Report: Bosses ordered Newsnight to drop Jimmy Savile teen sex abuse report

Posted by Press Gazette on 10 February 2012 at 10:58
Tags: Broadcast, Journalism, Television

BBC bosses have been accused of ordering Newsnight to drop an investigation into claims Sir Jimmy Savile sexually abused a teenage girl at Television Centre.

A report in today’s Daily Telegraph says the woman claimed Savile molested her when she was 14 or 15 after inviting her to recordings of the BBC 1970s family show Clunk Click. The accusations are detailed in this month’s Oldie Magazine.

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RTS Television Journalism Awards 2011: The full shortlist

Posted by Press Gazette on 8 February 2012 at 10:40
Tags: Broadcast, Journalism, People, Television

The Royal Television Society has announced the shortlist for the RTS Television Journalism Awards 2011.

The awards, which celebrate the “creative and excellent journalism in UK news and current affairs”, will be hosted by ITV newsreader Mark Austin and take place on Wednesday 22 February 2012 at the London Hilton, Park Lane.

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Templeton appointed UTV executive editor of news

Posted by William Turvill on 3 February 2012 at 11:47
Tags: Broadcast, Media Business, Radio, Television

UTV has appointed Belfast journalist Darwin Templeton as its new executive editor of news.

Templeton, who has more than 21 years of experience in journalism, will be responsible for the media company’s news output in Northern Ireland. (more…)

Alex Crawford to present Bob Friend Memorial Lecture

Posted by William Turvill on 27 January 2012 at 10:30
Tags: Broadcast, Journalism education, Television

The University of Kent has announced that Sky News’s Alex Crawford will present this year’s Bob Friend Memorial Lecture.

The special correspondent, who has been named Journalist of the Year on three occasions by the Royal Television Society, will deliver a keynote lecture entitled ‘Alex Crawford: A Reporter’s Story”.

The lecture, set to take place on 9 February, will also see Rob Kirk, the editorial development manager at Sky News, present a first-year student with the Bob Friend Memorial Scholarship.

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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.

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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…)

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…)

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.

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.”

David Kermode appointed editor of Daybreak

Posted by Press Gazette on 2 September 2011 at 10:43
Tags: Broadcast, People, Television

The editor of 5 News, David Kermode, has been named as the new editor of ITV breakfast show Daybreak.

The Guardian reports that Kermode will replace Ian Rumsey, who announced he was stepping down from the role in July.

The news comes one year after the launch of Daybreak, which replaced GMTV when it was launched in September 2010.

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Journalists still stuck in Tripoli’s Rixos hotel amid reports of nearby mortar and RPG fire

Posted by Ivana Ivankovic on 23 August 2011 at 10:06
Tags: Broadcast, Journalism, New Media, Online, Television

While both the rebel and Gaddafi forces claim control over Tripoli, dozens of journalists are still understood to be trapped in the Rixos hotel in the city.

Among them is the BBC’s Matthew Price, who reported on Sunday that there were 35 journalists still in the hotel.

Speaking on Radio 4’s Today Programme , Price revealed how Gadaffi’s son Seif al-Islam had visited the hotel at 1.15am this morning - disproving widespread reports that he had been captured by rebel forces. (more…)