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Prominent Anti-Press Regulation Editor Paul Dacre to run BBC & Social Media Regulator OFCOM?

Reactions to Proposed Appointment of Paul Dacre as Head of OFCOM

4 Step BBC Control Demolition

Tim Davie, the new Director General of the BBC, was once Deputy Leader of the Tory contingent of Hammersmith and Fulham Council.

Richard Sharp, the new BBC chairman, is ex-Goldman Sachs where he managed the Chancellor Rishi Sunak, has given £400k to the Tories, and sits on the board of several hard right conservative think-thanks.

Professor Brian Cathcart

Alan Rusbridger & Peter Oborne

New Sheriff in Town

There is a view that Auntie is safe from the Sheriff of Silicon Valley

James Schneider

Much of the media isn’t very free. Three billionaires, including Paul Dacre’s employer, own much of the printed press that helps set the news agenda for broadcasters. And the government has undue influence over the BBC through implied threats in the Charter renewal process and appointments to top positions. The BBC’s new chair, appointed by Boris Johnson, is a banker, Rishi Sunak’s former boss and a donor to the Conservative Party. 

In short, the interests of the rich and the powerful shape the terms of what we read, hear and watch. Dacre’s proposed appointment to run OFCOM, the UK’s communication regulator, makes clear that our media works for the few, not for the many. 

We need a campaign to not just block these appalling appointments, but democratise the media and set journalists free, so they can pursue fact-based, truth seeking reporting that challenges, not reinforces power.

James Schneider, former Labour Party Director of Strategic Communications

Cockney Hunt

This one’s from June 2017