All Party Parliamentary Group Session on the Role of the Media
A new All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) in the UK Parliament has been created to consider pressing human rights problems affecting large scale sporting events around the world. Bringing together together Parliamentarians from all political parties, the APPG focuses on three specific areas: the human rights impacts throughout the lifecycle of mega-sporting events, the impacts of the UK Modern Slavery Act on companies in the sports sector, and discrimination in sport in all its forms.
The APPG is chaired by Alex Norris MP and Baroness Young of Hornsey, with the Secretariat provided by the UN Global Compact Network UK and IHRB. The APPG's first evidence session focused on workers in sport's construction sector.
The APPG's second evidence session will focus on the role of the media. This will include broadcaster due diligence, what broadcasting companies are already doing and what are the gaps in practice between the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, the Ofcom Broadcasting Code, and the UK Modern Slavery Act. The session will also include oral evidence from journalists who have reported on sporting events, considering what society’s expectation is of the media, the responsibility of sports journalists to report on human rights issues surrounding a sporting event, and whether sporting fans want to hear about wider issues.
Oral evidence will be heard from a range of organisations including broadcast companies, journalists, NGOs, independent researchers, and public bodies.
Speakers include:
- Simon Green – CEO, BT Sport
- Stephen Cook – Head of Live Football, BT Sport
- Moira Oliver – Legal Counsel, BT plc
- Ross Biggam – VP Government Affairs EMEA, Discovery Eurosport
- Duncan East – Head of Director, Sky Sports
- Philippe Auclair – Journalist, formerly with The Guardian
- Simon Lansley – Journalist
