News Club

Byline Festival Byline Festival: The Festival that wants to Change the World

Join us at Byline Fest @bylinefestival.bsky.social this weekend for a live Got News? recording, Saturday 12:30pm at Keele University!

Tickets and details: www.bylinefestival.com

And catch up on the latest Got News? episodes: rss.com/podcasts/new...

Lisa Nandy declares war on the BBC – UK press self-censors on Gaza spy ops – CMA ruling sends Big Tech lobbying into overdrive News Club: A place to talk about the news and how to change it

When a government minister who has pledged to "protect press freedom" is proudly interfering in the BBC's operations, it's a good reminder of why genuine media independence is so essential to democracy.

On this week's News Club: Nandy's war on the BBC & UK Gaza spy ops

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#15 | It Was Capitalism All Along | Podcast Episode on RSS.com 🎙️ What connects Welsh independence, a music mogul’s decades-long abuse, and BBC coverage of Gaza? Keep listening to find out. 00:00 - It Was Capitalism All Along00:28 - An independent Wales?03:21 - A...

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Media turns a blind eye on Gaza BBC's catastrophic failures on Gaza exposed; Welsh independence gaining popularity; Celebrity AI conspiracies adding to the rot in arts industry

Facts & figures won't end Israel's genocide in Gaza. But the new cfmmuk.org.uk report on BBC anti-Palestine bias is a vital tool for exposing media & political complicity

On this week's News Club we explore media failures on Gaza, Welsh independence & rot in arts industry

newsclubuk.substack.com

#14 | Smaller Carrots & Bigger Sticks | Podcast Episode on RSS.com 🎙️ Can a socialist magazine survive multi-millionaire ownership? Should planning a protest land you in jail?This week, we cover two stories: The takeover of Tribune, Britain’s oldest democratic social...

Catch up on the Got News? podcast, check out past episodes and newsletters, and subscribe for regular updates from News Club:

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Thought Crime Has the UK taken another step towards criminalising dissent? And is there such a thing as ethical multimillionaire media ownership?

When the 'proper channels' don't work, peaceful protests are quashed & even thinking about action is criminalised, what is left of our civil rights?

On this week’s News Club, we discuss the UK's deepening crackdown on dissent & ask whether socialist media can survive

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❗️ The UK's crisis in media ownership is worse than ever before

📊 Our new 2025 'Who Owns The UK Media?' report details statistics & analysis exposing the media moguls, Big Tech billionaires & unaccountable corporations that dominate the UK media

READ: mediareform.org.uk/media-owners...

Everybody likes to talk about the news, but how can we change it?

Join us & @newsclubuk.bsky.social at the Media Democracy Festival in London this Saturday for their Unfucking The Media workshop, building a toolkit for activists to challenge our broken media

www.eventbrite.com/e/media-demo...

#13 | AI, Reality & the End of Trust | Podcast Episode on RSS.com 🎙️ AI isn’t just reshaping what's real, it’s warping how we relate to ourselves, each other, and the world. On this episode, we dig into how AI is being used to extract, deceive, and disempower under ...

Catch up on the Got News? podcast, check out past episodes and newsletters, and subscribe for regular updates from News Club:

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Blind fAIth AI might destroy all our notions of trust, so why do politicians keep worshiping at the AI altar? And just how bad is the UK's media ownership crisis?

Nick "I'm sorry" Clegg wants AI agents stealing your work and your voice to fuel the global slopmachine.

On this week’s News Club, we discuss how the weed-like growth of harmful AI applications could tear apart the basic fabric of our social relationships.

newsclubuk.substack.com

#12 | The Palestine Episode | Podcast Episode on RSS.com 🎙️ This week, we speak plainly: what's happening in Gaza is genocide.Thousands of children in Gaza are dying of starvation under a brutal blockade. Hospitals are constantly bombed. Entire families are...

Catch up on the Got News? podcast, check out past episodes and newsletters, and subscribe for regular updates from News Club: linktr.ee/newsclubuk

Which is worse: careless social media posts, or a genocide? UK media seizes another chance to report on anything except Gaza; and Co-Op vote on BDS proves the power of collective action

As Israel escalates its bombardment, invasion and forced starvation of Gaza, the UK media desperately scrabbles to avoid reporting the genocide of Palestinians.

On this week's News Club, we look past the Gary Lineker 'scandal' at the growing successes of the BDS movement:

newsclubuk.substack.com

#11 | What Is It to Be Human? | Podcast Episode on RSS.com 🎙️ What if the BBC wasn’t just public in name, but actually shaped by the public? This week, we talk disability rights, proposed welfare cuts, and what it means to radically democratise our media and...

