Latest news from the Media Power & Plurality Project

A media policy research project based at the University of Westminster’s Communication and Media Research Institute (CAMRI) and funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). This project has formally come to an end, with an edited collection resulting from the research, which will be launched on 11 June 2015. We hope you will continue to find the website and its associated resources useful for ongoing work in this area.

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Latest from the project

• Edited collection Media Power and Plurality: From Hyperlocal to High-Level Policy published by Palgrave Macmillan (June 2015)
• Book launch and event at CAMRI, University of Westminster (35 Marylebone Road), 11 June 2015 – register here
• Project round up and the future of media plurality research
• New paper in Journalism Practice: Plurality, Policy and the Local – published online 9 September 2014
• Steven Barnett: A predictable act of political cowardice: the Government’s response on media ownership – August 2014
• New paper in The Political Quarterly: ‘And What Good Came of it at Last?’ Press–Politician Relations Post-Leveson, Vol. 85, No. 2, April–June 2014
• The State of UK Hyperlocal Community News: Findings from a survey of practitioners – July 2014
• Panel and papers at IAMCR 2014
• Summaries of media plurality seminars in London, Cardiff and Scotland, 2013-14
• Media Power and Plurality 2014 conference resources page
• Conference on media power and plurality with keynote by Baroness Onora O’Neill – 2 May 2014
• #mediaplurality14 blog posts by Professors Tom Gibbons, Des Freedman and Philip M. Napoli
• Professor Steven Barnett to gave evidence to CMS select committee on Future of the BBC on 1 April
• Roy Greenslade and Steven Barnett in the British Journalism Review: Can charity save the local press?
• Collaborative hyperlocal research project 
• House of Lords Communications Committee report on media plurality / Professor Steven Barnett’s analysis of Lords report here
• Preview of Steven Barnett’s remarks to Oxford Media Convention
• Special media plurality blog series with LSE Media Policy Project: all the posts (with contributions from Robert Picard, Justin Schlosberg, Petros Iosifidis, Mike Harris and more)
• Recommendations on plurality for the House of Lords Select Committee on Communications
• Professor Steven Barnett’s evidence to the DCMS consultation on media plurality
• Steven Barnett’s presentation to Ecrea workshop on media policy in Europe, 26 October 2013
• New post: Professor Terry Flew on media policy and influence
• Updated pages on Inquiries, Reports and Academic papers

Past events

• IAMCR annual conference, Hyderabad, 15-19 July 2014
• Visions of Identity: Global Film & Media – The Fourth Annual London Film and Media Conference, 26-28 June 2014
• Media Plurality and Power conference, organised by the University of Westminster’s media power and plurality project at City University London, 2 May 2014
• VLV 31st Annual Spring Conference, Moving towards a new era in broadcasting: what does it mean for listeners and viewers? The Geological Society, London, 1 May 2014, 10.30 am – 4.15 pm
• Parliamentary Launch: Reclaim the Media, organised by the Coalition for Media Pluralism, 28 April 2014, 18:30
• Political Studies Association annual conference, Manchester, 14-16 April 2014
• Oxford Media Convention, 26 February 2014
• Westminster Media Forum, European media policy – preparing for the converged landscape, London, 12 February 2014
• ProPublica’s Richard Tofel on the impact of journalism, University of Westminster, 27 January 2014
• MeCCSA 2014 at the Media School, Bournemouth University, 8-10 January 2014
• Symposium on Global Media Policy and Business, City University London, 17 December 2013
• VLV 30th Anniversary Conference: Policy and Programmes: Ensuring Quality and Diversity in British Broadcasting, 27 November 2013
• Westminster Media Forum on Media ownership, plurality and convergence, 21 November 2013
• Critical issues in European and national media and communications policy workshop, University of Westminster, 8 November 2013
• Pluralism in the Age of Internet, Florence School of Regulation, 8 November 2013

Elsewhere online …

[Please note, this project site will not be updated as regularly from the end of September 2014]

 

September 2014

• [UK/US] Timeinc.com: time inc. rebrands ipc media time inc. uk
• [Global/Europe] Open Society Foundations (OSF): Mapping Digital Media: Global Findings
• [UK] LSE Media Policy Project: Mapping Digital Media Series: New media & news – Measuring the Impact
• [UK/US] Emily Bell, Guardian: We can’t let tech giants, like Facebook and Twitter, control our news values

August 2014

• [UK] Des Freedman, Inforrm: Long Grass Grows Quicker in the Summer: A Response to the Government’s Response to its Media Ownership Consultation
• [UK] Government policy paper: Media Ownership & Plurality Consultation Report

June / July 2014

• [UK] Des Freedman, Guardian Letters: Media ownership is the key issue
• [UK] James Harding: 2014 Revival of Local Journalism Conference – speech
• [UK] Greenslade, Guardian: Claire Enders was wrong about newspaper closures, but she was also right
• [UK] Greenslade, Guardian: BBC hosts conference to consider the state, and future, of local journalism

