Using RSS Feeds

RSS Feeds can be enabled by adding the RSS feed widget to your blog. You do this by going into the dashboard, looking under the ‘Appearance’ tab in the left hand column, and clicking on ‘Widgets’.

This then allows you to drag the RSS feed widget over to the relevant space on the right hand side of the dashboard.

To activate it you will need to have RSS feeds captured through the use of Google Reader (see your ‘on-line passport’), or through another RSS reader, like net newswire.

Douglas

How to add categories and tags to a post

Once you have created a post, with which to amaze and inspire the world (and your tutors – especially Claire Dean), it is always a good idea to make it easier to find it again, and to let others find it as well.

There are two useful ways of doing this – all of which help you organise your posts as well.

These are – to add Categories and Tags. Categories and Tags play different roles. Categories are perhaps best thought of as general ‘Themes’ into which your postings fall. Tags are not themes, but perhaps the names of people, or places, or objects or concepts that are mentioned in the posting. For instance, a good category for this post might be the word ‘Practical’ A Tag for this post might be for instance ‘Claire Dean’ as she is mentioned in it.
To create the categories, enter the word of your choice in the relevant box, in the dashboard (there is a ‘+ Add New Category’ option. After that you need only to click the box, to apply your chosen category/ categories to the story. Similarly with Tags – the process is almost identical.

Your job now – go back through every one of your already posted stories, and add categories for them, and tags.

One complication is that the categories appear at the top of your page. More than 8 or 9 (depending on how long the word itself is!) , mean that they ‘double park’ on the page. I suggest you try to avoid this, and only choose a maximum number that might create one line on the top of the page (unlike myself!!)

Douglas

 

 

 

Our business for today – regulate the Press……

Two new views on the future regulation of the press. According to Jeremy Hunt, culture secretary, it should be possible to construct a new approach to cross platform press regulation, while at the same time Financial Times  editor Lionel Barber has outlined his vision of how the UK press should be regulated after the “watershed” News of the the World phone-hacking scandal – replace the PPC with a media standards commission.

None of them yet seem to have grasped the need to really shake up the vested interests controlling much of Britain’s media……

Non-Gaelic viewers boost ratings for BBC Alba

According to a report in the Scotsman on 9th September, Gaelic-language TV service BBC Alba has seen its audience soar by at least 100,000 since the channel was made available to viewers in Scotland on Freeview in June.

Buoyed up by the increase in viewers, the channel released its schedule for autumn programmes which they believe will continue to appeal to viewers beyond those who are fluent in Scotland’s ‘second’ national language.

There were also hints that viewing figures may be on the increase, although the head of the service, Margaret Mary Murray, said they were reluctant to release official figures until a substantial period had past, in order to ensure that the figures were stable.

She said: “We are not going to publish our viewing figures until six months have passed. But I can say that we are very encouraged by both the feedback to the channel and also the numbers that we are seeing through our audience research. They reflect a substantial increase.”

“It is very, very encouraging that people find programmes on the channel that are of interest to them and which complement the other channels available in Scotland.”

In her view a significant number of viewers were non-Gaelic speakers and it was becoming clear that Gaelic speakers and non-Gaelic speakers viewed the channel in different ways. Gaelic speakers tuned in to BBC Alba primarily for news, current affairs, entertainment and drama when it was on offer.

“They use the channel like English speakers view BBC1 or ITV1. The three subjects that pull non-Gaelic speakers in are documentaries, music programmes and sport.” she said.

Press Complaints Committee – not worth the paper(s) it passes judgement on?

Westminster’s Culture, Media and Sports Committee has recommended a whole new range of powers for the Press Complaints Commission, following an investigation into press standards and libel in the United Kingdom, during which the chairman of the committee referred to the PCC as being seen to “lack credibility and authority“.

Suggesting that the PCC should be renamed the Press Complaints and Standards Commission to better reflect its role as a regulator, it suggests that a deputy director for standards should be appointed.

