WRITES the director of the Scottish Newspaper Society, John McLellan, in today’s Herald: “Rather than waiting for instructions, BBC Scotland needs to be in the driving seat of change so [BBC director-general] Lord Hall must accept the London-centric limitation of his outlook and empower [Scotland] controller, Kenny MacQuarrie, and his team to be the face and voice of the Corporation here. It should be Mr MacQuarrie outlining the future, not Lord Hall.”
Read more, here.
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BEGINS Mark Sweney, in The Guardian: “Control of the UK media is concentrated in the hands of just a few large corporations, threatening news plurality at an ‘endemic’ level, according to a new report.
“The report argues there are dangerous concentrations of ownership ‘by a handful of giant corporations’ across the UK media market, from news websites to TV channels and internet search and newspapers.
“The 20-page report by the Media Reform Coalition, called ‘Who Owns the UK Media?’, takes particular aim at the national newspaper market.”
Read more, here.
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THE Press Gazette yesterday launched a petition urging the Government “to back away from a bid to water down the Freedom of Information Act”.
Says Press Gazette: “The petition describes any move to introduce fees for FoI requests as a ‘tax on journalism’ that could severely hinder investigations.
“It has been launched as part of the Hands Off FoI campaign launched by the Society of Editors in conjunction with Press Gazette and Holdthefrontpage.
“The Government’s Independent Commission on Freedom of Information is currently gathering information for a ten-year review of the act.”
Read more, here.
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