Media Liberation Day: What you need to know and how you can get involved

The most important stories of our times are missing from the front pages. Toxic headlines don’t stop at print. They shape TV bulletins, digital and state broadcasts, spread through social media, and become “the word on the street.”

This Media Liberation Day, take a stand.

What? 

On 5 November, place an A4 “cover page” over newspaper front pages – especially billionaire-owned press – in shops, newsagents, and public spaces.

Why? 

• Every Cover Story in the run-up to MLD builds momentum — and on the day itself, these pages will be everywhere, pointing to the fire exit of independent, people-powered media

• It disrupts harmful headlines.

• Prompts people to ask: “Who paid for this story?”.

• Points people towards alternative, independent media sources, platforming voices and stories often excluded – and towards taking direct action themselves.

  
  

How?

Print off your cover page.

or make your own: 

🗞️ “Billionaire Opinion is Not News”🧠 “Who Paid for These Stories?”🔁 “Change the Media, Change the Future”🔥 “Media Liberation Day – We Deserve the Truth”

Or the “Polite Notice” version: “These newspapers are merely the opinions of a small group of billionaires… Please cross-reference everything you read.”

Print, place, photograph, share → make it go viral online to link the printed press and social media.

What to bring:

• Printed Cover Story A4 page 

• Confidence, kindness, and awareness of surroundings

• A non-confrontational attitude — peaceful, lawful, playful

• Your phone/camera to take a photo, or a friend to film you

• A friend (to watch your back or film the action)

INSTRUCTIONS

Decide your targets

You might already know a place where newspapers are sold or circulated for free. You might need to find one. It’s a good idea to do a visit to the location beforehand, so you know where the newspapers are positioned and how many there are. This will help you establish how many printed ‘Cover Story’ pages you want to take.You might feel like you can choose to take action at multiple different shops/stores, which is great. The more pages that get out, the better.

Place the cover story

The cover story is designed to be placed carefully on top of a pile of newspapers in a rack/stand. BE DISCREET! It’s likely that when shoppers go to pick up their paper, they will choose to leave that page behind; hopefully, it will stay on top of the next paper. You might choose to return to check if the page is still there, or put more pages in when you make your placement – but this could increase your time spent during the action, and therefore increase your risk of intervention from store security or staff, which we want to avoid.Ideally, you will be able to place your paper without raising suspicion from anyone, this is so that the cover papers don’t get removed by staff, which would be a waste.

Photos / Videos

If you can do so without raising suspicion, please try to get a photo/video of your cover story placed on the news rack. You may wish to take this action in pairs, and for the second person to take the footage. Upload content to social media using the hashtags and #CoverStory and #MediaRevolution.

Consider: 

If you cause accidental or intentional damage to newspapers for sale, or in other ways prevent customers from purchasing them, such as removing/relocating them from shelves without paying, you may be liable for the cost of the papers, and in some countries, this may be considered a crime.  

See here for the legal advice the Climate Action Support Pathway offered for actions in the UK.Ensure you source good legal advice, whether you take part in the Cover Story action in the UK or internationally as you (not Media Revolution) will be responsible for the legal outcome of your action.