Category Archives: Journalism

Media release: Goldsmiths launches Centre for Creative and Social Technologies

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Goldsmiths, University of London is launching a Centre for Creative and Social Technologies (CAST) to run alongside its existing centres in media, social sciences, arts and the humanities.

According to a release, CAST, which is based in the computing department, offers courses combining research and practical training, “focusing on digital innovation in creative and social technologies”.

The postgraduate students are given the chance to work with CAST’s Innovation Partners, including internships recently at the Wall Street Journal, Telegraph Media Group and the Royal Society of Arts.

Professor Robert Zimmer, co-director of CAST and head of the department of computing added in a release:

Our programmes encourage a hybrid skill set and critical thinking that are necessary for sustainability and creativity in disciplines challenged by the digital revolution.

CAST is now accepting applications for the 2012/13 academic year for MA/MSc digital journalism, MA/MSc digital sociology and MA/MSc creating social media.

To find about more about CAST visit the website here.

Journalisted Weekly: The Grand National, Syria and North Korea

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Journalisted is an independent, not-for-profit website built to make it easier for you, the public, to find out more about journalists and what they write about. It is run by the Media Standards Trust, a registered charity set up to foster high standards in news on behalf of the public, and funded by donations from charitable foundations. Each week Journalisted produces a summary of the most covered news stories, most active journalists and those topics falling off the news agenda, using its database of UK journalists and news sources.

 

The Grand National, Syria and North Korea

For the week ending Sunday 15 April.

  • The Grand National dominated the news, after two injured horses had to be put down, favourite Synchronised and According to Pete
  • A ceasefire in Syria, North Korea’s attempts at launching a long-range rocket, and David Cameron visits Burma were covered lots
  • Tension in Sudan, Guido Fawkes’ publication of Motorman files, and hacking allegations spread to the US were covered little

Covered Lots

Covered Little

Political ups and downs (top ten by number of articles)

Celebrity vs Serious

Eurozone leaders (top ten by number of articles)

No other Eurozone leaders were mentioned in UK press coverage.

Who wrote a lot about…the government plans to reform tax relief

Long form journalism

View the Orwell Prize longlists for journalism, blogs and books

Visit the Media Standards Trust’s Churnalism.com – a public service for distinguishing journalism from churnalism

For the latest instalment of Tobias Grubbe, journalisted’s 18th century jobbing journalist, go to journalisted.com/tobias-grubbe

Bristol branch of NUJ to protest over Evening Post cuts

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The Bristol branch of the National Union of Journalists is due to hold a peaceful demonstration later today following news that 20 jobs were at risk with publication of the Evening Post’s Saturday edition to be stopped from next month.

The protest will take place outside an exhibition marking 80 years of the Northcliffe Media’s title from 6.15pm outside the Galleries in Bristol. The union branch says it has received much support from the local community.

Last week NUJ general secretary Michelle Stanistreet said the changes to the Evening Post were a “shock announcement”.

We call on the paper’s management to take steps to avoid job losses and enter into meaningful consultation with staff and their union representatives.

Norwich Evening News: An interview with departing head of BBC East Tim Bishop

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Tim Bishop, head of region for BBC East, has spoken about his decision to leave the BBC for his new role as chief executive of the Forum Trust in Norwich.

Bishop, who will take up his new position in June, told Emma Knights at Norwich Evening News:

I feel as I leave the BBC it is in a really good place in lots of ways. Radio Norfolk has now got more local born and bred presenters than it has ever had and it is resolutely and robustly about Norfolk life.

People are very keen to knock the BBC but we would all really miss if it went. I still love it – I see its faults as well but there’s something about it.

A world without the BBC would be a lot poorer.

Bishop has been at the helm of BBC East for ten years. The broadcast region incorporates Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Northamptonshire, Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire.

Bishop was previously editor of Radio Norfolk and later, editor of Look East.

The full interview can be found here.

Guardian to disclose funding arrangements for travel articles

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The Guardian has announced it is to disclose the full details of who paid for journalists’ transport, accommodation and other expenses at the bottom of travel articles.

The new policy has arisen following a recent complaint from a reader about an article in which the reporter’s expenses were covered by environmental campaign group Greenpeace.

The reader said: “In my opinion it crosses an ethical line for purely financial reasons and I would be very interested to learn the paper’s position.”

Guardian deputy editor Ian Katz responded:

I think that in many circumstances it is fine to accept trips funded by governments, NGOs or lobby groups, though in all cases we should declare them at end of the piece. All funded trips should be authorised by a senior editor and the judgment we should make is, ‘What would the reader, armed with the information about how the trip was funded, make of it?’ If the answer to that is that the reader would probably consider it dodgy, or somehow contaminating of our coverage, then we shouldn’t take it.

Readers’ editor Chris Elliott wrote in his column today:

The Guardian is going to take a step further towards openness in the area of travel writing. In future, travel features will specify which aspects of a trip were paid for and by whom at the end of such features. Across the rest of the paper, on each desk, there are plans to log any trips taken, to ensure that such trips are tracked and signed off by a senior editor.

Journalisted Weekly: Balotelli, hosepipes and the Falklands

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Journalisted is an independent, not-for-profit website built to make it easier for you, the public, to find out more about journalists and what they write about. It is run by the Media Standards Trust, a registered charity set up to foster high standards in news on behalf of the public, and funded by donations from charitable foundations. Each week Journalisted produces a summary of the most covered news stories, most active journalists and those topics falling off the news agenda, using its database of UK journalists and news sources.

