Volume 23, Number 1, 2012 |
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ContentsEditorial - Consensus at last? 3Not finally... Subjective views on matters journalistic Paul Donovan, Brenda Maddox, Ray Bennett - 5 Youth’s-eye viewBen Bryant - Let’s hear it for experimentation 37Alister Houghton, Sophia Vanco, Will Coldwell, Laura Garcia Rodriguez, Naomi Westland, Tania Steere, Raziye Akkoc, Nick Spearing, Sam Thompson, Sarah Whitehead - Best of times, worst of times - 19 World viewAlex Crawford - We beat everyone, except Hannah Montana 28Richard Pendry - Way out east: a media wasteland 35 Richard Sambrook - Not the end of the World (Service) 41 Andrew Wiard - Public enemies? No, easy targets 49 Vanis Varoufakis - Reporting perils of the Greek crisis 54 Bill Hagerty - Photographic icon: Terry O’Neill 60 Ian Nichol - PCC: The past is another country 63 BOOK REVIEWSPeter Oborne on Malcom Dean, John Lloyd 69Stephen Claypole on Michael Nelson 71 Geoffrey Goodman on Mark Seddon 73 Liz Vercoe on Martin Bell 75 Kim Sengupta on Janine Di Giovanni 77 Quotes of the Quarter 1 - 12 Quotes of the Quarter 2 - 79 Ten years ago - The way we were - 18 Paul Foot Award - 80 Cover picture: Bridget Bardot by TERRY O’NEILL 
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Consensus at last?The BJR editorial sees positive signs emerging from the Leveson inquiry, especially in terms of a new structure pioneered by the incoming chairman of the Press Complaints Commission, Lord Hunt. The BJR welcomes the initiative, concluding that “the time has come… to get the industry’s recommendations in first” (meaning before Leveson reports).Tumbling freelance feesPaul Donovan charts the decline in payments for freelance work by newspapers and magazines. And not only have rates gone down, you can wait months to get paid.Journalism “not a profession”Brenda Maddox dismisses claims that journalism is “a profession” and argues instead that it is “a craft”, and a deeply satisfying one, too. It offers a public service essential to democracy and is therefore essential to an open society.Hackgate: the movieRay Bennett of The Hollywood Reporter imagines a crop of post-Leveson movies, such as We Need To Talk About Kelvin; Tinker, Tailor, Hacker Spy; and Four Funerals and a Shredding, starring Hugh Grant, of course.Award winner’s guide to the futureBen Bryant, winner of the annual Hugh Cudlipp prize for student journalism, offers a guide to the digitally-enhanced journalism of the future. He believes the next generation of journalists will need to know basic coding, have a grounding in Photoshop, InDesign, HTML, CSS and learn techniques for scraping and manipulating data. They should also be able to write, of course.Can journalism survive?Ten students now studying journalism look at the prospects for their chosen trade. There is pessimism and optimism, realism and idealism, desperation and aspiration. Overall, the positive wins out with several students believing that digital technology offers hope, while on the ethical front, a post-Leveson settlement will rebuild journalism's tarnished image.Coping with danger on the front lineAward-winning Sky News reporter Alex Crawford recounts the drama and excitement of broadcasting a world scoop - the end of Gaddafi's hold on Tripoli - with a little help from a cigarette lighter and a rebel fighter from Bournemouth.Georgia’s woeful mediaA lot of money is being spent training journalists in Georgia, but much of the training is risible and most reporters are clueless. Media academic Richard Pendry reveals a woeful situation in the former Soviet state where censorship and self-censorship are the norm.Not the end of the World (Service)The World Service is leaving Bush House and will be integrated into the BBC's news operations in the refurbished Broadcasting House. It will mean change but it will not be for the worse, writes Richard Sambrook, who used to head the BBC’s global news-gathering operation. There are risks, he concedes, but believes the corporation will rise to the challenge.Photographers are not all papsNews photographer Andrew Wiard points to the positive developments in his trade in spite of the public mistakenly viewing all photo-journalists as paparazzi. In fact, he writes that “we are the eyes of the public” and should not be vilified after years of forging improved relationships with the police on the public’s behalf.How to report economic meltdownsThe reporting of Greece’s financial meltdown has been marred by journalistic failures to grasp the problem, argues Yanis Varoufakis, an economist at the University of Athens. He offers advice to journalists who are trying to explain “an economic crisis unfolding in a foreign land”.In defence of the PCCIan Nichol, who has just stepped down as a lay member of the Press Complaints Commission after six years, reflects on the comments made in the previous issue of BJR about the PCC. He defends its record and also looks to the future by advocating the survival of the organisation itself – in an enhanced form – for the good of the press and the people.Terry O’Neill, photographic iconNow 73, O’Neill has photographed some of the world’s most iconic individuals. In the process, he has become something of an icon himself. O’Neill's work can be seen at the Sunday Times Magazine's 50th anniversary exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery. He has chosen four pictures for this issue of the BJR: Bridget Bardot graces the cover, and Frank Sinatra can be seen inside along with portraits of Nelson Mandela and Amy Winehouse. |
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