Posted 17/8/11

New Group Formed For Quality, Ethical Journalism:

"Newstand" http://www.NewsStand.org.au
 

GetUp Gets Behind Newstand

In the wake of the recent Murdoch scandals in the UK, many of us think it’s time to take a look at our media here at home, and consider how we can support quality journalism. However, transforming our media is going to take a sustained, strategic, long-term commitment.

So, I'd like to introduce you to our friends at NewsStand, a new organisation working for a fair and diverse media. They are hitting the ground running with a petition for a parliamentary inquiry, so we can start the conversation about what changes are needed right now.

The latest intelligence from Canberra is that Cabinet will discuss whether or not to hold a media inquiry as early as Monday next week. NewsStand have arranged to deliver their petition that very day. Sign the petition on their new website here or check our their email below.

Thanks for all you do,
Simon, for the team at GetUp!
 

Email from NewsStand.org.au

Dear friends,

Right now, Canberra is debating whether to launch a full-scale inquiry into the Australian media industry. Following the News of the World phone hacking scandal, it’s the best shot we’ve ever had to publicly scrutinise the media landscape as a whole: what’s working, what’s not and what we can do change things for the better.

But politicians are jumpy. Without public pressure this inquiry will never make it off the ground.

Click the link to join the public call for a Parliamentary inquiry: http://www.NewsStand.org.au

Recent polling shows that our trust in the media is at an all time low. We deserve better. It’s time to call editors out for not sticking to their own standards. It’s time to ensure individual journalists are allowed to do their jobs – instead of having to shape their writing to match the opinions of their editorial boards. And it’s time to make sure that there’s a healthy, competitive marketplace for news, rather than just a few people and corporations having a stranglehold over the flow of information.

Most of us rely on mainstream media for our news -- and if we don’t like what we see, there’s been little we can do besides pen an angry letter to the editor, or switch off altogether.

That's why we’ve started NewsStand.

Part media watch, part advocacy group, together we will expose the bad and highlight the good. We believe that, armed with facts and determination, a movement of informed, empowered people can change the Australian media for the better.

We don’t have all the answers yet -- but that’s precisely why we need this government inquiry. It would allow us, as a country, to hold an open and honest conversation between journalists, elected officials, and citizens. This is not about silencing voices or letting politicians tell the media what to write. A healthy democracy is one where we have a diversity of voices and that requires a fair and diverse media.

Sign the petition for an inquiry now – and forward this email to all your friends and family so that they can, too:

http://www.NewsStand.org.au

Sincerely,
Kate, Erika, Taren, and the NewsStand team