On Friday 29th May the Media Freedom Rapid Response ( #MediaFreedomRR) sent a letter to UK Prime Minister, @BorisJohnson about the Government's attempts to restrict media scrutiny of its policies and discredit critical reporting 1/n

We raised a number of issues including the banning of James Cusick & @openDemocracy from the daily Government #COVID19 briefing, the Gov's boycott of press interviews & attempts to change how media outlets are selected for briefings @PippaCrerar https://mappingmediafreedom.ushahidi.io/posts/23326  2/n

This letter was signed by us, @article19europe, @EFJEUROPE, @freepressunltd, @InfAI_eV, @globalfreemedia, @BalkansCaucasus and asked for clarity and commitments to protect media freedom in the UK. Read it here: https://www.mfrr.eu/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/MFRR-Letter-to-Boris-Johnson-MP.pdf 3/n

We sent it via post, email and No. 10's contact form...and then nothing. On 3rd July we submitted an #FOI request to the Cabinet Office about their response or conversation regarding the letter - they have until 31 July to reply 4/n

But today (27th July) we were excited to see this in our mailbox as we started a new week in the office 5/n

Unfortunately as we read the letter from the Head of the Direct Communications Unit at 10 Downing Street our excitement faded away. None of the issues we raised were touched on AT ALL 6/n

They went to great pains to confirm they had held over 50 press conferences since 16th March to "enable accountability and scrutiny from the media" but were silent about the banning of @openDemocracy and Sunday Times journalists 7/n

Silence also prevailed on the apparent boycotts of BBC Radio 4’s Today show and BBC One’s Newsnight, alongside ITV’s Good Morning Britain and Channel 4 News by Ministers and government representatives 8/n

We also raised concerns about the UK Government's use of the term "campaigning" to discredit critical coverage from outlets such as The Guardian and The Mirror, as the @pressgazette highlighted here https://www.pressgazette.co.uk/society-of-editors-writes-to-number-10-over-concerning-refusal-to-answer-questions-from-campaigning-newspapers/ but again silence 9/n @EditorsUK

They did confirm to us that question selection at briefings is managed by the media outlets themselves and that it would be untrue "to say that Downing Street selects media questions". It would be untrue to say that, which is why we didn't say that 10/n

We called on the bans to @openDemocracy and Sunday Times journalists to be lifted *so* they could ask questions. So in fact, while ignoring all the questions we raised, they answered a question we did not ask 11/n

The letter can be read here. Needless to say, we're disappointed with this response & for the absence of any commitment to improve UK Gov engagement with critical journalism & respect for #MediaFreedom. We will continue to monitor the situation in the UK #MediaFreedomRR 12/n

We are still waiting on the FOI response, but we are not holding our breath. We will update this thread if they respond by 31st July (the end of the 20 working day deadline for responding to FOI requests) 13/13 http://www.mfrr.eu  #MediaFreedomRR