Featured Post

What a Journalist Isn't

I'm sick and tired of the abuse journalists are getting at the moment. They don't deserve it, at least real journalists don't - ...

26 October 2011

Disappointing Debate

When I eventually found the web feed of the BBC Local Radio debate (on Parliament TV; the BBC itself chose to screen a TV personality, Professor Robert Winston, speaking in the Lords on its own Parliament channel) I was hoping to witness gutsy democracy in action; backbench members using their clout to call on the BBC's senior managers and Trust to think again about cuts which could see one in five local radio staff lose their job.

What I actually witnessed was an unedifying spectacle.

25 October 2011

On MPs and Self Interest

The future of BBC Local Radio will be discussed in parliament tomorrow. Well, actually it's in the annex. Westminster Hall. And at 0930 in the morning, before the main business of the day gets underway.

The ownership of BSkyB, in contrast, got green benches and questions in the main theatre.

After all the drama of the tory rebellion on the referendum vote on Monday, and with the latest twists in the Euro crisis the subject of breathless speculation from political correspondents (whose annual travel expenses alone would probably pay for a clutch of local radio journalists) it is, after all, unlikely to be the highlight of the week for many elected Members.

18 October 2011

Sharing Thoughts on DQF & Local Radio

I've been known to have a bit of a go at The Guardian from time to time.

I get a bit narked with that paper's holier-than-thou attitudes on the craft of journalism, its obsession with phone hacking, and the general tone of commentators whose opinions are so self-evidently correct, politically and otherwise, that any further discussion is clearly a waste of everybody's time.

But I exempt from this general withering scorn Martin Wainwright and the Northerner team, together with columnist Martin Kelner, probably better known to ordinary mortals as the co-host of the Monday to Thursday breakfast show on BBC Radio Leeds.

14 October 2011

Oi Sky; Cut TX Fees - or the Puppy Gets It

I see a head of steam is building around the argument that BSkyB should drop or reduce retransmission fees paid by the Beeb for the carriage of BBC TV and radio services on the Sky satellite; particularly the function for viewers in different regions of the UK to see the correct regional programmes for their postcode.

It's suggested that savings made by reducing these carriage charges could be used to 'offset' the cuts, particularly those in Local Radio.

The idea is presented by its supporters as a gesture the monopoly satellite broadcaster could make as some kind of reciprocal gesture for the funding cuts suffered by the state-funded broadcaster.

Thing is; BSkyB won't see it like that. Why should they?

12 October 2011

Forlorn Fightback?

Given the scale of BBC Local Radio cuts under DQF it's not surprising that last week's shock at the size of the savings is turning to anger.

Media Guardian reports that teams on at least two stations, BBC Radio Nottingham and BBC Radio Newcastle are launching leaflet campaigns urging listeners to lobby MPs and the BBC Trust in the hope of forcing a policy reverse like the one that saved the iPhone generation's shiny plaything BBC 6music.

BBC Local Radio staff are not, by nature, aggressive.

Their job involves a lot of smiling and nodding and empathising as they tease usable cuts out of inarticulate punters, or persuade some locally based 'expert' to come in at 0630 for comment on what GNS has decided is the issue of the day for no recompense other than a cup of dreadful coffee and a lot of producer TLC (See how I'm getting the hang of these BBC TLAs, BTW)

11 October 2011

Tips for Newsroom Newbies

Yesterday I asked the question via Twitter
#Radio types: What advice would you give my LeedsTrinityPGs starting news placements today, hoping for a first break?

10 October 2011

First Day in a Newsroom


Today's the day my Postgraduate Broadcast Journalism trainees at Leeds Trinity start placement. It's the culmination of an intensive course, and the first chance they have to prove they have what it takes for a career in news.

They're entering the industry at a difficult time (DQF, anyone?); the current financial crisis is not of their making, but they're bearing the brunt of its effects.

I know we have a great team teaching on our course; it's a privilege to work alongside them, and to see the trainees develop their skills from January to September.

October and November are when those same trainees have to prove themselves actually working in a newsroom (or, more normally, several newsrooms).

So I had to think of something to say this morning; something to stiffen the sinews, to inspire without being trite, hopefully channelling Winston Churchill rather than David Brent.

08 October 2011

DQF - Why 'Radio England' is a Really Bad Idea

It's sadly indicative of  BBC 'reflex thinking' that the proposed solution to saving money on evening programming for Local Radio is to create a new network:  'Radio England', which they plan to roll out across all English stations from 1900-2200 each weekday, and for big chunks of the weekend.

Except when it isn't.

Stations will opt out from 'Radio England' when there's sport on involving a local team. When it's snowing. Whenever any local manager who cares for his or her service can think of a reason. Or even half a reason.

If anyone ever asks me to run a station (highly unlikely; even more so after writing this)   the very last thing I'd ever want to do is close down from Sunday afternoon to Monday breakfast.

06 October 2011

DQF - Don't Kill the Grassroots

Think of the BBC as a delicate houseplant, much loved, carefully nurtured but overgrown.

The risk to its future health lies not in the pruning ordained today through 'Delivering Quality First', but in the longer-term danger of destroying its roots. And that could be the unintended consequence.

DQF - First Impressions

Like most folk with an interest in broadcast news, I've been glued to Twitter for the past hour for live updates on Mark Thompson's Delivering Quality First (DQF) proposals.

03 October 2011

BBC - Being Brave about Change

Lots of very good broadcasters and journalists at the Beeb are in a subdued mood this week. They're about to learn the future of BBC Local Radio, and many fear the worst.