Awards for best and worst media coverage of older people

Posted by Alison Battisby on 11 June 2009 at 16:09
Tags: Journalism, awards

A national charity is encouraging people to vote for the best - and worst - media coverage of older people.

Counsel and Care, a charity that works with older people, is asking the public to vote online for individuals and organisations that they feel portray older people positively or negativel.

The charity will be giving out The Older People in the Media Awards at its annual Graham Lecture in London in September.

The awards aim to recognise work that portrays older people positively, but will also be handing out ‘Raspberry awards’ to those that take a more negative attitude.

Stephen Burke, chief executive of Counsel and Care, said: “The way that older people are portrayed in the media has a crucial effect, not only on how they are treated by wider society but also by care and support services.

“This competition aims to confront this, with a view to influencing journalists to think harder about what they say and write about older people.”

A downloadable nomination form is on the Counsel and Care website. The winners will be chosen by a panel of expert judges.

The awards will have several categories including, best and worst print coverage (newspapers, magazines and brochures), best and worst radio coverage, best and worst television coverage, best and worst web coverage and overall best and worst portrayal of older people in the media.

Mixed response from FoI campaigner to Brown reforms

Posted by Alison Battisby on 11 June 2009 at 15:23
Tags: Freedom of Information, Law, press freedom

The Campaign for Freedom of Information has welcomed some of Gordon Brown’s proposed changes to parliamentary transparency, including the cutting of the 30-year period before old official papers are made public to 20 years.

This was a substantial step, the Campaign said, even if it did not go as far as the 15 year period recommended by the Dacre Review earlier this year.

Brown announced the change yesterday in an attempt to improve trust in politics in the wake of the MPs expenses scandal.

Justice secretary Jack Straw is looking at the case for extending FoI. Currently the Act includes national and local government, but many so-called “quasi-autonmous” public bodies or “quangos” are exempt, despite spending billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money every year.

The announcements were not all good news however. CFOI expressed concern over Brown’s plans for some new exemptions from the Act - including Cabinet papers and information relating to the Royal family.

The group accused the government of trying to exclude cabinet papers from the scope of the Act altogether.

Maurice Frankel, the CFOI director, said: “Everyone accepts that Cabinet minutes should not normally be disclosed, other than in truly exceptional circumstances. But if someone asks for a paper submitted to a Cabinet committee five or 10 years ago that request should be considered on its merits.

“To exclude the whole class of Cabinet papers from the Act is an unnecessary, retrograde step, which will protect much material that does not need to be confidential and allow the top of level of government to operate in absolute secrecy.”

CFOI also pointed out that the Act already contains an exemption for information relating to communications with the Royal family, which is subject to the Act’s public interest test. It said additional protection was not needed.

Frankel said: “If, for example, there is correspondence between, say, Prince Charles and ministers about proposed legislation that should remain, as at present, potentially disclosable on public interest grounds.”

Sky and Guardian on journalists’ use of social media

Posted by Alison Battisby on 10 June 2009 at 13:39
Tags: Journalism

Representatives from Sky and Guardian News & Media explained how they use social media in their organisations at a conference in London yesterday organised by Communicate magazine.

In a session on “the Twittering classes”, Sky News Online chief news editor Jon Gripton discussed the use of Twitter in the Sky newsroom.

He admitted that recruiting a “Twitter correspondent” had partly been for publicity, but said the role was now regarded highly in the newsroom.

Gripton described how Sky uses its profile on Twitter for purposes other than just publicising its own content. He said that it is important to communicate and respond to followers’ comments.

“Those who are taking time to put a face to a brand are doing it right,” Gripton said. “There is no excuse for a brand not to be on Twitter.”

In a separate talk on “blogs, wikis and user-generated content”, Guardian Comment is Free editor Georgina Henry said the hardest part had been training journalists to write for a web audience.

She said Comment is Free had broadened and deepened the range of views published by the Guardian and aimed to break down barriers between journalists, bloggers and commentators.

And she said that although the site had yet to run a piece from the British National Party, after the group’s European Elections success that decision was not “necessarily sustainable”.

Observer business and media editor Ruth Sutherland said that old journalism still clearly had power. She doubted the Telegraph’s scoop on MPs’ expenses would have prompted the same reaction if it had been broken online.

“It wouldn’t have had the impact, commentary and space,” she said. “It wouldn’t have worked in the same way.”

Eric Hammond: the man who aided Murdoch’s Wapping move

Posted by Alison Battisby on 4 June 2009 at 12:00
Tags: National Newspapers, People

Eric Hammond, the former leader of Britain’s electricians’ union who made secret deals with Rupert Murdoch on the News Corp move to Wapping, has died at the age of 79.

He led the Electrical, Electronics, Telecommunications and Plumbing Union (EETPA) and made his name when he secretly negotiated with Murdoch over plans for the new News International production site in east London.

Hammond made a deal for his electricians to man the presses at Wapping, producing titles such as the Times and the Sun, leaving 3,500 print workers unemployed.

When the new plant opened, the angry Fleet Street print unions that had been forced out gathered outside and held ugly demonstrations.

Hammond, who never visited Wapping, insisted that his union had not done any deals with Murdoch.

