The programme is due to air in late January or early February, not long after shamed BBC presenter Jonathan Ross returns to our screens after he was suspended for three months for his part in the prank call to Andrew Sachs.
Skinner isn’t the first celebrity to host the programme – Blur bassist Alex James and author Bill Bryson have both made a Panorama documentary for the BBC.
In response to complaints that the use of celebrities being used to make the programme is diverting from its tradition of hard-hitting journalism, the BBC told Media Guardian that the 56 editions of Panorama screened each year are made by experienced reporters, and the programme is presented by former journalist Jeremy Vine.
Upmarket monthly Monocle is launching a weekly radio podcast, The Monocle Weekly, which will include commentary from the magazine’s editors around the world, reports Brand Republic.
Editor Andrew Tuck, Asia bureau chief Fiona Wilson and Americas bureau chief Ann Marie Gardner will all contribute, and scheduled guests include philosopher Alain de Botton.
Editor in chief Tyler Brule said: “The Monocle Weekly will look over the horizon and explore the looming stories within the five areas that define our editorial agenda: global affairs, business, culture, design and consumer culture.”
Business publisher Informa is looking to reduce its debt to less than £1bn and could sell off parts of its business reports The Independent.
The company’s net debt for its half-year results in July was £1.22 bn.
A source said: “Institutions and the market have – incorrectly, in the company’s view – marked Informa down as overgeared at three times Ebitda [a calculation of profit], and so the board has accepted that it will have to get below £1bn of debt. Divestments are one of the ways of solving that problem.”
Journalists on Newsquest papers in west Wales have offered to cut their hours in order to avoid one of them being made redundant, reports Media Guardian.
NUJ members on the South Wales Guardian, the Western Telegraph, Tivyside Advertiser and the Milford Mercury were due to ballot for strike action in protest at management’s decision to axe a reporter from the pooled editorial staff.
Following a meeting with management, however, an agreement was reached when four of the seven reporters agreed to cut hours.
Lawrence Shaw, the NUJ assistant organiser for Wales, said: “We have saved a position but it involves four people that are already low paid taking home even less
“It is not an ideal solution and not one that the NUJ will be pursuing elsewhere. We would not advocate it but when people are up against a wall they will do the things necessary to save themselves.”
Journalists at the Scotsman Group are considering boycotting next year’s Scottish Press Awards in protest over proposed cost cutting at their group and also due to the awards’ chairman Donald Martin, reports Media Guardian.
Martin is the newly appointed editor-in-chief of the Glasgow-based Herald & Times Group who made more than 230 journalists redundant at the group just a day after he started his new job.
The National Union of Journalists chapel at Johnston Press’s Scotsman Group unanimously passed a motion against participating in next year’s Scottish Press Award at a meeting yesterday in protest over plans to merge the production operations on the group’s three titles.
The Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at George Bush could face a prison sentence of up to 15 years, reports The Guardian.
Muntazer al-Zaidi appeared before a judge yesterday on charges of “aggression against a president” and has been kept in custody while an investigation is carried out.
His older brother Dargham told the BBC that the TV reporter has been beaten in custody and has a broken hand, broken ribs, internal bleeding and an eye injury.
Hundreds of supporters of Zaidi have taken to the streets of Bagdad demanding his release.
A researcher for 24housing magazine has proved to be a hit with the ladies after he was voted Heat magazine’s Torso of the Year.
Somehow topless pictures of Steve Burton were “accidently” circulated around the 24housing offices, and impressed with what they saw the office ladies convinced Burton to enter the competition in Heat.
Colleague Annie Neesham explained: “We took a picture of Steve – with 24housing magazine placed strategically in the background – and submitted it to Heat.”
Burton’s pictures were obviously impressive, as he is featured in Heat’s Christmas edition, out today.
Burton said: ““It was an amazing feeling to have everybody so excited for me and I owe them a massive thank you for the votes – they even set up a Facebook group for me!”
Does anyone on your magazine have an impressive torso you’d like to share?
The Freedom of Information blog reports that in minutes of a meeting held at the ICO office last month it states that funding across the public sector will be tight next year, and the ICO needs to plan for possible reductions in grant in aid, “despite our understanding that the £.5 million paid this year was a baseline figure”.
Press Gazette reported in January that the existing backlog of Freedom of Information appeals to the Information Commissioner’s Office was so long it would take until March 2010 to clear.
Surely a reduction in funding would lead to a further increase in the backlog?
Iraqi television journalist Muntadar al-Zaidi gave departing US president George Bush a fond farewell as he addressed a press conference with Prime Minister Maliki in Bagdad on Saturday.
As the Iraqi leader called Bush a “a great friend for the Iraqi people, who helped us liberate our country” and Bush declared that “the work hasn’t been easy but it’s been necessary for American security, Iraqi hope and world peace”, al-Zaidi stood up and threw his shoes at Bush, accompanying with the first shoe a cry of “this is a goodbye kiss from the Iraqi people, dog” and with the second he shouted “This is for the widows and orphans and all those killed in Iraq.”
