- 'First, we take out Oxdown!'
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Journalism graduate commanded Bin Laden raid
Vice-Admiral William McRaven, who commanded the SEAL team that hunted down and killed Osama Bin Laden, is a journalism graduate, reports TIME magazine's Battleland blog.
In an article headlined 'The Most Deadly Would-be Journalist in the World,' TIME reports: "McRaven hedged his bets while studying journalism at the University of Texas in Austin before graduating in 1977: he also was a member of the Navy ROTC program.
" 'You wouldn't expect a journalism major,' former deputy CIA chief and ex-Navy admiral Bobby Inman told the San Antonio Express-News, 'to end up running special forces'.
"But it looks like McRaven picked the right career path: in his 35-year career, McRaven went from being a SEAL platoon commander, to heading a SEAL team, to running U.S. special operations in Europe. But he didn't give up everything he learned in journalism school: in 1996 he published Spec Ops, a book on the art of special operations based on eight case studies."
The TIME piece concludes: "Not a bad day's work for a would-be journalist. Sure as heck beats writing about it."
- Maybe McRaven will make ex-Sun editor Kelvin MacKenzie re-think his view that all journalism colleges should be closed.
- Hat-tip SDBrook on Twitter
Journalists in 'no confidence' vote at Newsquest
The NUJ says its members have passed a vote of no confidence in two senior managers at Newsquest South West London following the announcement of further redundancies at the company.
The unanimous votes by NUJ members against managing director Roger Mills and director of advertising Dene Stuart came after a company decision to make an unspecified number of editorial staff redundant while the group's titles continue to make substantial profits, claims the union.
It says members believe the redundancies, which will take place within the next three months, are a direct result of Roger Mills’ management after he took on responsibility for Newsquest East London and Newsquest London in addition to his role as managing director of Newsquest South London.
- Journalists working for Newsquest in South London are to ballot on industrial action over redundancies. The ballot of 25 NUJ members working at Sutton and Twickenham will begin on Monday, May 16 with a result due at the end of the month.
Local news goes live on hyperlocal King's Road site
Hyperlocal pioneer Media Street has started running local news on its King's Road site, covering the famous Chelsea landmark in London.
Jonathan Lloyd, Media Street co-founder, said: "The local news section is an exciting addition because it enables us to publish unique editorial that is both fun and relevant for our audience."
He said Media Street plans to add three features to the local news section: a comments feature for readers; the launch of further media channels such as a property section; and an area on the website which brings together stories from the local web such as blogs and other news sources.
Last month, Helen Brown joined Media Street as content editor from ShortList Media’s Stylist.co.uk site, and is overseeing the launch and commissioning of news content for the King’s Road website.
'Claims Bin Laden used wife as shield were false'
The Daily Telegraph reports today that The White House admitted last night that its initial account of the way Osama Bin Laden died at the hands of US forces had been riddled with errors - including claims that he had used his wife as a human shield.
That claim led to several UK papers, including the Telegraph and Daily Express, splashing that Bin Laden had acted like a coward, cowering behind his wife.
The Telegraph says claims that the al-Qaeda leader had died while firing an automatic weapon at commandos were withdrawn, with President Barack Obama’s spokesman admitting “he was unarmed”.
The Telegraph says claims that the al-Qaeda leader had died while firing an automatic weapon at commandos were withdrawn, with President Barack Obama’s spokesman admitting “he was unarmed”.
It adds: "A dramatic description of bin Laden using his wife as a “human shield” and forcing her to sacrifice her life also proved to be false. The woman was still alive and was taken into custody with several of the terrorist’s children.
"In an embarrassing climb-down, Barack Obama’s press secretary, Jay Carney, admitted that the previous version of events — which came mostly from the chief US counter-terrorism adviser, John Brennan — had been put out “with great haste”.
"The about-turn left the US open to accusations of a cover-up and led to calls for video footage of the raid in Abbottabad, Pakistan, and images of bin Laden’s body to be released to end conspiracy theories."
AV debate again jilted in favour of wedding news
Coverage of the royal wedding left the AV debate in the shade for the second week running, according to journalisted.
In the week ending Sunday May 1, the royal wedding, with Will and Kate finally tying the knot on Friday and the nation getting a holiday, generated 867 articles; the AV referendum, with nationwide voting on Thursday, 144 articles; anti-government protests in Syria, with 42 alleged deaths in Dera'a on Friday, 200 ruling Ba'ath members resigning, and foreign journalists banned from the country, 91 articles.
Covered little, according to journalisted were a suspected suicide bomb attack in a Marrakesh cafe, killing 15 tourists and injuring 20 more, 13 articles; Palestinian rival parties Fatah and Hamas announcing they will form a unity government and hold general elections in a year, 10 articles; student Alfie Meadows, who was hospitalised after a head blow from a police truncheon during last year's tuition fees protests, charged for violent disorder, 7 articles; St Andrews University's funding from Syria stirs controversy while Assad government cracks down on protesters, 6 articles; Belgium bans the burqa, the second European country to do so, 1 article.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
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