Author Archives: Judith Townend

ScraperWiki blog: Hacks and Hackers hack day report

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As we reported earlier this week, journalists and programmers got together last Friday in London to produce some fantastically inspirational projects.

ScraperWiki (behind a new data tool soon to launch in beta) has now published its report of the day, explaining each of the projects. With a little more work, these projects could make excellent news stories.

Here are two of the ideas, for starters:

Conservative Safe Seats (the project that won overall; see video for presentation)

Developer Edmund van der Burg, freelance journalist Anne Marie Cumiskey, Charlie Duff from HRzone.co.uk, Ian McDonald of the BBC and Dafydd Vaughn munged a whole host of datasets together to produce an analysis of the new Conservative candidates in the 12 safest Tory seats in Britain. Their conclusions: British white and male, average age 53, Oxford-educated, rarely on Facebook or Twitter.

Who Pays Who (Enterprise Ireland)

Gavin Sheridan from TheStory.ie and Duncan Parkes of mySociety used ScraperWiki to combine a list of grants made by Enterprise Ireland (which Gavin had aquired via an FOI request) with the profile data listed on the Enterprise Ireland website. This will no doubt be a source for stories in the near future.

Full post at this link…

The disappearance of the Daily Mail Insider blog

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On Monday, the Independent’s Ian Burrell mentioned a “cheeky” Daily Mail Insider Blog in his media column. It wasn’t linked, but not difficult to find.

By Wednesday, it had been noted by the FleetStreetBlues blog and three hours later it was no more. Handily enough, Brian Whelan has captured the content of what, as he says, “are apparently the missing blog posts allegedly written by a Daily Mail journo”.


Orwell Prize blog entries double in 2010

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The Orwell Prize has received a record number of entries for the book, blogging and journalism prizes this year.

The journalists Peter Hitchens and Henry Porter, who both featured in last year’s journalism shortlist, become the first entrants to submit for all three prizes, its organisers announced today.

The entries will now be whittled down to long-lists of 12 (and 18 for the book), to be announced in March 2010, followed by shortlists in April, and the final winners in May. A release from the prize said:

The 84 journalism entries (versus 63 in 2009) include some of the year’s biggest scoops, including Robert Winnett on MPs’ expenses (Daily Telegraph), David Leigh on Trafigura, Paul Lewis on policing, Ian Cobain on torture, Iran and British hostages in Iraq (all The Guardian), Cathy Newman on British politics (Channel 4 News) and Jonathan Calvert and Claire Newell on the House of Lords (Sunday Times). There were also entries for campaigning journalism, including Rachel Cooke on library closures (The Observer) and Stefan Simanowitz on the people of the Western Sahara (freelance).

164 bloggers – nearly double last year’s total of 83 – will do battle in the Blog Prize. Professional journalists, including BBC economics editor Stephanie Flanders and Sky News foreign affairs editor Tim Marshall, will compete with blogosphere heavyweights including Iain Dale and Hopi Sen. There appears to be a ‘Nightjack’ effect after last year’s Blog Prize was won by a pseudonymous detective, with a postal worker (‘Roy Mayall’), a teacher (‘Mr Teacher’), a social worker (named after the main character from 1984, ‘Winston Smith’), a police officer (‘PC Bloggs’’) and even a dominatrix (‘sensory regulation’) putting themselves forward anonymously. Joining a number of local councillors are MEPs Dan Hannan and Mary Honeyball, and MPs John Redwood and Douglas Carswell. Legal campaigner Jack of Kent and exiled Jersey senator, Stuart Syvret are among the more campaign-oriented entries.

paidContent:UK: Guardian’s paywall warning ‘sounds like B.S’ to Murdoch

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paidContent:UK has a report from yesterday’s News Corp. conference call in which CEO Rupert Murdoch brushed off a paywall warning made by Alan Rusbridger last week. Murdoch hadn’t read the Guardian editor’s Hugh Cudlipp speech but when asked what he made of its content, said: “I think that sounds like B.S. to me.”

In regards to paywall progression at the Times, Murdoch said:

“We’re looking at various alternatives – and I don’t think we’re ready to announce yet …We’re in the midst of a lot of talks with a lot of people that are coming to a head – and you’ll hear a lot more from us in the next two months.”

Full post at this link…

Martin Moore: ‘What are the universal principles that guide journalism?’

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The UK’s Media Standards Trust is trying to define the principles of journalism, as part of its Value Added News transparency project.

The hNews microformatting system, recently adopted by 200 new sites, requires its users to sign up to journalism principles. “One of the key elements of hNews (…) is rel-principles,” explains MST director Martin Moore. “This is a line of code that embeds a link within each article to the news principles to which it adheres. It doesn’t specify what those principles should be, just that the article should link to some.”

In a blog post for the MediaShift Idea Lab, Moore outlines some of the problems associated with drawing up such a code. He describes the themes identified so far. “These themes are by no means comprehensive – nor are they intended to be,” he says. “They are a starting point for those, be they news organizations or bloggers, who are drawing up their own principles and need a place to start. We’d really like some feedback on whether these are right, if ten is too many, if there are any big themes missing, and which ones have most relevance to the web.”

