TV is more opinionated than print in US media culture

As founder and editor of MediaGuardian, Emily Bell went on to be editor-in-chief of Guardian Unlimited. Last year she upped sticks to become Director of the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at New York's Columbia University. 

I asked for her take on the differences between the media in London and New York. She reckons Britain is about 18 months behind the US in terms of the recession cycle, saying that already in some parts of the country "the regional and local press has just disappeared".

But she has been most struck by the differences between print and television journalism in the US, which she sees as being in some ways opposite to the differences between them in Britain.

In the UK, the regulation of broadcasters has made them less opinionated than the press. Whereas in the US there's an emphasis on fact-checking and objective reporting in the quality press, alongside polemical, overtly partisan radio and TV stations.

Among the latter, Emily singles out the Fox Network:

"Rupert Murdoch has done a truly astonishing and rather brilliant thing in taking what was a very scrappy cable network [Fox] and essentially turning it into a route to power."

Five of the potential Republican presidential candidates have been on the Fox payroll at some point.

She sees a faster rate of innovation in the US media, creating a dynamic and experimental culture - and even a bit of a bubble in terms of venture capital looking to invest in start-ups.

Emily says she misses the Today programme, especially monitoring tweets about it while it's on air. But she's happy to be in New York to witness the "tremendous excitement" around the "historic" changes now taking place in US media.