LONDON (Bywire News) - The Media Reform Coalition has launched what they, alongside us all at Bywire, hope will help to reform the media landscape as we know it in the UK. As part of their BBC and Beyond campaign, MRC has launched a Manifesto for a People’s Media, which includes a series of innovative ideas to help democratise our media.
The manifesto looks at a large/substantial/significant amount of data from conversations with organisations and individuals, and all the notes from 9 Town Hall events, where attendance totalled approx. 30,000 people.
According to MRC, the manifesto will help to create, “A system where significant new public investment and new forms of participation ensure that our media are independent, accountable, democratic, and for everyone.”
Currently, our media is predominantly owned by billionaires with only their own interests at heart. As previously found by MRC, in 2021 just three companies dominated 83% of the national newspaper market, creating a concentrated level of media ownership and thus media dominance.
The UK is a democratic state, so we need some media outlets to be:
- Independent and therefore able to hold power to account
- Accountable and therefore able to face consequences for their actions
- Democratic
- For everyone, serving all needs and being accessible to all
MRC created a brief explainer video to help understand the impacts of a toxic media sector on society, as well as outlining solutions that they believe could help build a better, fairer media landscape.
If you wish to receive live campaign updates and to find out more about upcoming MRC events, simply subscribe to their newsletter. Alternatively, be sure to share, share, share the manifesto with your friends, family and social media followers.
(Writing by Klaudia Fior, editing by Michael O'Sullivan)