Channel 4 newsreader Jon Snow returned to university today to receive a degree 40 years after being expelled.

Snow studied law at Liverpool University from 1968 to 1970, but was kicked out after a rooftop protest against the university’s investment in South Africa during apartheid.

The protesting students demanded the removal of Liverpool University’s chancellor Lord Salisbury who they accused of sympathising with white regimes in South Africa and what was then Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe.

Snow – who went straight from volunteering in Africa to university – was one of hundreds of students who occupied the institution’s Senate House.

The infamous newsreader says that he is glad he was expelled, as it prevented him from becoming an “extremely mediocre and wonky” lawyer.

He wrote today:

To this day, I have not had a degree. I was studying law. Academe had not been an easy path for me, but my studies were going well. Whilst in some ways eviction served me well in that I didn’t become a fifth-rate lawyer, in other ways it left me questioning whether I would ever have got the degree.

But today Liverpool University and I buried the hatchet. I had the honour of hearing the pro vice-chancellor read out a eulogy about me – or rather, about a man I didn’t really seem to recognise, some character who reported for Channel 4.

From henceforth, no more ‘Mr’ Snow. I am Dr Snow, honorary Doctor of Laws (Liverpool University). Coming back on the train, I had relished the experience. But Somalia beckoned, the Murdoch mayhem beckoned. Another day, another dollar.

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Tomorrow Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne will make his budget statement to the House of Commons, with media outlets busy preparing to cover in detail its contents tomorrow. So what have broadcasters got planned?

A brainstorming session at Channel 4 along with the help of Ben Marsh, the developer behind #uksnow map, has resulted in Cutsmap, a crowdsourced map to track spending cuts as part of Channel 4′s coverage of the budget. The map launched today, and you can read more about it here.

Meanwhile, Sky News Online is planning to offer a budget calculator to allow people to enter details such as their salary, age and fuel usage, to see how much better or worse off they will be following the announcement.

The ITV News website will host a live web chat starting at 12.20pm, featuring a panel of experts who users can question and interact with online.

BBC Radio 5 Live will cover the budget by ‘adopting’ two towns and following how the announcements will impact on residents’ lives over the coming year.

“We chose Chorley and Falmouth so we can look at how two places, 350 miles apart and with very different economies, are affected by the same policies. Who’s struggling and who’s doing well?” Stephen Mawhinney, Radio 5 Live’s head of news said in a release.

Mawhinney added: “We’ll be in regular contact with the people of Chorley and Falmouth, asking for their thoughts and experiences on everything from interest rates and jobs to the price of food, the prices of fuel, and the price of a university education – everything which affects how they live and how much money they have in their back pocket.”Similar Posts:

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Culture secretary Jeremy Hunt today cleared the way for Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation to purchase the 61 per cent of BSkyB it does not already own, for around £8 billion. As part of the deal, Sky News will be spun off to an ‘independent’ company.

Here, Channel 4 News picks over the details of the deal and grills the culture secretary over the issue of media plurality, which many believe to be under threat.

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Dispatches is following up on its October phone-hacking investigation tonight with a new installment.

Channel 4 News presenter Alex Thomson tweets that there is “furious re-editing” underway “as new evidence comes in of News International dirty tricks”.

According to Thomson, “it’s not just the tabloids Dirty Secrets…”

Tune in to Channel 4 at 8pm tonight.

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Following the Twitter conversation around last night’s Channel 4 Dispatches on phone-hacking, Andy Coulson and the News of the World, it seems that for those already following the story there was insufficient new evidence.

But for those less aware of the ongoing claims and the series of investigations that have been conducted, the programme did a great job of putting the most recent claims – sparked by the New York Times’ reports in September – into context with what has gone before, starting with Clive Goodman and Glenn Mulcaire’s arrests in 2006.

Dispatches had comments from Paul McMullen, a journalist working at the News of the World when Coulson joined, and an unidentified source who worked under former editor Coulson while he was deputy editor.

