Scottish national newspapers doomed by 2018?

Posted by Martin Stabe on 17 May 2008 at 13:09
Tags: National Newspapers

Journalism professor Phillip Meyer, who is often credited (not quite correctly, it seems) with the prediction that newspapers will disappear by 2043, has made an even more dire prediction about the Scottish national newspapers.

“If you take the rate of decline and extend it to the zero point, I would say the end of Scottish newspapers as we know them, within 10 years, will probably unless there are some surprises,” Meyer told BBC radio.

The BBC package, by Daily Telegraph managing editor John McGurk, a former editor of The Scotsman, notes that the Scottish papers are struggling with each month’s ABC figures and now face a major threat: Scottish local authorities are preparing to transfer their recruitment advertising to their own websites at the end of this month.

Jason Cowley is named editor of New Statesman

Posted by Paul McNally on 17 May 2008 at 11:48
Tags: Magazines

Three months after John Kampfner left the New Statesman, the title has a new editor.

MediaGuardian.co.uk reveals the post has been given to Jason Cowley, the editor of Granta and a former literary editor for the political weekly.

BBC apologises for Burma photo mix-up

Posted by Paul McNally on 17 May 2008 at 11:36
Tags: Broadcast, Television

The BBC is “reviewing its processes” after it admitted that a photograph used to introduce a news report on the Burma cyclone was, in fact, an image of the Asian tsunami from 2004.

Die Welt publisher interested in Trinity Mirror?

Posted by Paul McNally on 17 May 2008 at 11:26
Tags: Media Business, National Newspapers

Shares in Trinity Mirror closed on Friday night up almost five per cent, as rumours circulated that Germany’s biggest newspaper publisher Axel Springer was interested in the Mirror and People publisher.

• Price: 255.25p
• Change: 11.25p (4.61%)

Aides ‘concerned’ by royal wedding deal with Hello!

Posted by Paul McNally on 17 May 2008 at 11:08
Tags: Magazines, Photography

Hello! has refused to say whether the Queen will be included in the pictures from her grandson’s wedding that the celebrity magazine has secured in a £500,000 deal.

According to the Daily Mail, Buckingham Palace aides are reported to be concerned about the effect on the Queen’s image if she is seen to be taking part in the Hello! deal.

The paper says next Wednesday’s edition of Hello! will devote around 20 pages to exclusive photos from the wedding of Princess Anne’s son, Peter Phillips, and his Canadian bride Autumn Kelly takes place at St George’s Chapel in Windsor today.

Man considers legal action after BBC wife’s suicide

Posted by Paul McNally on 17 May 2008 at 10:58
Tags: Broadcast

The husband of a BBC executive who killed herself by walking into the sea is considering taking legal action against the corporation, according to the Daily Mail.

Kari Boto died last summer, shortly after leaving her job at the World Service Trust, the charitable arm of the BBC World Service.

Tom Boto told the inquest that the corporation showed a “lack of support” and “nobody listened to her problems”.

But the human resources director at the BBC journalism group, Rachel Currie, said efforts had been made to reduce Boto’s workload and she had been encouraged to take leave.

Guardian makes offer of amends over Tesco tax story

Posted by Paul McNally on 17 May 2008 at 10:33
Tags: Law, National Newspapers

The Guardian has admitted its story in February about Tesco’s tax affairs was defamatory, and has made a formal offer of amends to the supermarket giant.

But the newspaper has said it will “strenuously defend” Tesco’s ongoing attempts to sue for malicious falsehood.

In a letter to Tesco’s lawyers, Carter Ruck, the Guardian offered to publish a correction and apology, and pay compensation and costs.

It had already published a correction and a revised story earlier this month in a bid to set the record straight, but Tesco is reported to have sent a letter to the newspaper earlier this week demanding a more prominent apology.

Heather Brooke welcomes MP expenses FoI victory

Posted by Paul McNally on 17 May 2008 at 10:11
Tags: Freedom of Information, Journalism, Law

Journalist and freedom of information campaigner Heather Brooke has welcomed this week’s High Court freedom of information ruling that the expenses details for 14 MPs should be disclosed.

Brooke, who had worked with the Sunday Telegraph’s Ben Leapman and the Sunday Times’s Jonathan Ungoed-Thomas, said the lengthy legal battle had “severely damaged public trust in parliament”.

“This ruling will wrest control from the old boys’ club and put it back where it belongs – with the constituents,” she said.

“What’s disappointing is that it took three years of concerted effort to counter the relentless opposition from the House of Commons and speaker Michael Martin, who used taxpayer money throughout to block [it].”

Writing on her blog, she adds: “It’s not right that a citizen is forced to fight so hard for such a basic level of democratic accountability from our elected representatives.”

