Archive: 2 October – 8 October 2006
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Sunday 8 October 2006
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Rupert Murdoch has spoken frankly about his views on Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. In a New Yorker interview with John Cassidy, he describes Blair as a "lame duck" ever since he made "a terrible mistake" in announcing that he was quitting. He also refers to the intense rivalry between Blair and Brown, saying that he cannot meet one unless he sees the other. The tone of Murdoch's statements shows just how seriously politicians take him - and how seriously he thinks they should! (Via The Observer)
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Saturday 7 October 2006
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I've just heard the news that Anna Politkovskaya has been murdered in Moscow. "She was shot dead in the entrance hall of the house where she lived," said Dmitry Muratov, editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta, the paper for which she regularly wrote.
Politkovskaya was a prominent critic of the Kremlin's policies in general and President Vladimir Putin in particular. She was opposed to the prosecution of the war in Chechnya and to its negative effects on the progress of post-communist society in Russia. She survived two previous attempts on her life. In one case, she was poisoned while on her way to cover the Beslan siege. She was also once kidnapped. Despite persistent threats and intimidation she refused to relent from her single-minded journalistic mission to try to tell the truth about her country to other Russians and to the rest of the world.
But the fact of her death has shocked the world of journalism. Timothy Balding, ceo of the World Association of Newspapers, said: "This is tragic and deeply shocking news. We condemn this as an outrageous attack not only on a journalist but on freedom of the press and democracy in Russia. We call on the Russian authorities to pursue mercilessly the killer or killers and those behind this cowardly act". He spoke of the "sceptics" who had cast doubt on claims that she had been the victim of attempted poisoning, and observed: "This assassination is terrible confirmation, if any were needed, that she was not inventing her claims that she was constantly under physical threat".
The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe also expressed profound shock at the death. Its chairman-in-office, the Belgian foreign minister, Karel De Gucht, said: "I condemn the murder of Anna Politkovskaya, one of Russia's most outstanding investigative journalists and political commentators. This is a tragic and profoundly shocking loss". The OSCE representative on freedom of the media, Miklos Haraszti, added: "It is extremely important to break the circle of inconclusive investigations in regard to the recent murders of journalists in Russia. The violent death of any member of the media stifles the free spirit of journalism." In 2003, Politkovskaya received an OSCE award for her courageous professional work in support of "human rights and freedom of the media".
And the Paris-based press watchdog, Reporters Without Borders also registered its shock, pointing out that at its Vienna conference on press freedom last December Politkovskaya told delegates: "People sometimes pay with their lives for saying out loud what they think. People can even get killed just for giving me information. I am not the only one in danger."
I met Politkovskaya first at a journalism conference in Sweden three years ago where, despite her lack of English, she managed to convey her passionate commitment to democracy and to the kind of journalism that aids democracy. As I noted in a review of her 2004 book, Putin's Russia, to describe her as courageous was surely an enormous understatement. Her bravery was unparalleled, on a different scale even from that of war correspondents who run towards the sound of gunfire. At least, they can pull back to safety, but Politkovskaya refused to leave the front line.
Nor can it be said that she lived in innocence. Nobody knew better than her the awesome and ruthless power of the repressive regime whose excesses she regularly exposed. Her investigative reports in Novaya Gazeta were renowned for their candour. Her previous book, A Dirty War: A Russian Reporter in Chechnya, catalogued the suffering of the Chechen people due to Russia's indiscriminate human rights violations in responding to terrorism, a terrorism which she also condemned.
Russia is diminished by her murder. An investigation is supposedly under way, led by Moscow's chief prosecutor, Yury Syomin. Let us hope that her assassin does not go unpunished and that the facts behind her murder are revealed. Here was a true journalistic heroine, rightly regarded as Russia's "lost moral conscience". It is sobering to re-read a key line from Putin's Russia. She wrote: "The shroud of darkness from which we spent several Soviet decades trying to free ourselves is enveloping us again".
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A truly wonderful discovery in today's Guardian review section: one of my favourite TV series from the 1950s, The Adventures of Robin Hood, starring Richard Greene, was written by 22 Hollywood scriptwriters blacklisted by the McCarthy witchhunt. Tom Dewe Mathews reveals that the series screened by the defunct British commercial TV company, ATV, was "conceived, written and produced" as a means of providing work for the writers, including Ring Lardner Jr. It was secretly orchestrated by a journalist, Hannah Weinstein, who worked for the Hearst press. Even the directors - such as Tony Richardson, Karel Reisz and Lindsay Anderson - were probably unaware of who wrote their scripts, and ATV's owner, Lew Grade, was "almost certainly kept in complete ignorance of the blacklist involvement". What a great tale! (Via Guardian Books)
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I found myself nodding vigorously in agreement with today's comment by Amanda Platell in her Daily Mail column. "I'm still puzzled about the backlash against Desert Island Discs' new presenter, Kirsty Young," she wrote. "Since when did being a beautiful, talented, happily married mother become a criminal offence?" Well, Amanda, it became an offence two days before when Kirsty was traduced in a disgracefully malicious piece, sewn with innuendo and laced with negative nudges and winks, headlined "The ruthless rise of Kirsty Young". And where did this "backlash" appear? In the Daily Mail, of course. (Via Daily Mail)
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I missed this when it was posted three days ago, but it deserves reading. Juan Luis Cebrian, ceo of Spanish publishing company Grupo PRISA and former editor of El Pais, offered these thoughts at the Inter-American Press Association annual conference in Mexico City:
1. Newspapers cannot survive by just telling news that always arrives late.2. Newspapers will not die if they are able to promote collective reflection and dialogue. 3. Newspaper publishers and editors spend too much time looking at themselves. 4. Newspapers are under attack from the internet and free publications.
