{"id":296,"date":"2007-02-21T04:21:00","date_gmt":"2007-02-21T10:21:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/adrianmonck.com\/?p=296"},"modified":"2007-02-21T04:21:00","modified_gmt":"2007-02-21T10:21:00","slug":"royal-television-society-journalism-awards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adrianmonck.com\/about\/2007\/02\/royal-television-society-journalism-awards\/","title":{"rendered":"Royal Television Society Journalism awards"},"content":{"rendered":"

S<\/span>o the Royal Television Society<\/span>‘s journalism<\/span> awards\u2026 Strange things journalism awards ceremonies. Last year\u2019s winner might struggle to make this year’s shortlist. Journalists work so much in the ‘now’ that any review is a vaguely uncomfortable reminder of tragedy, hubris or injustice.<\/p>\n

Still, the RTS is a real peer review process<\/span>, as they say in the learned journals. Individual entries are whittled down to a shortlist of three and then a secret ballot picks the winner – so, unless there’s an outstanding choice, it can be a genuine surprise on the night. And juries are tough.<\/p>\n

But what do the choices reveal about what journalists value in journalism? According to sociologists, awards ceremonies are just a trans-organizational control mechanism, alcohol-fuelled celebrations by society’s endangered gatekeepers of information. Are we connoisseurs who savour what ordinary folk would dismiss, or guardians of the sacred flame? Well, you can see what won and make up your own mind.<\/p>\n

ITV<\/span>, Sky News<\/span> and Channel 4<\/span> shared the RTS spoils. Strange given that times have gotten considerably tougher for all of them. Sky News faces erasure from Freeview<\/span>, and has shut down its Ireland operation and shed some staff. But John Ryley<\/span> is undoubtedly one of the most talented TV news execs around, and the news channel award is a vote of confidence in his stewardship. ITV News<\/span> today operates on a fraction of the money it enjoyed at the start of the 1990s. Like an underfunded Formula 1 team, the drivers and mechanics may keep them on the podium, but the engine sounds like it could cut out on any lap. And after CBB’s cynical racism, Channel 4’s board can thank their lucky stars that Channel 4 News<\/span> and Dispatches<\/span> exist to offer some kind of redemption.<\/p>\n

[Conversation buzz\u2026ITV News and Sky News synergies. Perhaps a core newsgathering operation? Shareholders would think it must make sense. A joint something might actually reach half the size necessary to match the scale of the BBC.]<\/p>\n

Channel 4 News<\/span> is an industry enigma. Why does it triumph professionally so often over Newsnight<\/span>, when in audience terms they peg one another so close? Newsnight<\/span> has fine presenters, talented reporters – and yet…something in the awards DNA was missing. What if Newsnight<\/span> were made by an indie, might that help provide an answer? (Cue official cries of no, surely not…)<\/p>\n

And the BBC<\/span> generally? Close but no cigar in so many categories. Although ‘camera operator’ is one of the ugliest job titles in the language, Darren Conway<\/span> triumphed yet again<\/span> for shooting great pictures. Panorama<\/span> which entered nothing internationally, deservedly picked up a gong for the Bail Hostel<\/a> story.<\/p>\n

I thought Craig Oliver<\/span><\/a>‘s BBC 10pm was unlucky not to have made it to ‘programme of the year’ – but IMHO Huw Edwards<\/span><\/a> doesn’t look comfortable fronting it, and take nothing away from ITV. Still, the Beeb will be back next year…<\/p>\n

Final thought: the deservedness of Nick Pollard<\/span>\u2019s lifetime award, and too the award for the people filming the story of our times: Iraq<\/span>.<\/p>\n

One of my doctoral students did the research, some of the reporting and a lot of legwork on Channel 4’s winning Dispatches<\/span> on Shi’a death squads in Iraq<\/a> so I undeservedly bathed in a little reflected glory. (And yes, I did declare an interest to the jury, and as chair I didn’t get to vote…)<\/p>\n

ITV<\/span><\/p>\n