‘Terrorist’ Hassan Butt is detained until Wednesday

Posted by Patrick Smith on 16 May 2008 at 18:07
Tags: Broadcast, Journalism, Law, Magazines, National Newspapers

The BBC is reporting that terror suspect Hassan Butt, whose arrest last Friday is central to five production orders given to journalists and media outlets in the past month, is to be detained by Greater Manchester Police until week under the Terrorism Act 2000.

On Wednesday GMP have to charge him, bail him or release him without charge.

The orders all relate to interviews with the Manchester-based former spokesman for radical Islamic group al-Mujahiroun.

At a hearing held yesterday in Manchester the BBC, Sunday Times, Prospect magazine and CBS News successfully argued for the case to be adjourned for a week  and it will now be held next Friday - after freelance journalist Shiv Malik appears at the High Court to fight his order on Wednesday and Thursday.

That case, a judicial review before the Lord Chief Justice and probably two other senior judges, will have wide-ranging implications on the future of production orders - and could affect the outcome of the Manchester hearing.  

Grimsby Telegraph employs ‘virtual’ journalist newsreader

Posted by Dominic Ponsford on 16 May 2008 at 11:30
Tags: New Media, Regional Newspapers

The Grimsby Telegraph is the latest paper to experiment with a virtual newsreader.

Kate Carter is computer-generated and reads out stories written by Telegraph journalists.

Editor Michelle Lalor said: “We have been running video reports every day now – and sometimes up to three or four videos a day – for more than a year.

“Breaking news 24-hours-a-day has been the norm for at least two years, and we have consistently been adding more interactive content to the site.

“We have done so much to it, we were left scratching our heads a little about what more we could do – and then the idea of the newsbot was born.

“They are a great example of how differently news can be reported – it’s all about novelty and fun.

“Of course, Kate is only virtual, but we wanted to give her a personality to make her what she effectively is – a new member of the reporting team.

“We’ve decided she’s a 35-year-old mum of two, who would like to be stuck in a lift with David Tennant or Johnny Depp but has rather dodgy tastes in music (her ring tone is Tight Fit’s The Lion Sleeps Tonight…”

Update: Since the famous Ananova, many news organisations have toyed with avatar-newsreaders using text-to-speech technology. Archant’s Welwyn & Hatfield Times used the same SitePal technology used by the Telegraph to introduce its virtual newsreader in February 2007. The Newcastle Chronicle’s website has used it to create a virtual Ronnie Gill feature.

The Eastern Daily Press last year experimented with its virtual newsreaders “Brian”, whose demonic-looking eyes led to a satire being produced by a reader before being replaced by the slightly less terrifying “Karena”.

Meanwhile, a technology lab at Northwestern University in the United States is working on a fully-automated video newscast based on video game technology.

Property developer plans 23-storey tower in fight for News International tenancy

Posted by Patrick Smith on 16 May 2008 at 09:38
Tags: Journalism

The race to secure the lucrative deal to provide News International’s next permanent home has entered a new phase - the Canary Wharf Group has submitted a new bid to Tower Hamlets council for a 23-story tower in London’s Docklands.

Property Week reports that the publisher, part of Rupert Murdoch’s global News Corp media empire, has listed the development on a shortlist of three. The building, which in the revises plans will be 130 metres high, could have space for 4,000 staff.

Others in the running include Watermark Place, near Fishmonger’s Hall in London’s Square Mile financial district, run by UBS and Oxford Properties Groups.

Another is the St Botulph’s development near Aldgate in East London, developed by Minerva.

NI, which publishes The Sun, News of the World, Sunday Times and the Times as well as thelondonpaper, Times Literary Supplement and several customer publishing titles, is expected to leave is Wapping headquarters at point this year or early 2009.

Buyers are queuing up to buy the vast Wapping site, according to Proprty Week, with several fund and developers not deterred by the £200m price tag.

‘Baldy Blogger’ may have weeks to live

Posted by Patrick Smith on 16 May 2008 at 08:37
Tags: New Media, Regional Newspapers

Sad news reaches Press Gazette. Adrian Sudbury, a reporter who has for the last 18 months fought a rare form of leukemia while educating people about the disease around the world through his blog, may have only weeks to live.

The Daily Mirror today interviews him today as he calls for more people to donate bone marrow for the 7,000 other sufferers on the waiting list.

Adrian, who has continued to work for the Huddersfield Examiner during his illness, has refused further treatment after leukemia reappeared following a bone marrow transplant last year.

With the humour that characterises his detailed and informative blog on the life of a leukemia sufferer, he told readers “in the rapping words of Craig David, RE-EE-Lapse”.