Al-Zaidi, a correspondent for Cairo-based al-Baghdadiya TV, was promptly wrestled to the ground by security and dragged away.
Bush, who managed to dodge the shoes, told reporters afterwards: “If you want the facts, it’s a size 10 shoe that he threw.”
The Metropolitan Police is conducting an investigation into the behaviour of one of its officers following video footage of the officer grabbing a photographer’s camera.
Photographer Marc Vallee and videojournalist Jason Parkinson are considering legal action following the skirmish with police outside the Greek embassy in London earlier this week.
Video footage of the incident, on Current TV, appears to show a police officer grab at Vallee’s camera and tear off the lenshood.
Metropolitan Police said in a statement: “The officer featured in this clip will be investigated regarding his conduct with a member of the media. There are clear service guidelines that all officers are expected to adhere to that protects the rights of media.”
“The Metropolitan Police Service seeks to protect the interests and rights of media to do their job, through educating all our staff within the Service. Before every operation all our staff are briefed as to the role of the media and wherever operationally possible to facilitate them. This was a spontaneous demonstration that at points included outbreaks of disorder, which required an emergency response from police.”
Vallee and Parkinson met the NUJ on Wednesday following the incidents and are now considering their options.
Photographers at the protest have also complained that police ushered them from the area.
The NUJ has criticised the Metropolitan Police for its handling of the protests, claiming that it prevented journalists from doing their job.
Guidelines for Metropolitan Police Service staff on dealing with media reporters, press photographers and television crews state that: “Members of the media have a duty to take photographs and film incidents and we have no legal power or moral responsibility to prevent or restrict what they record.”
NUJ legal officer Roy Mincoff said: “The police must remember that they have responsibilities towards the media.
“Even where a protest is itself illegal, the media have a right to report on events and the police should not be taking action with the intention of obstructing journalists in their work.”
The article by Beaumont labels Nottingham as “bleak” and says that some areas are “pockets of deprivation, crime, drug addiction and third-generation welfare dependency, where you can smell the stench of hopelessness.”
Nottingham City Council described the article as an “uninformed piece of jaundiced journalism”, with city council deputy leader Graham Chapman accusing the piece of being out of date. He said: “He’s gone back as far as the 1990s for quotes, and is three years out with comments about guns as we haven’t had a shooting in the city for about two years.. It refers to Nottingham as a northern town and calls Rushcliffe a suburb on Nottingham. The man is well out (with his facts).”
Beaumont defended the article: “Regeneration in the city centre, when compared to cities such as Leeds, Sheffield and Newcastle, hasn’t been as imaginative as one would have hoped.”
The Telegraph also reports that the Government arm that controls Channel 4, the shareholder executive, is nearing the appointment of a bank to evaluate the future funding of the broadcaster.
Opik’s celebrity romances with TV presenter Sian Lloyd and one of the Cheeky Girls have made him a regular in the red tops already.
Editor Pam McVitie, who took the helm in September, thinks this will help her readers relate to him. She said: “This is a huge coup for the Sport. Lembit is one of the only politicians that real people have heard of and can relate to. He’s opinionated, outrageous and knows what Sport readers want. We’re thrilled to have him on board.”
Obik’s column will appear every Friday in the Manchester-based newspaper, where he’ll provide news and views of what is happening in politics.
He added: “I can’t wait to get started, this is the perfect partnership.”
In a trading update this morning, UBM reported that the strengthening of the US dollar against the pound and strong performance in events, data and workflow products and resulted in this result, achieved despite a weaker results for some of the company’s print advertising and “secondary” events.
UBM is aiming to reducing its global headcount by around 350 by the end of this year.
The major revamp of the magazine will see it have more photos and opinion pages and reduce down the news content, making it a competitor to The Economist.
The magazine axed 111 jobs earlier this year, but according to WSJ it is unclear how many jobs will go as a result of the latest changes.
Newsquest York journalists went on strike earlier this year and finally reached an agreed 3 per cent pay deal, which has been removed by the company’s pay freeze.
Management have also refuse to guarantee there will be no compulsory redundancies.
The National Union of Journalists chapel on The Press and associated papers are holding two simultaneous ballots - results to be known on 5 January.
NUJ Northern Regional Organiser Chris Morley said: “The union members at York want to have clear mandates to take action over pay or job cuts.
“They are angry that management have gone back on their word over wages.
“And in view if what is happening elsewhere in Newsquest they want to put a marker down that they will not stand back and allow anyone to be shown the door against their will.”
The NUJ has called for an investigation after BBC World Service pulled an episode of From Our Own Correspondent at the request of the Foreign Office.
The programme was about reporter Mary Harper contacting Somalian pirates, and had already been broadcast on Radio 4 and 48 times on the World Service network before the Foreign Office’s request.
Mike Workman, NUJ World Service news and current affairs father of the chapel, sent a letter to World Service director Nigel Chapman requesting an investigation. He said: “There may be that there was a good reason for the World Service decision but information from my members suggests otherwise.
“I cannot emphasise the seriousness of the situation [enough]. This is an issue that could severely damage the World Service’s reputation for independent journalism because it looks as if we have given in to government pressure for no good reason. “
