Entries from December 2007 ↓

I wish you a contented and peaceful 2008. I wish me one too. Happy New Year.

And here’s to 365 +1.

“On Thursday I’ll pack my last box and take leave of a place where I’ve spent 26 of my 41 years in journalism, including 16 as managing editor of the Journal… Today, all around me is an industry in upheaval, with slumping revenues and stocks, layoffs, and takeovers of publishers that a decade ago seemed impregnable.”

Paul E Steiger, outgoing boss of the Wall Street Journal writes a fascinating piece on the future of newspapers.

“Al Jazeera International (or Al Jazeera English as we were forced to call it after objections from the Arabic news channel) was launched 13 months ago.

Since then two things have happened: First, the channel has built itself a reputation as an authoritative news source on world issues, offering a different perspective from the likes of CNN and BBC…

The second thing that has happened is that the people who have been responsible for this phenomenal innovation in the world of broadcasting have been treated like shit.”

That doesn’t sound very good to me. Does it to you?

Farewell Hugh Massingberd, the obituarist’s obituarist. Understated and to some, snob humour, can still amuse.

James is single handedly holding the fort at the Maguire and friends blog. Wanted masochist with a good sense of humour. Would you want to be Chief Press Officer for a political party? I know I wouldn’t.

Lots of almost frightening stats on Google by Jeff Jarvis – see Google is God. That’s one big brand and one big revenue stream.

Thanks to Chris Gale for flagging up the UC Berkley YouTube channel. Physics for Future Presidents looks interesting. Meanwhile, the Royal Channel has just passed a million views. This must be the fastest growing YouTube channel in the history of the Internet.

That’s the next birthday sorted then – Indiana Jones lego.

The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting’s mission is to promote in-depth coverage of international affairs, focusing on topics that have been under-reported, mis-reported – or not reported at all. Worth a look.

“can we have brown rice or unbleached variety of rice, and please don’t fry in oil”

“plastic cutlery is not environmentally friendly”

“the web menus for this week for Media Village haven’t been updated”

UK Daily Pundit discovers a nest of hungry vipers at the BBC. See the Freedom of Information reply listing the complaints about the BBC canteen.

Rubber bands and ecological welfare will dictate what logos we want to be associated with next year.