson2
falls by 304-295 votes after MPs equate freedom of the press with the freedom to avoid independent scrutiny & the freedom to target vulnerable individuals.
@Ed_Miliband
had it right: it's all about the"fear about the wrath of the press"
Using BBC editorial guidelines on impartiality and accuracy to evaluate the recent Panorama on anti-semitism, we identify a series of reporting failures that need addressing ASAP
Left wing journalists constantly attacked and derided as “activists” when right-wing commentators taken more seriously.
@DawnHFoster
calls for the break-up of Westminster journalism because, frankly, most ordinary people don’t care about it. Closing comments of
#mdf2019
The damning new report from
@cfmmuk
exposes the UK media's shameful failures in covering the war on Gaza.
Join us next Saturday 16th at the Media Democracy Festival, discussing these findings and more with
@BritPalCommitt
@IRR_News
&
@Hamza_a96
:
You probably took it for granted that the media was overwhelmingly biased in favour of Israel.
But now we have all the facts laid out in a new report.
New video 👇
Boris Johnson's spokesman says the Prime Minister will transform the NHS into "a blockbuster health care system in the age of Netflix."
Asked repeatedly to explain what this means, Johnson's spokesman is unable to say which features of Netflix he believes the NHS should imitate.
From our discussion on Do Black Lives Matter? -
@TheCanaryUK
's editor-at-large Kerry-Anne Mendoza (
@TheMendozaWoman
) explaining why people should "vote with their wallets" and support independent media outlets.
#MDF21
How do you solve a problem like GB News?
Join us this Saturday in Sheffield for an expert panel on hate, conspiracism and bias in TV news, and Ofcom's failure to regulate, ft.
@MichaelLCrick
@TransMediaWatch
@Marcela_Pizarro
&
@cfmmuk
.
Register for free:
After a sexual assault, a woman went to the police seeking justice, instead, they gave the details of her assault to the press.
Here, Maria* [a pseudonym to protect the author's identity] bravely explains what happened
The Daniel Morgan report found evidence News UK reporters interfered in a murder investigation on behalf of the suspects. It looks like
@PritiPatel
is willing to let those responsible off the hook. Add your name demanding Leveson Part Two now
"Campaigns to build a better democratic media are absolutely vital. The media is too important to be left in the hands of the few." -
@jeremycorbyn
#mediareform
#MDF21
“I want to remind everyone its been two years since he has been in a high security prison. He faces 105 years in prison for the same reason he has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.” - says Assange lawyer Jennifer Robinson
@suigenerisjen
#MDF21
Rupert Murdoch "has been running companies whose morals are more akin to the mafia than the media".
Read ex-Cabinet Minister Chris Huhne's account of illegality & corruption at Murdoch's News Corporation from
@hackinginquiry
:
"Fascinating new evidence has emerged showing just how rattled the people at GB News are by the advertising boycott organised by Stop Funding Hate, and just how desperate they are to undermine it. " -
@BylineTimes
"Britain’s secret political police" - a truly brilliant article from
@declassifieduk
by
@AsaWinstanley
- with the Metropolitan Police admitting for the first time to Declassified that it spied for MI5.
🚨 REGISTRATIONS OPEN!
Book your place now for this year's Media Democracy Festival
🗓Saturday 14 March
📌Clore Centre,
@BirkbeckUoL
🎟Free tickets:
#MDF2020
🎉The full programme for
#MDF2019
is out!🎉
We're looking forward to hosting all of these speakers next Saturday and facilitating important conversations around media democracy.
Join us on 16 March!
Get your tickets:
More info:
“Far from promoting understanding & info, too much of our press pollutes public discourse e.g. front pages vilifying migrants & benefit fraud. It’s not confined to the Mail or Sun, it goes across to BBC.” -
@zarahsultana
A Daily Mirror journalist was assaulted in an unprovoked attack by the police in Bristol on Friday night... but this is how they chose to frame the protests:
'The British government is spending tens of millions on media projects in Eastern Europe which are often presented as fighting “Russian disinformation”, but which may involve the UK’s own information operations' - read the
@declassifiedUK
article below.
We agree with
@NUJofficial
that the BBC judgement on Naga Munchetty is wrong. Why should calling out “evidently racist language” immediately be seen as compromising impartiality? When does reporting this as a fact become simply an opinion?
Are you worried about untrustworthy news, billionaire media moguls and cuts to the BBC? Want to build a fairer, more democratic media?
As the brilliant
@juliehes
says, join us on 16/03 in Sheffield for the Media Democracy Festival! Register for free at:
The Daily Express have had to put out a clarification over a misleading headline.
Last month, they reported that two people had died after getting their Covid vaccinations - but didn't make it clear that they died in situations completely unrelated to receiving the vaccines.
Rupert Murdoch has now invested in a new UK news channel and been granted a license to broadcast by Ofcom.