Both alleged that phone-hacking did not begin and end with Goodman and Mulcaire. McMullan told the programme that there was surprise in the newsroom following Goodman’s arrest and sentencing that no one else had been charged.

Of 13 people who worked at the paper during Coulson’s editorship or time as deputy editor and have spoken to Dispatches, not one believes that Goodman was a lone “bad apple”.

Questioning Coulson’s “collective amnesia” and rulings by the Met Police and other industry groups that Goodman and Mulcaire were the only people involved in the practice may not be new, but Dispatches did a good job of raising some new points, as yet largely uncovered by the mainstream media. In particular, the programme spoke with a non-celebrity potential victim of phone-hacking, who explained how difficult it has been to get information from the police and her mobile phone operator to check if she had been hacked.

Concerns were raised by interviewees, including Brian Paddick, who is calling for a judicial review of the Met’s 2006 inquiry, and DCMS select committee member Adam Price, who had suggested that News International’s Rebekah Brooks should be made to give evidence to its phone-hacking inquiry, that whatever the truth behind the allegations about the extend of the practice, the way in which investigations by government and the Metropolitan police have been conducted suggests that the News of the World may be “above the law”.

Tom Watson MP, who worked on the department for culture, media and sport’s select committee inquiry into allegations against the NOTW, told Dispatches that he considered giving up politics after a senior News International journalist told him that he would be pursued by its titles after he called for Tony Blair’s resignation in 2006 because of the support of News International for the then PM.

Watson has now published a letter on his website written to the Prime Minister and asking him to make a statement in parliament this week about the allegations against his communications director Coulson.

Coulson has repeatedly denied knowledge of phone-hacking at the News of the World and told Dispatches he had nothing to add in response to its broadcast.

Lack of press coverage at the time of Goodman’s arrest suggested similar goings-on at other papers, said Dispatches’ host Peter Oborne last night. But given the Daily Mail columnist’s involvement and the featured commentary from former News of the World journalists, Channel 4 and the Guardian, has last night’s broadcast created a more united front amongst the press to investigate its own state of affairs?Similar Posts:

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Culture secretary Jeremy Hunt will say today that he intends to make the provision of local content a condition of the licences given to commercial broadcasters like ITV, Channel 4 and Five.

In a speech today to the Royal Television Society, Hunt will also tell those channels with a public service broadcasting remit (PSBs) that retaining a prime position in the Electronic Programme Guide or future equivalent would depend on their commitment to “content with a social or cultural benefit”.

I will begin the process of redefining public service broadcasting for the digital age by asking Ofcom to look at how we can ensure that enough emphasis is given to the delivery of local content.

Of course not all PSBs will want, or be able, to be local broadcasters. But I’m determined that we should recognise the public value in those that do.

Echoing the sentiments of his party’s ‘big society’ idea, Hunt will warn broadcasters about not investing in local news:

If we remain centralised, top-down and London-centric – in our media provision as in the rest of government – we will fail to reflect the real demand for stronger local identity that has always existed and that new technologies are now allowing us to meet.

Hunt will add that he has been “strongly encouraged by the serious thought that the BBC has been giving to how it might partner with new local media providers”.

He is expected to say that, despite the UK “fast becoming one of the most atomised societies in the world”, those looking back in the future will see its media as “deeply, desperately centralised.”

They will be astonished to find that three out of five programmes made by our public service broadcasters are produced in London.

They will note that there is nothing but national news on most of the main channels, beamed shamelessly from the centre.

And they will discover token regional news broadcasts that have increasingly been stretched across vast geographical areas – with viewers in Weymouth watching the same so-called “local” story as viewers in Oxford. Viewers in Watford watching the same story as viewers in Chelmsford.

