Reclaim the media - events

The European citizens' media pluralism initiative, now known as the “Coalition for Media Pluralism", is promoting a public talk on “Immigration in the media" 6.30pm 16 July at

TCO London
71a Leonard Street
Shoreditch
London EC2A 4QS

The meeting will discuss how migrants and ethnic minorities are represented in the media and the role played by the media in the immigration debate.

The speakers include investigative journalism Jon Danzig and Guy Taylor from the Joint Commission for the Welfare of Immigrants. Des Freedman of the Media Reform Coalition - and the CPBF, of course - will be in the chair:

Please share with colleagues and promote however you can.

Book your place here.

Tweet here.

The Thunderclap

The Coalition is also organising a thunderclap to share this message:

“Take action to defend the right to a diverse and democratic media. Sign the citizens' initiative to #ReclaimtheMedia http://thndr.it/1lLN0Ln”

Sign up for the thunderclap here before 21 July. Only a few more supporters needed.

THE NEED TO DEFEND THE MEDIA

At a time when the media is controlled by an ever-smaller number of individuals and organisations, urgent action is needed to defend the right to a free and diverse media.

More than ever, there is a need for citizens to take a stand against the dominance of big business and wealthy individuals over the platforms of news, information and public debate.

Despite the emergence of new media platforms, there remains an insufficient diversity of media. Unchecked media concentration over several decades has allowed some media groups to accumulate vast amounts of revenue and influence. In the UK, just three companies now control nearly 70% of UK national newspaper circulation, with Rupert Murdoch’s News UK (a subsidiary of News Corp) alone representing over 30%. The patterns of concentration seen in traditional media are replicated online, where five groups account for more than 70% of online news consumption (measured by browsing time) and where the ‘BBC and a few other traditional brands dominate the UK online news market’.

The power that concentration has given to those who dominate the media has led, as we saw throughout the Leveson Inquiry, to a collusive relationship between media owners and senior politicians, which skews public debate in favour of big business and private interests, and fails to insulate government policy making from the private interests of proprietors.

With power in increasingly few hands, public debate is often restricted to those agendas favoured by press elites, as the space available to a diversity of voices shrinks. Recent legislation gagging civil society groups has only served to amplify the voices of established news organisations, distorting democratic debate.

Powerful media outlets regularly use their position of influence over public opinion as a platform for attack and misrepresentation. We oppose the routine vilification by the press of groups including the unemployed, the poor, and immigrants, which serves to marginalise large sectors of society and deny them a voice.

Our media should represent a diversity of voices and viewpoints. We need an independent media, unafraid to report on matters of public interest and free to hold the powerful to account.

We believe that we must act urgently to safeguard the right to independent and pluralistic information, and that it is essential that the power of media barons be curbed.

A CITIZENS' INITIATIVE

In response to the problem of media concentration in the UK, the TUC, the National Union of Journalists, the Media Reform Coalition and the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom have launched the Coalition for Media Pluralism to campaign for a more diverse and representative media. The coalition is working with civil society organisations across Europe to promote a citizens’ initiative, a petition which calls for an EU Directive to protect against concentration in national media ownership.

As a tool of participatory democracy, the petition provides an opportunity to address national media concentration at the European level.

The existing media ownership regime is not working to protect pluralism or democracy. This citizens’ initiative gives us the opportunity to bring about change in how our media is controlled.

We encourage all those who want a diverse and independent media, capable of operating in the public interest, to support the citizens’ initiative.

https://ec.europa.eu/citizens-initiative/REQ-ECI-2013-000017/public/