FREENo 201 November–December 2014 £1 Journal Press of the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom

THE FAIR OUR AIMS WAY TO REGULATE 3 Alternative FOR 2015 to editors’ THE NEXT six months will be a chance to get political increasingly pro-establishment reporting. IPSO leaders to commit to media reform before the election And there is the feeling that despite the turmoil in May 2015. and revelations of the last three years … nothing has And the CPBF is inviting media reform organisations really changed. to work on a common platform to maximise the impact The process will launch with a meeting at the House on the political process. Then we can press the parties of Commons on December ± (see back page). After and individual politicians to take up the proposals. two months of consultation a Media Manifesto for the There has never been such public backing for cutting election will come out in early March. Big Media down to size. There is the revulsion against The work will concentrate on the four main areas the excesses of the tabloid press, the frustration at the of concern: ■ perpetual foot-dragging and wrangling in the imple- controls on media ownership ■ mentation of the mild reforms of the Leveson Inquiry. independent, trusted and effective regulation of MEDIA There is the resentment at the domination of the the press ■ SOURCES internet giants and their intrusion into daily life by well-funded, independent public service logging individual interests to commercialise them as broadcasting AT HIGH ■ advertising opportunities – quite apart from what else a human rights framework to protect citizens’ RISK they might do with the data. communication rights. 4 State knows There is anger at the bloated and insensitive bureau- The CPBF has produced such manifestos for the last cracy of the BBC, its failure to respond to internal half dozen UK General Elections. But there has never who they’re catastrophes, its programming cutbacks and its been such a pressing need nor such open opportunities. talking to STOP THE POLICE SPIES A POLITICAL storm has blown up over revelations that police have been secretly but routinely spying on spying on journalists’ phone calls. Journalists and MPs have demanded changes in the law to close a loophole that allows offi cers to get hold of phone records without the required judicial approval. WE NEED The snooping has been carried out by several forces in INTERNET the pursuit of sources who leak material to the FREEDOM media. One chief constable told an MPs’ committee: “I struggle to Sir Tim’s understand quite what the debate is. 6 Magna We’re not interested in journalistic Carta sources.” The Save Our Sources Campaign won’t do has been led by the trade website Press Gazette, whose editor Dominic Ponsford (right) delivered a petition to the offi ce responsible for regulating the interception of communications, which has promised to investigate. For all the latest on the campaign go to CATCHING BIG BROTHER — PAGES 4–5 www.cpbf.org.uk

2509_CPBF_Nov-Dec14_201.indd 1 10/11/2014 18:27 CPBF NEWS ‘Only as good as your last story’

