reporting

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.

I have been infuriated by news reporting of the controversy surrounding the release of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi. Time and again editors have tried to pin blame on the UK government without considering the bald fact that this decision was taken in Scotland by a Scottish Nationalist government. The pack has been motivated more by ideology than by any desire to find out what really happened.

ITV's flagging regional news provision could be replaced by 80 truly local television news bulletins if the Conservatives are elected next year. Jeremy Hunt, the Conservatives' culture spokesman, has pledged support for a new tier of commercial city-based channels. There have been previous attempts to do this. Truly local television is an attractive idea. Anyone who views Newsroom South East's diligent efforts to make what happens in Sussex interesting to residents of North East Kent, or Meridian's still tougher task of fashioning unity in a ludicrously synthetic region should understand its appeal. But the challenge should not be underestimated. Previous attempts at local TV in the UK have failed, leaving only one example standing - Guardian Media Group's Manchester-based Channel M. That said, there are profitable micro channels in other countries (Canada provides a particularly interesting case study) and the possibility of lots of new jobs in local TV reporting is attractive.  Perhaps we could transmit Medway News Live from the Centre for Journalism? I jest not entirely. 

Reading Mr. Justice Eady's full judgment in the case of 'The author of a blog and Times Newspapers Ltd.' (a.k.a. The Night Jack case), has inspired in me an optimistic thought, viz. the ruling draws a potentially valuable distinction between professional reporters and bloggers. I suspect this was not Mr Justice Eady's top priority. In fact he writes that "Although the Claimant [Night Jack] here is not a journalist, the function he performs via his blog is closely analogous." However, by ruling that "blogging is essentially a public rather than a private activity" and that there is a "public interest in revealing that a particular police officer has been making these communications," his argument does tend to reinforce the status of the professional reporter. Why?

Guardian correpondent Ed Pilkington's descriptive prose from Wichita, Kansas, puts the murder of George Tiller in its proper, doleful context. Here was a brave, compassionate man gunned-down for putting his expertise at the disposal of people in depserate need. Pilkington's writing demonstrates the value of expert correpondents who are familiar with their territory and can offer insight as well as evidence.   

Torin Douglas, the BBC's media correspondent, has been thinking about journalism's reputation in the light of the MPs' expenses scandal. He asked me for my opinion.  You can read his piece and my comments here.   

Alan Rusbridger, editor of the Guardian, News of the World boss Colin Myler and Ian Hislop of Private Eye defended original reporting against the "chilling" costs of legal action yesterday before the House of Commons select committee on culture, media and sport. 

Can the BBC save local reporting? It thinks it can and its offer is likely to be welcomed by government and commercial news providers. I think the corporation is being selfish. The Independent gave me a chance to explain why .  

Yesterday was a significant day in the history of journalism as family courts in England and Wales opened their doors to journalists for the first time. They did not open the doors wide. In some cases they opened them only slightly and slammed them closed as if panicking at the prospect of openness. There is a long way to go before cases involving children taken into care, adoption, divorce, emergency protection orders etc. can be reported comprehensively.