BETTER MEDIA
The corporate and state media coverage of Israel’s assault on the Palestinian people, and the apparently unchallenged rise of the far-right, along with lack of transparency around social media algorithms, has more than ever brought into focus the need for a truly independent press, and for a functioning regulatory framework.
On the back of the ITV series The Hack, and ahead of planned direct action against legacy media, a new #bettermedia campaign has launched – a collaboration between the Independent Media Association, the independent monitor impress, Byline Times, Naked Politics, News Club, Media Revolution and Real Media.
Take a look and check out how you can support, learn, campaign, engage, listen or read – there are many ways to help create a #bettermedia
THE HACK
A new seven-part series on ITV (The Hack) dramatizes the News International phone hacking scandal, covering events over a decade in the early 2000s.
Each week, our deeply knowledgeable team of independent journalists are releasing a video podcast – After: The Hack – which will review the show, filling out background details and telling us about a lot of the stuff that’s missing.
On the team is Peter Jukes – the journalist and writer who highlighted the much larger but connected police corruption and cover up of a violent murder which was at the heart of the hacking scandal. He is joined by Banseka Kayembe, the founder of Naked Politics, Femi Oluwele, who is a powerful human rights campaigner and journalist, and Media Reform Coalition’s campaign organiser Dr. Tom Chivers. You can watch each episode of After: The Hack as we add them below.
The Hack (ITV) follows investigative journalist Nick Davies (played by David Tennant) as he uncovers the almost industrial invasion of privacy carried out by the News Of The World newspaper against celebrities, politicians and ordinary people, including victims of crime and their families.
His journey soon leads to a web of corruption involving the police, private investigators, government officials and journalists, who conspire together to hide massive abuses of power and the truth around the violent murder of Daniel Morgan, a private investigator who was trying to expose police corruption.
The scandal, which notoriously revealed that the phone of murdered teenager Milly Dowler had been illegally hacked, led to the government setting up the Leveson Inquiry in 2011. The following year, Lord Justice Leveson’s report described the Press Complaints Commission as unfit for purpose, recommending it be replaced by a new independent regulator given greater powers.
A second inquiry (Leveson 2) was proposed, in order to investigate police and press collusion, corruption and criminal misconduct. It was first kicked into the long grass, due to ongoing prosecutions, but then scrapped altogether by the Conservatives in 2018.
There were renewed calls for Leveson 2 earlier this year after The Sun finally admitted to more than a decade of “unlawful activity” targeting Prince Harry, with a massive settlement agreed out of court – thought to be between ten and twenty million pounds.
The admission undermined News International’s claim that illegal activity had been confined to the News Of The World newspaper, which was closed down by Rupert Murdoch in 2011 in response to the scandal. The new PM Keir Starmer has confirmed he has no plans for a Leveson 2, saying that his government had more pressing priorities.
AFTER: THE HACK
The first episode of After: The Hack was recorded online immediately after the ITV screening. The rest are studio recordings and will appear each week below.
Remember, if you’re moved to do something about the appalling state of our media, there are plenty of options, starting with checking out the #bettermedia links.
Episode 1:
Episode 2:
Episode 3:
Episode 4:
Episode 5:
Episode 6:
Final Episode 7