When a delegate asked, "What should journalists do?" Cebrian replied: "Journalism." The poster of the item, Spain's enthusiastic innovations pioneer, Juan Antonio Giner, commented: "I agree 100%."
Well, I agree with that whole-hearted support for journalism. But I can't give the earlier statements full marks. After all, No. 4 is hardly a penetrating new insight and No. 3 is arguable. Publishers should be looking at what's happening, should they not? As for No. 2, they surely will die unless they find ways of grasping hold of the digital revolution to transmit the news mentioned in No. 1.
But Cebrian's remarks did spur Giner to give us more to think about. Here's a list of ideas he'll be discussing in a paper he is preparing for the Spanish Newspaper Publishers Association's annual report on the state of the industry:
1. Newspapers must become the core of 24/7 breaking news information engines. 2. Newspapers must deliver unique, compelling and exclusive news and stories, and not just package old stuff. 3. Newspapers must hire the most talented, respected and curious reporters and editors with multi-media skills. 4. Newspapers must promote dramatic interaction with readers and advertisers. 5. Newspapers must make money. Money brings independence. With independence you get credibility. Credibility brings readers. Readers attract advertising. And with advertising you make money. As simple and as complicated as that. 6. Newspapers must believe in journalism. Period.
So, is Giner correct? Does his list offer real hope for the future newspapers, or is he digging his feet into the sands of history? Just as pertinently, is it all pie in the sky? For instance, simply asserting that newspapers must hire talented staff seems so obvious it doesn't require saying. What this list entirely fails to do is to explain how multi-platform journalism can work in practice. The real challenge is to find a coherent way of finding a relevant role for newsprint.
I'm sure Jeff Jarvis - who I regard as the foremost, forceful advocate of new thinking in this area - would not be alone in finding Giner's list somewhat counter-revolutionary. I'm pretty sure he's not even too keen on my continuing, lingering optimism about forging some kind of future role for newspapers. He believes in journalism too, of course. But, unlike Cebrian and Giner, he conceives of a journalism outside the newsprint format. Are they not guilty of thinking too little, too late?
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The Bridlington Free Press, in common with many other regional and local newspapers, has launched a campaign to prevent the erosion of services at Bridlington hospital. Editor Nick Procter says the central feature of the paper's "Operation Lifeline" will be a petition to be presented to the Scarborough and East Yorkshire Healthcare NHS Trust. He says: "We appreciate there have been several petitions about health services but... if enough people show they care about the health of our hospital maybe we can make a difference." The latest fear concerns the possible removal of maternity services.
Bedford hospital's future is also in doubt and the Bedford Times & CItizen last week presented health secretary Patricia Hewitt with 2,400 letters and emails supporting its "Support Our Hospital" campaign. (Via Bridlington Free Press)
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Friday 6 October 2006
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A newspaper delivery girl who came to the rescue of a pensioner who had collapsed in his home has won a Bristol Evening Post gold star award. Amy Smith, 15, raised the alarm when she noticed that the Post she had placed in Harold Jouxson's porch the previous day had not been taken in. Eventually, a neighbour obtained entry and Mr Jouxson, 79, was found to be too ill to move. He was later taken to hospital for treatment. Amy was also given £100 by her newsagent employer. Newspaper sales manager Trevor Veale summed up my feelings perfectly by observing: "Amy is the essence of what we are about. It's not just about delivering papers. It's also about making sure we are out there in the community." (Via Bristol Evening Post)
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In a less-than-surprising development the Los Angeles Times's publisher who refused to carry out his owner's orders to make job cuts has lost his own job. By ousting Jeffrey Johnson, it may be possible for the Tribune company to reassert control, but it has left in place the editor, Dean Baquet, who had also refused to make the cuts. Baquet says he believes he will have a further chance to protect his staff and his editorial budget in discussions with a new publisher.