Sign our petition demanding an inquiry on media ownership and stop Murdoch increasing his monopoly over our media:
The BBC must be run in the interest of the people of this country.
We must democratise it and defend it.
If we don't the Tories will leave us with a Fox News style media, which will damage our democracy and hand more power to billionaire moguls.
"“It’s one thing getting in the door of organisations that are institutionally racist. So how do you get in? When you do it often comes at the price of conformity.” -
@TheMendozaWoman
on Do Black Lives Matter In the Media?
#MDF21
We shouldn’t be defensive but demand reform of the BBC that is independent of power. But we also need to build our own media and develop non profit ownership models that can assist the development of a democratic media -
@johnmcdonnellMP
at the Media Democracy Festival
Media Democracy Festival 2019 video roundup 📽️
If you want a fairer, freer, more accountable and more representative media then support the new Media Manifesto 2019
For over 50 years, Rupert Murdoch has poisoned UK media and twisted political leaders to serve his own interests. With another Murdoch family tycoon in charge, the unaccountable & anti-democratic empire he made remains
The Media Democracy Festival is three weeks tomorrow!
Our Keynote speakers are
@zarahsultana
& Lexie Kirkconnel-Kawana of
@impressreg
- many more speakers and sessions to be announced in the coming days!
Book your *free* place now:
At the launch of the 2021 Media Democracy Festival,
@jeremycorbyn
speaks of how "truth-seeking journalism is under attack" while too much reporting is "little more than stenography for the powerful"
#MDF2021
“None of this is really about what is good for broadcasting: it is simply that, as publicly run organisations, both are antithetical to the core values of our ruling party”
@OwenJones84
on why
#Channel4
privatisation is a free marketeer’s fantasy
From our discussion on Do Black Lives Matter? - Listen to Chenjerai Kumanyika (
@catchatweetdown
) explaining Stuart Hall's "English cup of tea" analogy:
📢 SAVE THE DATE 📆
The Media Democracy Festival will be held on 14 March!
After last year's election,
#MDF2020
promises crucial discussions on the future of our media.
Free registrations open next week.
Join the mailing list now for advanced notice 📩
Lord Rothmere has added another publication to the (already massive) Daily Mail portfolio after purchasing the renowned New Scientist magazine for £7m:
"As Prince Harry calls out the British press for its cultures of attack, Dr Bethany Usher explores the history of journalism targeting specific individuals and how we might spot and counter it" - read the
@BylineTimes
' article below...
Our vice chair studied the Twitter networks of
@BBCNews
journalists: "there is not a leftwing bias, but a political culture that is overly focused on the ruling party and the leading players in Westminster, and too often neglectful of outside perspectives"
“According to The Guardian, Johnson “came in and made a speech, mentioning how crowded it was in the room before leaving””- read the
@BylineTimes
article below…
"For democracy to function properly it's essential to have a free media that truly works for the many, not the few. The problem is that much of the British media isn’t very free at all."
@jeremycorbyn
at the launch of the Media Democracy Festival
We have a media system that works quite well for the political system it was designed for argues
@labourlewis
. BBC and corporate media are increasingly geared up to defending status quo & failing to meet its Fourth Estate role over eg climate change & economic shocks
#MDF2019
"Rupert Murdoch has largely lost a year-long dispute with the BBC after he objected to a documentary series that “implied he posed a threat to liberal democracy”."
But he is a threat to democracy.
“The current media establishment incl much of the public media has played an active role in creating this crisis of our democracy, the media and the government work in unison to create national narratives that are used to justify anti democratic policies.”
@labourlewis
#MDF21
As the tabloids speculate that a newly-announced autobiography of Prince Harry will really have been written by his wife, Richard Sanders sheds light on a 21st Century tale of racism, class and misogyny.
From
@BylineTimes
:
"We need to think big & act now if we are going to head off the threat to democracy from a media that too often holds back public interest journalism" says
@jeremycorbyn
. "It’s about who gets to tell their story & who gets to shape the world."
#mdf2021
Thank you everyone who joined us for
@jeremycorbyn
's keynote speech opening up our Media Democracy Festival. We are hosting 11 more events over the next seven days with some excellent panelists and interesting subjects:
Misinformation isn't something that only happens out there on unregulated tech platforms. Some of our most famous news brands are part of the problem but for some reason, this isn't leading the policy agenda.
Using
@FullFact
research we've identified 55 fake news stories about Covid-19 published in national newspapers in 2020. AND
@IpsoNews
failed to take any action or uphold a complaint on any of the 55 stories. ZERO.
Kerry-Anne Mendoza
@TheMendozaWoman
is co-founder and editor-at-large of
@TheCanaryUK
, and author of “Austerity: The Demolition of the Welfare State and the Rise of the Zombie Economy”.