Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom (CPBF)
for diverse, democratic and accountable media
A deal for "The Walt Disney Company To Acquire Twenty-First Century Fox, Inc., After Spinoff Of Certain Businesses, For $52.4 Billion In Stock" has been announced. Those who understand the Murdochs malign influence on public life on both sides of the Atlantic, and all those like CPBF who have successfully campaigned against their Sky takeover have cause to celebrate … [Read more...]
THE CPBF is launching a £20,000 crowdfunding appeal to step up the battle to stop the Murdochs buying up Sky TV. It is a fight that can now be won, as their empire starts to shake. Rupert and son James Murdoch have banked for years on the super-lucrative Sky channels in Europe to lift 21st Century Fox to the premier-league level of the US media megacorps. But after shock … [Read more...]
IMPRESSThe CPBF welcomes today's judgement (.pdf) from the High Court to uphold the status of IMPRESS as the first self-regulatory body for the press in UK history to be externally recognised as independent and effective. https://twitter.com/impressproject/status/918420355567509504 As IMPRESS write: At a meeting held in public on 25 October 2016, and following a nine-month … [Read more...]
DCMSUPDATE: Karen Bradley has today (14 Sept 2017) confirmed that she is referring "the merger to the CMA for a Phase 2 investigation on media plurality and genuine commitment to broadcasting standards grounds". Good news re our campaign to #StopMurdoch's latest power grab: Culture Secretary Karen Bradley has referred Murdoch's Fox/ Sky bid to the Competition and Markets … [Read more...]
“Rupert Murdoch 2011 Shankbone” by David Shankbone is licensed under CC BY 2.0DESPERATE MEASURES are being taken by the Murdoch media companies to shore up the bid to buy up Sky TV. Culture secretary Karen Bradley was expected to announce that she will refer the bid to the Competition and Markets Authority as Free Press went to the printer. In July she said she was “minded” to do so after a report from the media regulator Ofcom that it would hand the … [Read more...]
Antbex74 CC-BY-SA-4.0By snubbing the Welsh language, the BBC laid bare its true biases, writes MEIC BIRTWISTLE A BBC programme caused a storm of protest in Wales last Wednesday and particularly over in a field in Anglesey, where the country’s national Eisteddfod was taking place. The Welsh Language — Help or Hindrance to the Nation? was the title of a segment on the BBC’s current affairs show … [Read more...]
Santi di Tito [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commonsby Damian Tambini It’s the Politics, Stupid I am in Italy so I am going to make Machiavellian assumptions. When it comes to media mergers, like Machiavelli’s Prince, politicians act on the basis of moral considerations or the ‘public interest’ only to the extent that failing to do so entails political cost. Machiavelli’s advice would be that the Prince, to strengthen … [Read more...]
DCMSPlurality In a statement outlining her decision on the proposed takeover of Sky plc by 21st Century Fox, Inc., Secretary of State for Culture Karen Bradley announced this morning that she is "minded-to refer to a Phase 2 investigation on the grounds of media plurality". You can watch the full video of the statement here. An invitation for representations (deadline 14 … [Read more...]
The Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom (CPBF) are hosting a public debate on Creating a movement for a Better Media in the UK after the formal business of our AGM on Saturday 1 July 2017. RSVP on Eventbrite. To get the discussion going we'll be joined by three great speakers working at the forefront of this burgeoning movement: Hazel Healy from New … [Read more...]
BELONGING: The Truth Behind The Headlines shows what happened behind closed doors in three major industrial disputes. It also reveals disturbing new information about government and business collusion. A powerful, must-see film. THURSDAY 22 JUNE Unity+Works, Wakefield WF1 1EP Doors open 6.30pm Tickets £4 on the door Venue Conference Room 1 Film … [Read more...]
![Santi di Tito [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Portrait_of_Niccol_Machiavelli_by_Santi_di_Tito.jpg){kind=link}