JOURNALISM post-graduate student, Sandra Juncu, from Napier University, takes a look at what made it in the papers today…
There’s not much news about the media in today’s press, although the debate about on-screen ageism spurred by an employment tribunal involving a former presenter on the BBC programme, Countryfile.
The Scotsman’s Katie Linsell looks back on Scotland’s greatest female TV presenters and speculates about possible comebacks under the rhetorical headline, ‘Return of the golden girl?’, on page 18.
As previously reported by allmediascotland, Mirian O’Reilly, earlier this week won an age discrimination case against the Corporation. The 53 year-old claimed she was unlawfully sacked three years ago because of being too old and her victory may herald a return to our TV screens of older, women presenters.
Proving there is a lot of room for speculation, betting agency, Ladbrokes, started a poll last night giving odds on which former BBC stars might return on the box.
Taking a closer look at Scotland, the feature quotes Charles Fletcher, of Caledonia Media, saying he would like to see Shereen Najiani, former STV news presenter, again on television. Najiani is one of 11 former female presenters reviewed, including Louise Batchelor and Viv Lumsden.
The article concludes that as viewers seem to have a positive attitude towards TV presenters in their fifties, the O’Reilly case could see a revival of some careers.
Also in the Scotsman (Business section – page 2), News Corp is said to be exploring options to keep MySpace social platform afloat and the idea of a spinout is believed to be the best choice of action. This option will require outside investors leading to changes of current ownership structure.
Other media stories:
* Former Baywatch lead, David Hasselhoff, has made his debut as a judge on the panel of Britain’s Got Talent.
* TV and radio star, Danny Baker’s fight with cancer seems to be going well and he is quoted vowing to be back on air in a couple of months.
