Yesterday I went to the Democracy Without Journalists meeting in Portcullis House organised jointly by the National Union of Journalists and Goldsmiths Centre for the Study of Global Media and Democracy.
The committee room was packed out with journalists, academics and students. All crammed in to hear about what could be done to secure the future of local and regional journalism in the UK.
Austin Mitchell MP
The meeting was introduced by Austin Mitchell MP, convener of the NUJ parliamentary group; Nick Couldry, Director of the Centre for the Study of Global Media and Democracy and Des Freedman, Lecturer in Communications and Cultural Studies at Goldsmiths.
[audio:democracy-without-journalists/intro.mp3|titles=Austin Mitchell MP - Nick Couldry & Des Freedman]
Professor James Curran
First to speak was Professor James Curran
[audio:democracy-without-journalists/james-curran.mp3|titles=Professor James Curran]
Angela Phillips
Next was Angela Phillips who talked about the hyper-local East London Lines blog that she runs at Goldsmiths
[audio:democracy-without-journalists/angela-phillips.mp3|titles=Angela Phillips]
Professor Stephen Coleman
The final speaker before some audience contributions was Professor Stephen Coleman
[audio:democracy-without-journalists/stephen-coleman.mp3|titles=Professor Stephen Coleman]
The Democracy Without Journalists rally in the Thatcher room of Portcullis House.
There was then a short section for the audience to contribute to the discussion
[audio:democracy-without-journalists/audience1.mp3|titles=Audience Contributions]
Natalie Fenton
Back to the speakers and Natalie Fenton from Goldsmiths talked about their research about civil society and news media
[audio:democracy-without-journalists/natalie-fenton.mp3|titles=Natalie Fenton]
Steve Hewlett
Fresh from Broadcasting House was Steve Hewlett who talked about local TV news
[audio:democracy-without-journalists/steve-hewlett.mp3|titles=Steve Hewlett]
Evan Harris MP
There was then a quick update from Evan Harris MP on libel reform work that he had been doing
[audio:democracy-without-journalists/evan-harris.mp3|titles=Evan Harris]
Jeremy Dear
General Secretary of the NUJ Jeremy Dear was the final speaker
[audio:democracy-without-journalists/jeremy-dear.mp3|titles=Jeremy Dear]
The Democracy Without Journalists rally in the Thatcher room of Portcullis House.
There was then a final half hour of discussion with the audience
[audio:democracy-without-journalists/audience2.mp3|titles=Audience]