A FORMER reporter for the News of the World ethical issues,” she said. “This might work in Granville Williams, editor of the CPBF book Big told a CPBF meeting at the Labour Party Hollywood but not in most British newsrooms, Media and Internet Titans, said that attempting conference in Manchester of the culture of where the exigencies of the daily grind and to regulate the media would be “meaningless bullying in which journalists had to work. fears about job security tend to keep journal- without the ownership question being settled, but Rachel Broady, who is vice-chair of the NUJ ists’ heads below the parapet, codes of conduct there is little appetite for reform at Westminster. Manchester & Salford Branch, told the meeting notwithstanding.” It’s just not an issue for the main parties.” in September: “You were only as good as your The meeting, attended by MPs and Labour Ann Field, chair of the CPBF, reminded the last story and you got the story you were told to delegates, was entitled “No More Murdochs”, and meeting that media ownership is not just about get”, but she added: “In spite of a macho, bullying MP John McDonnell drew attention to Rupert the press and broadcasting titans. Amazon workplace culture, working on the News of the Murdoch’s role as propaganda point man in and Google are de facto media owners and World was often exciting and rewarding. advance of the attack on Iraq in 2003. Murdoch arguably harder to confront, let alone regulate, “Journalists can be victims of misplaced said he supported the invasion because “oil will than the Murdoch, Desmond, Barclay and romantic idealism when it comes to confronting come down to £20 a barrel”. Rothermere empires. NEW PODCASTS FROM THE CPBF MEDIA REPORTING THE NHS GAZA: WHY THE BIAS? Campaigners say that the NHS being The notion of media balance and context broken up, privatised and changed was questioned during the Israeli beyond recognition. But the reporting of bombardment of Gaza. The death toll I was active in the NUJ and ME government reforms has been sketchy was in brutal contrast to the relatively andas a journalist, you hope, and, although local papers and radio minor impact of rocket attacks on Israel. expect, the media you work have produced some compelling stories, The media were criticised for failing to for to be diverse and without national coverage of these complex cover the confl ict in a fair manner. Nick fear of censorship to stories which issues has been minimal. Keep Our Jones is joined by Lindsey German contribute to public interest. NHS Public is a campaign to raise public of the Stop the War Coalition; Tim However, in the UK, this is not the awareness. Nick Jones speaks to John Llewellyn, former Middle East corre- case and ownership of media has converged into the Lister, Jill George, Roger Gartland and spondent for the BBC; and Aidan White, hands of a few. Jean Smith about their lobbying efforts. of the Ethical Journalism Network. When this happens, the media become the puppets, Listen at www.cpbf.org.uk of state and of wealth. Despite political indication, Murdoch’s hold on power is barely waning. When the BBC can’t freely report on the slaughter WITH BANNERS HELD HIGH … of the dispossessed in Gaza, when the Sun’s political FOLLOWING the CPBF’s revelations that Margaret Thatcher’s government leanings still hold weight, when only two national lied about the future of the coal industry during the great miners’ strike of newspapers editors are women, and continuous 1984-85, there will be a major event, With Banners Held High, at the Unity misogynistic objectifi cation remains, the need for Hall in Wakefi eld to mark the 30th anniversary of the end of the strike on lobbying on media diversity and plurality remains March 7 next year. Co-sponsored by the CPBF, the Orgreave Truth and acute, and that’s why I support The CPBF. Justice Campaign and the National Union of Mineworkers, it will be a day of music, drama, fi lm and debate. Information from [email protected] Claire Colley, treasurer of the CPBF

MEMBERSHIP RATES PER YEAR AFFILIATION BY ORGANISATION a) Individual membership £15 f) Fewer than 500 members £25 b) Unwaged £6 g) 500 to 1,000 £30 Join the c) Supporting membership £25 h) 1,000 to 10,000 £50 (includes free CPBF publications) i) 10,000 to 50,000 £115 campaign d) Institutions (eg libraries) £25 j) 50,000 to 100,000 £225 (includes 10 copies of FREE Press) k) Over 100,000 £450 for press and I/We want to join the CPBF and enclose a cheque/PO for £ ______Name ______broadcasting Address ______freedom Postcode ______Tel ______Join online at Email ______www.cpbf.org.uk Organisation (if applicable) ______Return form to CPBF, 29 Orford Road, London E17 9NL, 07729 846 146, [email protected]

This issue went to press on November 11 and was edited by Tim Gopsill, 07769 928 795, [email protected] Design: editionpublishing.net • Printed by Swallowmax Ltd, 43 Aden Road, Enfi eld EN3 7SY

2 Free Press November–December 2014

2509_CPBF_Nov-Dec14_201.indd 2 10/11/2014 18:27 REGULATION Same old story, same old men We’ve got a

