1.Tim would like you to listen to the Today programme between 7.30 and 8am on Monday morning. As before, make a note of everyone who speaks and identify which radio device is being used: live interview, recorded interview, package and so on. Tim will deconstruct why it was put together the way you hear that morning. As before, this exercise will only work if you have listened to that half hour of the programme.

2.He will also look at how to set up interviews, book in guests and do briefing sheets for the presenter.

It was only a matter of time before somebody started some sort of rumour claiming to know the new identity of Jon Venables. Already Facebook has become home of speculation and now vicious texts have been going around the country stating his "new identity." The Sun newspaper was quick to jump to the protection of a man they believe to be innocent. While journalists and officals are kept from revealing the true identity, the general public are not afraid to attempt to reveal the deadly truth.

During his excellent session yesterday, Allan Little told the story of Jessica Lynch, the 19-year-old US Army Ordnance Clerk  who was captured by Iraqi soldiers in 2003. Allan described how the truth about Private Lynch was spun into a fictional heroic fantasy by the Pentagon's top rotational surgeons. You can read the full version of Jessica's story here.

As diligent students of British politics understand, most votes under our first past the post system make no real difference to the result of a general election. The ones that count are those cast by swing voters in marginal constituencies. The Conservatives have been confident in their assertions that, despite a narrowing gap in nationwide opinion surveys, their lead among these defining voters in the marginals is big enough to make the crucial difference.

And big congratulations to Becci Hughes who filed copy on Mark Thompson's lecture to Journalism.co.uk. You can read Becci's account of the DG's defence of public service broadcasting, and the steps he is proposing to preserve it in the twenty-first century, here.  Extra bonus points for getting a second byline crediting the  Centre for Journalism and the University of Kent.

Very pleasing to read, inToday's Medway Messenger and at Kent Online, the 2009 Bob Friend Scholar helping to draw wide attention to Dan May's success in the 2010 competition.

The BBC is the neighbour at the end or your garden with a giant leylandii. He smiles at you and is a nice enough bloke. But the problem is his tree. It’s too big. It greedily sucks in nutrients from the soil and blocks out the sunlight. It’s an impressive tree by any standards, but it casts a massive shadow. And in that gloomy, publicly funded shade, other peoples’ plants struggle to get a foot hold. Some wilt and die. For years the community’s been talking about what should be done. Some people want the eylandii to be severely lopped.

BBC Director General Mark Thompson thinks the current generation of journalism students will be entering a world that is full of opportunities.

Last night Thompson delivered the second Bob Friend Memorial Lecture at the University of Kent, which awards a scholarship in the former Sky News presenter’s name to a first-year undergraduate student every year.

The BBC should be given credit for being decisive about its goals and future direction, says Director General Mark Thompson.

Thompson, who delivered the second Bob Friend Memorial Lecture at the University of Kent last night, defended the corporation's decision to axe 6 Music and the BBC Asian Network.

The BBC can improve its journalism in a number of areas, Director General Mark Thompson said at the second Bob Friend Memorial Lecture last night.