A DEBUT novel by a newspaper sub-editor in Scotland has already begun to earn rave reviews, since its publication last week.
The blurb for A Dictionary of Mutual Understanding, by Jackie Copleton, begins: “When a badly-scarred man knocks on the door of Amaterasu Takahashi’s home near Philadelphia and says that he is her grandson, she doesn’t believe him. She knows her grandson and daughter died 38 years earlier, on the day the Americans dropped the bomb.
“But the stranger carries with him sealed private letters that open a Pandora’s box of family secrets Ama had sworn to leave behind when she fled Japan.”
Copleton subs for the Daily Mirror. She is married to The Herald sports writer, Neil Cameron.
The book is available in all good bookshops.
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THE website, journalism.co.uk, chooses five apps that allows journalists record telephone calls.
But it warns: “It’s good practice to ask permission from your interviewee before recording a call, and make sure you’re aware of any recordings laws or regulations in your country or state.”
And continues: “Don’t forget too to take any new recording app for a trial spin so you’re well acquainted with how it works – the last thing you want is to hang up the phone after an amazing interview and find you missed the whole thing.”
Read more, here.
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A FREE, daily email bulletin of what’s going on at the upcoming Edinburgh International Festivals is being launched by The Times and The Sunday Times newspapers.
‘Curtain Up’ will be issued every morning, and will be available by signing up, here.
And from the fifth of next month, Edinburgh’s George Square will be – for the duration of the festivals – otherwise known as Times Square, as part of a media partnership involving four of the largest venues in in the city.
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REPORTS John Plunkett, in The Guardian: “Newsnight presenter and chief correspondent, [Scot] Laura Kuenssberg has been confirmed as the BBC’s first female political editor.
“Kuenssberg, who was one of the favourites to land the role, succeeds Nick Robinson, who is joining the presenting team on Radio 4’s Today programme.
“Tony Hall, the BBC’s director general, described Kuenssberg as ‘an exceptional journalist’.”
Read more, here. And here, on the website, Daily Business. And here, on the BBC website, which lists previous political editors.
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IT’S been operating for less than two months. But investigative journalism website, The Ferret – set up by a group of Scots journalists – has already scored a notable scoop, about the effectiveness of the country’s CCTV network.
And yesterday, it enjoyed several namecheck, as the story was the lead item on BBC Scotland’s Scotland 2015 last night.
Watch the Scotland 2015 item, here, and visit The Ferret, here, which was able to easily decipher a redacted report it had requested, as part of a Freedom of Information request.
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SCOTS tennis coach, Judy Murray, is the latest name to be added to the roster of guest speakers at the upcoming Edinburgh International Television Festival.
A star of the most recent series of the BBC hit show, Strictly Come Dancing, Murray is to give what organisers describe as an ‘EdTalk’.
The festival is taking place between the 26th and 28th of next month.
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