PREDICTIONS THAT IPSO, the Independent Press Standards Organisation will be no more than a revival of the corpse of the undead better way Press Complaints Commission were confirmed NADIA BETTEGA when it announced details of the body that will Jonathan Heawood, founding director of control its operations. The PCC was financed and dominated by the independent regulator IMPRESS, a Press Board of Finance consisting of senior executives who held the purse strings, and now explains the rationale behind its the IPSO has its Regulatory Funding Company (RFC) which will do just the same. challenge to the media establishment All its nine members but one (the editor of the Belfast Telegraph, Michael Gilson) are WE ALL HAVE the right to share voices left to stop a future government top managers or finance or legal directors of information and ideas, challenge received from imposing direct state regulation on publishing groups, and all are men. wisdom and hold the powerful to account. the press. The RFC appoints the Editors Code Newspapers and online publishers help That’s why a group of journalists Committee which will set the code on which us to exercise this right but they do not and free speech campaigners have set the IPSO will adjudicate, and all the commit- have a stranglehold over it. Press freedom up IMPRESS, a regulator which will be tee’s nine industry members are editors (two belongs to the public, not the people who entirely independent of both newspaper happen to own the means of distribution. owners and politicians. We have followed The British press apparently accepts the prescription of Lord Justice Leveson, this principle. They recognise that, in order as distilled in the Royal Charter on to serve the public, journalism should Self-Regulation of the Press, agreed follow certain basic standards, and to by Parliament. enforce these standards, they have created Impress will uphold the existing a succession of self-regulatory bodies. code of practice, and additionally offer They have agreed a code of practice that a “conscience clause” for journal- governs such issues as accuracy, privacy, ists, a whistleblowing hotline and an subterfuge, discrimination and the arbitration service. protection of sources. In a country where defending a libel are women). The chair is Paul Dacre of the Daily This all sounds good. Self-regulation action can be 140 times more expensive Mail, who chaired it for six years under the PCC. has held off state intervention in the than the European average, access to His Mail on Sunday colleague Geordie Greig is press, while promoting justice is an imperative. there too. a decent code of Unless journalists and In a gesture to independence the committee practice. So what has We will be entirely editors can offer arbi- will have five outnumbered “lay” members, gone wrong? Why do independent of both tration, they will be but two of them will be IPSO’s chair and chief only 27 per cent of the forced to settle any executive. They’re taking the piss. public believe that the newspaper owners libel threats. At the In effect IPSO is recreating the structure press is well run and same time, members of the industry, with the owners and bosses a staggering 69 per and politicians of the public who don’t appointing the editors and getting them to tell cent believe they are, have the resources the other ranks what to do. indeed, corrupt? to take on a major publishing group will Martin Moore of the Media Standards Trust The problem is structural. A regulator struggle to assert their rights. The board commented: “These appointments, and the which is owned and controlled by of IMPRESS is now in the process of being manner in which they were made, reinforce the newspaper publishers can never command appointed and will decide whether to seek impression that the major publishers intend public confidence. Who pays the bills? recognition under the Charter. to recreate the previous, discredited, system The publishers. Who writes the code? The Our plans have been endorsed by a of press self-regulation with the same figures publishers. Who oversees the complaints range of independent news publishers. in control. procedure? You’ve guessed it. Some produce newspapers while others “It repeats what Lord Justice Leveson called The Chair of IPSO, Sir Alan Moses, will are online-only. ‘the pattern of cosmetic reform’ that has char- be hamstrung by these defects. If he rules With an estimated 500 hyperlocal acterised the previous seven decades of press against a publisher, they may leave the news organisations in the UK, there is a self-regulation. regulator. If he rules in favour, the public large – and growing – market in this area. “It is difficult to see how IPSO can hope will raise their eyebrows. Either way, IPSO IMPRESS is preparing for the future of to gain public confidence when the news cannot command public confidence. If news, at a time when debate about press publishers that established it act in this way.” trust falls any lower, there will be few regulation is mired in the past. November–December 2014 Free Press 3

2509_CPBF_Nov-Dec14_201.indd 3 10/11/2014 18:27 BIG BROTHER You don’t have to be paranoid …

