Blog posts by year and monthApril 2010
Posts (48)
A day to remember journalists killed for their work
This is something new: on Monday 3 May, the spring bank holiday in the UK, journalists in newsrooms in many parts of the world will stand for a minute's silence at 11am to honour other journalists who have died in the course of their work. It's an initiative of UNESCO, the lead United Nati...
Journalism 101: Covering a Conference (Abroad)
Some top tips - largely borne out of experience - for anyone attending a conference in an official journalistic capacity. Old hacks will know this already and some tips may be obvious. 1. Arrange your own travel and accommodation Check and double-check your travel from...
Which of the three came out top? (Stewart, Boulton or Dimbleby)
The BBC debate last night was by far the classiest of the three - a Rolls-Royce to ITV's Ford Focus and Sky's shiny red Porsche. The Great Hall of Birmingham University provided a suitably impressive venue for what was an historic event - far better than the studio settings chosen by Sky a...
A funny old election
At a press conference on Monday afternoon, George Osborne described the Conservative Party's spoof video on the dangers of a hung parliament (above) as "in the best tradition of these things, done with a bit of humour". Well, George, I think we'll be the judge of that. But the shadow chancello...
Michael Wolff: at the intersection of old and new media
He's got an influential column in a glossy magazine, but he's also behind a cutting-edge online news aggregator. Michael Wolff admits to biting the hand that feeds him. He's not the most popular media commentator in New York City, but he's been one of the most prescient since the dawn of ...
Breaking the basic rules of documentary
Settling down to the first part of the BBC2 blockbuster The Story of Science: Power, Proof and Passion, I thought I had the measure of the series. Presenter Michael Mosley posed grand questions about how we "arrived at the modern world" and how "history made science and science made histo...
Video: the Impact of New Media on Press Freedom
Ahead of World Press Freedom Day on 3 May 2010, BBC Global News at Bush House explored the central issues of press freedom: the threats faced by journalists, state control and censorship and the impact of new media. Panel: Roy Greenslade, former UK newspaper editor, media commentator and pro...
The eerie electoral silence of scientific institutions
My mates have been confused by my sudden tendency to rant about Purdah - with most of them thinking I've suddenly taken against the Muslim and Hindu custom of women completely covering themselves up when they go out. But it's the other Purdah that has me so irate - the inexplicable, arbitr...
Where are the women?
It's all very well broadcasters being required to balance election coverage scrupulously between the parties. What about the genders? What about using a stop watch to compute the amount of election broadcasting by chaps of chaps? Try comparing that with the exposure of the fairer sex in this ...
The Media Show - Great Paywall Debate
Tuesday 18 May 2010, Radio Theatre, BBC Broadcasting House, London. The Media Show, presented by journalist and former TV executive Steve Hewlett , is BBC Radio 4's weekly look at the fast-changing media world. A question on every newspaper editor's mind is whether to charge people who...
