Tag Archives: Vietnam

Journalisted Weekly: Syrian refugees, Grand Prix, & Southern Cross

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.

for the week ending Sunday 12 June

  • Syrian crackdown and Southern Cross crisis gripped headlines
  • Grand Prix news drove the back pages
  • Vietnam-China tensions and world’s largest refugee camp, covered little

Covered lots

  • Grand Prix, with Jenson Button winning the Canadian race, and the Bahrain race postponed due to political unrest, 273 articles
  • Troubled care home provider Southern Cross, denied government bailout, cutting 3,000 jobs, and planning to hive off over 130 homes, 154 articles
  • Syrian refugees fleeing the town of Jisr al-Shughour along Turkey’s border, with 120 of the 189 dead alleged to be soldiers killed for refusing orders, 119 articles

Covered little

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

Celebrity vs serious

Arab spring

Who wrote a lot about…’Ed Miliband’

Nicholas Watt – 8 articles (The Guardian), Andrew Grice – 6 articles (The Independent), James Kirkup – 6 articles (The Telegraph), Allegra Stratton – 4 articles (The Guardian), Robert Winnett – 4 articles (The Telegraph)

Long form journalism

More from the Media Standards Trust

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

Churnalism.com ‘explore’ page is available for browsing press release sources alongside news outlets

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

#WANIndia2009: Social media for news orgs – a global perspective

Consider this a trailer for a bigger piece I’ll be posting from the World Association of Newspapers’ (WAN) conference currently taking place in India on how news organisations across the globe are using social media in their newsgathering and distribution.

An interesting case study Journalism.co.uk caught up with was Vietnamese news site VietNamNet. The site breaks certain stories to its Facebook group before publishing it online.

There are certain reasons and benefits of doing this, one of the team behind the site told me: firstly, raw, unedited footage can be posted to Facebook without complaints, while the website requires more editing; the Facebook community is more ready to comment and interact, as well as drive the story forwards.

The site has different responsibilities in terms of what it publishes on VietNamNet and on Facebook and the social network can allow for more freedom of discussion, he added.

More to follow on this from Journalism.co.uk…

All #WANIndia2009 coverage from Journalism.co.uk at this link.

#FollowJourn @noodlepie/digital editor

#FollowJourn: Graham Holliday

Who? Digital editor and media trainer for Frontline Club.

What? Holliday started his online blogging site www.noodlepie.com, in 2004, while he was living in Saigon, Vietnam. As well as working for The Frontline Club, Holliday also blogs about food for the Observer Food Monthly blog Word of Mouth and for BBC Good Food.

Where? @noodlepie

Contact? graham [at] noodlepie.com

Just as we like to supply you with fresh and innovative tips every day, we’re recommending journalists to follow online too. They might be from any sector of the industry: please send suggestions (you can nominate yourself) to judith or laura [at] journalism.co.uk; or to @journalismnews.

Walter Cronkite: death of America’s ‘most trusted’ news voice

WalterCronkite1-799355America has lost a top celebrity anchorman, whose news delivery was so influential, he came to be called ‘the most trusted man in America’.

He died peacefully at his home, on Friday July 17, at the age of 92.

Walter Cronkite was an anchorman for CBS Evening News from 1962 to 1981, reading news including a wide range of historical events: the moon landings, Watergate, John F. Kennedy’s assassination and the Vietnam war.

He had a reassuring manner of delivering the news that inspired confidence and trust in the audience. Every evening 70 million Americans heard him deliver his broadcast, which invariably concluded with the parting words “And that’s the way it is.”

He was born Walter Leland Cronkite Jr on November 4th, 1916 in St. Joseph, Missouri, the son of a dentist. As a teenager, his family moved to Houston, where he had his first junior reporter job at The Houston Post – and at the same time delivering the very paper for which he worked.

Known for his trademark clipped moustache and grave voice, he was affectionately known as Uncle Walt, owing to a resemblance to Walt Disney. Despite his popularity, Cronkite was uncomfortable with his celebrity status and declined a proposal for a Walter Cronkite fan club saying: “I don’t think news people ought to have fan clubs.” He also brushed aside suggestions for him to stand for vice-president, even president. The only job he had ever wanted was that of reporter.

No amount of friendship or adulation could compromise Cronkite’s journalistic integrity. Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger once said, “When I wanted to make a point Cronkite was the first person I would call. I was sure I was getting a fair interview – tough but fair.”

Some of Cronkite’s finest moments:

  • 1963: Assassination of President John F . Kennedy: Walter Cronkite famously displays a rare show of emotion, taking off his glasses to fight back tears as he announces the death of President Kennedy. Video below:

  • 1968: Vietnam War: After visiting Vietnam in 1968, he called the war ‘a stalemate’ and made his pro-peace stance clear. His views were so influential that, having watched the broadcast, the then US President Lyndon Johnson reportedly said, “I’ve lost Cronkite, I’ve lost Middle America.” Two weeks later  Johnson resigned and announced he would not stand for re-election. Walter Cronkite on the Vietnam War.
  • 1977: Cronkite’s interview with Egyptian President Anwar el-Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin led to Sadat visiting Jerusalem and signing the peace accords the following year at Camp David.

Cronkite retired from from the CBS evening news programme in 1981, handing it over to Dan Rather, but continued producing special reports for the CBS network and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America’s highest civilian honour. In 1983 he covered the general elections in the UK for ITV and interviewed Margaret Thatcher.

He is survived by a son, two daughters and four grandsons.

Useful related links: