Kent Messenger’s Geraldine Allinson appointed Newspaper Society president

Posted by Myriam Dijck on 1 July 2011 at 14:43
Tags: Journalism, Newspapers, People, Regional Newspapers

Following in the footsteps of her father and grandfather, Kent Messenger chairman Geraldine Allinson was today appointed the new president of the Newspaper Society.

Allinson takes over from the managing director of Trinity Mirror’s regional operations Georgina Harvey.

“There is much comment about the challenges facing local newspapers and, indeed, all media sectors today, but the simple fact is that no other media can replicate the local press,” said Allinson. “Our newspapers scrutinise those in authority, support local businesses and campaign on behalf of our readers.”

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Veteran broadcaster David Dunseith dies aged 76

Posted by Myriam Dijck on 1 July 2011 at 09:37
Tags: BBC, Broadcast, Journalism, People, Radio

Award-winning journalists David Dunseith, best known as the host of BBC Radio Ulster’s Talk Back programme, has died.

Dunseith grew up in Derry and began his career in the police. In the 1970s he switched careers to journalism after being offered a reporter job at Ulster Television, before becoming a producer and UTV Reports presenter.

UTV colleague Paul Clark said Dunseith had one of the most distinctive voices in broadcasting.

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French journalists released by Taliban

Posted by Myriam Dijck on 30 June 2011 at 13:59
Tags: Broadcast, International, Journalism

Two French television journalists have returned home after being kidnapped by the Taliban and held hostage for 547 days.

Cameraman Stephane Taponier and reporter Herve Ghesquiere of state channel France 3 were welcomed by their family and colleagues when they arrived at a military airport near Paris.

Both men were said to be in good health.

At a press conference at the airport, Taponier said the insurgents had treated them humanely but that living conditions in the Afghan mountains were “very, very difficult”.

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Derby Telegraph editor lobbies to save thousands of local jobs

Posted by Myriam Dijck on 30 June 2011 at 13:15
Tags: Journalism, Newspapers, Regional Newspapers

A regional newspaper editor will travel to Berlin tomorrow to personally lobby the president of train manufacturing company Bombardier in a bid to secure the future of 3,000 jobs at its Derby plant.

Bombardier lost a vital government deal worth £1.4 billion to build carriages for the Thameslink service in London to German company Siemens – a decision Derby Telegraph editor Steve Hall described as an “outrage”.

Hall is now part of five-strong delegation, including the Derby plant’s chief executive and Derby’s council leader, that will hand deliver a letter to Bombardier’s top bosses tomorrow.

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Simon Kelner: ‘those who live by Twitter, die by Twitter’

Posted by Myriam Dijck on 29 June 2011 at 15:11
Tags: Journalism

The Independent editor Simon Kelner said the storm surrounding Johann Hari was no “great scandal” and that the writer remained a “serious force for good in the world”.

Speaking on Radio 4’s The Media Show this afternoon, Kelner admitted that Hari’s practice of using unattributed quotes was wrong and that it was something he “deeply regrets”.

He also admitted that neither he nor any other editors on the title were aware of it - but they were now investigating the matter.

“In the grand scheme of things I don’t think it’s a great scandal,” he said. “It was a naïve error which we recognize. Johann, of course, should have credited the interviews that he was quoting.”

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Final say over BBC complaints could be handed to Ofcom

Posted by Myriam Dijck on 29 June 2011 at 13:12
Tags: BBC, Broadcast

Ofcom should be the final judge on complaints of accuracy and impartiality at the BBC, according to a House of Lords committee report.

The report looked into the governance and regulation of the BBC and said that accuracy and impartiality is the only remaining major area of BBC broadcast content that is not regulated by an external body.

It concluded that the BBC Trust and independent media regulator Ofcom should work together to resolve impartiality and accuracy issues.

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Sheffield College launches new look press photography course

Posted by Myriam Dijck on 29 June 2011 at 09:33
Tags: Journalism, Photography, Student Journalism

Sheffield College has launched a new look press photography course that has been scaled down from 36 to 24 weeks.

The college said it wanted to make the course more more compact and financially attractive for students.

The £2,400 pre-entry course covers photojournalism, media law, photographic knowledge and practice, news and caption writing, and includes trips to high-profile events.

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University honours for two Archant editors in Suffolk

Posted by Myriam Dijck on 28 June 2011 at 11:07
Tags: Regional Newspapers, awards

The editors of two daily newspapers at Archant’s Suffolk newspapers will be made honorary fellows at University Campus Suffolk.

East Anglian Daily Times editor Terry Hunt and Evening Star editor Nigel Pickover have been in their roles since 1996.

Pickover, who has lived in Suffolk since 1993, has overseen numerous campaigns at the Star - including the campaign to establish the University Campus Suffolk, which opened in 2007.

He also scooped the best daily newspaper award at the Regional Press Awards in 2007 and 2008.

Pickover, originally from Sheffield, started in journalism aged 17 and previously worked for the Daily Mail and the Daily Express in Manchester.

“This honour from the fantastic new university in my adopted county is wonderful recognition for what we have achieved at the Star over the last 15 years,” said Pickover.

Hunt, born and bred in Suffolk, started his carrer at the East Anglian Daily Times in 1979. He worked on several other papers - including a stint as editor of the Evening Star - before returning to the Daily Times as editor in 1996.

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Seven jobs could go following collapse of Scottish newspaper publisher

Posted by Myriam Dijck on 27 June 2011 at 12:00
Tags: Regional Newspapers

Seven journalists could lose their jobs after a weekly newspaper group in Scotland collapsed.

Forth Independent Newspapers, based in Alloa, published seven local weekly titles across the Central Lowlands and went into liquidation on Friday, according to a report in the Scotsman.

The company reportedly had a circulation increase across some of its papers last year and the Scotsman reported that a buyer could come forward to take over some of the group’s publications.

The collapse is being blamed on a fall in advertising income and suggestions the company overstretched itself when it bought the East Kilbride Mail from Scottish footballer Ally McCoist and his business partners in 2007.

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Guardian journalists ‘cash in’ on WikiLeaks film project

Posted by Myriam Dijck on 27 June 2011 at 09:23
Tags: International, Journalism

Several Guardian journalists involved in the WikiLeaks project have sold their “life rights” to a Hollywood film studio, according to the Financial Times (link behind paywall).

According to the newspaper at least five different versions of the WikiLeaks story are being made by companies including DreamWorks, HBO, BBC and Universal Pictures, as Hollywood film studios “scramble to buy the ‘life rights’” of the key players involved.

DreamWorks is reported to have approached the Guardian and struck deals with journalists including David Leigh and Luke Harding, authors of the book WikiLeaks: Inside Julian Assange’s War on Secrecy.

The FT also claimed Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger and deputy editor Ian Katz had agreed deals with DreamWorks - and quoted a source who claimed the deals represented a “nice chunk” of money.

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Wannabe Hacks scoop Kingston journalism enterprise award

Posted by Myriam Dijck on 24 June 2011 at 14:08
Tags: Journalism, Media Business, Student Journalism, awards

Two founders of the Wannabe Hacks blog have won journalism enterprise competition MyNewsBiz run by Kingston University.

Nick Petrie (who works as a community manager at the Telegraph) and Ben Whitelaw (a content coordinator at The Guardian) will get £1,000 pounds to help start up their business. With their company Visualist, they want to teach the skills needed to do data journalism in smaller newsrooms. (more…)

Sports journalist Martin Searby dies aged 72

Posted by Myriam Dijck on 24 June 2011 at 10:35
Tags: Journalism, People

Former Times and Daily Telegraph sports writer Martin Searby has died aged 72

Searby was a popular figure among players and journalists on the cricket circuit and was well-known for his reports on Yorkshire County Cricket Club during his 50-year career, The Times reports.

Searby was born in 1939 in Pontefract and started writing for Ice Hockey World while he was still at school, before moving to London to work for The Sun.

In the 1970s he moved back to his home county.

Searby wrote for several national papers and had a weekly column in the Sheffield Saturday sports paper.

In the late 1980s and the 1990s he wrote regularly for the Times and the Sunday Times, and worked for the Telegraph until 2005. He also wrote about ice hockey for The Star in Sheffield.

Liverpool Daily Post and Manchester Evening News work together on top-200 businesses supplement

Posted by Myriam Dijck on 23 June 2011 at 07:31
Tags: Journalism, Newspapers, Regional Newspapers

The Liverpool Daily Post and Manchester Evening News worked together to produce ae glossy, 68-page magazine North West Top 200, which ranks the best businesses in the region by turnover.

Liverpool Daily Post editor, Mark Thomas, said in a press release: “While Liverpool and Manchester have their own distinct business communities, and there is a deal of healthy rivalry between them, many businesses take a much more regional view. Indeed, many of the biggest businesses have senior executives hot-desking between the two cities.” (more…)

Gove: BBC and the Guardian dominated by the privately educated

Posted by Myriam Dijck on 22 June 2011 at 12:34
Tags: Broadcast, Journalism, Journalism education, Media Business, National Newspapers, Newspapers

Senior roles at the BBC and the Guardian are dominated by the privately educated  according to education secretary, Michael Gove.

In a speech on education at the Times CEO Summit yesterday, reported by the Telegraph, Gove singled out the two media organisations as examples were the leaders come from privileged backgrounds. He also mentioned cricket, rugby and the music industry. (more…)

Mexican journalist, his wife and photographer son shot dead

Posted by Myriam Dijck on 21 June 2011 at 14:11
Tags: International, Journalism

In Mexico a prominent journalist was shot dead together with his wife and son, the Committee to Protect Journalists reported yesterday.

Politics and crime columnist for the daily newspaper Notiver, Miguel Ángel López Velasco, 55, and the two members of his family were shot by unidentified assailants who broke into their home in Veracruz early in the morning.

Governor of Veracruz, Javier Duarte, said in a statement given to Notiver: “Today in a cowardly act, an act that harms all society - because it is not an attack against a medium of communication, it is not even an attack against a professional group, it is an attack against society as a whole, against Veracruz society - they killed our friend Miguel Ángel López Velasco.” (more…)

David Cameron attends Times ‘CEO Summit’ as BSkyB decision nears

Posted by Myriam Dijck on 21 June 2011 at 12:46
Tags: Media Business, National Newspapers

Last night David Cameron met with Rupert Murdoch at his Wapping headquarters in London, just days before the News Corp takeover of BSkyB is expected to get ministerial approval, reports the Guardian.

Senior News Corporation business executives, Times staff and Murdoch himself listened as the PM gave a speech at the “CEO Summit” organised by the Times.

The event continued today with an early morning speech from opposition leader Ed Miliband and an afternoon discussion about the “new digital revolution” where Times editor James Harding was set to interview Murdoch.

Dog-eat-dog rivalry between two pet magazines gets nasty

Posted by Myriam Dijck on 20 June 2011 at 12:49
Tags: Consumer Magazines, Journalism, Magazines

A row between two Surrey-based dog magazines has escalated into a bitter dispute involving legal threats and the police, according to the Daily Mail.

The dispute began when the editor of long-established monthly Dogs Today found out that a rival had set up a quarterly publication with the tagline “the first and only dog magazine”.

Beverley Cuddy, 48, told the Mail she wrote a “very polite” email to the new magazine called Surrey Dog’s Life, asking it to remove the tagline. When this was ignored, she issued a formal warning to drop the claim within two weeks.

Editor of Surrey Dog’s Life, Lizette Roux, said she felt intimidated and made a complaint to the police about harassment - the Mail reports.

In Ms Cuddy’s blog, she called it an “unbelievably harrowing experience” and denied she ever made any threats to the rival editor.

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Journalism jobs round-up: July edition

Posted by Myriam Dijck on 1 June 2011 at 14:39
Tags: Journalism Jobs, Media Business

BUSINESS TO BUSINESS

Passenger Terminal World and Business Airport International are seeking for an editorial assistant. You will sub content, source pictures, carry out interviews and write articles for print and online. You need to be interested in aerospace and have at least one year of journalistic experience and can work with InDesign.
Job location: Surrey
Closing date: 18 July

New Model Adviser is looking for a features editor to commission articles and coming up with feature ideas. You need to know about financial media and have experience working online.
Job location: London
Closing date: 14 July

Drapers is looking for an editor who has an excellent eye for the next big thing in fashion and excellent writing skills.
Job location: London
Closing date: 11 July

BMC Medicine is seeking an MD or a PhD educated editor with experience who can lead the editorial team and take oversight of the journal’s content. You must have a broad understanding of clinical research and medical journal publishing.
Job location: London

Routes News is looking for an editor with a minimum of 18 months experience in editing either a trade, B2B or customer magazine, experience in the aviation industry is a plus.
Job location: Middlesex

CONSUMER MAGAZINES

Grand Designs is seeking an editor (£35-40K) to be the new ‘face’ of the magazine. You will have to manage all aspects of the editorial content and direction and research and write features.
Job location: London

NEWPAPERS

Telegraph Media Group is looking for a sub editor (£30-38K) on a six-month contract. You need accurate subbing skills and have flair for great headlines and attention to detail.
Job location: London

City AM is looking for a reporter passionate about business and finance. You will also have to demonstrate a high degree of numeracy and write clear, accurate copy ready fro print.
Job location: London

ONLINE

UpstreamOnline is seeking an online news reporter with a degree in journalism and experience in business reporting and/or the oil & gas industry. You must have good written and verbal English.
Job location: London, Oslo

Yahoo! is looking for an online editor who has solid experience of editing/running a top 10 women’s lifestyle website. You must have exceptional skills in writing, commissioning and editing.
Job location: London

WIRES AND AGENCIES

ICIS is looking for a senior editor with demonstrable market reporting experience. You will also have a proven track record in producing news and leading the news agenda and have excellent research and writing skills.
Job location: Central London

IHS is seeking a content editor for their energy, production, environment and security news wire with and undergraduate or master degree in a relevant field. You need excellent written communication skills.
Job location: Surrey