May 2014

• [UK] Tony Harcup, Guardian: Why we should celebrate journalism of the past, present and future
• [UK] Parliament.uk: Lords question new Chair of Ofcom
• [UK / EU] Media Guardian: Will Ofcom foil Rupert Murdoch’s plan to create European pay-TV giant?
• [UK/US] Bloomberg: Murdoch Said to Seek $14 Billion Deal to Merge Pay-TV Units
• [UK] Lord David Puttnam, The Drum: Online commercial strategies have ‘actively damaged’ news and information relaying
• [EU] Europa.eu: EU Human Rights Guidelines on Freedom of Expression Online and Offline / Priority (3) for promoting media freedom and pluralism

April 2014

• UK] NESTA: Destination Local Demonstrators competition winners
• [UK] Carnegie UK: Grass roots news should receive Government support says Carnegie UK Trust
• [UK] BBC Trust: ‘BBC News highly regarded and trusted but needs to act to maintain reputation with audiences’
• [UK] BBC College of Journalism: Damian Radcliffe – Cardiff Uni’s Mooc plus Nesta guide a shot in the arm for hyperlocal
• [UK] Roy Greenslade: Pickles pursues the wrong policy as people reject local newspapers
• [UK] edwalker.net: Ten things learned from five years running a hyperlocal site
• [UK] The Guardian: Charlotte Higgins – What can the origins of the BBC tell us about its future?
• [US] Columbia Journalism Review [Feb 2014]: From the desk of a former FCC Commissioner
  From the desk of a former FCC Commissioner

March 2014

• [UK] LSE MPP: Public Funding of Private Media [PDF] By Corinne Schweizer, Manuel Puppis, Matthias Künzler, and Samuel Studer
• [Aus] The Australian: Labor opposes media law threat to local news
• [Aus] The Guardian: Malcolm Turnbull indicates easing of cross-media ownership laws
• [EU] Intellect: New book – The Independence of the Media and its Regulatory Agencies [Edited by Wolfgang Schulz and Peggy Valcke and Kristina Irion]
• [Aus] The West Australian: Media laws in firing line

February 2014

• [NZ] openDemocracy: Trisha Dunleavy: Don’t go there – the ongoing undermining of PSB in New Zealand
• [UK] The Conversation UK: Barwise and Picard: Hard Evidence – what would TV look like without the BBC?
• [US] AdWeek: FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler May Tighten Media Ownership Rules
• [SA] allAfrica.com: South Africa: Investment in Community Media Welcomed
• [US] Nieman Lab: Bill Keller, The Marshall Project, and making single-focus nonprofit news sites work
• [UK] Parliament.uk: The Future of the BBC – third evidence session

January 2014

• [UK] TheGuardian.com: ProPublica’s Richard Tofel: ‘Our mission is to end abuses of power’
• [UK] Media Reform Coalition: What Miliband’s Next Pledge Should Be
• [UK] HTFP: Peckham Peculiar hits the streets after funding campaign
• [UK] Parliament.uk: The Future of the BBC – first evidence session – 14 January
• [UK] MediaTel: Raymond Snoddy, Newsline: The bare-faced cheek of ITV
• [Italy/EU]: CMPF: Call for papers – Monitoring Media Freedom and Pluralism – Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom

December 2013

• [Nepal] UN.org: Assessing the status of media in Nepal
• [UK] Justin Schlosberg, Media Reform Coalition: The Heart of the Matter
• [US] NY Times: NPR Gets $17 Million in Grants to Expand Coverage and Develop Digital Platform
• [UK] Journalism.co.uk: Brown Moses to launch site for open investigative journalism
• [UK] Press Gazette: Croydon Citizen launches print edition after hitting £2,000 crowdfunding target
• [Australia] The Australian: Ten chair Lachlan Murdoch calls for ‘holistic’ media regulation
• [US] GigaOM: AOL’s hyper-local hubris: Patch is dying because local journalism is artisanal, not industrial
• [US] NY Times: F.C.C. Withdraws Plan to Relax Ownership Rule
• [UK] Lords select committee: Media plurality inquiry will report in late January 2014

November 2013

• [EU] Consilium.europa.eu: Council adopted conclusions on media freedom and pluralism in the digital environment
• [Argentina] LSE MPP: Argentine Law Highlights Tension Between Government and Media
• [Honduras] RSF: Hondurans urged to rebuild rule of law, media pluralism, after elections
• [Australia] The Age: No objections if News Corp were to take over Ten
• [Denmark] EUROPA: Commission approves Danish support scheme for written media
• [UK] UK Parliament: Lords heard from BBC Trust and Secretary of State on plurality
• [UK] Nesta: ‘£2.5m competition to bring ‘hyperlocal’ news and content to the masses’
• [UK] LSE MPP: Scotland’s Needs Ignored by DCMS Consultation on Plurality
• [UK] House of Lords: Lords to hear about media plurality in Wales and Northern Ireland

October 2013

• [UK] House of Lords debate on media convergence report
• [UK] King’s Review: Power and publication: an interview with Onora O’Neill
• [Greece] EBU: Athens panel debates way forward for Greek public broadcaster
• [US] Ravi Kapur, Seattle Times: The gutting of diversity in TV stations and media voices