The flood of THE PLEBGATE Affair is bringing more to light than the unsavoury conduct of a Tory cabinet minister and a revelations bunch of coppers of questionable integrity. It may be a matter of monumental triviality what exact phraseology about the the former Overseas Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell employed in his brief altercation with Downing capacity of Street police but the implications for the media are turning out to be serious. security It’s not the story itself, but the way the Met police went about investigating it – which was to access services to secretly the phone records of the reporter who wrote spy on the story, Tom Newton-Dunn, and of the Sun newsdesk that took the tip-off call. The data was supplied by people’s service providers who did not inform the journalists. This snooping was not undertaken through the communi- statutory procedure for police to apply to seize jour- nalistic material, which requires an order from a cations is crown court judge (story below). Instead, they simply Tom Newton-Dunn: police hacked his phone records authorised themselves, using the increasingly discred- really ited Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act, the and Suffolk forces, have confi rmed their use of RIPA dreaded RIPA. This requires the approval only of a senior to obtain journalists’ phone records but maintained serious for police offi cer. the use was “proportionate” and “appropriate”. A The Met seemed to regard it as routine, and well-placed source told Press Gazette that the RIPA the media. subsequent investigation by the journalists’ online would have been used in the “vast majority” of the magazine Press Gazette has shown that the practice Met probes. TIM of police helping themselves to phone records is The Press Gazette has asked 41 forces for informa- happening almost everywhere, and has been for years. tion on the use of RIPA against journalists, and all have GOPSILL They do so in the process of investigating leaks of refused the FoI requests. But following its campaign the Interception of Communications Commissioner, Sir sets out the Paul Kennedy, wrote to all chief constables and ordered severity of ‘We are not interested them to provide full details of use of RIPA powers to identify journalistic sources. He will report in the the problem in journalistic new year. sources. I struggle But police attitudes were straightforwardly and asks expressed when Derbyshire Police’s Mick Creedon, to understand quite who is also ACPO’s national coordinator for serious Reporters on the what can and organised crime, said RIPA could “absolutely” be Guardian rendered their what the debate is’ used to secretly obtain journalists’ phone records in a phones untraceable be done leak probe. Appearing before the Home Affairs Select by enclosing them information to the media, to uncover whistleblowers Committee, he said: “I have to say, we [the police] in cocktail shakers and police who tip off journalists with stories, which are not interested in journalistic sources. I struggle to happens a lot. understand quite what the debate is … The issue is not The Press Gazette has launched a vigorous Save about the journalistic issue, this is about the corrupt Our Sources campaign, bombarding police forces individual who is passing information … And I accept with Freedom of Information requests. Its research the corrupt individual could be the well-intentioned has revealed that in the fi ve years 2006-2011 police whistleblower. So we need to be careful of that … But forces across the UK conducted more than 300 media actually we’re not interested in journalistic sources.” leak investigations – many of them using the RIPA to secretly view journalists’ phone records. ONE GOOD THING that can be said of pretty well all Strathclyde Police alone conducted 45 such probes journalists, however disreputable in their other work and the Met 38. The Metropolitan Police, and the Kent practices, is that they are prepared to go to great 4 Free Press November–December 2014

