Author: Einar Thorsen

Eugenia Siapera Dublin City University Political developments in core countries of the Global North, such as the UK and the US, have been accompanied by a significant rise in incidents of violence against people of colour and migrants, clearly documented in reports by NGOs and think-tanks such as Tell Mama (2017) and Demos (Bartlett et …Continue Reading

Declan Mcdowell Naylor Queen Mary, UoL On the same day on which he was hired as Facebook’s Vice President of Global Affairs and Communication, Sir Nick Clegg heralded his appointment in a Guardian op-ed as an opportunity “to build bridges between politics and tech”. The former Liberal Democrat leader Paddy Ashdown urged Clegg to stand up for …Continue Reading

Christian Fuchs University of Westmister In the age of austerity, there has been increased public criticism of large transnational corporations’ low tax contributions. Google and Facebook dominate the online advertising market in the form of a duopoly and avoid paying adequate taxes while complying with the taxation system in place. This policy brief introduces a …Continue Reading

Natalie Fenton Goldsmiths, University of London Chair, Media Reform Coalition The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport established the Cairncross Review in March 2018 to examine the sustainability of high-quality journalism in the UK. The Review is particularly concerned with the Press and says that it will give equal weight to the needs of ‘consumers and …Continue Reading

Julian Petley Brunel University In its call for evidence, the Cairncross Review stated its objective as ‘to establish how far and by what means we can secure a sustainable future for high quality journalism, particularly for news’, asked respondents whether ‘the future of high quality journalism in the UK is at risk – at national, …Continue Reading

Martin Moore King’s College, London November was a sobering month for anyone still clinging to the hope that the UK’s local news titles would successfully steer their way through this age of digital disruption. In November Johnston Press, the owner of one in five local news ‘brands’ in the UK (as it calls them), went …Continue Reading

Julie Firmstone University of Leeds Since I submitted evidence to the Cairncross review into the sustainability of high-quality journalism in September, I’ve read two very different pronouncements about the role of academia in public debate that have strengthened my conviction that such interventions by academics are more important than ever. The first was a thought provoking article by …Continue Reading

Einar Thorsen Bournemouth University The farcical uncertainty and chaos caused by red lines, Parliamentary arithmetic and delinquent politicians is crippling the country in suspended animation over Brexit. Luckily this is not a Brexit issue of Three-D, as the contents would no doubt have been superseded by events by the time you read this… but Brexit is also impossible …Continue Reading