Press freedom under political pressure
The changes in the lobby system of parliamentary reporting were made, without consultation, by the No 10 communications director, Lee Cain. Jane Martinson is right to predict that the leaders of the UK and US “will continue to add restrictions, and in other ways make life difficult for the media” (Press freedom: Parliament’s lobby system now at the heart of the battle, 20 January).
In the UK we saw this during the election. MediaNorth produced six issues of ElectionWatch highlighting media bias, and it became clear then that relationships with those sections of the media which Boris Johnson, his adviser Dominic Cummings and Cain deem recalcitrant or too critical would be difficult.
Two examples. When Boris Johnson was feeling the heat over his refusal to be interviewed by Andrew Neil on the BBC, he declared that he was “looking at scrapping the licence fee”.
On Channel 4, the melting ice sculptures prompted Cain to complain to Ofcom and threaten the broadcaster with a review of its licence, which runs out in this parliamentary term, “to look at whether its remit should be better focused”.
These, and many other examples, have prompted MediaNorth to organise a national conference at Leeds Art Gallery on 8 February, titled It’s The Media Stupid! Post-Election Policies for Media Reform. For more information see http://coldtype.net/MediaNorth.html
Granville Williams
Editor, MediaNorth
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