2509_CPBF_Nov-Dec14_201.indd 4 10/11/2014 18:27 How police evade the law

HERES’S A RIDDLE: how can the reporters, photographers and vide- police act within the law but at ojournalists over the years, with the the same time outside the law? backing of the NUJ. Answer: when they use the This is why the police use the Regulation of Investigatory Powers RIPA, and this is why they should Act 2000 to seize information on be stopped. the activities of journalists. In October Liberal Democrat The RIPA allows a senior offi cer peer Lord Strasburger proposed an to authorise the interception of amendment to the Serious Crime phone calls for the investigation of a Bill going through Parliament to crime. But its use against the media make the required change. is a cynical and deliberate fl outing Despite winning support from lengths to protect informants. This has of the main law covering this peers of all the major parties, it was been shown time and again in cases area, the 1984 Police and Criminal rejected by the government, which where they have refused and often defi ed Evidence Act. is consulting on changes to the court orders, sometimes risking jail, to hand Under the PACE the police must RIPA code of practice which it says over material that would identify their confi den- apply to a crown court judge for an will be suffi cient. tial sources. This is not entirely an altruistic matter: if order to seize journalists’ material. Lord Strasburger vowed to return reporters start betraying their informants then people And there are two more legal foun- to the issue “with a vengeance” will stop confi ding in them. So it’s lucky for democracy dations for reporters’ legal right to unless the government provides a that they don’t. protect their sources and material, “more substantive” response. But the rules of the game have changed. What albeit with some restrictions. He said: “The purpose is to graft is the value in journalists honouring their pledges They are in the Contempt of on to RIPA similar protections to of confi dentiality to informants when the authori- Court Act 1981, and the milestone those already applying under PACE: ties can easily identify them anyway, covertly, by case won by reporter Bill Goodwin judicial oversight of applications accessing their communications, without any kind of against the UK government at the involving journalists’ records and European Court of Human Rights legally privileged information, and in 1996. to require an open hearing with We must have political Because of the case law built both sides represented. up under these provisions, judges “RIPA must be changed to action to effect have become reluctant to grant close the loophole that the police PACE orders against journalists. have been using with virtually democratic control Numerous cases have been won by no scrutiny.” over state agencies CHARLES GRIS

legal check? Phone records, email, online activity … all are frighteningly accessible to state snooping in the post-Snowden age. The police, along with GCHQ in Britain and the National Security Agency in the USA and their protective governments, say they aren’t interested in and don’t read the content of these communica- tions. Maybe they don’t, but they don’t need to. What they are very interested in and do read is the metadata – where you are, whom you are meeting, phoning, Reporters on the messaging, emailing – and digital devices will tell them Guardian rendered their all that. phones untraceable This is a much wider than a journalistic question. It’s no longer a matter of putting pressure on reporters to by enclosing them divulge information. The capacity of state agencies to in cocktail shakers get hold of any information they want about citizens obviously affects everyone, but it’s a media issue too, compelling civil liberties, privacy and media campaigners FIND OUT IF YOU ARE AN EXTREMIST to work together. PROTECTING SOURCES from digital interception enjoys the This daunting reality is exercising media minds. That support of Comedian Mark Thomas (above) who told the is why the Press Gazette launched Save Our Sources Guardian/NUJ conference about the campaign he is running and journalists organisations’ are discussing intensely with the union to encourage journalists to apply to the police to how to resist. There are, in truth, only two ways: uncover what information has been gathered on them. The journalists themselves can act to protect their Anyone can make a subject action request, he said, and he material, by technological means, such as encrypting all had done just that himself, to discover that police had 63 entries under his name. One labelled him a “domestic extremist”. ,,continued over page November–December 2014 Free Press 5