The story of Johnson's dismissal was reported very boldly in the LA Times itself. The opening sentence read: "Tribune Co. forced Los Angeles Times publisher Jeffrey M. Johnson to step down Thursday, three weeks after he stirred a national debate about corporate ownership of newspapers by publicly defying a demand for staff cuts in his newsroom ." It is unimaginable that a British paper would come close to doing that. (Via New York Times)
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Italy is undergoing a virtual news blackout of mainstream media due to a strike by journalists in a pay dispute. Domestic news agencies shut down yesterday as print journalists began a 48-hour stoppage. They were joined this morning by broadcast journalists and say they will return to work on Sunday. TV and radio news has been limited to a few short bulletins a day, while only a few minor newspapers were available today. The journalists are protesting about a stalemate in contract renewal talks with media publishers. (Via International Herald Tribune)
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The judge who jailed a man for committing murder with a samurai sword has lent support to a campaign by the Exeter Express & Echo calling for tighter restrictions on the sale and possession of ornamental weapons. Three days after sentencing Bradley Moran to 17 years for killing Matthew Stiling outside a Sidmouth nightclub, Judge Graham Cottle spoke to the paper "as a member of the public" and said: "I support the introduction of much stricter measures governing the possession of and purchase of weapons like this." The paper launched its campaign in January but muted its publicity until the trial had concluded. The senior detective who led the murder inquiry has also backed the campaign, which resulted in 3,752 weapons being surrendered in Devon and Cornwall during a summer amnesty. (Via Exeter Express & Echo)
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It is impossible not to be struck by the coincidence of the loss-making Independent celebrating its 20th birthday (see below) on the same day as another loss-making title, The Sportsman, went to the wall. For the latter, there was no fairy godmother prepared to fund the paper in the hope of it turning a corner at some time in the future. In fact, that was one of The Sportsman's problems: there were too many godmothers. If it was to have any hopes of survival the paper required a single-minded single owner prepared to back a hunch. You cannot bet by committee, especially when that committee is composed of people who have different ideas about how the jockey should ride the horse.
It is, of course, a disappointment to see a paper close down. It is particularly sad for the journalists - many of them experienced old hands - who turned out such a good product day after day. Before launch I visited the paper and was struck by the professionalism of the staff preparing dummies. I thought then that it might just make a go of things. Its founders, Jeremy Deedes and Charlie Methven, talked the talk with terrific enthusiasm.
But, immediately after launch, I had my doubts. First, there was the failure to get the website up and running during the period of greatest promotional investment. Given that the website was supposed to bring in money, it was essential have the print and web versions on stream together. Second, there was the problem of targeting an audience. Deedes and Methven both stressed that they were aiming to provide a paper for the new betting fraternity generated by the online poker craze. These would be more middle class than the average racing punter. But the paper itself looked anything but middle class. Its style - typeface, choice of headlines and material - was little different than the Racing Post, a paper of choice for 70,000 or so racing fans. I was alarmed to see that The Sportsman looked more like The Sun than the Daily Mail.
I canvassed opinion as widely as I could. At the Racing Post, the senior executives were kind but their message was clear: The Sportsman could not hope to usurp their territory, yet it had failed to carve out a distinctive territory of its own. Without an audience anywhere close to its break-even target of 40,000, it was obvious that investors would get too nervous to risk more money. I understand that there was anger among some staff this week that the money-men had failed to recognise the supposed "significance" of the paper reaching a regular sale of 21,000. Indeed, given its situation, that total was some achievement. But it wasn't nearly enough to inspire confidence in men who had already lost pots of cash.
In truth, The Sportsman - like the North West Enquirer that closed two weeks ago - will be but a minor footnote in newspaper history. As the digital revolution develops there will surely be larger casualties among established titles that will put these short-lived experiments in the shade. But the men who launched these titles were right about one thing: print's best hope is in discovering niche markets. What future newspaper entrepreneurs should learn from these failed attempts is that dreaming of niche audiences is just not good enough. Similarly, beware of market researchers who have an unhappy knack of finding "demographic evidence" to support such dreams.
There are niches to be found. A couple of weeks ago I wrote here about the launch of the Wear Valley Mercury, but the key to its initial success was its localised base. Launching a national, like The Sportsman, was both too diffuse and too ambitious. And, with the greatest of respect to Robert Waterhouse, I don't think the people of Manchester, Stockport and Merseyside identify with a region called the "north west". Again, it lacked genuine focus.
Despite these setbacks, despite the internet's growing hold on the emergent generation, there will be more newspaper launches. There is something so seductive about running a newspaper. So hunting for niches will continue as it becomes plainer still that mass-marketing is no longer relevant, as the so-called mass market papers are discovering.
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Last night's Independent bash to celebrate its 20th anniversary was lavish, with three excellent light-hearted speeches. Among the large throng at Lancaster House were scores of editors, hosts of journalists, a squad of Fleet Street's senior managers, a clutch of politicians from all parties, plus a sprinkling of lawyers, PRs and business people. I also spotted the occasional celebrity, such as Marie Helvin and Bianca Jagger. In other words, it was a networkers' paradise for hacks.
Editor Simon Kelner led off the speeches. His tone was understandably self-congratulatory but it was larded with just enough self-deprecation to avoid reaching for the sick-bag. His final anecdote got across the message that the paper remains as independent, in both spirit and practice, as it was when it first appeared in October 1986. He told of a meeting with Tony Blair's communications chief, Alastair Campbell, in the presence of Tony O'Reilly, ceo of the paper's owning company, Independent News & Media (INM), O'Reilly's wife, Chryss Goulandris, and the ceo of INM's UK division, Ivan Fallon. The conversation was about The Independent's hostility to the invasion of Iraq, said Kelner, so Campbell asked whether any of them supported the war. All but Kelner put their hands up. So, said Campbell, the proprietor, the proprietor's wife and the chief executive don't agree with the editor: "Now that's what I call an independent newspaper".
