A BBC Scotland investigation has been named a winner at journalism awards run by the Royal Television Society.
It last night took the Nations and Regions prize at the RTS Television Journalism Awards for its programme, Sins of Our Fathers.
Said the judges: “In an investigative tour de force report, the winner uncovered the shocking story of physical and sexual abuse of boys at one of Scotland’s leading Catholic boarding schools. The reporter confronted one of the monks, living in comfortable retirement in Australia, with the allegations against him, and detailed how the Catholic Church had covered up the truth repeatedly.”
And BBC Scotland was not the only Scots winner. Peter Smith, at STV News, was named winner of the Young Talent of the Year category.
Said the judges: “An interview with the former chief executive of the troubled Rangers Football Club made this an outstanding entry. The winner’s dogged refusal to be deflected or deterred marked him out as the winner of this year’s award.”
Read more, here.
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A COLUMN with a difference from well-kent business and economics writer, Bill Jamieson – who reflects on the death of his pet cat, Lulubelle, an animal of many mysteries, as he writes here, on the website, thinkscotland.org: “Here is one of her enduring mysteries – one of many I will miss most. For most of the past 12 years I worked full-time on The Scotsman. In the early years, the editor-in-chief was Andrew Neil, an editor notoriously difficult to please.
“His demands on time and energy were insatiable. I would return home to our flat late in the evenings, tense and frazzled tired, my head buzzing with the 25 things I hadn’t done, stories I had failed to spot, articles that should have been written and headlines that missed the spot. Lulubelle would climb on my lap and within five minutes something happened that no drink or medicine could ever effect: all that tension and stress effortlessly disappeared.”
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HOW much to buy The Scotsman and The Herald? The question is asked on the website (the aforementioned) thinkscotland.org, by Alex Massie, in an essay on how once highly-valued magazine and newspaper titles in the US are now being sold for a fraction of their original price.
And he contextualises – here – for a Scottish readership: “As for Scotland, those people complaining about the supposed decline of the Scottish press might care to expand their horizons. The owners of the Scotsman and Herald groups may have made mistakes but their predicaments are hardly unique. Indeed, they are just the same as those endured by the owners of newspapers in other cities in other countries. The problems are systemic, not particular.”
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INTERESTING column by The Guardian’s media pundit, Roy Greenslade, on an article by the editor of Vanity Fair magazine, on why he did not run a piece about the actress, Gwyneth Paltrow.
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FIVE tips on ‘developing a content marketing mindset': Read here, in The Guardian.
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THE Press and Journal newspaper has been shortlisted in a competition celebrating the ‘best in print and digital news media production and innovation’.
It has been nominated in the Regional Newspaper of the Year (circ. above 25,000) category of the 2014 Newspaper Awards.
The Sunday Herald gets shortlisted in the Weekend Newspaper of the Year and the Newspaper App of the Year categories.
For more, click here.
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TRAINING on writing for the web is being hosted by the Scotland office of the National Union of Journalists.
Places are available for the event in Glasgow, on the fourth of next month.
Says the NUJ: “[The course] should provide the opportunity for stimulating discussions about the latest issues associated with developing professional journalistic skills across a variety digital media sectors. Interactive and practical, it is for print journalists who now need to write clear, compelling content for websites. The course will look at techniques that will help key audiences find and engage with content once they are there.”
For more information, click here. Or email joanm@nuj.org.uk.
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THIRTEEN institutions have been shortlisted in a marketing competition for Scots colleges – as announced here, in a media release posted on allmediascotland.com by Pagoda PR.
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WHAT might news websites learn from the many ways income can be earned by the creators of computers games? Plenty, by the sounds of this article – here – on TheMediaBriefing.com website.
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AN online story about an alleged PR tactic involving the BRIT music awards ended up being so heavily visited, it resulted in briefly crashing the media website carrying the tale.
The crash was tweeted by Press Gazette, following its story about what was seemingly being asked of journalists to secure accreditation to attend the event.
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STV has had its broadcasting licence officially extended by ten years, to 2024.
Says broadcasting regulators, Ofcom, today: “Ofcom has today announced that it has renewed the broadcasting licences for Channel 3 (ITV, STV and UTV) and Channel 5 for ten years from 1 January 2015, following acceptance of terms by the licensees.”
The extension has been mooted and essentially approved for some time, including as reported here.
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