Tag: media

  • 2018 Media Predictions

    It’s that time of year when, because not a lot else is going on, and pages need to be filled, everyone is busily predicting what might happen in 2018. So here are my bold and not so bold predictions in the coming year across the media industry. A streamer will win some Premier League rights.…

  • Diversity in Media – Measuring Social Class

    On Sunday I wrote a piece on Ofcom’s Diversity in Television report, and in particular, noted my disappointment that it didn’t measure social class. The feedback I got can basically be summed up with the question: “Yes, but how do you measure class?” So I thought it was worth exploring the issue a bit further.…

  • Diversity in UK Media – Ofcom’s Report Doesn’t Go Far Enough

    Last week Ofcom published the first in what it says will be a regular series of reports into diversity and equal opportunities in television. It focuses on the biggest UK television broadcasters: BBC, Channel 4, ITV, Sky and Viacom (owner of Channel 5 amongst others). Diversity remains a key concern in the media industry, from…

  • The Nightly Show

    Before ITV launched The Nightly Show into the 10:00pm weekday slot I said that we should avoid comparisons with US late evening talk shows since contrary to popular belief, it’s not trying to be one, and we should hold off looking at the ratings until it had settled into something a bit firmer. This kind…

  • Celebrity RIP Tweets

    We have just come through 2016, and for many, it won’t be fondly remembered. Election and referendum results notwithstanding, there were a number of deaths – often of people very much revered. Today, when someone dies, we learn about it almost instantly. The news will turn up in social feeds. Alerts on our smartphones will…

  • Problems with News Video

    Recently the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism published its annual Digital News Report, authored by Nic Newman. If you’re interested in the media, and particularly journalism in the digital age, then it’s an essential read. The report, which is supported by groups such as Google and the BBC, surveys 50,000 people across 26…

  • Leading Questions

    These are my own views, and do not represent those of my employer. Now we’ve got that out of the way, we’ll continue. It’s fairly understood that depending on how you ask a research question, you can get different answers. In research terminology, questions that can elicit a particular response are called “leading questions.” You…

  • Kyrgyzstan

    I recently got to visit the Central Asian country of Kyrgyzstan for work, and had a great few days. Clearly, I took my camera, and I’ve published a short piece about it, on a separate page under a new heading. So click here, or navigate via Writing above. While it should work fine on any…

  • Satire, Parliament and Dennis Skinner

    Last week Labour stalwart Dennis Skinner was ejected from the House of Commons for the rest of the Parliamentary day for calling the Prime Minister “Dodgy Dave” during his statement on his father’s off-shore affairs to Parliament. The Speaker, John Bercow, didn’t like it, and Skinner was forced to leave. Skinner regularly entertains with his…

  • F1 to Follow Cricket Into Obscurity

    Here’s how F1 and Bernie Ecclestone do business: 21 December 2015 – Channel 4 wins terrestrial rights to Formula 1, after the BBC hands them back. There was rumoured to be a fight with ITV for them. Bernie Ecclestone, Chief Executive Officer of the Formula One group said: “I am sorry that the BBC could…

  • Search Engines in Film

    In the Road Runner cartoons, Wily E Coyote often needed to buy various bits of equipment and products to try to stop said Road Runner. Invariably those anvils et al, were supplied by the Acme Corporation, a fictional company with a curious catalogue of products. It was always fun seeing what Acme was producing next.…

  • Bookazines

    I’m slightly obsessed by bookazines. But first, let me apologise for using that word (also known, equally unattractively, as magbooks). It’s clearly made up by the publishing industry, and so perhaps I need to explain it first. It’s obviously a contraction of two words. Books need no real explanation. They get published; they sit on…