Considering the current libel laws – about which science writer Simon Singh is currently petitioning the UK’s Court of Appeal, the committee does not come out in favour of a general law of privacy although there appears to be a growing campaign for this to be considered seriously by Westminster law makers.

Interestingly the committee also attack the publishers of the News of the World as ‘suffering collective amnesia’ over the extent of its recent illegal phone tapping, a practice reported widespread by the Guardian, but denied by the News of the World.

The critical report on the PCC follows recent controversy over Jan Moir’s treatment of the death of Steven Gately, referred to by gay rights group Stonewall as “dancing on the grave of a prematurely dead young man”. Following an investigation of this, the PCC concluded that the Moir article ‘just failed to cross the line’ in terms of breaching the PCC’s code of practice. Following this, Stonewall concluded that it was now “very difficult to recommend that anyone from a minority community makes a complaint to the PCC”

Recent critics of the PCC such as the Media Standards Trust have given evidence to the PCC’s review of governance  based on polls which they claim support widespread change to the way the organisation operates. According to their surveys 52% of the public would prefer an independent self-regulatory body rather than the current newspaper industry complaints body. This follows a major report in 2009 criticising the work of the PCC.

However, Sir Christopher Meyer, last year’s retiring chairman of the PCC dismissed the 2009 report at the time  as a “cuttings job masquerading as a serious inquiry” suggesting the PCC will continue to defend what some see as the indefensible but what they see as necessary and independent self-regulation.

New Attempts to Curb BBC News Delivery

A new twist to the battle between commercial newspaper publishers and the BBC has appeared in the call by the Newspaper Publishers Association to block the BBC from extending its iPhone news applications, which provide news free on a mobile phone.

Arguing that the launch of free news and sport applications by the BBC would damage the commercial market for news application, the NPA called on the BBC Trust to stop this development pending a ‘Public Value Test’ given the ‘unique and narrow commercial space’ provided by Apple’s iPhone Apps to commercial news providers.

Claiming that the BBC was preparing to muscle into a developing market and ‘trample over the aspirations of commercial news providers’, David Newell for the NPA echoed Rupert Murdoch and argued that the corporation’s on-line presence was a key obstacle to the development of paid-for models for online content provision.

Some time ago the NPA was successful in blocking an attempt by the BBC to launch a network of local news sites, claiming that this would impinge on their own plans in this area.

Critics of the NPA would point out that the only result of this has been to block improvements to local coverage that would undoubtedly have resulted from the BBC’s move into this area.

We are still waiting for the services to appear from local commercial providers. It seems however that it will be a very long wait.

BBC news is already provided free via several applications that can be downloaded at no cost  from the iTunes store, and free news feeds are available from most BBC web sites

The state of the UK Local Media – facts and figures

In their discussion document Local and Regional Media in the UK Ofcom outline some interesting figures in terms of the state of the UK media. They tell us:

In Radio there are

• 80 commercial local radio operators, managing approx 300 services
• A growing number of community radio services – 200 have been licenced to date with over 150 already broadcasting
• Two radio groups own 40 percent of local radio stations

In Newspapers there are:

• 90 regional and local newspaper publishers
• 1300 titles
• Five newspaper groups control about 70% of local ownership

Local Television

• One company (ITV) holds all Channel 3 licences in England and Wales

Ofcom also tell us that in the UK:

• Regional TV news is watched at least once a day by four fifths of adults
• Half of all adults listen to local radio or read a free paper at least weekly
• Two fifths read a paid for local paper at least weekly
• One in five use local commercial news websites

What about the Internet?

• A third of adults with broadband say they use local websites at least weekly
• The internet is the main source of news for just 6 percent of people

The Kindle – only a threat to books, not newspapers?

That certainly seems to be the view of BBC technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones. Trying out Amazon’s new Kindle ‘moving global, but still only available from the USA’, he found it very easy to use: “Plug it in, charge it, download your first book and you’re away. Then subscribe to a digital edition of a newspaper and it is wired to you in the morning, via the Kindle’s “whispernet” 3g connection.”

