Blogs

GOLDFRAPP

Social workers and failings in the system of caring for vulnerable children are all over the news today, emphasising exactly how and why this is such an important subject and why journalists need to know how things work and who does what.

The first story is close to home and relates to the death of a 25-day-old baby in Kent and the failings that led to the tragic killing by her violent father. The others relate to the sacking of social workers in Birmingham and the third to a story in Wales.

Next Monday afternoon, Michael Bukht will have a conversation with you on how commercial radio bulletins are constructed. Michael will look in particular at Monday’s bulletins from LBC and Classic and how they compare to those on Today. You can read about Micheal here. He is great, and you will get a lot out of this class so please everyone, make sure you are here for this.  

That's a bit of an exaggeration of John Kay's argument, but it's not far off. He says that the principle of 'obliquity' - the idea that complex goals are often best pursued indirectly - means that directly pursuing a goal will not be as successful as going at it in a round-about way.

Among the reports of Michael Foot's funeral at Golders Green Crematorium yesterday there are many gems that would, I hope, have pleased the grand old man of English socialism. My favourite, retold in this piece by Valentine Low of the Times, concerns the moment when Mr Foot sought to persuade a steward at Crystal Palace's Selhurst Park football ground that a good book is the world's most powerful weapon.

After my  comments about the importance of reading widely (and Allan Little's impassioned guidance on the same theme), Alan McGuinness asked me to recommend my favourite novels about journalists and journalism. You know about Scoop by Evelyn Waugh.  I also recommend Towards the End of the Morning by Michael Frayn, The Quiet American by Graham Greene and Yellow Dog by Martin Amis. Of course, journalists should not restrict themselves to fiction about journalists.

The education notes have been uploaded - hopefully successfully this time - apologies for the earlier glitch. I will be posting some supplementary material next week on this subject.

Paul

I suppose if you want to try and engage that tricky demographic of 18-20 year old males, then having a director of hardcore porn films standing in an election is probably the way to go.

That's what the Liberal Democrats in Gravesham have done. Anna Arrowsmith managing director of adult film company, Easy on the Eye will be tasked with taking on current Gravesham MP, Adam Holloway for his parliamentary seat in this year's election.

Some of you may have followed the row between Bob Geldof and the BBC this week, following a radio documentary about the misuse of aid in the 1980s.  This is obviously a controversial topic and the aid agencies have joined Geldof in attacking the BBC, as you can hear. on the latest episode of the Media Show.  This is also a matter close to my heart since my PhD thesis was on the reporting of famines.