Media

Articles

The Sun and the terrorists: an unholy alliance by Oscar Reyes (July 2005)

In a move that appears designed to stir up Islamophobia, The Sun newspaper yesterday launched a front page attack on Professor Tariq Ramadan, an internationally respected progressive Muslim scholar.

How the British media covers Latin America by Gerard Coffey (December 2004)

Gerard Coffey reviews British media coverage of Latin America and finds it lacking.

Media Special: Introduction by Rik Hine (July 2004)

We are probably all familiar with the notion that a lively, informative media is an essential, perhaps key, component in maintaining our democratic ideal of informed self-government. Equally likely, it seems, is a general awareness that the media often fails to live up to the standards we require of it. But what appears to be less well understood is that far from making well-intentioned mistakes, the mainstream media are inherently and systematically biased. Indeed, despite an increasing number of books and websites dedicated to analyzing the corporate/establishment structure of mass media, even activists still pay scant attention to a phenomenon that plays a crucial role in limiting any positive gains they might hope to achieve.

Media liberalisation in the UK by Des Freedman (July 2004)

This has not been a great year so far for proponents of an independent media.

In and out of the mainstream by David Miller (July 2004)

In a cacophony of apologetics, mainstream journalists are saying sorry for swallowing and amplifying the lies pumped out by the Bush and Blair propaganda machine to justify the attack on Iraq. The New York Times has eaten humble pie for reporting that it "was not as rigorous as it should have been". Some information was, wrote the paper’s editors, ’insufficiently qualified or allowed to stand unchallenged’.

Mau Mau and the British Newspapers by Paul Jennings (July 2004)

In these days of the rehabilitation of the language of "liberal imperialism", it is important to recall that empire can be an expensive undertaking, and overseas involvement must be justified to an electorate arguably more interested in the mundane infrastructure of a welfare state for example.

The medium is the message by Gary Younge (May 2004)

The alternative media are more than a source of news; they help keep the democratic process alive.

Broadcasting mouse by Colin Leys (March 2004)

Colin Leys describes how the Hutton report has left the BBC dangerously exposed to the demands of its corporate and Westminster enemies

Saving broadcasting for democracy by Colin Leys (February 2004)

With the BBC suffering a post-Hutton savaging and Rupert Murdoch, Conrad Black and many in the Labour Party keen to see British broadcasting mimic the monopolistic, right-wing US model, it’s time the left leapt to the corporation’s defence.

Ten tumultuous years by Fiona Osler (May 2003)

‘Red Pepper, breaking a decade; New Labour, broken and decayed,’ suggested a wit in the office. But now is not the moment for narrow triumphalism (beyond celebrating the larger font size and the monthly miracle performed in getting the magazine out at all).