Here’s a quick heads up that the capital’s latest freesheet has launched online and on Twitter (@thelondonweekly).
Obviously it will be trying to succeed where its predecessors failed – and it looks like the London Weekly is not scared to experiment with new techniques. Adverstiment? Sounds intriguing.
Tags: freesheet, london weekly
The Observer’s Barbara Ellen offered a different point of view on the BBC’s ‘Should homosexuals face execution?’ / Uganda talkboard controversy over the weekend, arguing “not only was the BBC absolutely right to highlight this debate, it would have been ethically wrong for it not to”. An extract:
(…) Just as wearying were the well-meaning, liberal hand-twisters, squealing about how the BBC debate was “sick”, “unnecessary” and how upset they were. Liliane Landor, acting head of the Africa region for the World Service, responded that a stark approach was required to reflect the stark reality of the bill and she was right.
However jarring these debates are, they need to happen, in the case of gay Africans, as loudly as possible, for they have no voice.
People seem worried that even airing ugly ideas lends them legitimacy but, happily, the BNP’s Nick Griffin proved otherwise on Question Time. So yes, an unpleasant question, but perhaps we should be on our guard that squeamishness does not become a western luxury that others, less fortunate, end up paying for.
Tags: barbara ellen, BBC, Liliane Landor, Uganda
It was an appointment announced in November 2009, but today Stephen Abell starts as director of the Press Complaints Commission (PCC). In a release issued today, the PCC says:
He assumes responsibility for the day-to-day running of the Secretariat, succeeding Tim Toulmin who announced he was standing down from the role earlier in the year. Stephen was previously deputy director.
Background: PCC appoints Stephen Abell as new director
Tags: PCC, Press Complaints Commission, stephen abell, Tim Toulmin
Sky News’ ‘Twitter correspondent’, aka Ruth Barnett, is among those cited in a Financial Times article looking at the emerging ‘social media editor’ and ‘community manager’ roles at media organisations.
Ms Barnett sends pictures and eyewitness reports back to her colleagues, aware that it is often tricky to verify their authenticity.
“It’s a new role, a very diverse one and still evolving,” she says. “I’m very careful about what I say.”
Ruth Barnett will be talking at Journalism.co.uk’s news:rewired, Thursday 14 January 2010 (supported by the BBC College of Journalism and the Press Association; sponsored by AudioBoo). Tickets available at this link…
Tags: news:rewired, Ruth Barnett, Sky News, social media
FollowJourn: Bill Thompson
Who? Head of partnership development for the BBC Archive Project; technology critic and commentator on digital culture.
What? One of digital journalism’s early pioneers: he has been writing about the internet since 1984.
Where? @billt and also @bbcbillt / http://www.thebillblog.com/billblog.
Contact? Send him a tweet or via bill at andfinally dot com.
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.
Tags: #followjourn, @billt, bbc archive project, Bill Thompson
Regional newspapers “have been thrown a lifeline” with a government decision to safeguard £15m of local advertising, reports the Guardian.
The advertising, in the form of planning applications, will still have to be published in local and regional papers, the government is due to announce today , despite a review recommending a relaxation of the rules.
Photo editing: Picnik offers basic photo editing tools for free, from within your browser. Makes it easy to edit images you’ve uploaded elsewhere on the web, for example by dragging and dropping them from a Flickr account. Tipster: Laura Oliver.
To submit a tip to Journalism.co.uk, use this link – we will pay a fiver for the best ones published.
Tags: photo-editing, picnik
Padraig Reidy is news editor of the Index on Censorship. The Index on Censorship and English PEN also issued a statement at this link. The BBC’s statement in open court can be read at this link.
Yesterday was a black day for British journalism, when the BBC, perhaps through fear of expense, or perhaps simply because of the uncertainty and lack of backbone that has plagued the organisation for years now, conceded in a libel case brought by oil traders Trafigura.
This was a matter of the utmost public interest. The BBC should have held its ground and in a court of law a clear vindication of Trafigura or otherwise should have been made. It’s a terrifying prospect that even the nation’s biggest broadcaster can’t face up to big business in our libel courts such are the costs involved.
Trafigura and its solicitors Carter-Ruck have now become synonymous with attempts to stifle free expression in the UK. First it gagged newspapers who attempted to report on waste dumping in Côte d’Ivoire with an injunction. Then it attempted to gag Parliament itself over the reporting of a question on the matter by Labour MP Paul Farrelly. Now, acting with confidence of its advantage as a claimant in England’s rotten libel courts, it has forced the national broadcaster to apologise, rather than face a potential £3m court case.
Libel laws are, most would agree, necessary. People should have a right to defend themselves from outrageous and injurious accusations. But this is quite different from corporations protecting themselves from investigation of their practices and the consequences of their practices.
Through the libel law and the ad hoc privacy law emerging from Mr Justice Eady’s courts, foreign companies, like Trafigura and Kaupthing, the Icelandic bank, can scare off British reporters, and in turn deprive British people of information.
This state of affairs cannot continue, which is why Index on Censorship, English PEN and Sense About Science, has formed the Libel Reform Campaign, offering 10 simple recommendations to make libel laws fairer for all – claimants and defendants. A petition launched last week at libelreform.org has already attracted thousands of signatures, and there have been some favourable noises from Westminster. But favourable noises only go so far: now is the time for all our politicians to take action and end the UK’s status as a global free speech pariah.
Tags: #trafigura, bbc newsnight, libel law reform
Justin Kings, radio journalist and media consultant (check out his biog here) has chosen his best radio of 2009 – in what he calls ‘The Talkies’.
Here’s his one of his winners in the ‘Beyond the Call of Duty’ / multimedia category, awarded to Adam Westbrook for his work in Iraq – as a local radio journalist.
Adam Westbrook was sent [to Iraq] for Viking FM to cover the story of North Yorkshire soldiers serving out there. As well as filing radio pieces, he enhanced the experience for the audience by shooting video, nicely packaged, and producing a very effective audio slide show. It is a great example of what can be achieved within local commercial radio news.
An example of his video content here:
Adam Westbook and Justin Kings will both be speaking at news:rewired, 14 January 2010, City University.
Tags: Adam Westbrook, Justin Kings, newsleader, the talkies
Francis Irving, senior developer at mySociety – an organisation that runs some of the biggest democracy projects in the UK – has shared some of his thoughts about online transparency and citizen collaboration in a Q&A for Journalism.co.uk’s news:rewired site.
What advice would he give to people going down the non-profit publishing route, we asked. Irving answers:
A non-profit is a business as well – it still has to make a surplus, it is just that that surplus is used to do more of the charitable work, rather than as personal profit.
I would advise people to go one of two ways – either have some good ideas for business models from the start (take a look at Patient Opinion for an example) or work out how to run it entirely on philanthropic donations and volunteer work.
It’s going to be as hard to start a sustainably funded non-profit as it is to start a successful for-profit business.
Francis Irving will be talking at Journalism.co.uk’s digital journalism event news:rewired, 14 January 2010.
Tickets still available at this link…
Tags: francis irving, mySociety, news:rewired, non-profit
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