Category Archives: Jobs

Media release: Former Newsnight editor appointed as director of BBC Vision

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George Entwistle has been named as director of BBC Vision following what the broadcaster called “an extensive recruitment search” after Jana Bennett’s departure earlier this year.

Entwistle, a former editor of Newsnight, will take up the post with immediate effect. As part of his role he will also oversee Vision Productions and have editorial oversight for UKTV.

I am genuinely honoured to have been chosen for the role of director, BBC Vision.

The BBC’s television portfolio is of enormous importance to the creative and cultural life of the UK and is performing strongly in terms of quality and audience reach and share.

At the heart of its success, BBC Vision Productions is responsible for some of the best television programmes we broadcast.

I feel enormously proud to be leading these teams and I will do my utmost to build on the legacy of talent and excellence left by my predecessor, Jana Bennett.

You can see his full BBC biography here…

Norfolk blogger supports Archant journalists facing job cuts

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Food blogger and pie maker Brays Cottage Pork Pies has voiced support for Archant journalists facing job cuts, hosting a guest post from a former reporter.

Blogger “Sarah” describes local newspapers as “part of the warp and weft of a community ” and states Norfolk has some of the best in the Eastern Daily Press (EDP) and The Norwich Evening News.

She goes on to urge people to email Archant expressing their concerns about job losses.

The anonymous reporter highlights campaigns championed by Archant publications and the role of local newspapers within the community, in their contribution.

If public bodies are making cuts (aren’t they all?) who’s going to tell you about it and who’s going to give you a voice to shout about it?

Who’s going to tell you about crime, both major and minor, on your doorstep? Who’s going to tell you about events in your neighbourhood?

Who’s going to highlight the ordinary people who do extraordinary things to help charities and the community? Who’s going to tell you the quirky little stories that make you smile over your cornflakes?

The full blog post can be found here.

 

 

Facebook appoints Mashable community manager in new journalism role

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Mashable’s community manager and social media strategist Vadim Lavrusik is to take up Facebook’s new role of journalist program manager.

Journalism.co.uk reported in February that Facebook had created the role in its marketing team in order to bring in an experienced journalist to help news organisations understand how the social network can be used as a reporting and distribution tool.

Announcing his new role on his Facebook page Lavrusik said he will be “leading the charge” to build programs that help journalists utilise Facebook in their reporting.

This includes the likes of the recently launched Journalists on Facebook Page and Facebook Journalism Meetups program, as well as resources for journalism educators, but also taking insightful feedback to product on how Facebook can be improved for journalism.

Sunday Sport founder expected to relaunch paper

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The founder of the Sunday Sport is believed to be buying back the title, which went into administration on 4 April.

David Sullivan, who is joint chairman of West Ham United, launched the Sunday Sport in 1986, following with the Daily Sport in 1991.

He sold the two titles in 2007, for £40 million and is now believed to be buying back the Sunday paper for less that £1 million.

A former Sunday Sport editor told Journalism.co.uk Sullivan’s team spent some of yesterday looking for new offices for the Manchester-based title, which is expected to relaunch on 8 May.

Administrators for the Sport titles, BDO, told Journalism.co.uk no deal has been completed and they are “still talking to interested parties”.

It is thought the Daily Sport is not part of the deal.

If no buyer is found for the daily, it will be the first national daily to shut since Today closed in 1995.

Sullivan bailed out Sports Media Group, which owned the titles, in 2009, with a £1.6 million loan, but did not offer more money to save the titles earlier this month when the papers shut with the loss of all 80 jobs, administrators said.

A relaunched Sport would see Sullivan look to win back readers, who have been welcomed by Richard Desmond’s title the Daily Star Sunday since the Sunday Sport’s closure.

A message on the paper’s masthead using the Sport’s typeface has been used by the Daily Star Sunday for the past two weeks.

National Union of Journalists negotiator Lawrence Shaw said he “would welcome any newspaper start up” but warned the sale could still leave freelancers owed large amounts of money.

Debate: Will other reporters follow Tindle’s and strike over quality?

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Journalists at Tindle newspapers in north London are striking over the declining quality of the nine newspapers written by just three news reporters.

They complain they cannot leave the office to cover court stories, council meetings and are delivering a poor product to readers.

They are saying “enough is enough” and downing tools for a full two weeks. Nine editorial staff will walk out from Tuesday.

Tindle has said it will aim to produce the Enfield papers during the strike. Father of the chapel and features editor of the north London papers Jonathan Lovett speculated that they would do this by asking staff from other regional centres to cover.

So are the striking Tindle nine bravely leading the way to stop “churnalism” and deliver a better quality product for readers or are they standing on a picket line for two weeks only to ask the impossible of a company which has been hit by declining sales and advertising?

And, of course, cuts and declining quality is not just happening at Tindle newspapers.

It’s not just Tindle’s arts pages that are cut back, reporters who are over worked and council meetings that are ignored.

The last three years have seen cuts in regional newspapers across the country.

Jobs have been lost, subs’ posts have disappeared, production has moved way beyond the area where the spellings of councillors’ names and villages are known, football reports have been written a long way from the pitch and change pages have been reduced.