Hunt will also set out his vision for local TV provision:

My vision is of a landscape of local TV services broadcasting for as little as one hour a day;

Free to affiliate to one another – formally or informally – in a way that brings down costs;

Free to offer nationwide deals to national advertisers;

Able to piggyback existing national networks – attracting new audiences and benefitting from inherited ones at the same time;

And able to exploit the potential of new platform technologies such as YouView and mobile TV to grow their service and improve their cost-effectiveness.

In June, Hunt scrapped plans for new local news networks set up by the previous government. Hunt called the plans for Independently Funded News Consortia (IFNC) in Tyne Tees and Borders, Scotland, and Wales “misguided” and claimed they “risked turning a whole generation of media companies into subsidy junkies, focusing all their efforts not on attracting viewers but on persuading ministers and regulators to give them more cash”.

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To mark the launch of a new internship scheme, Channel 4 is taking part in a live Q&A session on the Guardian’s Careers website today from 12-3pm.

Jo Taylor, head of learning and 4talent; Alison George, learning and organisational development specialist at Channel 4; and representatives from several independent production companies will be on hand to answer your questions about breaking into the TV industry.

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Last night I enjoyed lurking on the Twitter backchannel while watching Channel 4′s Ask the Chancellor debate – trivia mixed with observational insight.

I liked Evening Standard journalist Paul Waugh’s tweet about George Osborne’s ‘invisible pedal’ left-foot habit, as much as the economic 140-character analysis and Channel 4′s live poll via tweets, as the Chancellor hopefuls and incumbent fought it out (Vince Cable was the eventual winner, with 36 per cent; leaving Osborne and Darling with 32 per cent each).

Twitter also gave us an insight into the Channel 4/BBC political debate rivalry – spotted in tweets between Channel 4′s Faisal Islam and Radio 4′s Evan Davis. This, from Islam, for example:

amused by @r4today s licence-fee funded sniffiness about #askthechancellors Obviously nowt to do with this: http://bit.ly/aoc4MH

Probably worth noting this too, spotted via @the_mediablog:

RT @DominicFarrell: Those who will decide the #election were watching Coronation Street #askthechancellors

That was a sentiment supported by this morning’s TV stats: Brand Republic reports that Ask the Chancellors peaked at 2.1 million, while 9 million watched Eastenders.

So how important was this backchannel and the digital audience? That was the question Jim Naughtie posed to POLIS director Charlie Beckett on this morning’s BBC Radio 4 Today programme (audio at this link). Beckett said:

I think the real winner (…) despite some of the media cynicism, was in a sense ‘democracy’. I detected a lot of people who were quite pleased to hear a lengthy debate in detail, in public, by these people.

Beckett elaborates here, on his blog:

It all makes for much richer, multi-layered reportage. The TV debate alone would have been worth it. But the fact that tens of thousands of people were taking part reminds us that citizens do care about politics. And they want to be part of reporting the debate as it happens.

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The UK is ready for its first ever televised leader election debates following an agreement between the three main political parties and BBC, Sky and ITV, the BBC reports.

Labour’s Gordon Brown, Conservative leader David Cameron and Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg have agreed to go head-to-head in a series of three debates.

Each clash will last about 90 minutes, with ITV’s Alastair Stewart hosting the first and Sky’s Adam Boulton the next.

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Channel 4 News has launched a new blog to offer blow-by-blow coverage of the inquiry into the UK’s involvement in the Iraq war – with a focus on deeper analysis of the proceedings which have started this week.

The blog will be written anonymously by ‘a Channel 4 News reporter with a deep interest and thorough knowledge of intelligence and security matters’, according to a press release.

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Channel 4 is cutting its lunchtime news bulletin and More4 News ‘as part of a cost-cutting move that will place a number of journalism jobs under threat,’ the Guardian reports.

“Staff at ITN, which produces Channel 4′s news output, were told of the decision at lunchtime today. Channel 4 said the aim of the cuts was to protect the flagship 7pm bulletin, presented by Jon Snow.”

