January 2023 Update
It’s been a few months now since I started work as Better Media’s Campaign Coordinator, and high time for an update on what we’ve been up to!
The BBC and the new King: an exercise in propaganda
In 2017, a now famous Guardian Long Read by Sam Knight brought the “secret” plans for the death of the Queen, long-rehearsed by palace, government and media, to the attention of much of the public. Knight reported that maintaining these highly-detailed and pre-approved plans “is a practice that makes some journalists uncomfortable.” A week into their execution, we can see why.
Introducing Our New Campaign Coordinator
Hello! My name is Rowan Gavin, and I am the new Campaign Coordinator here at Better Media. This post is both an introduction to me, and an overview of what you can expect from Better Media in the coming months.
Better Media is hiring!
Better Media is a campaigning co-op run by members. We are looking for a part time worker to lead the fight for media reform and media justice by helping people to be the media, know the media, and change the media. ROLE: Campaign Coordinator CONTRACT: Part-time freelance contract, 1 day a week for 12 months…
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Election 2019 – Future of the Media – what the parties say
CPBF stalwart Barry White has very usefully written up what all the 2019 election manifestos say about media: With less than three weeks to go before the general election on 12 December all the main parties, have published their election manifestos. Below are their proposals on the future of the media which I have taken…
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Try the twenty quid test
THINK BACK: if you were around at the turn of the century, how much do you reckon you were spending on media each week? On a couple of papers a day, magazines, or (heaven forbid) pay-TV? What d’you reckon? £20 a week in today’s values? Perhaps more? So what do you spend that £20 on…
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How will Better Media work?
Better Media is a transparent co-operative endeavour, empowered by collaborative open source tools. We use Open Collective to transparently collect and spend money. Everyone can see where all our money comes from, and how it is spent. Everyone who signs-up as a contributor is also invited to join our online organising and decision-making spaces. At…
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What do we mean by Better Media?
Ultimately, what Better Media becomes will depend on what our contributors collaboratively do and decide together. We want a more diverse, democratic and accountable media, but how can we get there? As a starter for five here are the headings of the main proposals in this Media Reform Manifesto (.pdf), the output of a broad…
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Why do we need Better Media?
There is a severe lack of diversity, democracy and accountability in UK media, which is dominated by a handful of corporations. As co-founder of the Media Reform Coalition Des Freedman has explained, the UK media landscape is: “characterised by the domination of attention, audiences and agendas by a relatively small number of very powerful companies…
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Be the media, know the media, change the media
We need to think bigger if we are to achieve the sort of media that the public want and need.