Posted by
Katie Jacobs
on 9 January 2009 at 16:20
Tags: BBC, Broadcast, Television
A BBC reporter has been the first member of the foreign media allowed to enter Gaza since the onslaught of the Israeli offensive.
Video journalist Andrew Herbert was given permission to go on patrol with the Israeli army on Wednesday. He filmed the Givati infantry unit of the Israeli army as they moved into Gaza
The pictures were cleared by an Israeli military censor
Posted by
Katie Jacobs
on 9 January 2009 at 10:59
Tags: Magazines
IPC has appointed Carissa Wyten as new international fashion manager at women’s glossy Marie Claire.
Wyten leaves her position as executive fashion and beauty manager on Marie Claire to take up her new role. (more…)
Posted by
Katie Jacobs
on 9 January 2009 at 09:34
Tags: National Newspapers
Yesterday The Wire reported that The Guardian had claimed to have solved The Sun’s UFO mystery: apparently the “strange lights” in the sky were fireworks from a journalist’s family party.
However, today’s Sun pours scorn on Emily Bell, the Guardian News and Media director of digital content, and her theory that her father’s 80th birthday party caused the lights.
The idea was branded “ridiculous” and Bell herself referred to as “a local blogger for a small newspaper group” – ouch.
Posted by
Katie Jacobs
on 8 January 2009 at 15:33
Tags: Consumer Magazines, Magazines
Craft enthusiasts rejoice, for not only does early 2009 include the launch of a new knitting magazine, but also a brand new title all about crochet.
The first issue of bi-monthly Inside Crochet will hit the stands in March, priced at £4.99 and published by KAL Media Ltd. It joins Yarn Forward and SEW Hip (everything you need to know about knitting and sewing respectively) in KAL’s portfolio.
Earlier this week, Knitting’s editor predicted a boom for niche hobby titles as people stop going out and spending money on socialising and start staying in with yarn and spools.
With two craft launched in three months, she may well be right.
Posted by
Katie Jacobs
on 7 January 2009 at 16:32
Tags: Journalism
The PCC today announced that John McLellan, editor of the Edinburgh Evening News, has been appointed to the Commission as the new Scottish representative.
He was nominated for the position by the Scottish Daily Newspaper Society and will replace Derek Tucker, editor of the Aberdeen Press and Journal.
McLellan first took over the Evening News in 1997 and edited it until 2001. He then left for a stint as editor of Scotland on Sunday before returning to the Evening News in 2004.
The Commission is made up of 17 members; McLellan joins the seven who are editors.
Posted by
Katie Jacobs
on 7 January 2009 at 14:16
Tags: Magazines
Weekly classified car magazine Exchange & Mart is to become an online only publication as of February, according to Brand Republic.
The publication of the magazine will cease completely, leading to about 80 redundancies. The final issue will be published in February 2009.
The Newsquest owned title had run into trouble as the internet is now the most popular medium for publishing classified adverts.
Frank McCaffrey, managing director of Exchange & Mart, said: “This move is a natural evolution for Exchange & Mart and marks the beginning of a new era for the brand. It is also very much a trend being followed by the publishing world as a whole.”
Posted by
Katie Jacobs
on 7 January 2009 at 09:54
Tags: New Media, Newspapers, Online
As if the sub-zero temperatures outside weren’t enough to stop us from dragging ourselves out of bed, a new website billed as “an online memorial to the traditional media industry” is here to make us even more depressed.
The site, Traditional Media RIP, was created by Dialect, a Canadian web marketing agency, to track, minute by minute, the decline of print and other traditional media.
It offers links to various stories from around the web about newspaper job cuts, publishing company bankruptcy - and the effect the decline of newspapers is having on innocent little puppies.
One of the site’s creators, Nik Szymanis said: “The headlines are presented starkly and without comment, giving a sobering view of the current state of media.”
The irony of a group purporting to “love traditional media” blogging about its decline using new media is not lost on the site’s creators.
Szymanis said: “Since one of the main pressures on traditional media is the internet, and since virtually all the news we consume is via the internet, it seemed only fitting to create this memorial online.”
Traditional media, it seems the bell it tolls for thee…
Posted by
Katie Jacobs
on 6 January 2009 at 12:27
Tags: National Newspapers
Telegraph columnists James Cracknell and Ben Fogle have taken the lead on the first day of their race to the South Pole.
