Authors
Fictional story, real emotions: How The Archers’ audience was shaken and stirred
The intense audience reaction to the story of Helen and Rob on The Archers was played out in social media, and was about real lives as well as fictional.
Spotlight the movie: A surprisingly familiar watch for an investigative journalist
Declan Lawn finds many similarities between portrayal of investigative journalism in the film Spotlight and his own experiences during 13 years as a reporter for BBC Northern Ireland’s own investigative Spotlight programme.
Only open-minded fellows need apply
Doing a Reuters fellowship was not some exercise in nostalgia and regression, but one of the best experiences of my professional and personal life.
Bangkok blames the international media
The dust has settled in Bangkok after weeks of protest and a violent crackdown in May that left 91 dead and hundreds injured. But the anger is still simmering below the surface, with plenty of criticism of international media coverage on newspaper letters pages and ex-pat discussion boards...
In search of the real news
This is a guest blog by the Rev. Art Lester, minister at Croydon Unitarian and Free Christian Church, and a former journalist. Every morning I log onto Google News to see what's happening. I steal a quick glance at my wife Gilly's Guardian. The other day I realised I was just looking for ex...
How to avoid overcooking a food story: 10 tips for reporting nutritional science
There are many ways that the science of nutrition gets reported wrongly. Here are ten tips to avoid the pitfalls.
Long-form picks of 2013: Eating mice and stripping for Lindsay Lohan
Here is a personal selection of a few long-form articles I have happened across this year. They generally have more than 140 characters; actually, usually tens of thousands. Be warned.
Chinese media censorship: all-pervading, increasingly challenged
In many respects China is arguably a country with one of the most comprehensive and sophisticated systems of media censorship.
Being bathed by a stranger: all part of my journalism training
Imagine going to see a public performance and then finding that a) you're the only person in the audience and b) the performance involves a complete stranger bathing you. It all started innocently enough, as part of the eight months I've spent in BBC News in Scotland, firstly writing for the w...
For breaking news, WhatsApp can be a strong team player
When news broke of the Jakarta bombings in January, the BBC bureau team in Singapore used WhatsApp to communicate with each other in the crisis. It could work for other news team too, says Sue Llewellyn.
Undercover in Syria: How Sue Lloyd-Roberts became a student of Byzantium
We learnt with sadness this week of the death of our colleague Sue Lloyd-Roberts. This is a post Sue wrote for this blog in 2011 about the techniques she used in her extraordinary determination to gain entry to places denied to journalists, on this occasion for an undercover Newsnight film
#bbcsms: Mainstream media, social media and emergencies
The work of the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) in Australia's latest round of natural disaster emergencies has highlighted that the new approach isn't so different from the old approach. The ABC counts emergency coverage as one of its most vital broadcasting responsibilities, and n...
London Live TV: Why we won’t be chasing cats up trees
Tonight a piece of television history will be made. At 6:30pm, within the M25, London Live will beam from the capital’s TV screens and a fantastic new multimedia website will launch in conjunction at Londonlive.co.uk.
Maybes aye, maybes no! Covering the overnight count at the Scottish independence referendum
Suzanne Lord reports from the heart of the BBC news production machine on referendum night.
Is this a smiley face which I see before me - or is #ShakespeareMe a whole new way to discover the Bard?
The ShakespeareMe interactive invites users to choose emojis to reflect their mood and get a selection of shareable Shakespeare quotes to match. It’s playful, but with serious intent, says exec producer Dan Gooding.
BBC looking at new directions in gaming - as industry changes
Tonight the 9th British Academy of Film & Television Arts (BAFTA) Games Awards take place in London. Founded back in 2003 when BAFTA announced that it would be splitting its games from the BAFTA Interactive Entertainment Awards, they seek to reward innovation and excellence in computer and video...
Undercover investigation goes out on a limb to expose racist letting agents
Little in your work as a television reporter, broadcasting live in dicey environments and rushing from one stressful situation to another, can prepare you for the adrenalin rush of going undercover.
Investigative journalism: No-one said it was easy
The BBC in Belfast has just hosted a one-day event exploring different aspects of investigative journalism to celebrate 40 years of BBC Northern Ireland’s Spotlight programme.
