Bracknell News creates video campaign to raise cancer treatment fund

UK local paper the Bracknell News is using its multimedia skills to back a fundraising campaign for a local woman with cancer.

Lesley Webb, 51, was diagnosed with the malignant brain tumour in September last year and has since had an operation, radiotherapy and chemotherapy all without success. A fund has been set up in her name to raise money so she can receive treatment in America.

The News’ video will be distributed and promoted using all of the paper’s social media links, including Twitter, YouTube and Facebook, with the aim of securing donations of £1 from 250,000 people.

According to a press release, the paper has already raised £20,000.

Lesley Webb, 51, was diagnosed with the malignant brain tumour in September last year and has since had an operation, radiotherapy and chemotherapy all without success.

“This is the first time the Bracknell News has embarked on something like this,” Rebecca Johnson, editor of the Bracknell News, told Journalism.co.uk in an email.

“In this instance, the strength, closeness and raw emotion of the family was best shown by video rather than any other medium – the quotes we had in the story were moving, but seeing them speak in person is much more affecting, lifting it to a new level.

“Let’s face it, you’d have to have the coldest of hearts not to be touched by the people speaking and want to help.”

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Heather Brooke and Telegraph named in PSA Awards

Reporting on the MPs’ expenses scandal was recognised yesterday with awards for both the Telegraph and investigative journalist Heather Brooke.

Brooke took the ‘Influencing the Political Agenda’ prize at the Political Studies Association (PSA) Awards for her ‘tireless and inspiring’ campaign to uncover details of MPs’ expenses.

The Daily Telegraph was named as best political publication of the year for its investigation into MPs’ expenses; while the BBC’s Newsnight and business editor Robert Peston also received prizes.

The full list of PSA Awards winners is available at this link.

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Carlo de Benedetti: press freedom, La Repubblica and Berlusconi

“The question of the truth and of accountability underpinning this issue, which has been round the world, has also become a question of freedom. The Prime Minister in attacking Repubblica is attacking the whole of the press of the western world,” said Carlo de Benedetti, chairman of Italian publishing group Gruppo Editoriale L’Espresso, this week in the below speech, entitled ‘Newspapers and Democracy in the Internet Era. The Italian Case’, to the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism.

De Benedetti was referring to the legal action brought against La Repubblica, which is published by L’Espresso, by Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi.

Berlusconi had refused to answer 10 questions posed by the paper to the leader regarding a series of alleged scandals. Berlusconi took legal action and claimed for damages against the paper prompting an online petition from the paper.

“On November 5, after six months of attacks and allegations, the Italian Premier finally had to answer the 10 questions posed by Repubblica. This decision shows that the questions were legitimate, that it was journalistically correct to ask them, reiterate them and demand an answer. The delay with which the answer arrived was definitely politically significant. Equally significant was the method chosen for the answers: rejecting a direct confrontation with Repubblica or a dialogue with public opinion, opting instead for a journalist friend and his book, published by the publishing house owned directly by the head of the government. A controlled and protected political operation,” explained de Benedetti in his speech reproduced below via Scribd, in which he also comments on the role of citizen journalists and online news sites.

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MinOnline: John Byrne to leave BusinessWeek, start new digital media firm

John Byrne, executive editor of BusinessWeek and editor-in-chief of BusinessWeek.com, will leave the title on 1 December.

Byrne’s announcement follows news of Bloomberg’s pending acquisition of BusinessWeek.

Byrne will relocate to San Francisco where he plans to launch a new digital media company.

Full story at this link…

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Reuters: Washington Post closes US bureaux

The Washington Post has announced the closure of three of its US bureaux, in Chicago, Los Angeles and New York, to focus its resources and ‘journalistic firepower’ on reporting from Washington.

Full story at this link…

According to the BBC’s report on the closure, six correspondents from the bureaux will keep their positions, but three news aides have lost jobs.

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#FollowJourn: @beajournalist/deputy production editor

#FollowJourn: Ed Oldfield

Who? Deputy production editor at a regional newspaper in the UK.

What? Works for the Exeter Express & Echo and also as a journalism trainer with his website ‘Be a journalist’.

Where? On Twitter he’s @beajournalist or for his Express & Echo tweets it’s @Ed_Oldfield.

Contact? Email Ed at contact.beajournalist [at] talktalk.net.

Just as we like to supply you with fresh and innovative tips every day, we’re recommending journalists to follow online too. They might be from any sector of the industry: please send suggestions (you can nominate yourself) to judith or laura at journalism.co.uk; or to @journalismnews.

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#Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – freelance fees guide

Freelancers: for fees guidance and advice try the NUJ Fees Guide with useful tips and contacts at this link. Tipster: Judith Townend.

To submit a tip to Journalism.co.uk, use this link – we will pay a fiver for the best ones published.

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BBC review of online activities: a better deal for local media?

The BBC Trust has published more details of the strategic review of the corporation’s activities, which it announced in July, led by director-general Mark Thompson.

One focus point of the review will be ‘streamlining the BBC’s online services’ to ‘narrow the focus on distinctive content and help to create a more open BBC’, the Trust said in a release yesterday.

This includes considering which online services could be stopped

“The Trust recognises external concerns over scale and growth of BBC online operations. Equally, it’s an immensely popular service with audiences and an important tool for the UK economy,” said Sir Michael Lyons, chairman of the Trust.

“We have no intention of diluting BBC commitment to universal access to free news online. But beyond that we want to question honestly what licence fee payers really expect to get from their licence fee and what they might be surprised to see the BBC doing in the online world.”

At the Society of Editors conference last week David Holdsworth, controller of English regions, discussed BBC Online plans to bring in RSS feeds from newspaper websites – just one example of how the corporation could be a better neighbour to local media, he said.

The Trust said Thompson’s review must take these kind of relationships into consideration and ask ‘how can the BBC work with the rest of the industry to ensure its investment creates the greatest possible value?’ This question has been a sticking point for many local media groups following the dispute over the corporation’s plans to increase its local video offering online, which were later rejected by the Trust.

Additionally, sharing or linking the BBC’s websites with other public or not-for-profit cultural and creative organisations, such as community radio services, should be looked at, the Trust recommended.

The first findings of the review will be published in early 2010 and opened to public consultation.

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WSJ: Vogue uses Obama’s digital fundraiser for revenue ideas

Interesting detail from the Wall Street Journal about Vogue’s use of Blue State Digital, the firm behind Barack Obama’s online presidential campaigning strategy.

The company has been taken on by Vogue to help the title analyse its audience as part of a push towards charging for online content on Vogue.com.

Full story at this link…

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Editors Weblog: Catalan journalist launches paid-for, online-only news site

Editors Weblog translates a report from El Mundo on Catalan journalist Arcadi Espada, who is to launch a paid-for news site, Factual, on November 30.

The site will charge €50 a year for access to unlimited content and has a starting budget of €250,000.

According to the report, Espada has been a staunch supporter of the growth in online-only news websites in favour of print publications. The launch of Factual, however, follows the closure of award-winning Spanish news site Soitu.es last month.

Full story at this link…

Introductory video from Factual – in Spanish – below:

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