News International: Britain's Mafia

Matthew Richmond 28 July 2011
Murdoch's hold over Britain over the last three decades has been nothing short of mafia-like. Much can be learned through a comparison between the Italian mafia the Comorra, and the media mogul's empire

Barnett is wrong; the public had little to do with Murdoch's fall

Daniel Jones 26 July 2011
Was it the public's outrage that brought down the News of the World? And Ed Miliband's courage that has led to a wide-reaching Press inquiry? Anthony Barnett thinks so, but perhaps he was being a little too generous...

Is the hacking scandal the British establishment's 'Napster Moment'?

Deterritorial Support Group editorial 25 July 2011
There are two new models of crisis: the 'Wikileaks Moment' and the 'Napster Moment'. They involve the technological freeing up of information, and the consequent delegitimisation of the elites who have controlled that information. The News of the World scandal relates to both

A Brief History of Britain’s Power Elites: through Murdoch and beyond?

Michael Cassio 25 July 2011
War with Hitler’s Germany spelled the end for Britain’s old power elite. A new political class emerged, including the media tycoon Rupert Murdoch. Now the Murdochs are revealed in their true colours: as aggressors at the head of a global empire. So what now for the collapsing British state?

Phone hacking: an investigator, a journalist and a lawyer give their verdict at the Centre for Investigative Journalism summer school

Daniel-Joseph MacArthur-Seal 25 July 2011
A notable panel including Guardian head of investigations David Leigh, Bishop International investigations firm chief executive Jeff Katz, and media lawyer Gavin Millar QC gave their thoughts on the phone hacking scandal at the timely Centre for Investigative Journalism summer school. Daniel-Joseph MacArthur-Seal argues the professionals speak to much, but hear to little, from the public in whose interest they purport to act.

Journalists should be hackers - but target the open web, not private phones

Nicola Hughes 22 July 2011
The News of the World scandal has changed our perception of the term 'hacker'. But the technique of hacking is opening up a new future for online news and newsgathering that is in the public interest and is becoming increasingly vital for holding power to account

Rupert, Rebekah and media 'effix'

Richard Collins 19 July 2011
Ethical journalism requires that the ends justify the means. The lesson of the phone hacking scandal, argues Richard Collins, shouldn't be to preclude certain investigative practices, but to ensure that the alignment of means and ends is open to scrutiny and adjudication.

Hackgate, power elites and the limits of the “corruption” critique

Guy Aitchison 18 July 2011
The real significance of the "hackgate" scandal in the UK is in revealing an underlying truth about the governing classes and their mode of rule which anyone who’d been paying attention has known all along.

A democracy of journalists

Neal Ascherson 18 July 2011
The stramash over abuse of power and standards at Rupert Murdoch's NewsCorp should reinvigorate the idea of journalists’ self-regulation, says Neal Ascherson.

The BBC Investigates

Dan Hind 18 July 2011
The BBC has not covered itself in glory in its handling of the scandal at the News of the World in keeping with its poor record in investigative journalism.

After Murdoch

Anthony Barnett 17 July 2011

A potentially awesome shift in the UK’s power structure is taking place if the role and influence of Murdoch’s newspapers is really undermined. This is because the mess that Jeremy Hunt wishes to see sorted out is the very fusion of politicians, journalists and media owners that govern us - the political class.

A Different Kind of Plurality: Securing Diverse Media

Justin Lewis 16 July 2011
While everyone claims to be for plurality in media and good journalism, this won't happen in the UK without serious regulatory reform and public investment.

OurKingdom forum: The fall of Murdoch - What next?

James Curran, Nick Couldry, Ryan Gallagher, Suzanne Moore, and Julian Sayarer 15 July 2011
An ongoing forum in which OurKingdom authors consider why the fall of Rupert Murdoch has taken place, what it tells us about the state of Britain and what the key lesson are for the media and government.

Anger at Murdoch must be built on swiftly

Oliver Huitson 14 July 2011
Anger at News International needs to be used, fast, and with firm goals in mind: to re-establish proper boundaries between corporation and state, to reform our laws on media ownership and to remove Murdoch from Britain.

The End of the BSkyB Bid

David Elstein 13 July 2011
Many are cheering Murdoch's demise but will they look back on the last twenty years as a paradise of pluralism?

Politicians aren't scared of Murdoch; they're scared of a world without him

Bruce Page 12 July 2011
People assume that politicians are simply terrified of Rupert Murdoch. But chiefly they have allowed and encouraged the rise of the Murdoch empire because it protects them from authentic, principled, unpredictable journalism

A blueprint for a democratic media system

Dan Hind 12 July 2011
Dan Hind’s most recent book, The Return of the Public, argues that only direct participation in editorial decision-making by the public will allow us to understand the social world. Here he explains how a democratic media system would work in practice

Hackgate and the Communications Review: two separate planets?

Des Freedman 11 July 2011
When the government launched its ongoing review of the UK communications sector, 'ethics' was not judged as part of its remit. Yet the hacking scandal has exposed the need for both the content and structure of British media to be radically re-thought

Cameron on Murdoch: how his language reveals the crisis in British democracy

Anthony Barnett 11 July 2011
British Prime Minister David Cameron gave a press conference on the scandal of Murdoch's tabloid hacking and suborning the police. In it he produced a new definition of democracy. What does it signify?

Murdochgate and the News: we need to reframe media and the public interest

Natalie Fenton 10 July 2011
'Murdochgate' is caused by an underlying crisis in the media and the production of news

This week's guest editors

openGlobalRights editors

Our guest editors James Ron, Leslie Vinjamuri, Sophie Arie and Archana Pandya introduce this week's theme of:

Emerging powers and human rights.

A Turkish Spring?

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Woolwich - terror or conflict?

Secret Courts: 8 nightmare scenarios now possible in Britain
Jo Shaw

Iran myths

Iranian presidential candidate and chief nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalill

Myths, falsehoods and misrepresentations about Iran
Peter Oborne and David Morrison

Palestinian borders

Palestine, peoples and borders in the new Middle East map
Ahmad Samih Khalidi

Nobel Women's Initiative

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Europe from the bottom up

European Union stars in Paris. Flickr/notarim. Some rights reserved.

A new Europe can only come from the bottom up
Etienne Balibar

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The media in Europe

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Mali: the plot thickens

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Remote control war

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oDRussia at journalismfestival .com

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