He believes that its strong point is its integration with the Amazon store and suggests they are looking to Apple’s iTunes as an example of what can be done using download technology.

He was impressed with the experience of it all: “When I started reading, it felt pretty close to the paper experience. There’s no glare on the Kindle’s screen, so you get simple black text on a cream background, with just enough added bells and whistles. You can make digital notes, search the text, and, if you fall asleep with the book on your face as is my wont, it will remember which page you were on when you turn it on again.”

Having said this, he doesn’t believe that newspapers should feel under threat, the way way book sellers eventually might. This is because reading a book is an ‘analogue’ experience (he probably meant ‘linear’), starting at page one and continuing till the finish. “A newspaper, on the other hand, is more random, more interactive. I scan the sections and leap from one article to another, much as I do on the web. That’s what is already available to me – for free – on newspaper websites, so why would I pay for a less satisfactory digital newspaper?”

How to place a fake story in a Tabloid Newspaper

According to a fascinating story by Gary Neale in the Press Gazette, film makers behind an new feature documentary about the UK tabloids have successfully duped the Sun, the Mirror, the Star and the Express into publishing fake stories by the simple method of phoning up the tip off numbers placed in the tabloids.

Their film, ”Starsuckers’” which opens on 30 October, describes itself as “a feature documentary about the celebrity obsessed media, that uncovers the real reasons behind our addiction to fame and blows the lid on the corporations and individuals who profit from it”. They claim that amongst the stories that they successfully planted were:

• Sparks from a fuse which blew at the flat of singer Amy Whinehouse set fire to her beehive hairdo: Mirror and Star;
• Director Guy Ritchie received a black eye after juggling cutlery: The Sun;
• Singer Sarah Harding is into quantum physics: The Sun;
• Comedian Russell Brand wanted to be a banker when he was a child: Daily Express;
• Pixie Geldof stuffed pick and mix sweets into her bra: The Daily Mirror.

The director of the movie, Chris Atkins, told The Guardian: “Had those fake stories been fact-checked by the newspapers before they were printed, they would have realised – I think within minutes – that they were about to publish complete and utter babble.”

Problems in the Newspaper Industry – what’s the alternative?

With the continuing financial problems facing the press, I’ve been turning my thoughts to different models of financing.  Here’s an extract from the Scott Trust’s website (the owners of the Guardian) about this:

“The Manchester Guardian (now the Guardian) was founded in 1821 to support social reform in the aftermath of the Peterloo massacre. The newspaper gained an international reputation under long-serving editor and latterly owner CP Scott (pictured above).

The Scott Trust was created in 1936 following the death of CP Scott and his son Edward in 1932. Edward’s brother John was left as the sole owner, and was faced with the threat of death duties, which would have crippled the business and jeopardised the future independence of the newspaper.

To avoid this, and to secure his father’s legacy of the Manchester Guardian’s independent liberal journalism, John Scott voluntarily renounced all financial interest in the business for himself and his family, putting all his shares – worth more than £1 million at the time – into a trust.

This extraordinary act of philanthropy resulted in a unique form of media ownership in the UK, which has now lasted more than 70 years.

The core purpose of the Scott Trust is:

• To secure the financial and editorial independence of the Guardian in perpetuity: as a quality national newspaper without party affiliation; remaining faithful to its liberal tradition; as a profit-seeking enterprise managed in an efficient and cost-effective manner.
• All other activities should be consistent with the central objective. The Company which the Trust owns should: be managed to ensure profits are available to further the central objective; not invest in activities which conflict with the values and principles of the Trust.
• The values and principles of the Trust should be upheld throughout the Group. The Trust declares a subsidiary interest in promoting the causes of freedom in the press and liberal journalism, both in Britain and elsewhere.”

Some people have recently argued that in Scotland, one way to consolidate the the Herald and the Scotsman might be to merge them and put on a similar foundation. However whether the political and financial exists to put aside media firm (and Scottish East West) rivalry is extremely unlikely. In addition, recent troubles at the Observer – sister paper of the Guardian, have put the financial advantages of such a trust in a less than perfect light.

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