The paper's stance on a war figured only occasionally in the lengthy speech by the chancellor, Gordon Brown, which he delivered with good humour. The leader of the opposition, Dave Cameron, had left by then, but the shadow chancellor, George Osborne, and the shadow home secretary, David Davis, were still on hand to witness the man most likely to become prime minister revealing a lightness of touch. He spoke warmly of The Independent's campaigning journalism, picking out four examples: third world development, the environment, the constitution, and peace-mongering. In two cases - environment and constitution - he added, "watch this space", but didn't say the same about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. I wonder why.
By far the most entertaining speech came from that doyen of after-dinner speakers, Anthony Joseph Francis O'Reilly, who managed to praise The Independent's founders, especially Andreas Whittam Smith, all the paper's ex-editors, Kelner and Fallon in between a string of gags. He began by saying that he had bumped into News International supremo, Les Hinton, on his way into the event who had told him: "This is the party that we've been trying for 20 years to prevent." That generated the first of many laughs. But O'Reilly also got across his genuine love for a paper that so often publishes views with which he disagrees and his continuing commitment to newsprint. It was a masterly performance.
If one takes the view that all birthday parties are really a celebration of the fact that one is still alive, then The Independent's is a classic example. I am not alone in having written off its prospects in the past - as O'Reilly laughingly remarked after his speech - but it exists because O'Reilly and his company want it to exist. It has never made money and, probably, never could. It does benefit INM's global profit base because ownership of a British national paper carries with it a cachet that is invaluable when doing business in foreign parts. But I have a hunch that O'Reilly would want to go on owning it even if it didn't aid his ventures into India and elsewhere. He clearly loves it.
So I was happy to raise my glass (of water nowadays) to wish The Independent a happy 20th. Though I note that a commenter yesterday wrote that it wouldn't be around in 20 years, I don't think that any of us know what will happen to any paper in the next 20 years. For the moment though, let's be happy that we still have a diverse array of newsprint in Britain, and that The Independent continues to serve its niche audience in swaggering style.
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Thursday 5 October 2006
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Now here's a fascinating piece of research: a comparative study of the material broadcast during the 2004 presidential campaign by the main US networks and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, a satirical programme with a large following. And the result? You guessed. According to the woman who led the research - Julia Fox, assistant professor of telecommunications at Indiana University - Stewart's show was just as substantive as the network coverage. No wonder the study is called "No joke". Fox says that though it's "clearly a humour show... there is also substantive dialogue going on... It's a legitimate source of news." The networks' coverage contained considerably more hype than substance, she says, adding: "We've been wringing our hands for decades that the networks aren't doing enough substance in the political coverage, so is it any real surprise?" Er, no. (Via Indiana University)
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Annelies van den Belt, the new media director of the Telegraph group, has been explaining more about the "touchpoints" concept I've previously outlined after meeting Will Lewis, the editorial overseer of the digital transformation. She told the Association of Online Publishers' conference in London, that the touchpoints, which will trigger different forms of content for its audience, are key to new advertising plans. Van den Belt later told Oliver Luft: "The consumer now has a much more multi-media approach, duel media consumption, in many cases triple media consumption. On Blackberry, TV, internet, even all at the same time. It's about following that consumer [with advertising] and touchpoints are becoming incredibly important." She spoke of "32 products" to "match touchpoints during the day." Wow! (Via Journalism.co.uk)
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The Financial Times wants to publish in India, says its editor, Lionel Barber, on a two-week visit to the sub-continent. But the FT has to convince the Indian authorities to lift its current bar on foreign companies investing more than 26% in the country's print media. To that end Barber has met the commerce minister Kamal Nath, and other government leaders, to argue his case for a policy change. Barber, speaking on CNBC-TV18, said, "We will aim for an élite readership", and pointed to the fact that the FT is a niche product which "we have been pursuing very successfully in the US."
