- Peter Barron
- 29 Sep 06, 04:11 PM
After a tough day at the office I sat down last night to watch Ricky Gervais's Extras for a bit of light relief. This week's episode was a piercing study of media distortion and irresponsible journalism.
Great. The Ministry of Defence had been accusing us all day of being guilty of both.
On Wednesday, we revealed the contents of a leaked research paper written by an officer at the MOD Defence Academy which questioned the success of the "war on terror" and suggested that Pakistan's secret service has been indirectly aiding Al Qaeda.
We didn't claim these were the official views of the MOD or the government - indeed many are quite the opposite - but we think they were both newsworthy and significant.
At first, before transmission, the MOD told us the paper was "a student essay". Then, following the broadcast, journalists were briefed that these were "just the jottings" of a junior officer. Eventually it was confirmed that the document had been written by a naval commander.
That was our understanding all along, indeed this particular commander had recently been working in the US on behalf of the Chief of Staff on Iraq, Afghanistan and the Global War on Terrorism. And the document wasn't some dusty academic study, it was due to form the basis of a forthcoming meeting of experts on the war on terror. So who is doing the distorting here?
We agree of course that these issues are sensitive and deadly serious and we must handle them with great care. But it's also the case that at present there is no greater public interest issue than the highly controversial prosecution of what's known as the war on terror.
Surely responsible journalism is to try to penetrate the fog of that war?
Peter Barron is editor of Newsnight
- Simon Waldman
- 29 Sep 06, 12:32 PM
When News 24 ran some pictures of a bunch of (admittedly very cute) baby pandas (which you can watch by clicking here), this is what happened:
1) half of the newsroom - and one of the presenters - went "aahhhhh";
2) the other half of the newsroom - and the other presenter - said "why are we running this worthless fluff?"
3) the editor thought: where does the balance lie between news value and picture power?
Intrinsically, the story behind the birth of a clutch of newborn pandas in China is not one that would fight its way into our running orders - until you see the images of those appealing balls of fur.
It's our job to bring to our audience the latest headlines, breaking news, expert analysis and investigative journalism. But there is always room - particularly on a continuous news channel - for items that are rather less important than they are interesting.
The solid gold rocking horse given to the newborn Japanese Prince Hisahito is a recent case in point. Another example from today: a Paris St Germain defender mistimes a tackle, slides right off the pitch and takes out his own team's coach. No one hurt; it all ended in smiles - but highly amusing pictures.
Although some purists may be offended by such "non-news", audience feedback suggests such items go down very well with the majority - you can almost hear the cries of "oi! come and 'ave a look at THIS".
And now everyone - not just 大象传媒 editors - , are being most clicked on online: it won't surprise you that some of these not-very-newsy-but-ever-such-nice-pictures items are often top of the pops.
Skateboarding duck, anyone?
Simon Waldman is morning editor on 大象传媒 News
- Jonathan Aspinwall
- 29 Sep 06, 12:07 PM
One of our biggest stories in recent times was the earthquake in South Asia last year.
More than 73,000 people died and around 3 million were made homeless when the quake happened last October. The majority of victims were in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, where I'm leading a small team to investigate the damage and catch up with the survivors who spoke to our breakfast show one year ago.
Just after the quake, we opened up the phonelines to hear from British Asians who had relatives in the region. We were inundated with calls from people unable to contact their sisters, brothers, parents and children. Over the last year we've kept in touch with some of those listeners to find out what happened to their relatives.
And while it's slipped off the national news agenda, it's still a massive topic of conversation amongst Muslims in cities like Bradford. Our listeners tell us that it's one of those defining stories for a whole generation with big repercussions for Asians back here in the UK.
The Asian Network recently revamped its output so that it reflects the lives of 20 to 35 year-old, second and third generation British Asians. It's been a period of heavy reflection. What kind of news are young British Asians interested in? How does the anniversary of the earthquake story fit in with that remit? Our Breakfast Show is a mix of music, news and chat - a tricky balance to get right on a heavy news day.
When we first mooted covering the aftermath of the Quake we discussed whether disaster fatigue would mean that this story is a big turn off. I'm heartened to say that already it seems the audience disagree with that depressing theory. Loads of listeners have been contacting Sonia Deol's breakfast show via e-mail and our website with their ideas on what we should cover.
They've got real concerns about where the money they donated went so we're investigating reports of corruption. They also wanted us to catch up with the thousands of children who were orphaned by the quake and they requested to hear some "good news" stories about extraordinary acts of generosity.
One of my favourites is the tale of the Yorkshire school children who were so shocked by what they saw that they raised 拢35,000 to build a new school in the quake-damaged region. We'll be linking up the two schools in Pakistan and Halifax live on-air. Hopefully we'll be able to answer some of our listeners' questions and shed some light on the reality of life in quake zone one year on. I'll keep you posted.
Jonathan Aspinwall is assistant editor on the Asian Network's Breakfast show
The Herald: "The 大象传媒 has tightened up the rules on its star news and current affairs journalists writing lucrative newspaper and magazine columns or books, and making public speeches." ()
The Telegraph: A diary feature on what happened when 大象传媒 reporter Jo Coburn interviewed former US president Bill Clinton. ()