So can the quality of regional newspapers be upheld by industrial action taken by the reporters who write them? We would like to know your opinions on this issue.

Newsquest staff to vote on strike action over ‘subbing hub’

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Nearly 80 Newsquest journalists are to vote on whether to take strike action in protest over plans to axe 14 subbing jobs in Darlington and York.

Newsquest plans to create a subbing hub in Bradford, which is 70 miles from Darlington, where the production of the weekly papers will take place.

The sub-editing of the dailies, the Northern Echo in Darlington and the Press in York, will remain at the existing locations.

Four jobs will be created in Bradford as subbing operations move during the next six months.

Members of the National Union of Journalists at Darlington, Durham, Northallerton, Bishop Auckland and York will take part in the ballot, which closes on 3 May.

“Newsquest needs to convince us, their staff and in all probability themselves, that this plan can work but management has shied away from that debate. At some point Newsquest will have to stop the cuts and start taking all their staff with them – in all senses of the words,” NUJ northern and midlands organiser Chris Morley said in a statement.

BBC Scotland’s head of news to step down

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BBC Scotland’s head of news and current affairs, Atholl Duncan, is stepping down, the corporation has announced.

Duncan will take up a role as executive director, UK and Global, for ICAS – the professional body for accountants, after overseeing coverage of the Scottish election on 5 May.

Duncan has been in charge of the BBC’s Scottish news operation since December 2006. He first joined the corporation in 1984 and worked in a variety of senior news roles.

In a release, BBC Scotland director Ken MacQuarrie paid tribute to Duncan’s commitment and professionalism: “Atholl has played a key role in delivering high quality journalism for our audiences, however they choose to consume it. Under his stewardship, our news team has won a string of awards and we wish him well in his new role.”

Following Duncan’s departure, John Boothman will become acting head of news and current affairs until the role is filled on a permanent basis.

Comment: Response to Kelvin MacKenzie on shutting journalism colleges

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Media law, 100 words a minute shorthand and how to shoot and edit a video, these are just some of what I probably would not have learned in my first month on a local paper.

But according to former Sun editor Kelvin MacKenzie, writing for the Independent this morning, “there’s nothing you can learn in three years studying media at university that you can’t learn in just one month on a local paper”.

He believes aspiring reporters should start on their local newspaper at 18 and be on a national by 21. Perhaps he is unaware local newspaper editors, radio stations and TV newsdesks are not exactly falling over themselves to take on teenagers with no training.

Learning on the job may be a highwire act but it will be a lesson you will never forget compared with listening to ‘professor’ Roy Greenslade explaining why Wapping was a disgrace. No amount of academic debate is going to give you news sense, even if you have a PhD. It’s a knack and you’ve either got it or you haven’t.

There are more than 80 schools in the UK teaching journalism. These courses are make-work projects for retired journalists who teach for six months a year and are on a salary of £34,000- £60,000. Students are piling up debts as they pay to keep their tutors in the lifestyles they’re used to. I’d shut down all the journalism colleges today. If you want to be a print journalist you should go straight from school and join the local press. You will have a better career and you won’t owe a fortune. Good luck.

This is not the first time MacKenzie has rubbished journalism courses.

The Independent’s full story is at this link.

So, fellow journalism graduates, are you shouting at your computers/phones/iPads yet? Or has MacKenzie got it right?
Please comment and let us know what you think.

Johnston Press chief executive million pound earnings revealed in annual report

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Johnston Press chief executive John Fry collected earnings of more than £1 million in 2010, according to the publisher’s annual report, sent out late on Friday afternoon.

The report follows an announcement earlier this month alongside the company’s preliminary results that Fry was to step down within the next year.

According to the figures Fry earned a basic salary of £525,000 in 2010, the same as the previous year, which was then boosted further by benefits and performance related bonus. This led to a total of £1,001,000, an increase on 2009 when Fry received a total of £969,000.

The salary details of other directors were also detailed in the report, with chief financial officer Stuart Paterson, who resigned last year, receiving a total of £520,000 and Danny Cammiade, chief operating officer, receiving an increased total of £618,000.

The report outlines the publisher’s financial performance in 2010, with key statistics including a decrease in total revenues of 7.1 per cent to £398.1 million, a drop in circulation revenues of 2.8 per cent to £96.7 million and an increase in digital revenues of 4 per cent.

Union seeks ‘substantial’ above-inflation pay rise for BBC staff

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Media union BECTU is seeking “a substantial rise above inflation” for BBC staff following two years of below-inflation settlements.

Pay talks for the 2011 agreement got underway this week, BECTU said in a release.

According to the union, the the 2010 agreement was reached on a flat rate increase of £475 for all staff paid up to £37,726 a year. In 2009 all staff paid up to £60,000 a year received a rise of £450.

“The rising costs of travel, food, fuel and the impact of the vat increase, set against a period of two years of below-inflation increases and rising pension costs, mean that staff pay at the BBC has regressed,” BECTU general secretary, Gerry Morrissey, said in the statement.

The BBC is due to respond in May when they officials will again meet with BBC management.