But it's going to be an uphill battle: Indian publishers want to protect Indian newspapers as cultural entities. Though the International Herald Tribune has exploited a loophole to publish from Hyderabad as an Indian title, the FT title has been "appropriated" The Times of India group. This has been challenged in the court, which found against the FT. Unless it can turn matters around, the FT is effectively locked out of a exploiting a huge market. (Via Money Control)
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"We've done it!" said the headline in the Herts & Essex Observer in announcing that it had achieved victory in its campaign to make level crossing gates safer after two teenage girls had been killed. Olivia Bazlinton and Charlotte Thompson died last December as they used an unmanned crossing at Elsenham station in Essex. The paper immediately called for the gates to be locked when a train was due. Network Rail initially rejected the idea, claiming that it would make the crossing less safe and even urged the Observer to stop its campaign. But it organised a petition and kept up its "Get it locked" campaign and Network Rail has now agreed to introduce a locking system and to build a footbridge. The girls' families have thanked the paper for its efforts. (Via Herts & Essex Observer)
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The renowned New York Times reporter Johnny Apple died last night, aged 71. Raymond Walter Apple Jr made his name covering wars and American politics, writing news analyses that became must-reads for the Washington élite. An NYT obituary referred to "his Dickensian by-line, Churchillian brio and Falstaffian appetites". Apple, who joined the paper in 1963, was a colourful character known for piercing questions directed at official spokesmen. He helped to expose the worthlessness of military briefings during the Vietnam war that became known as the "five o'clock follies". Late in his career he took to writing about travel, architecture and especially food. (Via Journalism - Topix.net)
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It's a good idea to read this posting in conjunction with the one immediately below. Together they tell a coherent story. A study released by the Newspaper Association of America reveals that monthly visitors to US newspaper websites rose by nearly a third in the first half of 2006 while print readership went on falling. According to Nielsen/NetRatings, the average number of unique visitors to online newspaper sites was more than 55.5m a month compared with 42.2m a year earlier. This underscores the internet's importance to papers because it is growing audiences for mainstream media, but in its new media guise. (Via New Zealand Herald)
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A survey by the research and information firm LexisNexis has found that people trust traditional news sources more than blogs and other online media. Lexis says the "future of trust" lies in mainstream media such as newspapers, magazines, television and radio - which must be a comfort as its business relies heavily on such sources. The survey found more than half of those quizzed (52%) rely on traditional sources for news that significantly affects their lives, while 13% do rely mostly on emerging media, such as citizen journalists, blogs and podcasts. I don't find this too surprising, though I'm not certain we can be sure of "future trust". It's early days yet in the communications revolution. Indeed, see Martin Stabe's intelligent comment on this survey. (Via World Advertising Research Centre)
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Raise your glasses please! It's media anniversary season on each side of the Atlantic. Tonight, in Britain, The Independent is holding a party to mark its 20th birthday hosted by Tony O'Reilly, ceo of Independent News & Media. I'll be at Lancaster House to hear the speeches, but I won't be hanging around because I will be rushing off to join my City University colleagues who are celebrating 30 years of journalism teaching. It was in September 1976 that Tom Welsh (not Welch, as the invitation says - where were those fact-checkers?) welcomed the first 20 students to City. Now there are more than 200 taking the post-grad courses alone and there are thousands of City alumni working in newspapers, on TV and radio, in magazines, for PR outfits and diverse new media outlets.
Last night, in New York, Rupert Murdoch hosted a lavish party to mark 10 years of Fox News. During that time Fox has become the most popular cable TV news channel and the party reflected its success by ensuring that all its staff were present in the vast tent on West 48th Street, adjacent to the Fox headquarters, There have been rumours of froideur between Murdoch and his network chief Roger Ailes but they praised each other warmly in their speeches. Ailes spoke of Murdoch as a visionary, and Murdoch responded: "I don't think anyone else could have put Fox in this position than Roger Ailes."
And back in Britain, on October 19 there is yet another anniversary event - a special service at Fleet Street's church, St Bride's, to mark 100 years of the existence of the National Publishers Association. The host will be the NPA chairman, Murdoch MacLennan, who is of course, ceo of the Telegraph group. His address will surely be a poignant remembrance of things past as he stands on the threshold of taking his papers into the digital age.
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Wednesday 4 October 2006
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Last week I posted an item about the Bath Chronicle's campaign to keep rugby at the city's Recreation Ground. After speaking to the paper's editor, Sam Holliday, I discovered that it was a controversial initiative because the city's people were sharply divided over the matter. Holliday had been aware of that fact, but decided to go ahead with his "Keep rugby at the Rec" campaign based on his belief, and that of other senior staff, that it would be in Bath's best interests.
He had already had letters of complaint when we spoke, and published them accordingly. He thought it was a healthy example of democracy, with the city's paper at the heart of the debate. But his latest editorial reveals that some people don't see it like that at all, and the arguments they advance raise fundamental questions about the raison d'étre of newspapers, local and national, and the "proper" exercise of journalism.
Holliday writes: "There is nothing wrong with many of the excellently argued letters and comments which oppose our views and make their points with passion and clarity. However, the ones that puzzled me most were those who attacked us for having a view at all. We should be totally impartial, some people say, and it is our job to report the news, not help create it."
Holliday rightly considered this argument, which asserted that papers must be independent or impartial, to be "very interesting and valid", though he couldn't help but notice that "nearly all the people" who criticised the paper were those opposed to its stance. In other words, they "are not truly criticising the Chronicle for taking a position on this issue - they are criticising the Chronicle for not taking their view." Leaving that aside, Holliday then moves on to the substantive argument about whether it was right in principle for newspapers to back one side of an argument.
"I passionately believe they should", he writes. "Newspapers have been launching campaigns for what they believe is for the benefit of their readers since they were founded, and I sincerely hope they will continue to do so, because no one wants a paper that is seen as being irrelevant or out of touch with people's concerns." He then adds that "even if we sometimes ruffle a few feathers en route, is that really such a bad thing?" before concluding: "Trying to lead from the front and create and stimulate debate and discussion is what newspapers should always do."
Now I have to say that I like the cut of Mr Holliday's jib. He is surely right in theory and in practice. As long as his paper is prepared to give space to opposing views - which it clearly is doing - then there can be nothing wrong with adopting a definite editorial position. A newspaper is not a blank sheet of paper. Similarly, its senior editorial staff have views and it is perfectly proper for them to be expressed. Impartiality is often fake anyway. Indeed, in practice, merely acting as a "sounding board" often fails to stimulate debate. And, in the end, it's the quality and intensity of the debate itself that counts. By encouraging people to air their views ensures that policy-makers will be able to make their decisions based on a genuine knowledge of public opinion.