Full story at this link…

Benjamin Cohen, technology correspondent for Channel 4 News, tweeted:

“Grim staff meeting. News at Noon and More4 News cancelled. Wonder how it will be reflected on-screen tonight (…)”

Then:

“Tweet that Channel4 News at Noon and More4 News are axed spread like wildfire. Very tough story to cover I assume.”

Update: A spokesperson for ITN told Journalism.co.uk:

“We are immensely proud of the high quality programming produced for Channel 4. Whilst we are very disappointed that the financial challenges facing the channel have left them with no option but to reduce budgets, we’ve worked in partnership with Channel 4 to identify savings which will not jeopardise the quality and integrity of the flagship Channel 4 News bulletin. We look forward to continuing to provide the programme for many years to come.”

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WSJ.com runs a short interview with BBC Worldwide chief executive John Smith:

“The commercial arm of the British Broadcasting Corp., BBC Worldwide, and public service broadcaster Channel 4, could agree a joint venture within weeks, although it would be a scaled down version of the original proposals, BBC Worldwide chief executive John Smith told Dow Jones Newswires Tuesday.”

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Although no agreement was reached in time for the Digital Britain report, noises from both parties are positive on a partnership between Channel 4 and BBC Worldwide. BroadcastNow.co.uk reports:

“Channel 4 is on the brink of entering the next phase of its evolution after the government backed a tie-up with BBC Worldwide and called for it to put renewed emphasis on content for older children and multiplatform delivery.”

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It’s coming up to 3pm, @krishgm will soon be ready and waiting – it’s time to put some questions to him via Twitter through our live coverage account @journalism_live. Feel free to throw in your own too, just Tweet @krishgm with the tag ‘#ch4′.

A bit of background: Krishnan Guru-Murthy is one of Channel 4 News’s presenters, based in the UK. You can find his full biography here on the Channel 4 site. Here’s an interview with commissioning editor Vicky Taylor on the channel’s web strategies. He has been Twittering since early February this year (first Tweet here). Channel 4 News has had a presence on Twitter for longer.

We live-tracked it here but we’re now reproducing the questions and answers from the Twinterview with @krishgm here. Mainly questions from us with a few from the crowd (order of Tweets altered or split slightly to make it clear). Enjoy!

journalism_live: @krishgm hello there! all set? #ch4
krishgm: @journalism_live #ch4 yep – here and ready

journalism_live: @krishgm great! here comes your first Q then… #ch4 journalism_live: @krishgm Were you reluctant to start Twittering? #ch4
krishgm: @journalism_live i wasn’t reluctant at all – just a bit bemused. but people on twitter really help you – it is a very warm experience #ch4

journalism_live:@krishgm Was it your idea? #ch4
krishgm:@journalism_live yes i just wanted to see what the fuss was about so gave it a go, and within a week or so i really got it. #ch4

journalism_live: @krishgm How has your use of it changed now you’ve been going at it since early feb? #ch4
krishgm: @journalism_live I also use it for random personal stuff about me and my life – i find myself opening up a bit! #ch4
krishgm: @journalism_live but i can see myself and the programme using it more and more to contact people about stories #ch4
krishgm: @journalism_live i think the most exciting thing is the way networks overlap – so people you are not following end up talking to you

journalism_live: @krishgm who does the Twittering for @channel4news – is that you as well? #ch4
krishgm: @journalism_live no not me – i do actually have a job too. identity is a state secret. like the banker on ‘deal or no deal’ #ch4

journalism_live:4 @krishgm ooo… mystery. Are you thinking as ‘presenter of channel 4 news’ when you submit a Tweet via @krishgm? #ch4
krishgm: @journalism_live sometimes i tweet purely with work in mind…but there’s a fair amount of personal stuff too. I wonder if it jars…? #ch4

journalism_live: @krishgm #ch4 is Twitter beating Channel 4 to breaking news stories and is this something @krishgm is more aware of now? (@lauraoliver)
krishgm: @journalism_live i think it offers something totally different and not competing. we don’t do 24 hr news. we want to be best not first #ch4
krishgm: @journalism_live i must clarify ‘best not first’ comment. we do also like to be first where we can (i.e. scoops) but we not 24 hr news #ch4