He says “My mind still wants to do the things any 26-year-old can do - but I can’t…As for dying - how can anyone be scared of something that is going to happen to every single one of us?”

Adrian picked up the award for best medical blogger at the Weblog awards in Las Vegas and also won best online feature at the Guild of Health Writers awards.

He wrote an article for Press Gazette back in May and said that leukemia ”has, funnily enough, changed me from a determined anti-blogger to a man with no hair but with a blog of his own, recording my progress through my illness and treatment as well as casting a light on the often-misunderstood subject of leukaemia.”

IHT editor moves to AP role in US

Posted by Martin Stabe on 16 May 2008 at 07:00
Tags: Agencies, National Newspapers

Executive editor Michael Oreskes is leaving the International Herald Tribune to join the Associated Press in the newly-created role of managing editor for United States news, the New York Times reports.

New York Times editor Bill Keller declined to comment on whether the Paris-based IHT would continue to have a separate editor as it is being more closely integrated with its New York sister paper.

Matthew Todd is new editor of Attitude

Posted by Dominic Ponsford on 15 May 2008 at 16:40
Tags: Magazines

Matthew Todd, has been appointed editor of Attitude the gay lifestyle monthly two weeks after it was bought by Trojan Publishing, The Guardian reports. Todd has been a contributor to Attitude since 1996.

US broadcaster CBS buys CNet Networks

Posted by Patrick Smith on 15 May 2008 at 13:56
Tags: Broadcast, New Media

US TV network CBS has bought San Franciso-based CNet Networks, a series of entertainment and technology websites and the tenth largest network on the web, for $1.8m (£920,000).

CBS will now have control of sites such as News.com and Gamespot.com and have access to CNet’s 160m readers a month

CNet’s UK division publishes a stable of consumer and B2B websites including electronics reviews site CNet.co.uk, video game portal Gamespot UK, environmental consumer site Smart Planet and the business IT sites ZDNet.co.uk and Silicon.com

Thomson Reuters Markets boss seeks to calm troops ahead of redundancies news

Posted by Dominic Ponsford on 15 May 2008 at 11:48
Tags: Agencies, Journalism

As Thomson Reuters gears up to announce what it calls “integration related redundancies” - CEO of Thomson Reuters Markets Division Devin Wenig has sent out an email explaining a little more about the company’s plans.

Press Gazette has obtained a copy and reproduces it here:

“Dear Thomson Reuters Markets Colleagues:

I’ve recently spent a lot of time visiting with colleagues around the world discussing our new company. I know that top of mind for many is the question of potential job losses resulting from our integration.

It’s no secret that a significant amount of thought and planning has been dedicated to eliminating duplication and generating savings within our business. I want to reiterate what I have said in person to many of you, which is that it is crucial that we get this right - for our people, our customers and our shareholders. We now have sufficient clarity that I can communicate to you our immediate plans.

(more…)

Media Standards Trust and Tim Berners-Lee among Knight News Challenge grant winners

Posted by Martin Stabe on 15 May 2008 at 10:05
Tags: Agencies, New Media, Regional Newspapers

Martin Moore of the Media Standards Trust, working with web inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee and the Web Science Research Initiative are among the  winners of the 2008 Knight News Challenge.

The group won a $350,000 (£179,000) award to fund “Transparent Journalism“, a project to help the public find “fair, accurate and contextual news” online by improving the metadata in online news stories.

The project aims to “design a way for content creators to add information on their sources to their reports, as a form of ’source tagging.’”Filters could then be used to help identify high-quality journalism online using this meta-data. Sir Tim, Moore and the Web Science Research Initiative are already working with the BBC and Reuters on integrating tagging into journalists routine workflow.

The Media Standards Trust also already runs Journalisted, a website that aggregates UK national news stories and tags it with information about individual journalists.

The Knight News Challenge, funded by the US-based Knight Foundation, annually provide grants of up to $5 million towards the development of digital news innovations that benefit a specific geographically-based community.

(more…)

FT predicts Archant’s John Fry as next Johnston Press CEO

Posted by Patrick Smith on 15 May 2008 at 09:46
Tags: Regional Newspapers

Following Johnston Press’s £212m rights issue yesterday, the Financial Times today cites Archant chief executive John Fry as “an obvious choice” to take over the Edinburgh-based publisher when CEO Tim Bowdler steps down next year.

In a comment piece the paper says: “The real trick will be raising [the company’s] online game. It must recruit somebody with a record in monetising the internet. John Fry of Archant, whose linking of print and web platforms is  a model for the industry, would be an obvious choice.”

Johnston’s share price took a big hit following news of the rights issue, ending  trading yesterday down 20.5p to 115.25p, close to its 52-week low of 109.5p.