UK Labour Leader Calls UK Press �Least Trusted In Europe, Proposes Media Reform

LONDON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 23rd August, 2018) UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said on Thursday that UK media was "the least trusted press in Europe," and suggested reforming the mass media to make it free and democratic.

"The British press is the least trusted press in Europe ... The owners and editors of most of our countrys newspapers have dragged down standards so far that their hard working journalists are simply not trusted by the public � Much of our press isnt very free at all � So today, I want to make some suggestions for how we can build a free and democratic media in the digital age," Corbyn said, as quoted on Labours website.

Among other ideas, Corbyn proposed supporting local, investigative and public interest journalists by granting them a spacial status that would allow charities to fund their work.

"But I think we should be more ambitious. Currently, ministers can veto FOI [freedom of information] releases. On two occasions, this veto has been used to block information about the UKs decision to pursue military action against Iraq. That can't be right. We will look at ending the ministerial veto to prevent the Information Commissioner being overruled," the politician added.

He also suggested overhauling the BBC broadcaster by making it more democratic, representative and independent, as well as creating a publicly owned British Digital Corporation as a "sister" firm.

"The BBC is meant to be independent, but its charter grants governments the power to appoint the chair and four directors of the board and set the level of the licence fee. One proposal would simultaneously reduce government political influence on the BBC while empowering its workforce and the licence fee payers who fund it. That would see the election of some BBC Board members, for example of executive directors by staff and non-executive directors by licence fee payers," Corbyn stated.

Last week, media reported that the Labour party filed a complaint with the Independent Press Standards Organization over newspapers misinterpreting Corbyn's act of laying a wreath at a cemetery during his 2014 visit to Tunisia. Corbyn later said that his party was being confronted with greater media hostility than ever before.