Blog posts by year and monthDecember 2010
Posts (34)
The See-through Year
So 2010 ends with us talking about transparency, secrets revealed and ministers entrapped in the name of openness. The Romans would have smiled that Janus - their two-faced god of the year's end and beginning - still had a bit of poke. And at the irony of it all. The old 'transparency i...
No live riots please on Russian TV
When violence flared up during the student protests in London on 9 December, Britain's news channels were on hand to provide virtually uninterrupted coverage well into the night. The disturbances also dominated the main news bulletins that evening. Two days later, serious disorder erupted in c...
Event: The Art of the Interview
A year-long BBC Academy season In The Art of the Interview, top presenters, interviewers, editors and producers will celebrate the form and share their tips on getting the best out of every interview. The season starts on Wednesday 12 January 2011 with three of the BBC's top interviewers dis...
Keeping up appearances
It's many decades since the comedian George Burns remarked that: "Sincerity is everything. If you can fake that, you've got it made." But today, when transparency is a shiny new virtue, the idea that what's said in public may not be entirely sincere is hard to accept. The Telegraph's reporters...
Vince Cable, media business and journalistic ethics
Vince Cable's "wild remarks" - as the Sun calls them - raise all sorts of media issues. Some are quite clear-cut. He was rightly removed from his quasi-judicial role in deciding whether News Corporation's bid for BSkyB should be allowed to go ahead. That job has been given to the Culture ...
There's no business like the news business - any more
The Today programme's guest editor, Richard Ingrams, wanted to examine how journalism has changed, and, in particular, how a buzzing newsroom is now little more than a romantic memory for hacks of a certain age. He brought together Derek Jameson and Rosie Boycott to discuss what the prac...
Vince Cable and journalistic ethics
If what the Telegraph did to Vince Cable and his Lib Dem colleagues left you with a slightly uneasy feeling about how the reporters got their story - and the implications for the way the world sees journalism - there were a couple of thoughtful reflections on the Today programme this morning. ...
Snow, cold and reason
'THEY must do something' ... 'THEY can't do their jobs' ... 'THEY should be fired'. I know for a fact that if I'd been forced to sleep rough at Heathrow or shuffle forward in a seven-hour queue at St Pancras I'd be one of those shouting loudest, calling for 'THEM' to do something and snarling...
Learning from Brian
There've been many tributes to Brian Hanrahan who has died ridiculously young. There'll be many more and they'll be deserved. I first met Brian over 30 years ago and will be eternally grateful for the things I learnt from him. Three in particular. First: in the summer of 1979 - I was a train...
