After more than 30 years of dedicated and sacrificial work John Beyer has announced his retirement from the Directorship of mediawatch-uk.

Looking back over his years of service he said there have been some exciting times but there have been a lot of disappointments along the way.  "We have always had at the heart of the campaign a concern about standards of taste and decency in the media and we have stated our case at every possible opportunity.  We have come a very long way since I started working with the late Mary Whitehouse in 1976 and as an organisation we have been consistent and unwavering in our belief that the media is a very powerful global influence and can affect societies and cultures in ways that are not always good".

Mr Beyer went on:  "There remain many challenges in the digital age not least the need to regulate the internet and to place effective controls over online material that causes offence and harm.  The ‘light touch' regulation of Broadcasting introduced five years ago has not succeeded in improving standards neither will the new proposals to ‘slim down' the Office of Communications.  Viewers and listeners will have no proper forum through which to express their concerns if Ofcom becomes just a licensing authority".

Mr Beyer said he wanted to thank all the many journalists and reporters in the press and the radio and television presenters in the UK and across the world who have invited him on to their programmes to discuss media issues.  "It has been a great privilege to participate in these important discussions and I have always appreciated all of these opportunities."

A new Director will be appointed in the weeks ahead and a further news release will follow in due course.

Although making the announcement today John Beyer will not leave the post until the end of September 2009.  Reports that he retired in July are not correct.
mediawatch-uk News Release 7/7/2009

Summer 2009 newsletter here      Campaign Reflections here

Notes to editors
mediawatch-uk, founded in the 1960s by the late Mary Whitehouse CBE, campaigns for decency and accountability in the media.  It provides an independent voice for those concerned about taste and decency issues and has an established reputation for principled protest, informed comment and reliable research.  We have responded in detail to the Byron Review, the DCMS consultation on the Audio Visual Media Services directive and to the DCMS consultation on Video Game Classification.  John Beyer recently had an article published in The House Magazine on this subject.  For more information please visit our website.