Luke Gibbs
Co-Founder and Publisher
Luke is a public affairs consultant. He holds an MSc in Media and Communications Regulation from the London School of Economics and a BA in Communications from Goldsmiths, University of London.

Luke’s MSc dissertation was entitled - Ofcom: The Challenge of Regulatory Convergence. Luke has previously worked for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office at the British Embassy in Washington, DC, Weber Shandwick Public Affairs and KPMG.

Luke writes for ofcomwatch.co.uk in a personal capacity.

Russ Taylor
Co-Founder and Managing Editor
Russ Taylor is an attorney who researches communications law at the University of Oxford’s Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, Programme in Comparative Media Law and Policy. Russ holds a BA and a JD from George Mason University, and an MSc in Media and Communications Regulation from the London School of Economics.

In Autumn 2006, Russ taught media and commuications policy at Central European University in Budapest.

OW Associates:

Yves Blondeel
Yves is a specialist consultant in telecommunications policy and regulation, working at the national level in European Union Member States + Switzerland, and gets involved at EU level as and when developments require it.

He is a founder and managing director of T-REGS bvba (www.t-regs.com) which provides specialist regulatory expertise to telecommunications operators, regulatory authorities, equipment suppliers and financial institutions. Yves is ‘licentiaat’ in Communications Science from the Free University of Brussels.

Roger Darlington
Roger Darlington has been thinking and writing about the regulation of communications since he joined the Research Department of what is now called the Communication Workers Union in 1978. He spent a total of 24 years - the last seven as Head of Research - at the CWU before taking early retirement in 2002. Since then, he has been a portfolio worker with a number of consultancies and public appointments. He was independent Chair of the Internet Watch Foundation for six years from 2000-2005 and he has been the member for England on the Ofcom Consumer Panel since February 2004 and the member for Greater London on Postwatch since April 2006. As well as contributing to OfcomWatch, he has his own web site and his own communications weblog.

Nicholas Francis
Nic is a founding partner in Reckon, a London-based consultancy firm specialising in regulation and competition economics. He holds an MSc and BSc in Economics from the University of Bristol. His interests include the economic regulation of the media sector, the public policy debate surrounding the UK broadcasting industry and the competition law on abuse of a dominant position.

Nic can be contacted at n.francis@reckon.co.uk.

Chris Hewson
Chris is a PhD candidate (www.lancs.ac.uk/postgrad/hewsonc) the Department of Sociology, Lancaster University.

His research considers the future of local and community media within a climate of incessant social, political, and technological change. Key concerns include: conflicts between delivery platforms; the manner in which conceptions of ‘public service’ are evoked, by both local media practitioners and political actors; and the future potential of community media in the endorsement of learning opportunities.

When completed, his thesis (www.lancs.ac.uk/postgrad/hewsonc/outline.pdf) (title: Technologies of Citizenship: Local Media and Public Service ) will attempt to argue that new technologies, when utilised in conjunction with inclusive social policies, necessarily foster specific styles, and patterns, of citizenship.

The central concern for media activists must be to find ways to develop and shape these ’styles’, seeking to avoid or overcome restricted, discriminatory, elitist, or populist configurations.

Scott Lunt
Scott Lunt, a recent addition to the team, is primarily responsible for the design of ofcomwatch.co.uk. However, Scott also has a background in communications technology. Currently wrapping up a master’s degree in mass communication at Brigham Young University in Utah, USA, Scott recently spent a semester in Europe studying EU media policy. He has been following the rise of user generated content academically as well as personally. He also runs the video podcast web site Pixelshot (http://www.pixelshot.com) where he posts short movies, photos and text entries about his life and travels.

Amit Rainhartz
Amit is a media and telecommunications lawyer. He is a Senior Associate at media, telecommunications & technology specialist law firm Preiskel & Co LLP. Amit holds an LL.B from the law faculty at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and an MSc in Media and Communications Regulation from the London School of Economics.

Amit’s experience includes working extensively on regulatory matters with Oftel (Ofcom), ICSTIS, the RA and the DTI, as well as commercial work in the telecoms, media and technology sectors. Amit previously worked as Senior Department Director for Legal Counselling & Legislation at The Israel Broadcasting Regulatory Administration. Before that he worked in the legal department of the Israeli Ministry of Communications, the regulator of Israel’s telecoms market.

Amit writes for ofcomwatch.co.uk in a personal capacity. His postings do not necessarily deal with every aspect of the topic reviewed or discussed and are not designed to be comprehensive and should not be relied upon as legal or other advice. For further information Amit can be contacted directly at amit@preiskel.com.

Paul Tavener
Paul has no formal qualification or work experience in the broadcasting industry; however following a particularly poor reply to a simple question written to the ITC back in 2002 he has become increasingly involved in exposing some of the myths, half truths and simple nonsense that surround the regulation of adult broadcasting in the UK.

Paul writes for Ofcomwatch in a personal capacity, particularly in matters relating to broadcasting standards, regulatory paternalism and viewer autonomy. Paul is currently involved with a campaign to remove censorship from adult subscription services in the UK as the administrator for www.ofwatch.org.uk and was voted campaigner of the year at the Leydig Trust’s Erotic Awards in 2003.

Paul is married with one 12 year old son and worked as an analytical chemist before a career change in 2000. He now works as a Systems Analyst for a large pharmaceutical company on the south coast. Paul is a graduate chemist holding a GRSC from Portsmouth University as well as an HNC in Business Information Technology.

Peggy Valcke
Peggy is Professor of media law at K.U. Brussel and postdoctoral researcher of the Fund for Scientific Research - Flanders. She works at the Interdisciplinary Centre for Law and ICT (ICRI) at K.U. Leuven, where she lectures Communications Law and conducts legal research with regard to transmission and content regulation in the converging digital media environment. ICRI is part of the Institute for BroadBand Technology, a research centre founded by the Flemish Government, focusing on information & communication technology (ICT) in general and applications of broadband technology in particular.

In 2003 Peggy obtained her PhD in Law with a dissertation on “Pluralism in a digital interactive media environment: Analysis of sector specific regulation and competition law” (published by Larcier, 2004, under the title “Digital Diversity - Convergence of Media, Telecommunications and Competition Law” - in Dutch).

Peggy regularly publishes on media and telecommunications law (and its interaction with competition law) at national and international level. Recent publications include “EU Communications Law - Significant Market Power in the Mobile Sector” (with Robert Queck and Eva Lievens, Edward Elgar Publishing, 2005). Peggy is currently a member of the European Focus Groups for the revision of the Television without Frontiers Directive and of the Belgian Advisory Committee for Telecommunications (Raadgevend Comitévoor de Telecommunicatie). She is also working as an expert for the Flemish minister for Media, Geert Bourgeois.

Lisa Vanhala
Lisa Vanhala is a doctoral student at Nuffield College and the Department of Politics at the University of Oxford. She has also studied at McGill University in Canada and Sciences Po, Paris. Lisa recently worked at a public sector strategy consultancy in London with a focus on e-government and efficiency projects.

Scott Vine
Scott is an Information Officer with Clifford Chance LLP, where he currently works withn their Communications Media and Technology practice area. He has a BA in Politics from Swansea University and a Postgraduate Qualification in Information and Library Management from Strathclyde University.

Scott writes for OfcomWatch in a personal capacity, and any views expressed on Ofcomwatch are his own, and not those of his employer.

Scott is also a correspondent for the Butterworths journal Electronic Business Law, and writes the Information Overlord Blog.