The media are driven by corporate and commercial concerns and you should not be surprised to find that most websites reflect this in some way. There are two main categories of media organisation covered here:
Government Organisations and Regulatory Bodies:
These sites are frequently very useful and quite simply the Internet has revolutionised the way in which you can find out about what they do. Most good regulators have spent significant sums in developing a web presence and some even have information aimed at students. At the time of writing Government legislation has established a new regulatory body with over-arching powers; ‘Ofcom’.
Independent Critical Bodies and ‘Lobby’ Groups:
There are a small number of organisations that attempt to counter the commercial interests of corporations and the legislative ‘propaganda’ of official bodies. Like Amnesty International and Greenpeace they often offer an essential source of debate, too often absent from official channels.
www.culture.gov.uk/
The Department for Media, Culture and Sport. The Government Department responsible for developing policy around the media. A good starting point for investigating Government Policy on the Media.
www.ofcom.gov.uk/
The main Governmental regulatory body for broadcast media and advertising. Several of the older sites listed in this section will redirect you here.
www.bsc.org.uk/
The Broadcasting Standards Commission. Broadcasting regulator.
www.cpbf.demon.co.uk/
The Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom. An excellent site, offering critical views of developments in media policy and a forum for debate.
www.presswise.org.uk/
UK-based Presswise Trust. This is a charitable trust set up to research and monitor the Press and promote high standards of journalism.
www.newspapersoc.org.uk/
The Newspaper Society represents and promotes the interests of the UK’s regional press.
www.mediawatchuk.org/
Mediawatch-UK used to be known as ‘The National Viewers and Listeners Association’, its prime spokesperson was Mary Whitehouse. The organisation claims to have ‘an established reputation for principled protest, informed comment and reliable research’. A site worth visiting to see if you can detect evidence of any of that.
www.radioauthority.org.uk/
The Radio Authority. Licensing and Regulatory body for UK radio. Solid and useful site with plenty of information.
www.itc.org.uk/
The Independent Television Commission. Licences and regulates commercial broadcast television in the UK.
www.pcc.org.uk/
The Press Complaints Commission. ‘Independent’ organisation set up in 1991 to regulate the UK National and regional press. Unlike regulatory bodies in other media (such as film and broadcasting) the PCC has no statutory powers. Visit this informative site to discover what they are. Its Code of Conduct is extensive and provides ethical guidance to journalists and newspaper editors.
www.bbfc.co.uk/
The British Board of Film Classification. Solid website with good information about the practices and activities of the UK’s statutory film and video censors (sorry, classifiers).
www.radio.gov.uk/
The Radio Communications Agency. Controls all radio bands. Good site to visit if you are interested in the official view of pirate radio.
www.mediauk.com/
This site offers two distinct services; Media UK Forums seems like an elaborate bulletin board/chat-room and is probably of very limited use. The media UK Internet directory requires you to register but is free.
http://internews.org/
Internews is an international non-profit organisation that aims to support global ‘open media’. A good site to find alternative viewpoints on current news stories. Offers a global perspective so you’ll find things here you won’t find on the mainstream news sites.
www.mcps.co.uk./
Mechanical Copyright Protection Society. Organisation that collects and distributes royalties to its members. Visit to find out how.
www.copyright.com/
US site of major company involved in copyright protection and clearance. Some useful information, some relevant to UK.
www.wipo.org/
Official site of the World Intellectual Property Organisation. Interesting site to get an international perspective on these issues – and if you don’t know what exactly intellectual property is!
www.resist.org.uk/
Site of ‘Globalise Resistance’, lobbying group against global growth of corporate power. Suspicious of Microsoft, Newscorp et al.? Worth a visit to get a sense of the strength of arguments in this area – fantastic and extensive links.
www.bbfc.co.uk/
The British Board of Film Classification. UK film regulators. Their student site (sbbfc.co.uk) is very useful explaining clearly the BBFC’s role in film and video regulation.
www.filmeducation.org/
Charity organistation, funded by the BFI and the film industry. Site has useful UK industry and organisation links.
www.film.guardian.co.uk/
Film area of the Guardian newspaper’s extensive ‘unlimited’ site. Good for analsyis of industry trends and much else besides.