Catch up on the Got News? podcast, check out past episodes and newsletters, and subscribe for regular updates from News Club: linktr.ee/newsclubuk

Labour's war on welfare Labour's all-out war on welfare exposes politicians' callous and dehumanising attitude towards disabled people

@dis-ppl-protest.bsky.social & @disrightsuk.bsky.social are leading the fight against the government's destructive welfare cuts.

On this week's News Club, we look at Labour's war on the disabled, and we ask - what if the BBC was actually owned & controlled by the public?

newsclubuk.substack.com

#10 | So Shit Even Trump Can't Save 'Em | Podcast Episode on RSS.com May 05, 2025 | 🎙️ Everyone’s talking about change — but not all “change” is created equal. While Reform UK cosplays as anti-establishment (with billionaire backing and prep school flair), maybe (just ...

Catch up on the Got News? podcast, check out past episodes and newsletters, and subscribe for regular updates from News Club: linktr.ee/newsclubuk

Reform doesn't have to be a dirty word, but it helps As Labour ramps up its Reform UK tribute act, does a populist left need new language, new leaders or new spaces? And is there a future for public media in the UK?

Will Labour's local election humiliation lead them to desperately DOGE-ify DCMS? And who would even care?

On this week's News Club, we look at what Trump's attacks on public media could mean for the UK, and how the left can make its own populist politics.

newsclubuk.substack.com

#9 | Cartels & Commons | Podcast Episode on RSS.com Apr 28, 2025 | 🎙️ What if Google wasn’t a tech monopoly but a global commons? What if organising meant more than selling newspapers and referencing dead Russians? This week, we dig into the digital an...

Catch up on the Got News? podcast, check out past episodes and newsletters, and subscribe for regular updates from News Club:

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Break up Google, shut up Tony Blair Could US court rulings against Google spell the end of Big Tech monopolies? And how does Tony Blair think he's fossil-fooling with his call for climate inaction?

While Gordon Brown is trying to take down corporate media power, Tony Blair is laundering corporate spin for fossil fuel companies.

On this week's News Club: why tech platforms like Google should be run as a global commons & lessons from the two ex-PMs' latest interventions

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The unjustified, unanswered banning of @leicester.news.web.brid.gy's local news group by Facebook is a dangerous attack on independent journalism & online freedoms.

The UK must act to break up the dangerous and undemocratic power of Big Tech companies like Meta.

#8 | Liberals Will Kill Themselves Got News? · Episode

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All the worst people are cheering Resistance and solidarity after the Supreme Court's anti-trans ruling, and does the BBC really think a tick box survey will help save it?

The Supreme Court has emboldened trans discrimination and exclusion, but also strengthened LGBTQ+ solidarity.

On this week's News Club we look at the warped anti-trans ruling, and the BBC's weak attempt to prove its worth ahead of the government's Royal Charter review.

newsclubuk.substack.com

Digital platforms profit by exploiting our differences & spreading hatred: can we build something different?

Join @avasantina.bsky.social, @adelewalton.bsky.social, @jamesbloodworth.bsky.social & @natacha.bsky.social on 31 May to discuss this & more #MDF25

Book: www.eventbrite.com/e/media-demo...

#7 | Bin There, Done That, Still Paying for Water | Podcast Episode on RSS.com Apr 14, 2025 |🎙️ What do overflowing bins, skyrocketing water bills, and 24/7 media chaos have in common? They’re all signs it’s time to stop coping and start organising (aka reaching out to your frie...

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Water way to stick it to private water companies Could mass water bill boycotts burst the dam on the failed privatisation project? And how media coverage is boosting Birmingham Council's strike-breaking tactics against waste collectors

There's shits in the rivers & shits on the company boards. Could a mass bill boycott finally break the UK's failed private water experiment?

On this week's News Club, we look at taking back control of our water, overcoming the 'media blitzkrieg' & anti-worker reporting on the Birmingham bin strikes

Has the decades-long political resistance to nationalisation finally been broken?

Read about how British Steel got here, and what real democratic public ownership of major industries should look like, in this week's News Club:

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#5 | Swamp Draining with Blue Steel Got News? · Episode

Catch up on the News Club podcast, check out past episodes and newsletters, and subscribe for regular updates.

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Ending the omerta on public ownership Trump's tariffs trigger teasing taxpayer takeovers talk, but does Hillsborough Law betrayal show Labour DGAF about real change?

On this week's News Club, we ask whether the shifting global economic order might finally make nationalisation of major UK industries a reality

...or does Labour's latest betrayal of the Hillsborough campaign prove they'll never change anything for the better?

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Anti-civil liberties legislation has a 2nd, more subtle purpose: turning the public against protest & dissidence as basic democratic rights.

But the reaction to the police raid on Youth Demand at a Quaker meeting house shows this plan has backfired massively

newsclubuk.substack.com/p/disapprove...

Ethical principles for social media use > chasing algorithm-driven engagement at all costs - this is exactly the kind of thinking we should all be developing!