Guardian: Biography claims David Cameron texted Rebekah Brooks before she quit NI

Copyright Lewis Whyld/PA

The Guardian has reported today that an updated biography of the prime minister claims David Cameron texted Rebekah Brooks before she quit as News International’s chief executive.

An article on the Guardian‘s website reports that Cameron allegedly texted Brooks “to tell her to keep her head up” days before she resigned from News International.

It has also emerged that he agreed to meet her at a point-to-point horse race so long as they were not seen together, and that he also pressed the Metropolitan police to review the Madeleine McCann case in May last year following pressure from Brooks.

The prime minister then sent an intermediary to Brooks to explain why contacts had to be brought to an abrupt halt after she resigned. The authors say the gist of that message was: “Sorry I couldn’t have been as loyal to you as you have been to me, but Ed Miliband had me on the run.”

The revelations were made in the updated version of Cameron: Practically a Conservative by Francis Elliot and James Hanning. Brooks is due to appear before the Leveson inquiry on Friday.

Similar posts:

• Rebekah Brooks ‘won’t resign’ over Milly Dowler phone-hacking claims
• Guardian was wrong to buy Madeleine McCann keywords on Google
• Liverpool Daily Post: Madeleine McCann keywords in every main local news story was ‘oversight’
• BBC: David Cameron’s concern about injunctions creating privacy law
• Chris Bryant apologises for Murdoch-Cameron meetings claim

Economist cartoonist animates style guide

Economist cartoonist Kal has animated excerpts from the news outlets “punctilious in-house style guide”.

It features wracked sheep, racked (and wracked) brains and Dr Frankenstein and his monster.

It was posted on YouTube a month ago but it is worth a watch if you have not yet seen it.

Similar posts:

• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – style guides for the web
• Yahoo releases Style Guide for writing and editing
• YouTube and Google News come together for publishers
• Robert Cottrell: Four novels from the golden days of newspaper journalism
• Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – research journalism training online

NYU: List of 100 outstanding US journalists of last 100 years

The NYU has released a list of “the 100 outstanding journalists in the United States in the last 100 years.”

In March 2012 the faculty at the Arthur L Carter Journalism Institute at New York University, together with an Honorary Committee of alumni, selected “the 100 outstanding journalists in the United States in the last 100 years”.

The list was selected from more than 300 nominees and was announced at a reception “in honour of the 100th anniversary of journalism education at NYU”, held yesterday.

The list, which can serve as a ‘who’s who’ of US journalism, is at this link.

Similar posts:

• NYU: The top 10 journalism works of the decade
• Blogging scholarship: $10,000 to fund your studies in the US
• CNBC, New York Times and Vanity Fair recognised at US business journalism awards
• Yahoo News to launch new blog with aim of entering ‘news link economy’
• NYTimes.com: N. Korea sentences American journalists to 12 years hard labour

ITV in race row after referring to “coloured” footballers

Today the Guardian reports that ITV is under investigation by broadcast regulator Ofcom after news reporter Richard Pallot called black footballers “coloured” – while reporting on a racism in football summit held at No.10 Downing Street.

According to the Guardian:

ITV News apologised shortly after the broadcast on its Twitter page and the word has been removed from all future catchup editions of the broadcast, including an edited clip on the ITV News website.

The ITN-produced programme is now investigating how the pre-recorded report that included the word was allowed to be broadcast.

An ITV News spokesman said: “ITV News apologises for the inappropriate use of the word ‘coloured’ in a report on racism and football in today’s News at 1.30pm. We take this error very seriously and we regret any offence caused.”

Similar posts:

• BBC News: Smoking out the illegal tobacco trade
• MediaBistro: Worldwide editions of Time magazine will come together
• Regret the Error editor starts business column
• Vince Cable on Telegraph recording: “I thought about resigning”
• Guardian releases football data; BBC creates gossip widget

Flipboard goes French with latest update

Similar posts:

• South China Morning Post (via Editors Weblog): Hong Kong business papers launch paid-for websites
• Time Out launches Kuala Lumpur site, Hong Kong launch imminent
• World’s first social magazine launches on iPad
• #news2011: Hong Kong chief executive calls on media to ‘take advantage of what we have to offer’
• MediaGuardian: France24 to supply English language content to Independent.co.uk

Standard: Metropolitan police loaned horse to Rebekah Brooks

Another development in the News International/Metropolitan police story has emerged today – with the Evening Standard reporting that the Metropolitan police loaned Rebekah Brooks a police horse for two years.

The paper says it raises questions about the force’s links with Rupert Murdoch’s UK newspaper empire. A friend told the paper: “Rebekah acted as a foster carer for the horse. Anybody can agree to do this with the Met if they have the land and facilities to pay for its upkeep.”

The Metropolitan police said in a statement:

“When a police horse reaches the end of its working life, Mounted Branch officers find it a suitable retirement home.

Whilst responsibility for feeding the animal and paying vet bills passes to the person entrusted to its care at its new home, the horse remains the property of the Metropolitan Police Service.

Retired police horses are not sold on and can be returned to the care of the MPS at any time.

In 2008 a retired MPS horse was loaned to Rebekah Brooks. The horse was subsequently re-housed with a police officer in 2010.”