  1. Public interest Example: “… to serve the general welfare by informing the people and enabling them to make judgments on the issues of the time” (American Society of Newspaper Editors)
  2. Truth and accuracy Example: “[The journalist] strives to ensure that information disseminated is honestly conveyed, accurate and fair” (National Union of Journalists, UK)
  3. Verification Example: “Seeking out multiple witnesses, disclosing as much as possible about sources, or asking various sides for comment… [The] discipline of verification is what separates journalism from other modes of communication, such as propaganda, fiction or entertainment” (Principles of Journalism, from Project for Excellence in Journalism)
  4. Fairness Example: “… our goal is to cover the news impartially and to treat readers, news sources, advertisers and all parts of our society fairly and openly, and to be seen as doing so” (New York Times Company Policy on Ethics in Journalism)
  5. Distinguishing fact and comment Example: “… whilst free to be partisan, [the press] must distinguish clearly between comment, conjecture and fact” (Editors Code of Practice, PCC, U.K.)
  6. Accountability Example: “The journalist shall do the utmost to rectify any published information which is found to be harmfully inaccurate” (International Federation of Journalists, Principles on the Conduct of Journalists)
  7. Independence Example: “Journalists should be free of obligation to any interest other than the public’s right to know… [and] Avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived” (Society of Professional Journalists)
  8. Transparency (regarding sources) Example: “Aim to attribute all information to its source. Where a source seeks anonymity, do not agree without first considering the source’s motives and any alternative, attributable source. Where confidences are accepted, respect them in all circumstances” (Australian Journalists Code)
  9. Restraint (around harassment and intrusion) Example: “The public has a right to know about its institutions and the people who are elected or hired to serve its interests. People also have a right to privacy and those accused of crimes have a right to a fair trial. There are inevitable conflicts between the right to privacy, the public good and the public’s right to be informed. Each situation should be judged in the light of common sense, humanity and the public’s rights to know” (Canadian Association of Journalists)
  10. Originality (i.e. not plagiarising) Example: “An AP staffer who reports and writes a story must use original content, language and phrasing. We do not plagiarise, meaning that we do not take the work of others and pass it off as our own” (Associated Press Statement of news values and principles)

Full post (and themes) at this link…

Burma VJ film nominated for ‘Best Documentary’ Oscar

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CNNGo.com reports that ‘Burma VJ’ is among the nominations for best documentary in this year’s Oscars.

Recently featured on Channel 4, Anders Østergaard’s film documented young video journalists during the 2007 uprisings led by Buddhist monks in Myanmar. From the Channel 4 website:

Armed with small handycams, the Burma VJs stop at nothing to make their reportages; their material is smuggled out of the country and broadcast back into Burma via satellite and offered as free usage for international media.

The whole world has witnessed single event clips made by the VJs, but for the very first time, their individual images have been put together with Østergaard’s sparingly-used reconstruction to tell a riveting story which offers a unique insight into high-risk journalism and dissidence in a police state, while at the same time providing a thorough documentation of the historical and dramatic days of September 2007, when the Buddhist monks started marching.

Other Oscar ‘Best Documentary’ nominations include ‘The Cove’; ‘Food, Inc,’ ‘Which Way Home’ and ‘The Most Dangerous Man In America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers.’


Max Mosley repeats call for “right to notification”

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As reported by Journalism.co.uk two weeks ago, former Formula One chief, Max Mosley, is repeating his call for a legal “right to notification” before a newspaper publishes allegations about an individual.
Interviewed this morning on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme, Mosley said that such notification would give an individual time to go to a judge to convince them to stop publication:

“But its a very hard task to convince a judge because you have to show you are likely to win the ultimate case.”

And he added that there was “no public interest” in the publication of allegations about the private life of the England football captain, John Terry.

Full story at this link…

Media release: FT acquires Medley Global Advisors

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Owner of the Financial Times, Pearson, has announced its acquisition of Medley Global Advisors LLC (MGA), a company that provides “macro policy intelligence” to investment banks, hedge funds and asset manager.

MGA, which had estimated gross assets of $7.3 million at the year end, will continue to operate from its headquarters in New York, with offices in Washington DC, London, Frankfurt, Beijing and Tokyo.

“The acquisition strengthens the FT’s position as a global leader in premium financial information,” said a release from the FT.

“The acquisition will enhance the FT’s portfolio of services geared towards major global financial institutions and asset managers, including FTfm, its global fund management supplement, and Money-Media, the market leader in online news and commentary for the fund management sector.

“This acquisition delivers another premium service to an important FT audience and reinforces our strategy of building strong subscriber and digital businesses in core sectors,” said John Ridding, chief executive of the FT.