Britt_W: @krishgm #ch4 Does Twitter in any way ‘slow down’ people at work do you think? Or is it inspiring and makes them more productive instead?
krishgm: @Britt_W yes! it does slow us down when we twittering rubbish! #ch4

journalism_live: @krishgm and are there drawbacks of journalists sourcing via Twitter? #ch4
krishgm: @journalism_live you have to verify all information – so the same rules apply. i think there are potential man-traps – such as liars. #ch4
journalism_live: @krishgm Yes, you recently Tweeted it’s ‘just a new medium’ for finding people – Or could you ever call people’s Tweets ‘journalism’?#ch4
krishgm: @journalism_live You can tell an accurate story in 140 characters so yes in theory it can be journalism. But mostly, no! #ch4

programx: @krishgm You and @channel4news have asked for user ideas/opinion on prog content. How does mgt see this? Infringing on their domain? #ch4
krishgm: @ProgramX well we have three meetings a day between C4 News and News at Noon where mgt are there and we discuss it all #ch4

journalism_live: @krishgm #ch4 is quite conversational via its use of @channel4news – was that a deliberate strategy?
krishgm: @journalism_live @channel4news is a sort of window on the newsroom and all the bonkers stuff said in here so yes #ch4
krishgm: @journalism_live we think its a mistake to tweet lots of ‘breaking news’ updates that are really just driving traffic to websites. #ch4

journalism_live: @krishgm 140chs must be a constraint for conversation: any plans to develop a fuller blog for yourself? #ch4
krishgm: @journalism_live not right now. I think i’m better suited to twitter! a blog is hard work – and i write a daily email when on #ch4

TGRWorzel:@krishgm I think it is a good way for audience to suggest questions, if we know who you are going to interview
krishgm: @TGRWorzel i really love all the suggested questions for interviews. please send more #ch4

journalism_live: @krishgm someone asked earlier if Ch4′s ‘freer’ tone was because didn’t have constraints of BBC licence fee? (@buffsrawlinson) #ch4
krishgm: @journalism_live wouldn’t overstate it but yes i think that is a factor. plus we smaller, less bureaucratic, fewer bosses, etc #ch4
journalism_live: @krishgm yes were surprised how small! http://is.gd/l6F5
krishgm: @journalism_live that article obviously didn’t mention the 100 odd people making C4 News on the telly #ch4
journalism_live: @krishgm of course! to clarify that’s just the website #ch4

journalism_live: You just mentioned that you now incorporate viewer suggestions into interviews?#ch4
krishgm: @journalism_live I don’t promise to incorporate (I don’t quote) – but they inform me when I’m deciding what to ask and what is ‘big’ #ch4
journalism_live: @krishgm but again with being aware that people might have an agenda? #ch4
krishgm: @journalism_live yes of course – you wouldn’t just use a tweet as uncorroborated source. there’s all sort of bonkers types out here! #ch4

journalism_live: @krishgm do you think inc. more informal tone and method will influence TV prog. content? #ch4
krishgm: @journalism_live i think tv tone naturally changes with the times and often becomes more informal and more direct. it is one influence #ch4
krishgm: @journalism_live i think there’s still so much confusion about what twitter is, and what its for in general population #ch4
krishgm: @journalism_live you keep hearing ‘we’re on twitter’ on tv/radio without it always being an interesting use of twitter that adds value #ch4

Britt_W: @krishgm #ch4 Another question: Are you divided in your views regarding using Twitter or are you all for it? Does it cause a problem?
krishgm @Britt_W nobody is against it, but lots just don’t understand yet why anyone would botherbeing on twitter. they will #ch4
Britt_W: @krishgm #ch4 Sorry, didn’t express myself properly. Meant: Is C4 STAFF (not just you) divided in their views ie some for – some against?