Similar posts:

• Phone hacking: Rebekah Brooks’ lawyer’s statement
• Select committees: Reaction to appearances by police, the Murdochs and Brooks
• Media Guardian: Rebekah Brooks asked for police payment details
• Guardian: Biography claims David Cameron texted Rebekah Brooks before she quit NI
• Independent: Rebekah Brooks has some explaining to do, says Burrell

Guardian: Ryan Giggs named in court as injunction footballer

Copyright: Martin Rickett/PA Archive/Press Association Images

Ryan Giggs has been named in court for the first time as the footballer behind an injunction taken out against the Sun, the Guardian reports.

According to the news site, the footballer “agreed to lift the anonymity injunction” in a hearing at the high court in London earlier today.

Giggs took out the injunction in order to prevent the tabloid revealing an affair.

Thousands ignored the court ruling and named him as the footballer in question on Twitter, leaving journalists in a “strange situation” concerning the reporting of his name.

The Guardian states:

Hugh Tomlinson QC, counsel for Giggs, told the court that the footballer had been subject to “large scale breaches of the order by malign individuals”.

“The claimant’s name is in the public domain contrary to court orders,” he added. “The claimant has consented to the removal of the anonymity order completely.”

Mr Justice Tugendhat said: “Anonymity no longer applies and has not applied since 1 February.”

According to the Guardian, Mr Justice Tugendhat is considering “a claim by Giggs for damages for alleged misuse of private information by the Sun”.

Giggs is also seeking an injunction “to restrain future publication of private information”, according to the report.

The court heard that the anonymity order that prevented the media from naming Giggs was lifted on 1 February. However, an “administrative error” by Giggs’s solicitors meant the Sun was not informed.

The counsel for News Group Newspapers, the publisher of the Sun, reportedly told the court the injunction claim should be thrown out.

Similar posts:

• Guardian: Ryan Giggs launches legal action over NOTW phone hacking
• BBC CoJo: When a super injunction is not a super injunction
• Privacy injunction statistics published by Ministry of Justice as part of new pilot scheme
• Guardian: Police have more than 100 phone-hacking recordings
• Trafigura update: Jack Straw to examine use of ‘super injunctions’

Northern Echo invests £10,000 in bid to ‘save’ Darlington Football Club

Newsquest title the Northern Echo has announced an investment of £10,000 as part of a campaign to try and ‘save’ Darlington Football Club.

The newspaper reports that “the money will be used to buy shares in new company, Darlington FC 1883 Ltd, which hopes to purchase the Quakers and prevent it from being liquidated”.

Peter Barron, editor of The Northern Echo, said: “The paper has been at the heart of the campaign to save Darlington Football Club from the outset and we have decided to make this investment as a further demonstration of our support.

“These are challenging economic times for all businesses and we recognise the sensitivities of making this investment. However, as Darlington’s local paper, we felt it was something we had to do. Darlington Football Club is an important part of our business, supporting sales of the paper, and it is an investment on behalf of our readers.

“The £10,000 will be split over the three phases of the appeal and I sincerely hope we get that far. It certainly won’t be for the lack of effort.”

Similar posts:

• Newsquest staff to vote on strike action over ‘subbing hub’
• ‘We will not be held to ransom’, Bournemouth Echo warns Southampton FC
• Audio: Regional newspapers compete with football clubs online
• Editor of the Liverpool Echo on the branding benefits of distributing a £1m Regional Growth Fund
• Why the Northern Echo will carry on employing Reverend Mullen

The Register: Salford ‘teething problems’ lead to BBC errors

BBC insiders have spoken out about “endemic problems” with technology at the new MediaCity facilities in Salford, which have led to a series of errors including one unfortunate captioning mistake that saw a child being labelled as a recovering alcoholic.

“Once a mistake has been entered into the computer, the director in the TV gallery can do nothing to stop it. The software won’t allow it,” a source told The Register.

Other problems include failing clocks and non-responsive robotic cameras. The problems have so far affected BBC North West programmes, but BBC Breakfast is also moving into the studio complex shortly.

The BBC response is: “It wasn’t a technical error but rather just a simple case of people getting used to the new systems. With the introduction of any new systems, teething problems are to be expected.”

Similar posts:

• BBC Breakfast moves to Salford: Early reaction
• Media release: Sian Williams swaps BBC Breakfast for Radio 4
• TheBusinessDesk expands with iPhone app for regional business news
• Paul Bradshaw, Twitter and the art of predicting the interview
• Camp VJ London – Day 1: An intro to visual storytelling

BBC Editors’ Blog: Guidance on breaking news and Twitter

After Sky News’s crackdown on Twitter use – and specifically retweeting non-Sky journalists – was revealed last night, it’s the BBC’s turn to clarify its position.

In a post on the BBC editors’ blog today, social media editor Chris Hamilton says the corporation has distributed some revised breaking news guidance to correspondents, reporters and producers.

It says that, when they have some breaking news, an exclusive or any kind of urgent update on a story, they must get written copy into our newsroom system as quickly as possible, so that it can be seen and shared by everyone – both the news desks which deploy our staff and resources (like TV trucks) as well as television, radio and online production teams.

We’ve been clear that our first priority remains ensuring that important information reaches BBC colleagues, and thus all our audiences, as quickly as possible – and certainly not after it reaches Twitter.

Similar posts:

• How news flows though the partially integrated newsroom of Liverpool Post and Echo papers
• Nieman: AP Interactive and a visual future for breaking news
• Sky News’ breaking news Twitter account integrated with news site
• Knight Center: What the Waco Tribune-Herald has learned from its premium content model
• Poynter Online: Social media literacy is goal for Sky News’ digital staff