Blogs

The BBC's denial of Mark Thompson meeting with Downing Street ministers to discuss spending cuts and the 'compromising' of its independence is an interesting one.

According to the BBC News website Mr Thompson was seen 'walking into Downing Street holding a memo from BBC's head of news, describing its new season of programmes about the government's spending review.'

Mr Thompson's spokesman said the director general 'discussed the possible participation of ministers in programmes about the spending review.'

William Hague's newly appointed special adviser Christopher Myers was forced to resign today after a whispering campaign over whether he was Hague's lover.

The allegations were started by blogger Guido Fawkes. William Hague has had to release a statement denying everything and listing very personal information about his relationship with his wife.

Guido's story is essentially this.

This post details Hague's statement.

What I am wondering is what would happen if he worked for a national newspaper or broadcaster.

In a delightful piece for Slate magazine, Jack Shafer delves into the history of that enduring description of journalism as 'the first draft of history'. Perhaps surprisingly, his search only takes him as far back as the 1940s, to an editorial in the Washington Post - and even later for the inclusion of the the word 'rough'. He also wonders why the phrase has such power. 'What makes "first rough draft of history" so tuneful, at least to the ears of journalists? Well, it flatters them.

Here's three records which have been released this month and are worthy of adding to your ipod this month while it's still here.

Arcade Fire: The Suburbs

Already described by some as the band's masterpiece, Montreal's Arcade Fire have moved away from claustrophobic remnants of Joy Division-esque isolation and closer to Coldplay and MGMT's mainstream territory on 2010's The Suburbs.

Before the work starts and you're left to wonder what a lie-in is, we suggest you go mad in freshers' week. 

Click on the Facebook link in the navigation bar above, or try this  to find a link to pre-pre drinks for the freshers' dinner.

In my house alcoholism is a necessity, along with shorthand practice. ;D

Oldies: you know where I live.

New students: I'll come say hi in freshers' week and give you directions, if you want to come.

HSBC, the bank that survived the credit crunch without government help, is offering bursaries of £15,000 to students who make the best videos about their future ambitions. Details here.

I recently bumped into an old BBC colleague. I’ll call him John, though that’s not his real name. John didn’t look happy. He said he’d left the BBC, but was finding it tough getting a job outside. John was fed up because a prospective employer had just told him they considered him “institutionalised”.

John explained that employers outside the BBC didn’t think he could adjust to life in the private sector. That life at the BBC had made him accustomed to working within a rigid, bureaucratic culture.
I felt sorry for John and I understood his problem.

Victims of the BP oil spill should be prepared to wait years, perhaps even decades, for compensation.

That is one of the lessons that Ecuadorian residents say can be learned from their 17-year battle to hold the oil company Texaco to account for what has been called the 'Amazon's Chernobyl'.

...to all the superb candidates who have today won places on the Kent BA in Journalism and the News Industry. In an intensely competitive year every one of you has performed exceptionally well to get in. Our new freshers are a very cosmopolitan bunch. You come from every corner of the UK and the English-speaking world. Everyone in the Centre for Journalism looks forward to seeing you in September. Until then we hope you will enjoy celebrating your achievement. If you have any questions we have not already answered about the course, the National Council for the Training of Journalists, preparatory reading, listening and watching (e.g. which newspapers to read, radio news to listen to, TV to watch and news websites to browse),  please don't hesitate to contact us at journalism@kent.ac.uk. Our Facebook site is a good place to introduce yourself to your fellow freshers and to meet second and third year students and our new MA students. The link is on the toolbar.  

Josh Halliday of The Guardian tells the brilliant story of the crowd sourcing phenomenon Ushahidi today.

In an interview with creator Ory Okolloh, Halliday tells the story of how the tool went from cataloguing instances of Kenyan violence during a media blackout, to being used to co-ordinate humanitarian efforts after disasters worldwide, like the earthquake in Haiti.