I was talking to my City University students this week about the age-old journalistic conflict between objectivity and subjectivity, between the journalism that attempts to be impartial and that which is self-consciously committed to a point of view. Each time I do this it strikes me that we should long ago have passed that point. But the Holliday editorial reminds us that the debate continues to haunt journalistic endeavour.
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Well, the Daily Telegraph may have its troubles, but here's some praise - without any agenda - for the paper. Juan Antonio Giner, Spanish-born newspaper consultant and founder of the Detroit-based of the Innovation International Media Consulting Group, writes: "The Daily Telegraph in London did it. A great front page with a great headline." He was comparing the Telegraph's coverage on the massacre of the Amish children in Pennsylvania with that in three US papers which, he said, ran "very, very boring" headlines. He concludes: "UK 1, USA 0." So there's a feather in the cap of editor John Bryant and his team as they struggle with the dramas posed by their management's cut-backs. (Via Innovations in Newspapers)
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The publisher of the Miami Herald newspaper has resigned amid a widening scandal involving journalists working for US government-run radio stations broadcasting to Cuba. Jesus Diaz Jr. resigned after firing, then rehiring, two reporters at the Herald's Spanish-language sister paper El Nuevo Herald. The owners, McClatchy, appointed David Landsberg in place of Diaz. The saga began when it was discovered that several employees were paid to broadcast anti-Castro propaganda on Radio Marti and TV Marti. Diaz found himself caught between people who believe the journalists acted unethically and widespread support for them from Miami's Cuban community, many of whom threatened to boycott the newspaper. (Via CBC.ca)
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Alan Ruddock, former editor of The Scotsman and editor of the Sunday Times'sIrish edition, weighs into the debate over the Irish privacy law and press council proposal by the justice minister Michael McDowell.. He argues that "it is a sop to the political demands of his senior partners in government, rather than a considered and intelligent piece of legislation." A lengthy piece that deserves widespread attention, and a close reading, it concludes: "It is a shameful concoction: good and proper reform of bad libel laws blended with a set of conditions and a new privacy law that leave democracy, like the minister, diminished and degraded." (Via Media Forum)
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The East Anglian Daily Times and BBC Radio Suffolk have launched a joint campaign to replace St George as the patron saint of England with an East Anglian king, St Edmund. Readers and viewers are evidently flocking to sign a "We're Backing Saint Edmund" petition which will be taken to Downing Street on November 20 (aka St Edmund's Day). The campaign, conceived by Radio Suffolk presenter Mark Murphy is being taken very seriously by EADT editor Terry Hunt who says that St Edmund's "credentials are far stronger than St George's", pointing out that "beautiful" Bury St Edmunds is named after him. St Edmund was England's patron saint until he was "usurped" by St George. The paper has designed a poster for readers to download from its website to display in their windows. (Via East Anglian Daily Times)
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The Middlesborough Evening Gazette and the Newcastle Journal are running a competition for the region's best school newspaper. Two of the leading contenders are Green Lane Primary in Acklam, Middlesbrough, with The Green Laner and Thornaby Community School, with The Roundel. Green Lane teacher Michael Pottage said: "The children get so much out of it... writing skills, a great amount of work on the computer, research, team work and a whole range of disciplines." The winning school will get a £1,000 bursary and there are two runners-up prizes of £250. (Via Middlesborough Gazette)
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Two journalists arrested in Uzbekistan three weeks ago are believed to have been mistreated in prison. According to the family of Ulugbek Khaidarov, when his wife Munira was allowed to see him in jail she was shocked by his loss of weight and general state of health, believing that he was under the influence of psychotropic drugs. The family of Djamshid Karimov - a nephew of President Islam Karimov - have discovered that he was forcibly committed to a psychiatric hospital in Samarkand. His wife has not been allowed to visit him. "These are practices worthy of the Soviet era, when people were treated as mentally ill when all they did was voice their disagreement with the official line," says the press freedom watchdog, Reporters Without Borders. (Via Reporters Without Borders)
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A decision by the Uruguayan supreme court to reinstate the conviction of a journalist on a charge of "criminal defamation" has alarmed press freedom organisations. Carlos Dogliani Staricco, a reporter with a weekly paper in Paysandú, El Regional, wrote stories accusing a mayor of fraud. Asserting the truth of his claims, he was originally cleared of defamation charges. But the supreme court has overturned that verdict, sentencing Dogliani to a five-month suspended term. A US-based press watchdog, the Committee to Protect Journalists, said the ruling means that public officials are being protected from scrutiny, "which is antithetical to democracy." (Via CPJ.org)
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A newspaper editor was arrested during a demonstration in the Seychelles capital, Victoria, against the state's monopoly hold on radio and TV broadcasting. Roger Mancienne, editor of the weekly Regar, was detained when anti-riot police broke up the demo by several hundred people. The paper's publisher, Jean-François Ferrari, was injured. They were protesting because the opposition political party is denied access to radio and TV, and is also banned from setting up its own broadcasting stations. (Via Reporters Without Borders)
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Norfolk's firefighters have thrown their weight behind the Norwich Evening News's "Park Safe" campaign which is aimed at highlighting the danger to children being caused by parents parking illegally near schools. Fire crews point out that inconsiderate parking outside schools also hampers their efforts during an emergency. Four schools are been targeted so far by the paper's campaign. (Via Norwich Evening News)
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Tuesday 3 October 2006
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It is getting beyond a joke! I love newspapers and I can't resist reading them. Whenever I travel to a British city or town, I inevitably buy a regional or local paper. I'm such an addict that when I recently spent three days in Barcelona I scanned every title I could find, despite having no understanding of Spanish or Catalan. But yesterday, in central London, I found myself - for the first time in my life - refusing the chance to read a paper, even though it was offered for free.
