Corbyn is expected to outline the plan during a speech at the Alternative MacTaggart Lecture at the Edinburgh TV Festival on Thursday, where he will call for radical reform of the UK media landscape, and claim journalists are being \u201cheld back\u201d<\/em> by media tycoons or, in the case of the BBC, by excessive state influence.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need to set journalists and citizens free to hold power to account, by breaking the grip of tech giants and billionaires on our media,\u201d<\/em> Corbyn said Wednesday night on Twitter.<\/p>\n Outlining his vision for the future of the BBC, the Labour leader\u2019s speech will promote complete transparency about the diversity makeup of the BBC\u2019s work force and allow for the election of some BBC board members by the corporation\u2019s staff as well as license fee payers. Labour would also remove the government\u2019s powers of appointment.<\/p>\n Another measure would see Labour impose a digital top-up to the license fee, payable by tech giants or internet providers in order to supplement the existing licence fee with a view to reducing the cost for poorer households.<\/p>\n Read more<\/p>\n Public interest journalism would be supported by Labour, with Corbyn expected to say that without it, a\u00a0\u201cfew tech giants and unaccountable billionaires will control huge swathes of our public space and debate.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n To this end Corbyn will advocate that not-for-profit news organisations, like the Bureau for Investigative Journalism, should be given charitable status while the creation of \u201cnews co-operatives\u201d<\/em> could be created with a remit to report on local government, private contractors operating public services, and regulated bodies.<\/p>\n \u201cThe best journalism takes on the powerful, in the corporate world as well as government and helps create an informed public,\u201d<\/em> Corbyn\u2019s text says. \u201cThis work costs money. We value it but somehow that does not translate into proper funding and legal support.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n The plan has already been slammed by the ruling Tories, with the party\u2019s deputy chair James Cleverly saying the measures were only going to result in more charges for the consumer.<\/p>\n \u201cTech companies would just put up their prices and pass this internet tax straight onto families and businesses across the country \u2014 adding more pressure to weekly bills,\u201d<\/em> he said.<\/p>\n READ MORE:\u00a0Hysteria and hypocrisy? MSM launch assault on Corbyn over ‘anti-Semitism’<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Labour\u2019s media plan comes amid an ongoing battle between the Labour leadership and British media outlets, including the BBC, which have been accused of bias in their coverage of stories about Corbyn.<\/p>\n Last week, the party filed a complaint<\/a> to the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO), over reporting by several British right-wing newspapers, many owned by Rupert Murdoch\u2019s News International, over \u201cmisleading\u201d<\/em> coverage of a wreath-laying event Corbyn attended at a cemetary in Tunis, in 2014.<\/p>\n In March, a report by BBC\u2019s \u2018Newsnight\u2019 program was accused<\/a> of \u201cextreme bias\u201d<\/em> against Corbyn after it produced a mocked-up image of him wearing a Bolshevik-style hat superimposed in front of St. Basil\u2019s Cathedral.<\/p>\n Like this story? Share it with a friend!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Via RT<\/a>. This piece was reprinted by RINF Alternative News<\/a> with permission or license.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Britain\u2019s Labour Party would tax tech giants and shake up the BBC, as part of a media strategy to be announced by leader Jeremy Corbyn. It aims to build \u201ca free and democratic media for the digital age\u201d if the party wins power. Corbyn is expected to outline the plan during a speech at the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":373507,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[519],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-374561","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-newswire"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374561","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=374561"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374561\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/373507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=374561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=374561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=374561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n ![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/cdni.rt.com\/files\/2018.08\/thumbnail\/5b719d20dda4c897188b45ab.jpg\")
\n <\/a>\n<\/div>\n