2509_CPBF_Nov-Dec14_201.indd 5 10/11/2014 18:28 You don’t have IN THE NEWS to be paranoid … It just won’t non-payment of the fine, generally £160. But ,,from previous page there are thousands of prosecutions, invariably work, Sir Tim of people who are too poor to pay. their communications, employing inter- THE POWER of governments and the online John Whittingdale said that criminal minably long passwords, 68 characters corporations represents a growing threat to sanctions were almost certain to be abolished; and more, generated by special software, democracy and personal freedom. So said Tim there have been vociferous calls for this and and using physical means to insulate their Berners-Lee, co-inventor of the world wide web, reviews are being conducted by the DCMS and smartphones from being tracked by satellite. at a conference in London in September. the BBC itself. Or they can say: the state will gain “I want a web where I’m not spied on, where There are also questions about the rationale develop the ability to track me 24 hours a there’s no censorship. If a company can control for the fee in the age of the iPlayer, when day if it wants to, whether I like it or not, your access to the internet … then they have anybody can watch BBC channels online and TV so we must have political action to effect tremendous control over your life,” he said. “If a sets become redundant. He suggested the BBC democratic control over its agencies. government can block you going to, for example, should receive a reduced fee to cover a limited The state, here, includes the mighty the opposition’s political pages, then they can range of services, allowing people to choose to internet and telephony corporations that give you a blinkered view of reality to keep pay for additional services if they choose. collect much of the data and cannot be themselves in power. But, significantly, as an influential voice on relied on, even if they had the will, to He called for a “Magna Carta for the Internet” media policy, he did believe that the licence fee withhold it. Google and Vodaphone are to ensure that the internet remains remain a would survive for the next BBC Charter, for 10 not going to risk jail to protect confi- “neutral medium” – reflecting all human life, years from 2016. dential information, despite their public including, he conceded, “some ghastly stuff”. That is a relief, for it would give supporters protestations. Sir Tim Berners-Lee has devoted much of of public service broadcasting a decade to work There are plenty of media people who the quarter-century since he and Robert Cailliau out their arguments. They must take these put their faith in the first option above: developed the web at CERN in Geneva to fighting factors into account. No-one wants a regime that techies who obsess over the relative security for an “open internet”, protected by a framework ignores technological change and criminalises of encryption programs and anti-techies of voluntary regulation both technical and ethical the very poorest people. who say there is no safe technology so are in character Tim Gopsill reverting to typewriters – at least in contem- This is an essentially libertarian view, yet the porary mythology; I’ve never met one. problems with surveillance and the suppression Don’t pity the It has been the case though that of information are matters not just of principle reporters on the Guardian at least have but of application and accountability. poor editor employed the tactic of rendering their Aidan White, director of the Ethical JAILED FORMER editor of the news of the World phones untraceable by enclosing them in Journalism Network, wrote on its website that and Downing Street media chief Andy Coulson cocktail shakers, which apparently works. “the public online space” was dominated by four has been charged with committing perjury in the Presumably Guardian journalists carry broadly drawn user groups: corporates; trial of a libel case against the NoW brought cocktail shakers as part of their kit, but there political and state institutions; jour- by former MSP Tommy Sheridan and his are drawbacks to all the precautions that nalists; and individuals engaged in wife Gail in 2010. ­journalists can take. social media. Called as a witness, he said One was raised at a special conference “Only journalism has a that as editor of the paper he at the Guardian’s office in London in well-established connection had not known that royal editor September, jointly organised with the with ethical obligations,” he Clive Goodman and private NUJ and the International Federation of pointed out, which means investigator Glenn Mulcaire Journalists. that those too-often wilfully were involved in phone-hacking After a presentation by a Guardian IT ignored obligations might until they were arrested, and manager on the necessity of encrypting serve as a model for an ethical had never heard of Glenn Mulcaire. telephone conversations with confiden- framework in the online world. Neither was he aware of a culture You read it here first tial sources and the way to set them up Without such a framework – of phone-hacking at the paper. – from Free Press – which requires both phones to be loaded with communications based on In June this year an Old September/October ≤∞±≤ with the devices – veteran investigative respect for accuracy, independ- Bailey jury found him guilty of journalist Duncan Campbell asked provoca- ence, impartiality, humanity and conspiring to hack phones while tively just how a reporter was supposed to accountability – Sir Tim Berners-Lee’s Magna he was editor (2002-08) and he was imprisoned supplier the gear to a nervous, frightened Carta will surely fail to protect democracy and for 18 months. and inexperienced source, and without the freedom. The jury failed to agree, however, on charges snoopers finding out. There was no reply. Gary Herman of conspiring to commit misconduct in public All the cards are in the hands of the office by bribing public officials, and he will face state. It has the resources to develop the Grim prospect a retrial on these charges – with Clive Goodman antidote to any technological protection – next year. He will also stand trial in Glasgow on and the power to use it. For the CPBF and for licence fee the perjury charges. other media organisations the imperative is A CHILLING statement that the BBC licence fee Andy Coulson has been designated the fall to put a check on that power. is “worse than the poll tax” and will not survive guy for News International in the aftermath of Despite the terrifying scope of the has come from the chair of the Commons the hacking scandal, in line with the well known secret state demonstrated by the revela- culture, media and sport committee, Tory MP saying at the BBC that, after a corporate catas- tions of Edward Snowden – which indict John Whittingdale. trophe, “deputy heads will roll.” the UK as much as the USA through the He said: “It is a poll tax, it’s actually worse He could be languishing in jail for several years links between the NSA and GCHQ – this than the poll tax because with the poll tax, if you while his bosses – Rebekah Brooks, who was is far from a lost cause. Journalists are were on a very low income, you got a subsidy, found not guilty by the jury, James Murdoch, Les determined to maintain their ability to but with the licence fee it doesn’t matter how Hinton and above all Rupert Murdoch – continue operate independently, and, despite the poor you are, you still have to pay £145.50 and to enjoy their lives of wealth and privilege. odds against them, sources are still bringing go to prison if you don’t pay it.” In fact non- It almost makes you sorry for him. But vital and suppressed information to public payment is not an imprisonable offence, and the not quite. awareness and leaks are abundant. 50-odd jail sentences imposed each year are for Tim Gopsill 6 Free Press November–December 2014

