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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 - ...

27 December 2011

The Chip Shop Test

Congratulations to GMG Radio on their Smooth Xmas broadcast, which came to an end at midnight on Boxing Day.

As I predicted it was a 'must listen' for much of the week leading up to the big day, not only in our house but in many shops and homes I visited.

In the 21st-century world of commercial radio dominated by accountants rather than enthusiasts it's often easy to lose the gut feel for what output is going to work. By the time the concept for a service has been run by enough focus groups it tends to sound much the same as the half-dozen or so services whose names appear briefly as I autotune my DAB set following a reshuffle of bandwidth.

Bland and boring. Interchangeable. Unmemorable.

Those services which are run by enthusiasts - Planet Rock, or my personal own-time listening favourite Jazz FM stand out as distinctive. That's a purely subjective opinion, by the way, but then I'm a civilian these days, not an editor or a programmer, so I'm entitled to express a view.

There is however an easy way of telling which stations are in the ascendant and which are declining. A method which employs no consultants, no diaries, no hi-tech snoopy watches and no auditorium testing of playlists. A research tool which could save the industry a fortune.

15 December 2011

Outside-In Thinking; Towards a New BBC

As time runs out for audiences to make their views known to the BBC Trust over its 'Delivering Quality First' proposals (the deadline is December 21st) it's becoming obvious that the BBC, in considering DQF, has been guilty of inside-out thinking.

Bosses started with their concept of the organisation. The corporate view. The London-centric view. Like so many organisations, they could benefit from some outside-in alternatives. What would listeners across the UK, the people who actually pay the licence fee, want from any restructuring?

The suits' starting point was to ring-fence Radio 4, granting it the status of a national treasure unparallelled in world broadcasting. To pay for that safeguarding other areas had to take a hit, including the BBC's 40 local services in England.

An outsider might instead look at what local radio can contribute to the national offering.

13 December 2011

In Praise of Patten

I never thought I'd find myself writing an article praising a former Tory party chairman who was a confidant of Baroness Thatcher.

However, I've just caught up with Lord (Chris) Patten's speech to the Society of Editors last month in which he made an eloquent analysis of the BBC's relationship with the tabloid press.

At a time when the profession is being dragged through the gutter at the Leveson inquiry, knives are out for journalists everywhere and the climate of score-settling means even that beacon of moral values Hugh Grant feels safe to stick his oar in (as it were) Patten spoke, I think, for all decent journalists, especially those working in local and regional news, not just those employed by the BBC.

02 December 2011

Daring to Be Different

I'm not going to dignify the Clarkson 'story' with any direct comment.

Mouthy presenter, outrageous remarks, sense of humour failure, jumping on bandwagon, out of context, apology, DVD to flog, crass union types, more jumping on bandwagon, blah blah blah. All been said.

But it does beg the question, given the number of times 'non-stories' surface and develop out of all proportion, as to how often editors feel themselves under pressure to go with a tale when all instincts, reason, common sense and (not least) the facts scream to ignore it.

I am forcefully reminded of the Bradford Riots of 1995. I was still a (relatively) young reporter at The Pulse in Bradford.

The departure of the previous editor had left me with the title of 'News Co-ordinator', the suits having decided that not having a replacement editor would save them a company car. But in effect I was running a small but perfectly formed news team in one of the most exciting patches in the country.

So when trouble broke out in Manningham it was my Fiat Uno, not the station's, that I drove past the police cordon into Oak Lane and parked near the junction of Lilycroft Road. That was the start of a long night and a long three or four days of reporting for The Pulse and IRN as the story unfolded.

This background is relevant to what came next.