News and Events

Natalie Fenton, one of the lead researchers on the Inquiry's work on democratising media, will be speaking at next month's Future of News Media seminar being held by the Westminster Media Forum.

Natalie, whose research with Goldsmiths University helped inform the Commission's findings and recommendations, will be speaking on an esteemed panel about alternative ways to finance and restructure news media in the UK. To read Goldsmith's research click here.

As part of Foundation Week in Brussels next month, the Inquiry Commission will be holding an open event to discuss the Commission's interest in building a fairer, more responsible and sustainable economy.

Looking beyond the Inquiry's core focus of the UK and Ireland, the session will explore the roles of civil society groups operating across Europe (including foundations, NGOs and co-operatives) in growing a more ‘civil economy’, leading to a more transparent and accountable financial sector, a growth in responsible investment, and more active citizen investors. The event is open to foundations and funders, EU institutions, other civil society actors, and the general public.

A new website, 'Click on Wales' (www.clickonwales.org), has welcomed the Commission’s final report, 'Making good society', heralding the findings as being particularly pertinent to Wales.

In the article, Geraint Talfan Davies identifies relevance for Wales in each of the Commission’s major areas of challenge and opportunity for civil society, paying particular attention to the Inquiry Commission’s recommendations in relation to the media, where he has a specific interest.

The news platform, Click on Wales, is extremely new itself, launched only last month. It was set up and is managed by the Institute of Welsh Affairs (IWA), an independent, membership-based think tank, of which Geraint is Chair.

The date of the Irish launch of the final report of the Inquiry into the Future of Civil Society has now been announced.

The launch event, being held in Dublin, will take place on Thursday 22 April.

Details of speakers will be announced shortly.

The event is free but places must be booked in advance. To book your place contact makinggoodsociety@carnegieuk.org.

Following the launch of the final report of the Commission of Inquiry into the Future of Civil Society, Making good society, Commission Chair, Geoff Mulgan, wrote in the Financial Times of the growing opportunities for civil society in a fast changing economic environment.

In his article, Britain must attend to its mutual interest, Geoff highlights the Commission’s argument that a “strong economy depends on socially owned institutions as well as social investment”.

Are you ready to be civilised?

Mark Easton, BBC 
13:31 UK time, Thursday, 18 March 2010

Whichever party wins control of the Commons at the election, we must expect that it will attempt to reinvigorate civil society, a concept that "for a century or more...has been pushed to the margins by commerce and the state", according to a report out this week.

It is fairly common ground at Westminster that power-hungry government has invaded civic space and weakened the community bonds which are required for society to function well.

Emma Foster, Community Newswire 

The Trades Union Congress (TUC) has welcomed a report that calls for a major shift of power to citizens and civil society to avert the triple crises of finance, climate change and political trust.

The Making Good Society report, by the Commission of Inquiry into the Future of Civil Society in the UK and Ireland, said that it was impossible to imagine plausible responses to the greatest challenges of our time, such as political distrust, economic crisis and climate change, without significant input from civil society.

According to the report, civil society in the UK is made up of 870,000 formal organisations, including charities, trades unions and faith groups; a million informal organisations, including campaigns and networks; 62,000 social enterprises; and 11.3 million members of co-operatives.

Geoff Mulgan, Guardian Online

During the recent financial, political and environmental crises social enterprises and civil society organisations have come up trumps time and time again.

During this election year there has been more talk about civil society than I can ever remember. The main parties have competed with each other to prove their enthusiasm for social enterprises and cooperatives, citizen empowerment and community activism. Yet it's less than a year since Jeremy Paxman, on national television, expressed astonishment at the idea that an enterprise could be social. And within the public sector, there is often a weary cynicism that the rhetoric rarely adds up to much.

The final report of the Commission of the Inquiry into the Future of Civil Society will be launched today. The report, Making good society, articulates the importance of civil society in all spheres of life, and identifies four critical areas in which civil society activity is necessary to make good society: growing a more civil economy; enabling a rapid and just transition to a low carbon economy; democratising media ownership and content; and growing participatory and deliberative democracy.

The report will be launced at an event being held at the St Etehlburga's Centre for Peace and Reconciliation, in London. The event will be hosted by Geoff Mulgan, Chair of the Inquiry, and civil society leaders from key sectors will be responding to the Commission's findings. Guest respondents include:

Commission of inquiry calls for levies to promote new media, warning that too few interests control too many outlets

Randeep Ramesh, social affairs editor
The Guardian
Saturday 13 March 2010

Google and other websites that carry news they do not produce should be taxed and the money generated used to prop up local newspapers, says a report which warns control of the media is concentrated in too few hands.

The Commission of Inquiry into the Future of Civil Society, headed by Tony Blair's former head of policy, Geoff Mulgan, will warn next week that news is becoming "recycled 'churnalism' and aggregated content". In a report, Making Good Society, the commission says a future government must preserve freedom on the internet, ensure the media is not controlled by powerful interests, and promote accuracy.