2509_CPBF_Nov-Dec14_201.indd 6 10/11/2014 18:28 REVIEWS

Discordant voices approaching media freedom. In 180 pages we are confronted by forays on the BBC into the battle by corporate media enterprises to Is the BBC in Crisis? By John Mair, control creative content and to loosen regulatory Richard Tait and Richard Lance Keeble policies. Without the challenge of the CPBF and like- (eds); Abramis academic publishing minded groups, governments and politicians are unlikely to change their beholden attitudes to THE LICENCE FEE, governance, the place of the the press. BBC in the media market and its cultural role This volume shows how little has been in the life of the nation — these will be fi ercely learned by governments and the effete debated in the run-up to charter renewal in 2016. regulatory authorities that witness the same This book, with its 30 articles by a stellar list of transgressions over and again as the usual contributors, was compiled to set the agenda. suspects take charge of how we are fed what On the licence fee: Michael Grade (Lord Grade they determine as news. ONE ROGUE of Yarmouth, former chairman of both the BBC But the grim warnings are accompanied by and ITV) presents a radical cost-cutting Blueprint REPORTER antidotes that offer a way out of the present for Survival that could reduce the fee. Alice RICHARD PEPPIATT was a mass-media mess. This makes Big Media & Enders (Enders Analysis) fi nds that 57% of the roguish Daily Star reporter Internet Tycoons required reading for all those who walked out in 2009 in public consider it “good value”. interested in how we might secure press disgust at the degrading Andrew Scadding (BBC Head of Corporate freedom. things reporters he was Affairs), supports the fee, while David Elstein John Bailey required to do, dressing up in (ex-Chief Executive of Channel 5) favours stupid costumes and making subscription. More than up stupid stories. On governance: former BBC trustee David He gave candid evidence Liddiment argues that it meets the need for technology to the Leveson Inquiry a separate body to protect the public interest. Information Security for Journalists by and launched a career as a stand-up comic. His show Howard Davies (Director LSE 2003-2011) argues Silkie Carlo and Arjen Kamphuis; for a Public Service Broadcasting Commission and One Rogue Reporter — lifting the line immortalised a new board constructed on the lines of “best- Centre for Investigative Journalism; by News International in its practice corporate governance”. free as a PDF from http://tcij.org cover-up of phone-hacking Despite the many trenchant criticisms there – was a wow on the circuit in THIS MANUAL “is designed to instruct journal- is support for the democratic, economic and 2012 and he has now made it ists and media organisations on how to practise cultural role of BBC. Sir Peter Bazalgette (Chair of into a movie. the Arts Council of England) writes that the BBC information security in the digital age, protecting His show incorporated has historically been justifi ed by the delivery of your work, your sources, and your communica- clips of the pranks he’d trusted and reliable news, original programming tions at a variety of risk levels.” pulled on newspaper editors, and a sustained investment in creative talent. In the era of Wikileaks and Snowden, this is doorstepping them, shouting These should be maintained though “sharing its a laudable aim. Any journalist with even a toe in fatuous questions and being cultural and economic capital with the nation”. the murky waters of corporate or state secrecy generally off ensive –the sort Frances Balfour will already understand the need for “information of things the editors get security” (infosec). But the title is misleading, and reporters to do — which they They’re just the aim is not really achievable. fail to appreciate. Paul Dacre, getting bigger The authors seem to inhabit a hi-tech world, all fl ashing Big Media & Internet Titans; Media Ownership: The Democratic Challenge, edited by Granville Williams, CPBF.

