Media

It won't be opposition MPs that decide the future of Channel 4 - but politicians sat on the government benches. Here's why they should reconsider plans for privatisation.

From the BBC downwards, the UK media is consistently failing in its reporting of this government.

Why getting kids from poor backgrounds into journalism is a priority

The murder of journalists calls into question the ability or willingness of some European states to safeguard the freedom of journalists.

The country’s media is being forced back to the dark days of the Iron Curtain, warns ex-Europe minister DENIS MACSHANE, a former journalist once arrested in Warsaw by the communist authorities

Since 2016, The New European's award-winning newspaper has been the torchbearer for pan-European comment and insight on how our continent can be a better place for all. Now we've got a website to match.

Did the Brexit vote swing on a basic misunderstanding of public finances? Did people die of Covid because our politicians are innumerate? LIZ GERARD explores Britain’s hopelessness in the face of big numbers

It’s a decade since the demise of the News of the World and today’s toothless tabloids are a shadow of their former ferocious selves. Should we mourn or celebrate their decline? And could they have stopped Brexit?  They were the cheeky chappies, rumbustious and irreverent, saucier than a Donald McGill postcard; always game to poke […]

Established a pop-up paper in 2016 due to last only four issues, The New European turns five this week. Former editor of the Financial Times LIONEL BARBER explains why it has found a niche and how it can help shape European debate

The New European has been praised for having some of the best front covers on the newsstands. And now, after five years, we’re looking to declare the best cover of all time.  We’ve painstakingly whittled down the selection to just ten out of 250 editions, with the readers now being given their opportunity to vote […]

The much-discussed culture war is being manufactured by the right, in order to obscure the real wounds in society The Remainers have been routed, the immigrants outed. Jeremy Corbyn has gone and Keir Starmer never really arrived. Everything should be wonderful in Great Borisland. But it isn’t, so who is to blame? The kraken wokes: […]

Andrew Neil has launched a new channel, GB News. Now, comedian Mitch Benn is starting his own network for middle-aged, straight, balding white men… MB NEWS IS HERE! Hello, good evening/morning/afternoon and welcome to the exciting launch of my very own news channel, MB NEWS! Yes, like 52% of the GREAT BRITISH PUBLIC (give or […]

The Sun's days could be numbered, writes LIZ GERARD.

A history of the radical, revolutionary, rowdy roots of the newspaper industry make for a rip-roaring read “We are afsured from good authority that the First Consul of France – has been swallowed by a Whale!” Give or take the odd “f” instead of “s”, this could have come on the Sunday Sport archive, next to […]

Sky News presenter Kay Burley has returned to work after being suspended for six months for breaking Covid-19 rules. The journalist said it was “great to be back” as she introduced Monday morning’s show, featuring interviews with former prime minister Gordon Brown, Bristol Mayor Marvin Rees and shadow foreign secretary Lisa Nandy. Burley was suspended […]

The Corporation's current woes are being exploited for political gain by the government

Culture secretary Oliver Dowden has said the BBC must project “British values” or face losing its licence fee. Dowden also accused the BBC of adopting a “we know best” attitude following the scandal surrounding its Panorama interview with Princess Diana. In his first detailed response since the report from Lord Dyson was released, Dowden said […]

The government will look at whether reforms of BBC governance are required in the wake of Lord Dyson’s “damning” report on the 1995 Panorama Diana interview, ministers have said. Lord Dyson’s findings that the broadcaster covered up the “deceitful behaviour” of journalist Martin Bashir in the handling of his interview with Diana, Princess of Wales […]

LIZ GERARD crunches the numbers on how Paul Dacre’s Daily Mail covered BBC stories and finds evidence that makes a mockery of the idea of him as an impartial arbiter. Over the last ten years of the Dacre reign, the Daily Mail carried more than 4,000 news stories with BBC in the headline or subhead, about […]

A decision on whether Paul Dacre will become the next head of Ofcom is expected imminently. That it is even being considered is a scandal that reveals much about the current administration There are any number of reasons why Paul Dacre should not be appointed head of Ofcom, the super-regulator that oversees not only our […]

Culture secretary Oliver Dowden has said the privatisation of Channel 4 will be considered during a government review of public service broadcasting. Channel 4 was launched in 1982 as a publicly owned, largely commercially self-funded public service broadcaster with a remit to offer “high quality and distinctive programming”. “I have set up a public service […]

Michel Barnier has told a French broadcaster the country must suspend all non-EU immigration for up to five years, in what is being seen as a tilt at the French presidency. Barnier told public broadcaster France 2 that the EU’s external borders had become a “sieve”. “I think we have to take the time for three or five years […]

Former Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson has criticised government proposals that would force voters to provide photo I.D. before casting their ballot. Davidson branded the proposals “total b*****ks” during an appearance on ITV’s Peston show. She said: “In terms of this particular part of the Queen’s speech, I think it’s total b******ks and I think […]

News UK has drastically scaled back plans for a new opinionated television service in Britain after its chief executive said it was no longer financially viable. Rebekah Brooks told staff the enormous costs of launching a new channel on-air meant it did not make business sense. Brooks said News UK would instead focus on streaming platforms […]

A minister has insisted millions of pounds spent on a new media room have not gone to waste after the government scrapped plans to hold daily televised briefings. Culture secretary Oliver Dowden defended the government for spending £2.6million of taxpayer funds adapting a room in No 9 for TV press conferences complete with microphones, Union Jack flags, podiums, cameras […]

Alexei Navalny has been transferred to a prison hospital over concerns the opposition leader is dangerously ill and could die “at any minute”. It comes as doctors released paperwork showing Navalny – who has been on hunger strike for nearly three weeks – was in danger of a heart attack or kidney failure. In a […]

Denmark has revoked the residency permits of Syrian refugees, becoming the first European nation to do so. At least 189 Syrians have had applications for renewal of their temporary residency status denied since last summer. The Danish government says the security situation in Syrian has “improved significantly” and urged the refugees to return to the war-torn […]

Scottish Labour has announced plans to pay television licence fees or help cover broadband bills for the over-75s. Party leader Anas Sarwar said the “staying connected” policy would provide every household with people aged over 75 with the £159 cost of a TV licence. Free TV licences for all seniors ended in 2020 after the […]

Alex Salmond has claimed his Alba party is being censored by the broadcasters ahead of the Scottish elections. The former first minister said the broadcasters “are simply failing in their democratic duty” because Alba has been excluded from the televised debates featuring leaders of parties who currently have MSPs at Holyrood. Salmond took umbrage with […]

Nick Clegg has said the EU has let itself and millions of Europeans down over its troubled Covid vaccine rollout. This comes as a new poll shows two-thirds of adults believe being outside the EU helped the UK’s vaccination programme to succeed. Clegg told LBC radio he thought “the EU has let itself down, more importantly […]

The government has been accused of rewriting chunks of its reports on racial disparities, an expert has claimed. Significant sections of the report published on March 31 – which has been widely criticised – were not written by the 12 commission appointed by Boris Johnson last July, the Observer reported. It also said none of the […]

Every single person in a promotional picture on the front of the Daily Mail last year was white – including the carefree model family alongside the headline “William’s fury over too-white BAFTAs” Do you have the faintest idea what the prime minister looks like? No, I haven’t a clue either. If only newspapers would show […]