Reuters targets consumer market with YouTube channel

Posted by Press Gazette on 19 January 2012 at 10:31
Tags: Broadcast, Journalism, New Media, Television

Reuters has launched a new YouTube Channel called Reuters TV covering hard news, finance, politics, technology and special investigations.

Reuters said the channel marks its entry into the “rapidly growing business of online video programming” and that it employs a “creative editing style that is suited for internet programming and does not mimic traditional TV”. (more…)

French journalist killed in Syria

Posted by Jennifer Norton on 12 January 2012 at 11:50
Tags: Broadcast, International, Television

A French journalist was killed in Syria yesterday while covering pro-government demonstrations in the city of Homs.

Gilles Jacquier, a 43 year-old cameraman for France 2, was among a group of 15 foreign journalists on a trip authorised by President Assad when he was reportedly killed by a rocket grenade attack.

He is the first Western reporter to die in Syria since the uprising began in March last year.

(more…)

Mail: BBC had dropped Jimmy Savile teen sex investigation

Posted by Jennifer Norton on 9 January 2012 at 13:18
Tags: BBC, Broadcast, Television

The BBC has abandoned a two-month inquiry into past sex allegations against the late Jimmy Savile, the Daily Mail reports.

According to the Mail, Newsnight reporters began researching claims the star behaved inappropriately towards teenage girls in the 1970s shortly after his death last October. (more…)

Guest blog: Media regulation is being overtaken by technology

Posted by Lara Fielden on 12 December 2011 at 17:12
Tags: Broadcast, Law

We’ve come a long way in the few short months since the full Hackgate scandal exploded, writes Press Gazette guest blogger Lara Fielden.

The immediate aftermath saw seismic criticism of self-regulation under the Press Complaints Commission, the departure of its chairman and demands for statutory press regulation. Punitive fines and effective licensing, akin to the model for broadcasting regulation, were the order of the day. (more…)

Kelvin MacKenzie: If I could revisit Hillsborough I would do it differently

Posted by Press Gazette on 8 December 2011 at 13:23
Tags: Broadcast, Television

Former Sun editor Kelvin MacKenzie clashed with MP Chris Bryant on BBC’s Daily Politics show and also expressed remorse for some the things he did as an editor.

Asked by Andrew Neil if he felt an regret or remorse, he said: “Probably, yes I do.” (more…)

John Cleese disappointed in the British press and at not being hacked

Posted by Dominic Ponsford on 6 December 2011 at 10:06
Tags: Broadcast, Law, Radio

Former Monty Python John Cleese has expressed his disappointment in the accuracy standards of the British Press and at not being among the News of the World’s estimated 5,700-strong list of phone-hack targets.

Interviewed by Mark Lawson for Radio 4’s Front Row, Cleese was asked if he had been told that his phone may have been hacked. “No, but I live in hopeful expectation because I would love to get money out of that bunch of bastards.” (more…)

Weekend catch-up: The ten biggest UK journalism stories of the week

Posted by Dominic Ponsford on 2 December 2011 at 16:19
Tags: Broadcast, Journalism, Law, Magazines, National Newspapers, New Media, Regional Newspapers

It’s been a busy week for journalism industry-related news - with most of the action going on over at the Royal Courts of Justice and the Leveson Inquiry. Here is a catch-up of what we think have been the 10 most significant stories of the week (click here for all our Leveson coverage): (more…)

Ofcom fines Press TV £100,000 over ‘unfair’ Iran demonstration report

Posted by Press Gazette on 1 December 2011 at 11:42
Tags: Broadcast, Television

Ofcom has fined UK-based Iranian satellite news channel £100,000 for being unfair to journalist Maziar Bahar in a 2009 report about unreset in Iran.

In summary Ofcom said: “On 1 July 2009, Press TV broadcast a news item that reported an attack that had  taken place on 15 June 2009 on a Basij base in Tehran by the supporters of the unsuccessful Iranian presidential candidate, Mr Hossein Mousavi, during a post election demonstration. The item contained images of demonstrators throwing stones and what appeared to be petrol bombs at the buildings. (more…)

Report: Sky News brings in lawyers to ‘trawl the emails of star journalists’

Posted by Press Gazette on 22 November 2011 at 08:58
Tags: Broadcast, Journalism, Television

BSkyB has hired a law firm to “conduct a trawl of the emails of star journalists” working on Sky News, according to a report in the Independent.

The move was reportedly made to “ensure that there is no evidence of stories being obtained by illicit news-gathering methods”, enabling the company to give assurances to shareholders ahead of this week’s annual general meeting.

The Independent reports that Sky’s legal adviser Herbert Smith has been drafted in to conduct the “email audit”.

A BSkyB spokesman told the paper:

There has been no suggestion of any impropriety at Sky News. We remain committed to the highest standards.

Dorothy Byrne: Shorter Dispatches will make C4 more ‘fleet of foot’

Posted by Press Gazette on 9 November 2011 at 12:01
Tags: Broadcast, Television

Channel 4’s flagship investigative journalism series Dispatches is to switch from 30 mainly hour-long programmes a year to 40 half-hour programmes.

