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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 - ...

18 June 2013

Academics Should Get Out More

By the time you read this my postgraduate news trainees at Leeds Trinity University will be well into the the first week of what may well be the toughest month of their lives so far.

They're running a newsroom for Bradford Community Broadcasting, as I outline in the post below this one. I believe this BCB 'month on air' serves as a model for what should happen a lot more in Universities and Colleges, that being proper engagement with the communities that host them.

In this piece, which was originally commissioned for the Leeds Culture Vulture website, I hope to set out why that's important.

16 June 2013

Going Live - For the 21st Time

If you want to know what I'm most proud of in two decades of teaching journalism, it's this.

Every summer since 1993 my postgraduate news trainees at Leeds Trinity University have run a month-long radio newsroom for Bradford Community Broadcasting (BCB 106.6 FM). For the past few years we've also provided a news website for the station.

This is a live webcam feed from that newsroom. If all's well it should show a hive of activity from 0700-1800 every weekday from now until the 12th of July:


I'm not daft - the webcam has no sound. Click here for a live feed of BCB 106.6 FM output, including our bulletins each weekday 0800-1700. Oh, and the webcam won't work with Internet Explorer. I don't know why, ask Bill Gates. Fine with Chrome & Firefox.

This 'month on air' is a process. More than that, it's alchemy.

03 June 2013

D-Day for Democracy in Leeds

Today Leeds City Council has the opportunity to drag accountability and open decision making kicking and screaming into the 21st Century.

They'll be discussing an experiment which saw May's full council meeting webcast live over the internet. That trial broadcast attracted some 588 live views on the day, and as this report up for discussion states, the recording has been accessed a further 454 times since then.

I've already commented on the trial webcast in the post below this. What follows is a piece which was commissioned for the Leeds Culture Vulture website building on those comments - and I make a plea for Leeds City Council to be bold in their approach to future webcasting.