The NFRN is seeking 100,000 signatures on a government e-petition in a bid to trigger a House of Commons debate, calling for a full market investigation of the news industry.
The entire sector lacks proper regulation, the NFRN claims, and “the phone hacking scandal represents the tip of the iceberg of the unethical practices” that are widespread in the sector.
The government’s online petition service was launched last month in an attempt to make government more transparent, and so far has only had two petitions achieve the magic number of 100,000 that will trigger a commons debate.
Take our poll
Will you be adding your name to the NFRN Press For Reform online petition in order to compel the Commons to debate a competition enquiry into the news trade?
- Yes (77%)
- No (23%)
In the last 17 years the number of wholesale distributors has reduced from 74 to just two today, providing what the NFRN call an effective monopoly, and leaving retailers with no choice as to who they receive their services from.
If every member of the NFRN signed, this would still not be enough so NFRN national president Kieran McDonnell has called on retailers to “log in and sign this petition… and encourage all of your friends, family, customers and MPs to do so too.”
Clearly, this is an emotive issue for retailers, which is why this week’s poll is about exactly that. Vote here to let us know what you think of the issue, and click here to sign the petition.
Abdul Qadar
02/09/2011
Have signed the online petition and so has the family, we have been collecting signitures in the shop and this weekend the Edinburgh branch of the NFRN is taking the press for reform campaign to the Edinburgh Mela and hope to get more signitures.
Steve Denham
06/09/2011
I have signed, but how will this campaign to change the balance in the newspaper and magazine industry be different from the others that have gone before?
A former NFRN top man once told me that we should only enter a box if we can see the exit. I hope that the current leadership fully understand where the exit will be for this campaign and it’s not an illusion.
Nimish Ashar
13/09/2011
How exactly does the NFRN intend on reaching the 100,000 milestone, they have after all only have 15,000 members, somewhat short from what i can gather, or is this just another ploy to get a bit of advertising for them, and a little bit of ‘look at what we’ve just kicked off’
Nick Shanagher
13/09/2011
It is up to 284, which demonstrates how hard it is to get momentum on the e petition website. The government promised to call me back a week ago to say how many debates had ever been arranged in response to an e petition. If every member was challenged to sign it themselves and get six friends to do so, then you would have your 100,000. If it was my campaign I would have challenged people to get seven signatures to change your life. Who knows?
betterRetailing Team
13/09/2011
Only two petitions have managed the magic number of 100k:
Clearly then, people are only motivated by particularly emotive issues. Both have received preliminary responses from the government, which can be seen at the respective links.
nimish
13/09/2011
I’ve just noticed that there are some peoples who have said ‘No’ to adding their name to the petition, that would me that technically it not 6/7 friends/family it’s actually twenty some percent more, now that does sound impossible..
Steve Denham
13/09/2011
Nothing is impossible if it is lead and marketed well so I guess the question to ask is did all the NEC and National Councillors sign up at the recent National Council meeting, did all the London District delegates sign up today and will sign up sessions be held at every NFRN meeting to be held over the next 6 months?
Abdul Qadar
13/09/2011
Along with the e-petition is also running the good old paper petition and I am quite confident we will get something out of this exercise. At the recent National Council over 1000 signatures were handed in by Christine Southern from the Kent district and myself from Edinburgh branch mela event. As the the pro active members start to return their completed sheets to head office over the coming days and contacts made to MPs whose constituents have signed the petition a perfect storm is developing for something to happen over the coming weeks. PS you only need 10,000 signatures to pay a visit to 10 Dawning St. The NFRN may only have 17,000 members but it speaks for over 44,000 newsagents out there and if we win WE ALL WIN. So please spread the word and make that little difference a huge change.
The Oracle
23/09/2011
The news industry`s issues are very much a business to business problem. E-petitions and the 100k threshold are designed for consumer issues. Continued campaign effort on this front will provide no benefit and will in fact – if continued – mean that the main focus of attention is missed. A review is required ASAP. A champion inside of Westminster is very sorely needed and the NFRN need to cultivate this.