1 MP's warning over expenses revenge. Labour MP and former journalist Meg Hillier has warned that some politicians may back statutory regulation as revenge for the expenses scandal.
“And this MP said, ‘well… I wasn’t going to vote for statutory underpinning, but I’m minded now to do so.”
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3 Print vs the tablet: Football titles set for reader battle. Two new weekly launches both aimed at football fans could help us learn whether the future of journalism lies predominately on print or on tablet devices.
“We are presenting top class analysis in an accessible way backed up by a range of key stats, form and odds.”
4 Sir Harry slams ‘gross distortion’ of Leveson. Sir Harold Evans this week condemned Fleet Street’s campaign against statutory underpinning of the press as a “gross distortion”.
“When Leveson comes up with a legal guarantee of the freedom of the press written into the first clause of these bills and possibly enacted, it is spurned and misrepresented. What the hell is going on?"
6 Hillier: Editors must come out of the ‘smoke-filled rooms’ and talk to MPs. Labour MP and former journalist Meg Hillier has called on the press to be more open about its post-Leveson regulation plans.
“Since the editors had their meetings we haven’t really heard more – it’s gone very quiet. So much for openness and transparency – come on.”
8 Revealed: The UK's top ten investigative journalists. Last year Press Gazette contacted more than 30 of the biggest names in British investigative journalism to ask who they think are the best investigative journalists in the UK.
“For giving investigative journalism a good name. His work repudiates the popular view that investigative journalists are interested only in celebrities and gossip.”
9 Sun’s ‘Baby P’ carer coverage may cost £2m+. The Sun could be left facing a total costs bill well in excess of £2m as a result of its “sustained and vitriolic campaign” against ‘Baby P’ social worker Sylvia Henry.
This follows an Appeal Court ruling in a dispute over fees dating back to Henry’s legal settlement with The Sun in June 2011.
10 Nick Davies – part one: Why I don’t read papers – except for The Guardian. Few journalists divide opinion like Nick Davies. Investigative journalists variously describe him as “a major force”, “head and shoulders above the rest of us” and “extraordinarily dogged”.
Other peers have expressed different sentiments. David Leppard, assistant investigations editor at The Sunday Times, once described parts his book Flat Earth News as “toxic”.
Some Sun and former News of the World (NoW) journalists detest him because of his apparent misreporting of the infamous ‘false hope’ claim in his first Milly Dowler phone-hacking story in July 2011.
And former NoW head of features Jules Stenson described his journalism as “shoddy”.
“I started reading The Guardian when I was 14… and I actually got very mildly bullied at school reading it."
13 Monty’s Local World sensible but not new, says former Northcliffe editorBarrie Williams.
I was telling Dominic Ponsford about the way we were in the regional newspaper industry before the dramatic decline of recent years and about how, when I became editor of the Nottingham Evening Post in 1981 we had an editorial staff of 128; printed five on-the-day editions, the last at 4.00pm; sold around 130,000 copies a day; employed more than 1,000 people and had our own private company jet and helicopter and he said: “Can you write me a piece about how that compares with Monty’s Local World vision?”
14 If journalists don’t start valuing their work who else will?, says James York, founder of Knitd.
I’ve worked in two tough sectors, both affected by the digital age. Besides media, I’ve been involved with insurance. A product that no one (really) likes and which is only ever useful when something fairly terrible happens.
16 How to get a job at… the London Evening Standard and Independent titles. You must have an absolute commitment and hunger for journalism and writing.
The London Evening Standard and Independent titles regularly take on new graduate recruits and, from this year, will be looking to employ teenage, school-leaver apprentices.
Here, Doug Wills, the managing editor across both titles, explains what the titles look for in young journalists.
“What we are looking for are trainees who are highly effective communicators – both in terms of writing and verbal communication. Ultimately, the ability to tell stories in interesting ways across different platforms – in print, in pictures, in video and online.”
18 Sunday Times stops taking Syria pics. A British war photographer has been told not to submit his pictures from the Syria war zone to The Sunday Times because they “do not wish to encourage freelancers to take exceptional risks".
“I thought part of photography was the fact that some people in this world do take exceptional risks to show the rest of the world what is happening. I just don’t know what else to do any more. I really feel disheartened and extremely let down.”
19 If you ask me… with Sir Harry Evans: Reporting is what matters.
“Long before the hacking scandal and the lies of the cover-up, it was obvious that press respect for private lives had all but vanished."
24 Axegrinder: Potty for Bradford; Acting editor gets ST baptism of fire; 50s and 60s grass is always greener; Cudlipp not perfect
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