programx: @krishgm You’ve tweeted while on air, something @declancurry also does. Is there scope 4 making C4News even more interactive this way? #ch4
krishgm @ProgramX ssshhhhh! the boss wouldnt approve! I’m supposed to be concentrating solely on the show! but its fun. #ch4
krishgm @ProgramX as before – really like getting feedback/suggestions live on air #ch4

journalism_live: @krishgm and has there been any mention of Ofcom? Of course it’s a very grey area what they do and don’t police #ch4
krishgm @journalism_live never heard anything about ofcom – but our reputation is at stake on all media so we have to be careful. #ch4
krishgm @journalism_live and twitter is not overseen by an editor – so there are potential problems. blogs are checked before publication #ch4
krishgm @journalism_live god, i’ve just thrown up a massive issue there about overseeing output…#ch4
journalism_live @krishgm Vicky Taylor said journs are ‘prof journalists – they’re aware of what they can and can’t write’ so it’s not a ‘major prob’ #ch4
krishgm @journalism_live well that’s good and a great and supportive position from the Channel – until somebody screws up! #ch4

journalism_live @krishgm will pursue that one with more than 140 chs… Q from @gemmanewby – will twitter threaten journo/researcher/photographer jobs?#ch4
krishgm @journalism_live i can’t see why it threatens anything at all. it enhances. #ch4

krishgm @journalism_live last q….am going to have to go do some work soon! #ch4
journalism_live @krishgm yes, us too. a silly Q from @thespyglass Does Krishnan ever consciously compete with Jon on the tie front?! #ch4
krishgm @journalism_live well i love ties too and have about 300 on a wall at home, so maybe a bit. we have v diff styles. me flowers/insects #ch4
journalism_live @krishgm great – a v impt Q and insight to end on. Cheers Krishnan. Apologies to his fllwrs for hogging the chat. #ch4

krishgm @journalism_live a pleasure – lets do it again sometime. #ch4
journalism_live: @krishgm see you around. Bye for now! #ch4

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Channel 4 News sourced an interview via Twitter today for the first time. Over the last few months the channel has increased its level of communication with users and viewers via its @channel4news Twitter account and presenter Krishnan Guru-Murthy’s own, @krishgm.

After setting up an interview with someone sending Twitter updates from the airport at which an aeroplane crashed in Amsterdam, Guru-Murthy tweeted “It’s just another way of finding people and talking. ‘Twitizen journalism’ is a rather dressy way of describing it I think.”

It’s ‘just a new medium,’ he later added.

This update comes from the news team:

“We got to a good eyewitness at the airport today via Twitter – then a phono. He described the plane ‘in three pieces at least’ and that there wasn’t any visible smoke and gave us good detail – see below on hearing the plane coming down and seeing over 50 ambulances, and possible survivors walking from the wreckage:

“An eyewitness – Jonathan Nip [@nipp] – talking to Channel 4 News initially via Twitter and then on the phone also described the moment the plane came down as a “low thump” saying he thought there had been ‘an earthquake’.

“He added that he thought he saw ‘just after the crash, people coming out of the plane’ but that it was ‘really hard to distinguish’, however adding: ‘at the same time a lot of ambulances came and a lot of emergency helicopters so that implies there are at least some survivors’ although he said ‘it looks really bad in any case’.

“Saying that he thought the speed of the response meant that the ‘rescue operation is being done really well…’ he described seeing ‘a lot of ambulances, I am talking about over 50 ambulances, even emergency helicopters, normal helicopters, a lot of police, firemen, huge fire trucks immediately after crash’.”

Background: A Turkish airline passenger flight crashed in Amsterdam today and broke into several pieces, resulting in an unconfirmed number of casualties: latest update here.

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