THIS VOLUME reminds us just how very tenuous is the grip on the so-called free press in the UK – if it ever existed. Granville Williams has assembled a collection of writers who have experienced fi rst-hand the vicissitudes of media megalomania and the close relationship with politicians. Kelvin MacKenzie, Hugh Of course most disapprobation is directed at Whittow of the Express are Rupert Murdoch because he represents the all targeted. most rapacious acquirer of newspaper These are edited into titles and TV stations, although Google, a sequence of interviews and gags. Fun with a point: Facebook and the other internet LEDs, encryption and – most of all – jargon. revenge on a comic sale. behemoths are in the line-up of media Theirs is a world of techno-tradecraft, a latter One Rogue Reporter villains too. day John Buchan adventure. But technological is showing at selected In TV things aren’t much different, and the change undermines their goal: security is shifting venues with Q&A 1990 Broadcasting Act that split ITV on a political ground and practising it involves a more nuanced sessions afterwards. whim and put franchises up to the highest understanding of risk than choosing the right A Go to www. bidder, is covered in full and shows how obstruc- piece of kit. oneroguereporter.com tive political interference has become to anything Gary Herman November–December 2014 Free Press 7

2509_CPBF_Nov-Dec14_201.indd 7 10/11/2014 18:28 THE MEDIA MANIFESTO 2015

What do we want from politicians to help promote fairer media that can be independent of government and business, and be more responsive to people? Action to make Big Media more accountable and more responsive to the public they serve, including effective ways of challenging inaccuracies and contesting biases; ensuring communities have access to a diverse range of communication services geared to serving their needs; an end to the corruption around Big Media corporations. But how to get them? The Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom is bringing groups together to prepare a Media Manifesto for 2015, to promote the points for people to raise around the UK General Election. We need a broad range of progressive organisations and individuals to take part in the initiative in an open and collective way. We are calling a meeting at Parliament on December 1 to discuss and launch the programme. We plan to publish the manifesto next March. Everyone involved or interested in media reform is welcome to join in. There are four main proposals: Controls on media ownership To strengthen media diversity, regulations to limit how much companies can own and require those with significant market shares to meet agreed standards. Independent, trusted and effective regulation of the press Implementation of the arrangements for press self-regulation put forward by the Leveson Inquiry in 2012. We need an effective right of reply to media inaccuracies, operated by a regulator that represents both the working journalists and the public. Well-funded, independent public service broadcasting A charter renewal and licence fee settlement in 2016 that results in a strong, independent BBC that is able to support the central role of public service media and its expansion across platforms, local neighbourhoods, and communities of interest. Protection for communication rights After phone-hacking the new scandal is the state’s snooping on a far larger scale – on journalists’ communications and everyone else’s. Government wants to legalise it and weaken the UK’s human rights framework. This is an issue for media and the whole of society.

ALL WELCOME AT THE LAUNCH MEETING Monday December 1 Committee Room 10 at the House of Commons, 6.30pm. Chair: John McDonnell MP

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