Whilst journalists like the Guardian’s Chris McGreal were reporting from inside Zimbabwe in June (Zimbabwe’s voters told: choose Mugabe or you face a bullet), others were getting a more — well — ‘considered’ view. Continue reading
My two penn’orth on Samantha Power from the Guardian:
For me as a broadcast journalist, the camera and the microphone are the record. You can’t unsay things to a recording device or speaking live, only apologise or cringe. But in conversation, different standards apply.I was at ITN in the early 1990s when John Major referred to his colleagues as “bastards” in a TV interview with ITN’s political editor. The Beeb’s Nick Jones overheard the remarks. BBC bosses shared ITN’s view that these post-match mutterings were off the record so Jones leaked his notes to the Observer, which broke the story.
I think the technology has changed all the rules. ITN/BBC were operating within their conventions, the Observer within theirs, but now politicians would be cagier — broadcasters can blog those off-mike moments.
In Power’s case, uttering “off the record” immediately after you’ve said something better left unsaid is no protection.
A tale to sour the lingenberries on your meatballs (yes, Scandinavian story coming up). From the Guardian News Blog:
The Telegraph reports that academics in Denmark found the furniture chain [Ikea] was naming its cheaper products after Danish towns. Continue reading