Democracy Archives - Page 4 of 13

Fraudcast News – lifting lid on media’s “subtle and pervasive bias”

Posted on 24th February 2015

Patrick Chalmers has written an important and timely book. Building on his experience as a Reuters correspondent in London, Brussels and Kuala Lumpur, he lifts the lid on the subtle and pervasive bias of our mainstream media.

Patrick Chalmers’, author of Fraudcast News, message to Real Media Gathering

Posted on 12th February 2015

Conflation of media and democracy questions in one event – this I like. As I’ve been saying for a while now – you can’t tackle the problems of our democracies without also transforming our media. Shame I can’t attend the Manchester event of February 28th though I hope to link up with the organisers and […]

Could do better: why we must set young minds free

Posted on 27th January 2015

Wow – wonderful, powerful, insightful writing. Cutting to the quick. Hugely excited to discover Vanessa Spedding and her thinking. Thanks to a Twitter follow – would you believe? Read Spedding’s article here.

Book reading benefits

Posted on 26th January 2015

Fraudcast News has been out and about for three years now, making its way into the world without the benefits of a conventional publishing push behind. Without me exactly knowing how – the free PDF has been downloaded more than 10,000 times now and I’ve managed to sell a few hundred paperback copies both online […]

Economics teaching failing students and society, says Prof

Posted on 22nd January 2015

University economics departments around the world are failing their students by ignoring the real-world effects of their discipline, among them rolling financial crises and environmental destruction, according to Professor Clive Spash. “It’s basically a failure, we’re training economists who don’t understand the real economy,” said Spash, Chair of Public Policy and Governance at WU Vienna […]

Fraudcast News reading in Vienna

Posted on 13th January 2015

22 January at 19:30–21:00 Shakespeare and Co, Sterngasse 2, 1010, Vienna Find all the details here

Making case for Quakers to reach for their phone cameras

Posted on 17th November 2014

I’ve been working with UK Quaker organisations over the last couple of years, first as a journalist writing article series for the weekly magazine The Friend and latterly in various initiatives aimed at encouraging Quakers to speak their work to the world as citizen journalists. I like spending time with Quakers – those I’ve encountered so far […]

Wrist slaps for rich, jail for the poor – suits you democracy

Posted on 12th November 2014

This is not a complicated post to write, nor need it be very long. The basic premise is how the UK legal system treats criminal behaviour differently depending on who’s behaviour it is – somewhat at odds with Magna Carta notions of due process – an idea that dates from, err, just a tadge under […]

Media bias against Scottish independence laid bare

Posted on 9th October 2014

Yet another example of why Twitter is a hugely useful source of information. @DrDavidPatrick turns up as a follower of my @PatrickChalmers account – so I take a look at his profile. Up pops his excellent short film cataloguing and analysing the media coverage – sorry bias – of a year’s worth of newspaper coverage […]

Taking the medicine – disappointment in defeat

Posted on 19th September 2014

So Scotland voted No to independence – I’m disappointed. I became engaged and excited at the prospect of an independent Scotland over the last few months, being a native, having done a reporting trip there, hosted a political debate and followed the campaigning with wonder and amusement at the creativity and verve on display. The […]