The Trade Unions Congress (TUC) later decided to expel his 365,000 strong union in 1988, after finding him guilty on five out of seven charges over Wapping.

In his autobiography, Maverick: The Life of a Union Rebel, published in 1992, Hammond revealed that that there had indeed been an agreement, kept from his executive and with nothing put on paper.

The Financial Times reported that he wrote: “He (Murdoch) turned to me and said: ‘Eric, I think we might have a deal.’”

The Daily Telegraph wrote that his only regret was that after the EETPU helped Murdoch smash the print unions, the media magnate had shown “not one spark of gratitude”.

According to The Independent, “in the publishing of his book, he pulled no punches in his fascinating account of how he helped Murdoch smash the print unions, an act for which he will never be forgiven by his brothers and sisters in what used to be called Fleet Street.”

Hammond was awarded an OBE in 1977, and died on 30 May 2009. He was married with two children.

Farmers Weekly celebrates after double AOP win

Posted by Alison Battisby on 3 June 2009 at 17:29
Tags: New Media

Farmers Weekly did not think it stood at chance at last night’s AOP awards, its online editor told Press Gazette today. But it ended up walking away with two gongs.

Julian Gairdner was crowned best digital editorial individual, beating Pete Picton at Sun Online and David Moynihan at NME.com. Farmers Weekly also won best business editorial team at the event last night.

Gairdner said: “We didn’t even think we stood a change against some of the other candidates.”

He explained that the new Farmers Weekly website is now able to offer content that could not be published in the magazine, such as video, additional images and blogs.

“It has been a very big year for Farmers Weekly, with a design and a new platform for the website,” he said. “We have been hugely successful with traffic.

“We are very committed, and are willing to try new things. We have had a raft of initiatives on the website including blogs and video content.”

He said the successful parts of the site were aimed at small communities, such as the Taking Stock and Agribusiness blogs.

“They have a niche purpose, which means it was easy to get sponsorship for them,” he explained.

Gairdner also said that Twitter had been extremely useful to the website, as all of the journalists had accounts and had found news content via the site.

Guardian turns on Gordon Brown and urges him to quit

Posted by Alison Battisby on 3 June 2009 at 11:55
Tags: National Newspapers

The Guardian has today turned on Gordon Brown in a leader article, saying: “It is time to cut him loose.”

The piece, posted on the Comment is Free blog by the editorial team, calls for the prime minister to resign.

The article claims that there is no future vision for Brown, and that he is no longer capable of leading the country.

“Labour faces its worst defeat in its history on Thursday, but the prime minister does not recognise his direct responsibility for the mayhem,” the piece reads.

The newspaper says the next few days leading up to the local and European elections will be crucial to the future of Brown’s career.

Today Hazel Blears, the communities secretary known for her persistent loyalty to Brown, resigned from the cabinet.

She recently caused controversy after writing an article for The Guardian’s Comment is Free blog, commenting on the government’s “lamentable failures”.

The home secretary, Jacqui Smith, is also set to leave the government at the next reshuffle, following the Telegraph’s expenses investigation.

The paper has now been disclosing details of MPs’ expenses claims for almost a month.

City University seeks professor of financial journalism

Posted by Alison Battisby on 3 June 2009 at 09:35
Tags: Journalism

The graduate school of journalism at City University in London is looking for applicants to become its first professor of financial journalism.

The university is set to launch a new course in financial journalism, supported by the Marjorie Deane Financial Journalism Foundation.

Applications are wanted from candidates with an outstanding record of publication in print, broadcast or online media and who have an interest in emerging issues of the economy, regulation and fiscal stress.

City’s outgoing head of journalism Adrian Monck said: “We believe the restructuring of the world economy will be the next decade’s biggest story and we intend to be at its forefront.

“The generous gift from the Marjorie Deane Foundation offers us the opportunity to seek a great candidate who can bring together policy-makers, business people and journalists to discuss and debate key issues at City.”

Journalist Marjorie Deane MBE had a long and successful career at The Economist. She died last year. The Marjorie Deane Foundation begain in 1998 and is dedicated to promoting excellence in financial journalism.

Danny Boyle urges media to leave ‘Slumdogs’ in peace

Posted by Alison Battisby on 1 June 2009 at 16:23
Tags: National Newspapers

The director of Slumdog Millionaire has hit out at the media, blaming them for disrupting the lives of the two child stars.

The pair, who were chosen to add authenticity to the film, were propelled into international fame thanks to their roles and were even flown in to attend the Oscars.

The children and their families have been subject to intense media interest. One journalist allegedly witnessed Azharuddin’s father beating his son after the boy refused to speak during a paid interview.

A custody battle for Rubina also made the headlines, causing a public battle between her mother and stepmother.

Speaking to the The Daily Telegraph, Danny Boyle defended the parents of the children saying they are “good people”.

“All the tension and pressure on the family is media-dominated and there has been a lot of inevitable miscommunication because we live in London and have only been able to read the news stories from afar.”

Danny Boyle, who won nine Oscars and made £213m from the film, recently flew out to Mumbai to help rehouse Azharuddin Ismail, 10 and Rubina Ali, nine, after their slum was demolished.

Boyle said: “Things are looking positive - they will be in their houses soon. I certainly hope this is the last time I have to speak to the media about Azhar and Rubina in this context.”