On the short walk from City University to Farringdon tube station I was accosted by four young people proffering either thelondonpaper or London Lites. (What do we call these people? They aren't 'vendors', and 'distributors' sounds clumsy, quite apart from confusing them with WH Smith and Menzies. How about 'flutterers', or 'the free-bees'? I've also heard 'media midges', 'litterers', 'pests' and, more amusingly, 'little issue sellers'). Anyway, whatever we call the army of non-vendors, they are - admittedly, through no fault of the individuals who do the job - beginning to be very irritating. But that's the lesser of the problems caused by the free paper blitz.
The intensely maddening aspect is to sit amidst a sea of newsprint on the tube and, as Stephen Brook reports today the parallel annoyance of papers dumped on buses. I caught the 414 yesterday evening, from South Kensington along the Fulham Road, and found a pile of thelondonpaper on the luggage rack. Not one had been taken by a passenger. Later, I caught a District line tube and found scores of papers - Metros, thelondonpapers and London Lite - strewn along the carriage. I purposely changed carriages at two stations to see if the same was true throughout the train. It was. Unlike the bus experience, it did suggest they had been read - well, opened - but they had then been left on a seat to be moved by a later user and, gradually, dismantled. Stapling doesn't always prevent pages coming loose.
To the amazement of other tube travellers I began picking up the papers to check the titles. It may come as no surprise to discover that there was no Evening Standard among the collection. Though there was a single Sun, it was the only paid-for title that had been discarded. When papers cost nothing, they do not merit being kept. They are given away for free and then, just as freely, dispensed with. They are ten-minute reads, of no lasting consequence and no lasting value. They are a perfect metaphor for our something-for-nothing society.
I note that Transport for London is concerned about "illegal distribution" on buses and about discarded copies posing a fire hazard. But I'm more concerned about the effect these freesheets are having on the public perception of newspapers in general and on journalism in particular. Do people think the anodyne content of these frees represents real journalism? Does it suggest to them that our work is worth nothing? Are publishers guilty of undermining the whole point of our existence?
Standing on the tube, clutching a bundle of newsprint, I sighed deeply. I know that freesheets are a desperate attempt by publishers to find some way out of the commercial drama they face because of declining sales and declining advertising revenue. I know that many of the people on the trains and buses are getting most, if not all, of their news on screen, and that papers given away are just momentary distractions on journeys where they cannot access lap-tops or text their friends. But it hurts all the same to see journalism - even the reactive bite-sized "news" and infotainment trivia that passes for journalism in these titles - treated in such a cavalier manner. It isn't journalism though, is it? It performs no public service. It's of no public benefit. Weep fellow hacks - and don't travel by tube.
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Monday 2 October 2006
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The saga of the News of the World and Scottish politician Tommy Sheridan has taken yet another surprising turn, as Audrey Gillan charts in today's Guardian. A tape-recording has emerged that calls into question the evidence given by Sheridan and two other witnesses. The court decision in Sheridan's favour, in which the jury awarded him a record £200,000 in libel damages, raised a lot of eyebrows, including mine. When the jury found in his favour a couple of months ago I suggested that the jurors must have been influenced by matters within the courtroom that we, the "outside" readers of the evidence, could not have witnessed.
But I also noted the post-trial statements made by Bob Bird, the editor of the Scottish News of the World, and that gave me pause for thought. He said he was "absolutely astonished" at the "perverse" verdict. Though it's easy to shrug that off with a he-would-say-that-wouldn't-he? reaction, I respect Bird enough to know he wouldn't have said it without being sure of his ground.
Yesterday came the latest bombshell when the News of the World revealed the existence of a tape-recording in which Sheridan is alleged to admit that he cheated on his wife and visited swingers' clubs, allegations he firmly denied in court during the libel action. The tape is said to have been recorded by George McNeilage, Sheridan's former school-friend, best man and a member of the Scottish Socialist Party that Sheridan used to lead.
I have listened twice to the 6 minute 44 second tape on the News of the World website. It's very difficult to hear, because it's poorly recorded and sounds as if the speakers are at the bottom of a well. The frequent bleeps are distracting, and there's also a problem, for this Englishman, of deciphering the Scots accents. It certainly helps to listen while reading the the transcript. But, if Sheridan is the man on the tape, then he certainly does have questions to answer, even raising the possibility of an action for perjury. No wonder the News of the World, which has launched an appeal against the verdict, is cock-a-hoop. Predictably, Sheridan has responded by accusing the paper of publishing "lies and smears".