Their group, Team QinetiQ, pushed ahead of the five other teams yesterday in the Amundsen Omega 3 South Pole Race – a challenging 495-mile trek across the world’s largest icecap.
Speaking to The Telegraph yesterday, Cracknell said they were finding the trek “surprisingly tiring” despite weeks of training.
He said: “We have done 35 kilometres [22 miles] and we have got slightly sore feet but everyone is in very good spirits.”
The race, which is expected to last a month, is based on the famous contest between Captain Scott and Roald Amundsen nearly 100 years ago.
Posted by
Katie Jacobs
on 6 January 2009 at 11:55
Tags: press freedom
Foreign journalists are still being kept out of Gaza after plans to allow reporters to enter were aborted, The Guardian reports.
Last Friday Israel agreed that up to eight members of the foreign media could enter the Gaza strip when the Erez crossing - the only pedestrian crossing from Israel to Gaza - reopened for humanitarian purposes.
Yesterday however, Israel’s military said it was too dangerous to staff the Erez passenger terminal, making access to the territory impossible.
Israel maintains that foreign media is biased and unethical and should not be allowed into Gaza. Danny Seaman, the head of Israel’s government press office, said foreign journalists are “unprofessional” and take “questionable reports at face value without checking”.
Israel has been restricting press access to Gaza since the ceasefire with Hamas ended on 4 November but a challenge by the Foreign Press Association led to an agreement to let in eight foreign journalists.
Posted by
Katie Jacobs
on 6 January 2009 at 11:16
Tags: Photography
Calling all Scottish press photographers: the deadline for the First ScotRail Press Photography Awards is on 14 January.
This is the fourth year of the prestigious competition, which is the only dedicated press photography awards in the UK. Judges include former Sun picture editor Ken Lennox and British gold medallist Chris Hoy, who will judge the sports photography.
The awards are open to staff, freelance, trainee and student photographers in Scotland. Categories include features photographer of the year and sports photographer of the year.
To be in with a chance of winning recognition and a share of the £4,500 prize fund, visit www.scottishppa.com to find out more and upload your photographs. Good luck!
Posted by
Katie Jacobs
on 6 January 2009 at 10:44
Tags: Television
Investigative journalist Donal MacIntyre is taking a break from exposing the gangster underworld to don Lycra and sequins for the latest series of ITV’s Dancing on Ice.
Macintyre is best known for his BBC shows MacIntyre Undercover and MacIntyre Investigates, which saw him infiltrate various criminal organisations. His investigations led to the arrest of two violent football hooligans and the closure of a care home for the elderly, which was found to be abusing its residents.
Speaking to STV, MacIntyre said: “Skating has taken over everything. I feel like I’ve been leading a double life – interviewing hardened gangsters but thinking about skating.”
He added: “I have lost about 20 pounds, which I call the combination between gangsters and sequins diet.”
His reputation as a hard man may come in handy on the reality ice-skating show as contestants regularly suffer injury; TV presenter Michael Underwood broke his ankle on last year’s run.
The bookies have given MacIntyre and his skating partner Florentine Houdiniere long odds of 20-1, but he said he would be happy to get past the first round. “If I survive the first show I will get a Torvill and Dean tattoo,” he said.
Posted by
Katie Jacobs
on 5 January 2009 at 12:18
Tags: Media Business, Regional Newspapers
Tim Bowdler, outgoing chief executive of Johnston Press, has spoken of his regret at leaving the company £465m in debt with a deflated market value of £77m.
Johnston Press became the second-largest regional media group in Britain under Bowdler’s care, acquiring new titles including the Yorkshire Post and The Scotsman.
However, concern over debt led share prices to plummet by 94% last year
Speaking to The Sunday Times, Bowdler said: “However much you rationalise it and claim it is down to factors beyond your control, you are the person who is responsible. I don’t feel good at all – I can’t deny I have presided over a considerable loss of value.”
He said he remains positive about the future of regional newspapers. He said: “There is still a great interest in the local community. Newspapers need to become local portals with new revenue streams.”
Bowdler leaves Johnston Press to take a new role as chairman of the PA Group. His successor is former Archant chief executive, John Fry.
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