mark thompson

Today's Independent carries a news report about Steve Mitchell's comments at the Centre for Journalism.  You can read the article here. Note the generous references to the University of Kent, the Centre for Journalism and to John Saunders for asking the question that sparked Steve's observations.  Ian Burrell, media editor of the Independent, read John's story on our website and watched the video clip. The Independent also invited me to write a column about the broad question of Mark Thompson's future as DG.  So, a lot of positive coverage for the Centre for Journalism and an excellent advertisement for the reporting skills and news sense we teach. The only remaining mystery is why it took so long for such a strong story to emerge.

One of the most senior figures in BBC News says Director-General Mark Thompson was wrong to oppose publicly News Corp’s attempt to take control of BSkyB.

Stephen Mitchell, Deputy Director of News and Head of News Programmes at the BBC, said that by signing a letter to Vince Cable last month opposing the move by News Corp, Mark Thompson had compromised the perception of his impartiality as editor-in-chief. He is believed to be the first senior BBC figure to criticize Thompson’s actions on the record.

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.

I haven't used Cover It Live before, so tonight's Bob Friend Memorial Lecture, delivered by the BBC director-general Mark Thompson, seems a good opportunity to experiment.

Mark Thompson, the Director-General of the BBC, is to deliver the second Bob Friend Memorial Lecture at the Centre for Journalism in March.

At the same event one of our first year students will be awarded the Bob Friend Memorial Scholarship by Rob Kirk, Sky News's editorial development manager.

Both the lecture and scholarship were established in 2009 in a partnership between Sky News, the University of Kent and the Friend family, to provide a lasting memorial to the life and career of Bob Friend, who became the original face of Sky News after a long-standing career with the BBC.

It's taken nearly a fortnight, but the BBC has now responded more fully to James Murdoch's assault.
(See earlier blog for details and analysis http://www.centreforjournalism.co.uk/blogs/james-murdoch-analysis-bbc-li... )
BBC Director General Mark Thompson emailed the corporation's staff; "The most important thing to say about Murdoch's lecture and about many of the recent attacks on the BBC, is that they are desperately out of touch with what audiences themselves are telling us".