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About Julian Petley

Julian Petley is Professor of Screen Media and Journalism in the School of Arts at Brunel University. He is Chair of the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom and a member of the board of Index on Censorship, member of the Advisory Board of Lord Puttnam’s Enquiry in the the Future of Public Service Broadcasting and co-editor of the book Pointing the Finger: Islam and Muslims in the British Media, Oneworld 2011. His most recent book is the edited collection The Media and Public Shaming (I. B. Tauris, 2013).

Articles by Julian Petley

This week's editor

Mairi Mackay is openDemocracy’s senior editor.

Digital Liberties

How to fight for digital human rights?

European integration

Six countries. Six different paths to EU integration.

No to TTIP

The secretive EU-US trade deal explained

Why the BBC needs Hoggart’s vision now

Julian Petley 12 January 2016

We need a vision of public service broadcasting that extends intellectual and imaginative freedom, and is as relevant to today’s battles as the Pilkington Report was fifty years ago.

How did mistrust of mainstream media become a sign of violent extremism?

Julian Petley 16 December 2015

The UK Government’s Prevent strategy has led to official claims that mistrust of mainstream media and anger about government policies can be symptomatic of violent extremism.

BBC Charter renewal: invisible actors and critical friends

Julian Petley 27 July 2015

If the corporation is to defend itself against powerful vested interests it must work more closely with critical friends across the political spectrum.

A guided tour through our series on 'liberalism in neoliberal times'

Des Freedman, Gholam Khiabany, Kate Nash, and Julian Petley 14 July 2015

We started the series with the proposition that liberalism is far too important to be left to the ‘liberals'. 38 articles later, what did we find?

Scrutinising the Scrutineers: part 3

Julian Petley 22 April 2015

UK media coverage of EU issues is frequently superficial and plagued by basic errors. The BBC, and others, must work to change this.

Scrutinising the Scrutineers: part 2

Julian Petley 14 April 2015

Infuriated by the BBC’s lack of coverage of its work, The European Scrutiny committee is at the centre of a discussion about the ‘limits’ of the corporation's independence.

Scrutinising the Scrutineers: part 1

Julian Petley 14 April 2015

The European Scrutiny Committee has locked horns with the BBC, repeatedly accusing it of a pro-EU bias. Is the corporation’s editorial independence under threat?

The modalities of media liberalism

Julian Petley 11 August 2014

What are the values proper to journalism, and how these might best be protected, encouraged and enhanced. Is the market the most effective guarantor of the freedom of the press so highly prized by liberals, or do market forces act as agents of censorship in certain important respects?

It isn't a beauty contest

Julian Petley 4 March 2014

Among the problems facing the BBC, none are so persistent as the question of news neutrality. This was an issue as the BBC was being established in the 1920s and, as Julian Petley points out in this reprint from a book published today (IS THE BBC IN CRISIS?*), it is as far from a solution as ever.

The Sun has eroded British justice, fairness and freedom: now it is feeling the effects

Julian Petley 14 February 2012

Front-paging dawn raids, trumpeting censorship, smearing suspects and biasing the jury.. the UK's top-selling daily has terrifying influence over Britain's police force, legal system, politicians, and press. But now the world it has helped to create is turning against it...