From beginning to end, it has been a sordid tale and - without prejudging the value of this latest revelation - it's hard to feel sympathy for either Sheridan or the newspaper. In the end, whatever Sheridan did or did not get up to, it was a private affair and none of anyone's business. However, the combination of Sheridan's courtroom victory, the emergence of new evidence, and the size of the award against the paper does make it a matter of wider public interest. It was a huge amount of money, out of all proportion to the sums people are awarded for physical injuries. The so-called perversity of the decision also requires proper consideration. And it opens up, yet again, the debate about the need to be able to inquire into how jurors reach their decisions. On this occasion, I think the News of the World deserves a measure of support from the rest of the press as it pursues its appeal.
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No doubt about the main topic in today's media sections: the troubles at the Telegraph group. The Guardian devotes three articles to the subject, reportage from Owen Gibson and Stephen Brook, commentary from Kim Fletcher and a nostalgic piece from an ex-staffer b>Philip Delves Broughton.
But the real surprise, not least at the Telegraph, I'm sure, was the fact that The Independent's columnist, Stephen Glover, chose not to write about it. In a week of cataclysmic news at the Daily Telegraph his main piece tweaks The Guardian about its investment in the Berliner format. I sincerely hope this isn't evidence of Glover (or the Indy) giving in to the Telegraph management's attempt to gag him, a move I revealed in July.
Despite Glover ignoring the hot topic, on the page opposite his column is a sympathetic interview with the Telegraph journalists' union leader, John Carey under the headline The Daily Terror-graph. That certainly doesn't suggest any Indy kow-towing to overtures from Canary Wharf. The piece tells how Carey who, as father of the NUJ chapel represents 230 staff, is about to issue management with seven days' notice of a ballot for industrial action. It will be too late to prevent the latest round of redundancies (54 journalists out of 133 altogether). It will also be far too late to halt the move from Canary Wharf to Victoria.
"In 20 years at the Telegraph," he says, "I've never known such a mood for action, whatever it takes," Carey says. But he concedes that the redundancy terms are "not bad", particularly for long-serving staff members.
It should be said that there are non-Telegraph items elsewhere. Two Guardian pieces deserve mention: Stewart Purvis on the "subjective style" of the BBC's Charles Wheeler and Ivor Gaber's fine exploration of the Michael Stone story that was overlooked. And an Independent interview with magazine mogul Felix Dennis is a joy too.
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The Ipswich Evening Star has launched a three-pronged campaign to prevent thousands of houses being built on the Felixstowe peninsula. "We will be fighting for the rights of the community", says the paper. "The aim is not necessarily to stop development, but to ensure it is appropriate." The paper wishes to preserve "the rural character" of the twin villages of Trimley St Mary and Trimley St Martin. It also seeks to prevent over-development of nearby Walton. And, thirdly, it is seeking to ensure that the regeneration of Felixstowe is carried out with the consent of its residents. (Via Ipswich Evening Star)
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More concern over Irish privacy law proposals in this article. "The law could have an impact well beyond Ireland, as celebrities increasingly shop for favourable jurisdictions in which to sue for libel or invasion of privacy", it says, adding: "It would have immediate effect on the many British newspapers that publish Irish editions, as well as on news organisations that print outside the country and even those circulating in Ireland via the internet." It quotes a Dublin-based lawyer, Simon McAleese, who represents numerous media groups: "This law would respect no borders. A US or French newspaper sued in Ireland for breach of privacy would end up paying in their own home country, even if they have no assets in Ireland." And Frank Cullen, director of the National Newspapers of Ireland, says: "The editor's life will be hell under this law. The rich and powerful will basically get help in keeping things out of the public arena." (Via International Herald Tribune)
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The editor of Kommersant, the daily Russian business newspaper, has quit just a month after it was a sold. The paper's new owner, Alisher Usmanov, a steel magnate with ties to the state gas monopoly Gazprom and close to President Putin, is said to have "accepted the resignation" of the editor, Vladislav Borodulin, on Friday. According to a spokesman: "His decision to resign wasn't forced, but evidently they expressed different views on how the publishing house should be developed." Kommersant (circ. 115,000) is widely respected for its business and finance coverage. But, unlike other large papers that have muted criticism of Putin, it has remained highly critical. (Via Moscow Times)
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The video footage of Osama bin Laden obtained by the Sunday Times is making headlines across the world. Newspaper sites in virtually every country refer to the discovery of the videotape that was filmed at Bin Laden's hideout in Afghanistan in 2000. The paper is running five clips on its site which fill in what it calls "a missing chapter in the searing story of the attacks on America on September 11, 2001." One of the soundless clips shows two of the men who flew the hijacked planes laughing and joking. Another shows Bin Laden addressing about 100 Al-Qaeda members, including others who attacked the World Trade Centre. (Via Sunday Times)
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Though Bob Woodward, "arguably the pre-eminent journalist of the last three decades", works for the Washington Post, other papers often get his scoops. It happened again with his latest book, State of Denial, which is setting the political agenda in the States. The New York Times and the New York Daily News both obtained copies before the Post. But the writer claims "the [Post's] experience of having lost the first crack at the work of its most renowned reporter... is probably more sweet than bitter" because "having Mr Woodward as a hood ornament on the enterprise, even one who husbands his most lustrous scoops for his books, has its compensations." (Via New York Times)