The broadcaster also this week revealed details of a £250,000 in a scheme to provide training for 20 people in broadcast investigative journalism over two years.

Full details in the press release here: (more…)

Report: ITN to take over Channel 5 News contract

Posted by Press Gazette on 4 November 2011 at 09:47
Tags: Broadcast, Television

ITN could be set to provide Channel 5’s news content again after the broadcaster reportedly agreed a deal to cancel its contract with Sky News.

According to The Guardian, Channel 5 owner Richard Desmond has been in talks with Sky News about ending its £9m-a-year contract for more than a year, and his company Northern & Shell is now “in the final stages of discussions over a new deal” with ITN. (more…)

Occupy London protesters take on Telegraph over thermal imaging story (video)

Posted by Dominic Ponsford on 31 October 2011 at 08:02
Tags: Broadcast, Journalism, National Union of Journalists, Television

Anti-capitalism protesters occupying an area in front of St Paul’s Cathedral in London have hired the same thermal imaging camera used by the Daily Telegraph to challenge that newspaper’s story claiming that most tents were empty overnight. (more…)

John Whittingdale tells ITN debate he favours full televising of courts (video)

Posted by Dominic Ponsford on 26 October 2011 at 11:33
Tags: Broadcast, Journalism, Law, Television

Head of the Commons culture committee John Whittingdale revealed that there was widespread support in Parliament for allowing cameras into courts when he spoke at an ITN-organised debate on this issue. (more…)

BSkyB 1st quarter operating profit up 16 per cent to £295m

Posted by Dominic Ponsford on 19 October 2011 at 07:38
Tags: Broadcast, Media Business, Television

BSkyB continues to be a recession-proof cash machine for News Corp and its other shareholders.

Results for the three months to 30 September show revenue up 9 per cent on tth4e same period last year to £1,657m and operating profit up 16 per cent to £295m. Full results statement here.

Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp owns 39 per cent of BSkyB.

BBC reporter found guilty of ‘complicity’ with outlawed Islamist group

Posted by Press Gazette on 17 October 2011 at 11:02
Tags: BBC, Broadcast, Journalism

The BBC has promised to appeal after one of its reporters in the Central Asian country of Tajikistan was found guilty of complicity in the activities of banned Islamist organisation Hizb ut-Tahrir.

Urunboy Usmonov was first detained by security services in June when he was allegedly denied access to his family, colleagues or a lawyer. (more…)

News Corp shareholder revolt grows ahead of Friday’s AGM

Posted by Dominic Ponsford on 17 October 2011 at 10:33
Tags: Broadcast, Journalism, National Newspapers

The shareholder revolt at News Corp is growing ahead of Friday’s AGM - with some major players reportedly joining the anti-Murdoch camp.

The Independent reports here on the growing disquiet over News Corp’s handling of phone-hacking and other allegations of impropriety.

While the Murdoch clan only owns 11 per cent  of News Corp, its shares carry 40 per cent of the voting rights. So there would need to be a near unanimous revolt for Rupert and James Murdoch to be unseated from their positions of power. (more…)

Steve Hewlett’s Media Show grilling of Peta Buscombe wins Nick Clarke Award (audio)

Posted by Dominic Ponsford on 10 October 2011 at 06:52
Tags: Broadcast, Radio, awards

Media Show persenter Steve Hewlett has won this year’s Nick Clarke award for journalism for his interview with Press Complaints Commission chair in February this year.

Hewlett gave Buscombe a grilling on the Media Show in February this year - before the Dowler revelations, but a point when the regulator was already under pressure over its handling of the phone-hacking scandal. (more…)

Ofcom clears Newsnight over Starkey ‘whites have become black’ comments

Posted by Dominic Ponsford on 4 October 2011 at 07:37
Tags: Broadcast, Journalism, Television

Ofcom won’t be taking any action after more than 100 complaints about ‘racist’ comments made by historian David Starkey in the aftermath off the August riots.

Starkey said at one point that “the problem is the whites have become black”. (more…)

Report, news to be saved from the worst of BBC’s £700m budget cut

Posted by Press Gazette on 3 October 2011 at 09:35
Tags: Broadcast, Journalism, Television

Drama and news are set to be saved from the worst of the cuts as the BBC announces how it plans to save £700m a year from its £3.5bn a year annual budget on Thursday, the Telegraph reports.
The BBC is set to reveal on Thursday the results of its Delivering Quality First review. The cuts are needed because of a six-year-freeze on the Licence Fee and because the BBC is having to take on board the cost of funding the World Service from the Foreign Office. (more…)

ITV apologises after claiming computer game video was IRA footage

Posted by Press Gazette on 28 September 2011 at 09:01
Tags: Broadcast, Journalism, Television

ITV has apologised after airing footage from a computer game which it claimed showed an IRA attack on a British army helicopter in 1988.

The footage was shown in the first episode of ITV’s new documentary series Exposure, aired on Monday night.

An ITV spokesman said: “The events featured in Exposure: Gaddafi and the IRA were genuine but it would appear that during the editing process the correct clip of the 1988 incident was not selected and other footage was mistakenly included in the film by producers.

“This was an unfortunate case of human error for which we apologise.”