Balotelli, hosepipes and the Falklands

For the week ending Sunday 8 April

  • Mario Balotelli’s on and off field behaviour drew the attention of the media
  • A hosepipe ban in the South East, 30th anniversary since the start of the Falklands war, and the London Mayor electoral campaign covered quite a lot
  • Amazon escaping a large corporation tax bill, increasing unease in Greece over austerity plans, and the UK just escaped recession last quarter covered little

Covered Lots

Covered Little

Political ups and downs (top ten by number of articles)

Celebrity vs Serious

Eurozone leaders (top ten by number of articles)

No other Eurozone leaders were mentioned in UK press coverage.

Who wrote a lot about…the London Mayoral election campaign

Long form journalism

Journalists who have updated their profile

Andrew Purvis is a journalist for The Daily Telegraph, whilst also being a managing editor at Ultratravel. He has previously worked for The Guardian, Observer – where he was editor of the magazine ‘Life’ – and was section editor at the Independent on Sunday Review.

Kate Ross is a freelance journalist who writes for the International Herald Tribune, the New York Times Global edition, AnyTrip and numerous others. She completed her Masters in Print and Online Journalism from the University of Westminster in 2010. Follow her on twitter @myeagereyes

The Media Standards Trust, which runs journalisted, won the ‘One to Watch’ category at this year’s Prospect Think Tank Awards

Read about our campaign for the full exposure of phone hacking and other illegal forms of intrusion at the Hacked Off website

Visit the Media Standards Trust’s Churnalism.com – a public service for distinguishing journalism from churnalism

The Media Standards Trust’s unofficial database of PCC complaints is available for browsing at www.complaints.pccwatch.co.uk

For the latest instalment of Tobias Grubbe, journalisted’s 18th century jobbing journalist, go to journalisted.com/tobias-grubbe

 

Newspaper reporter: fifth worst job? US careers study seems to think so

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It is not as hard work as being a lumberjack, or as dangerous as working on an oil rig – but a US careers website has published a study claiming that being a newspaper reporter or broadcaster is one of the worst jobs going.

CareerCast.com looked at factors including stress, industry outlook, income levels and the general working environment to build a league table of 200 jobs. Newspaper reporter came 196th, just ahead of dairy farmers and soldiers. Broadcasters came 191st.

The site says: “Both jobs once seemed glamorous, but on-the-job stress, declining job opportunities and income levels are what landed them on our Worst Jobs list.”

One newspaper reporter told the site: “Today’s younger generation doesn’t seem to care about the news, and, if they do, it’s more about celebrities and Hollywood and not what’s going on in their backyards.”

Among the best jobs in the study were online advertising manager and software engineer.

Delayed Kindle edition for Herald set to launch soon

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The Herald in Glasgow is expecting to launch an edition for the Amazon Kindle within the next few weeks, following a disagreement with Amazon about delays in the approval process.

The publisher says on its site:

We will be launching a Kindle edition of The Herald soon and are currently going through the approval process with Amazon.

You may have seen our previous notice on this page where we said that Amazon had told us they were putting on hold the launch of any further newspaper publications on the Kindle. We’re delighted to say though that they have now agreed to get The Herald edition up and running as soon as they can.

The Herald previously said that Amazon had stopped approving newspapers for the Kindle – but this claim was denied in a statement to PaidContent:

We are not always able to immediately launch every publisher who contacts us using our more heavyweight integration method. For publishers that want to add their newspaper onto Kindle in self-service fashion, they can also do so via the Amazon Appstore for Android.

Guardian considering ‘becoming involved’ in journalism training

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The Guardian has confirmed it is in conversations with a number of universities “about the possibility of becoming involved with their journalism courses”.

The development was first reported by XCity magazine, City University London’s student newspaper, in its latest edition.

XCity understands that the annual course fee could be around £9,000.

In a statement today a Guardian spokesperson added:

No decisions have been made about the precise nature of the course, or even which partner in education would work best with us. It is therefore not possible to say when a course might start or to give any detail on how it might be run.

Knight-Mozilla Fellowships open for entries

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The Knight-Mozilla Fellowships are now accepting applications from those who want to spend 10 months of next year as technologists “embedded in the newsroom”.

The eight partner organisations are the BBC, the New York Times, the Guardian, Zeit Online, La Nacion, Spiegel Online, the Boston Globe and ProPublica.

This year Al Jazeera English, the Guardian, the BBC, Zeit Online and the Boston Globe welcomed a developer, designer or programmer-journalist, funded to produce open-source code and solve challenges within the news organisation.

This year’s winners include Nicola Hughes, who is based at the Guardian, and Laurian Gridinoc, at the BBC.

The Knight-Mozilla OpenNews site explains the fellowships programme.

The centerpiece of the OpenNews program, the Knight-Mozilla Fellowships embed developers and technologists in newsrooms around the world to spend a year writing code in collaboration with reporters, designers, and newsroom developers. Fellows work in the open by sharing their code and their discoveries on the web, helping to strengthen and build journalism’s toolbox.

Details on the programme and how to apply are at this link.

The deadline for submissions is 11 August.