http://www.cpbf.org.uk Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom News Feed en-us Copyright 2008, CPBF gherman@KeywordsAssociates.com webmaster@cpbf.org.uk http://www.cpbf.org.uk/images/cpbflogo.gif http://www.cpbf.org.uk/ 88 31 News Feed from the CPBF http://www.cpbf.org.uk/body.php?id=2327 DATELINE:andnbsp;15/3/10 andquot;I believe that secret corporate lobbying, like the expenses scandal, goes to the heart of why people are so fed up with politicsandquot; andndash; so said David Cameron, just last month, in a call for the andquot;light of transparencyandquot; to be shone on lobbying, adding: andquot;We donand#39;t know who is meeting whom. We donand#39;t know whether any favours are being exchanged. We donand#39;t know which outside interests are wielding unhealthy influence.andquot; http://www.cpbf.org.uk/body.php?id=2326 DATELINE:andnbsp;14/3/10 The BBC is failing to provide an alternative to the superficiality and commercialism of US childrenand#39;s programming, according to the respected producer of In The Night Garden.andnbsp;Anne Wood, the founder of the Ragdoll production company, said that childrenand#39;s television no longer reflected British culture and warned that the quality of programmes was andquot;getting worse and worseandquot;. She attacked BBC director-general Mark Thompson for praising US networks Nickelodeon and Disney, and dismissed the extra andpound;10 million a year for childrenand#39;s programmes announced in the corporationand#39;s recent Strategic Review as a andquot;sopandquot;. http://www.cpbf.org.uk/body.php?id=2325 DATELINE:andnbsp;13/3/10 Members of media and entertainment union, BECTU, at Red Bee Media are to take part in a ballot for industrial action to defend their redundancy rights. Management wants to cut future redundancy entitlements for existing staff by half from 1 July and has described its proposals as and#39;balanced and fairand#39;. Without the current challenge, new staff joining Red Bee Media from next month would accrue redundancy pay rights based on just two weeksand#39; pay for each year of service instead of the existing one month per year of service. http://www.cpbf.org.uk/body.php?id=2324 DATELINE:andnbsp;13/3/10 The campaign to save the BBC from andpound;600 million in management-imposed cuts is moving to parliament, with a meeting at the House of Commons scheduled for Monday 22 March from 6.00pm to 8.00pm. Thereand#39;s also an early day motion signed by seventy MPs so far.And, of course, more than a hundred thousand peopleandnbsp; have signed petitions calling on the BBC Trust to do its job and defend public service broadcasting, rather than cave in to the schemes of corporate media giants to dismantle the BBC. The numbers are growing every day. http://www.cpbf.org.uk/body.php?id=2323 DATELINE:andnbsp;11/3/10 You are particularly welcome to this major event on 17 March, 2.00pm - 4.00pm in the Thatcher Room, Portcullis House, Bridge Street, London SW1P 3JA, to highlight the importance of robust news coverage for local democracy and propose concrete steps to halt the decline in local news. Attendance is free, but places are limited. Please email Joanna Redden to reserve a place. http://www.cpbf.org.uk/body.php?id=2322 DATELINE:andnbsp;11/3/10 Over 60 percent of Brussels-based lobbyingconsultancies have yet to sign up to the European Commissionand#39;s lobbyregister, almost two years after it was first launched. According to a fresh survey of the commissionand#39;s initiative by the Alliance for Lobbying Transparency and Ethics Regulation (Alter-EU) to be published on Thursday (11 March), of the 286 lobbying consultancies known to provide such services in the European capital, only 112, or 39.2 percent have signed up to the registry. http://www.cpbf.org.uk/body.php?id=2321 DATELINE:andnbsp;10/3/10 Tabloid accused of buying silence after persuading celebrity PR agent to drop case over interception of voicemail messages.The News of the World was tonight (Tuesday 9 March 2010) accused of buying silence in the phone-hacking scandal after it agreed to pay more than andpound;1m to persuade the celebrity PR agent Max Clifford to drop his legal action over the interception of his voicemail messages. The settlement means that there will now be no disclosure of court-ordered evidence which threatened to expose the involvement of the newspaperand#39;s journalists in a range of illegal information-gathering by private investigators. http://www.cpbf.org.uk/body.php?id=2320 DATELINE:andnbsp;8/3/10 On 2 March the BBC Trustandnbsp; published a proposed strategy for the BBC inviting views from the public and industry on the future direction for the corporation (see NUJ responsearfticle dated 1 Marchandnbsp;below). Itand#39;s now time for you to have your say. http://www.cpbf.org.uk/body.php?id=2315 DATELINE:andnbsp;4/3/10 The axing of 1,700 staff and the sale or closure off 30 publications helped the UKand#39;s biggest newspaper publisher - Trinity Mirror andndash; stay comfortably in profit in 2009.