In the spirit of passing on hopeless rumours I have heard that the official announcement is today — and also that it will be Wednesday.
Monthly Archives: October 2007
The future of Channel 4
David Lloyd calls for a new public endowment for Channel 4 in the Guardian today.
It’s an edit of a very entertaining lecture he gave at City University last Tuesday — and which we’ll post soon on our website.
He mischievously fuelled speculation that Mark Thompson wasn’t the first choice for Channel 4 CEO when the job fell vacant, post Michael Jackson.
And in case you think students provide an awestruck and adoring audience, you couldn’t be more wrong. David’s plea for the channel was challenged most powerfully by students in their twenties who recall nothing of its output before the late 1990s. They’re a tough crowd…
The Dead Journalists Society (sponsored by Uzbekistan)
Has a new member, Alisher Saipov. Saipov was shot dead outside his office. Of course, there is no evidence connecting the murder of this critic of the Uzbek régime and aforesaid repressive régime.
Why only the other week, the European Union was offering Uzbekistan a little carrot, to encourage it to repress a little more lightly [my italics below]:
With a view to encouraging the Uzbek authorities to take positive steps to improve the human rights situation and taking into account their commitments, the Council decided that the visa restrictions would not apply for a period of six months, at which point the Council will review if the Uzbek authorities have made progress towards meeting the conditions mentioned in paragraph 4 of these Conclusions. The Council may decide to apply the visa restrictions earlier if necessary, in light of the actions of the Uzbek authorities in the area of human rights.
We wouldn’t want to reimpose sanctions because some guy with a three month old daughter couldn’t keep his mouth shut — now would we?
And we don’t want to annoy our German friends who can see a side to the Uzbek régime that cynical types like Craig Murray seem quite unable to.
And just who would we like to see shot dead next, to keep the house warm and the heating bills down this winter?
Why be a journalist?
Why be a journalist? The recent Forbes report that listed journalism as an endangered profession has got an answer from the ever readable John Robinson:
What a crock … the report ignores the two reasons that everyone I’ve ever met in print journalism got into the business: they love the work and they want to change the world. I’ve been in newspapers for 30 years, and the pay has always been lousy to mediocre, the hours long and the pressures intense. No one gets into it to get rich.It’s tough on the home life. You’re on call 24/7. Does it have to be that way? No, and when I win the Powerball and start a news company, I will change it, but meanwhile, it is what it is. Still.… You get into it to do something different and exciting every day, to meet fascinating people and to write about intriguing things, and to make a difference by telling people things that are important. It’s a damned exciting way to make a living.