Full announcement at this link…

BBC aggregates outside content with See Also blog

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Prompted by blogger Daniel Bennett, I just took a look at See Also – a BBC blog that collects together the “best of the web, including comment, newspaper editorials and analysis”. It’s fairly mainstream media focused, but does pick up a bit of individual blogger comment too, on issues of the day: yesterday’s looked at  Obama’s cancellation of the moon mission, for example.

BBC’s See Also at this link.

The London Weekly: some unanswered questions

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Could The London Weekly be the new ‘Cake,’ I wondered this morning, after reading James Ball’s latest blog post and a few tweets among my contacts.

One of the commenters on the Guardian’s story about the new freesheet launching in London already suggested that Brass Eye’s Chris Morris could be among the potential hoaxers. Had I, like many other media journalists, really swallowed a fake story about a fake newspaper? Ball challenged media reports on London’s latest freesheet, supposedly set to launch this coming Friday, raising valid concerns about its address information and lack of presence on Companies House.

According to its site, The London Weekly is funded by five private equity investors as part of the Global Publishing Group (GPG) and the Guardian reported that a “media pack circulating before Christmas claimed the backers had raised about £10.5m to launch the London Weekly…”

I was sceptical about this new company from the beginning, but in December I spoke to its listed managing editor, Roisin Robertson, on the phone, via contact details I found on various environmental websites (she is linked to Greenpeace and the Green Party online). She assured me she was its managing editor and couldn’t tell me much more before launch. According to an online biography, she was formerly chief reporter of the Chislehurst Times and a Parliamentary Green Party candidate in 2008. After speaking to Robertson, I went ahead and published a blog post, questioning the quality of the new site.

Then on 22 January Robertson left a comment on our blog saying she was no longer involved. I called her and she told me she didn’t wish to go into exactly why, but for personal reasons she was stepping down. As I previously reported (along with new details of its alleged expansion plans), this was the London Weekly’s statement: “We had a temporary acting editor for the launch of the website and our new editor is Alan Mills.”

Today, following James Ball’s post and after reading the Guardian commenters’ contributions to the whole thing, I did some more digging, which has left me only more confused. Whether or not the new paper exists, they’ve got a very bizarre PR strategy indeed.

Here’s what I’ve got:

  • The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) is now investigating, but knew nothing of it straight off.
  • The London Weekly is not registered with the Press Complaints Commission (PCC).
  • Samsung and Packard Bell press offices confirmed they had donated prizes for its promotions, but didn’t have many more details to share.

The company:

  • A London Weekly Ltd incorporated in December 2009 is listed on Companies House and registered to one Oleg Kozerod, who I have not yet been able to locate contact details for online, or via the site that claims the same company number (07107785). But this seems to be separate to the TheLondonWeekly.co.uk.
  • A Global Publishing Ltd is listed on Companies House, incorporated in March 2009 with this address: 238 Abbeyfield Road, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, S4 7AZ. No accounts have yet been filed.
  • BUT: Global Publishing Group and The London Weekly, as described in its media pack and on the website, do not claim to be ‘limited’ on the LondonWeekly.co.uk website. According to Companies House, they do not have to register as such, unless they call themselves Ltd. So we don’t necessarily have any official information on them. I was given this address by one of TLW’s promotion partners: c/o Unit 107, 203 Mare Studios, London, E8 3QE.
  • As James Ball noted, “[LTW is] certainly not based at the address given on the website’s Whois Record. That gives a registered address of 2 Old Brompton Rd. Google Street View shows this is a FedEx PO Box site.”

The people:

  • When I ring the number given on TheLondonWeekly.co.uk I am asked my name before I am put through to anyone. The last time I did this, they told me no-one was available to talk to me (despite noise in the background). Earlier in the day I was told Paul Morris, the marketing manager with whom I had email contact last week, was in a meeting. Morris had previously told me it was against company policy to give interviews over the phone in case they were misquoted.
  • Angus Auden, listed as the head of display, returned my call today. He said his main contact is with its editor Alan Mills (who has not returned my email) and he could not tell me about the business. Despite the long list of journalists, Auden said he has been responsible for uploading material online as a “key contributor”. “I don’t know an awful lot about the background to it,” he told me. He seemed surprised when I suggested the whole thing was a wind-up. “Well, if it is I’ve been wasting my time, but I can assure you it’s not” he said. He said it would launch this Friday, as scheduled. “There are a lot of people in offices all over the place,” he said. Best bitcoin casino https://fairspin.bet/
  • The Auden-Robertson-Hamilton Invincible connection: Angus Auden, Roisin Robertson and Paul Hamilton (a new name given to me by one of the promotion partners) all are apparently involved in an online radio station, Invincible. Auden and ‘Lady Roisin’ are friends on Facebook.
  • I called Paul Hamilton. He, like Auden, claimed to know little about the company’s background and said he was not involved full-time. He also denied it being a hoax and said he expected it to launch soon.

So there you go. In Jarvian process journalism style, I will have set up a Help Me Investigate group for sceptical people to share any findings. With a list of over 50 staff, we must be able to track down some more information…

As a postscript, this is what happens when you search for the name of Global Publishing Group’s editor-in-chief: