This is some of what’s caught my attention in the past hours:

• Privacy Headlines | cearta.ie – “The evidence suggests that the emphasis on privacy issues in the public discourse on journalistic ethics is being led by public figures and, particularly, by politicians. Two-thirds of invasion of privacy complaints in all forums were from public figures. One-third came from private citizens, and only a fifth (21%) actually concerned private citizens.”
• Letter: Cost of regional TV | The Guardian – “It seems odd that a fortnight after the Scottish Broadcasting Commission proposed a dedicated television service for Scotland (population 5 million) at a cost of between £50-75m a year and within five days of the start of a Gaelic television service costing £21m a year (only 60,000 people speak Gaelic), Ofcom seems prepared to allow ITV in England (population 50 million) to cut its non-news regional programmes to 15 minutes a week and amalgamate news regions in such a way that they lose much of their local relevance…”
• Mark Thompson: The BBC can and must play a central role in the future of public service broadcasting | The Guardian – The buy-off: “I want to offer a set of practical partnerships and initiatives which are deliverable and big enough to be game-changing. Which do not require legislation or any new regulatory machinery – and which, therefore, can make an economic difference to the other broadcasters in months rather than years.”
• Towards evidence-based reform of European universities | vox – “EU countries have almost no private funding due to having no or very small tuition fees, few private institutions, almost no philanthropic funding and contributions by alumni, and little funding provided by enterprises. This is why US universities are much better funded than their EU counterparts.”
• Spin room coverage out of control | chicagotribune.com – “Greenfield has been around long enough to remember when he could, without much coaxing, get a top Democratic adviser to concede Ronald Reagan cleaned Jimmy Carter’s clock in a 1980 debate.Almost 30 years later, Greenfield believes it’s practically to the point where a horrendous gaffe such as mistaking the president of Russia for the second baseman of the Baltimore Orioles somehow would be spun as a positive. “These days, they’re likely to say, ‘No, actually it humanized him,’ ” Greenfield said.”
• Six Years Inside Gitmo: A Journalist’s Tale | TIME – “Months after his release, Al-Haj still walks with a limp and the aid of a cane, because of injuries he says were incurred when he was pushed from a military helicopter blindfolded after his arrest in 2001. U.S. military officials say that claim has never been substantiated.”