It used to be that unless you had travelled the well-worn path of local newspaper to regional and thence to national, possibly with excursions and diversions to a news agency or glossy mag en route, you were always regarded as something of a second-class citizen in the hierarchy of the media. Continue Reading

At a memorable lunch last year, one of the raddled old hacks at my table recalled how an editor of his was wont to come up with grand sayings to cover most eventualities. Of the two which stuck in my mind, the first was ‘Never overlook the obvious – the bloke’s a complete …’. Continue Reading

It is the custom in Her Majesty’s Press to look back at the end of the year, to retell the big stories and also recount the odd ones that grabbed headlines in the previous 12 months. It is an easy task, that requires little experience and is thus usually passed to the callow youth or youths seeking to gain a solid foothold in the craft of journalism. Continue Reading

Does anyone know what’s going on, and why we’re fighting, in Afghanistan? Does the man on the Clapham Omnibus understand the implications of the effects of a collapse of the Euro? Who understands the context and possible end-game of the Leveson Inquiry? And is it possible to establish once and for all whether Robert Peston is playing the part of Nostradamus or an actual reincarnation of the ancient and rather gloomy seer? Continue Reading

The Jeremy Clarkson furore boils down to this: the Unison-led attack on the popular Top Gear presenter is the PR own goal of the year. Continue Reading

Writing in The Quarterly (supplement to The Week), journalist and broadcaster Justin Webb recollects the first foreign assignment which came his way with the splendid phrase: “There’s been a coup in the Maldives; we want you to go.” Continue Reading

“Missing McMullan at Leveson. Seems I’m missing the equivalent of a man shitting into a pram and saying ‘what? what’s wrong with this?’” were the words of Charlie Brooker as Paul McMullan answered questions at the Leveson inquiry. Continue Reading

The press is getting a bitter taste of its own medicine at the moment. As with most reported news, the worst of it is given prominence. Continue Reading