Guardian sets up whistleblowing site for care staff

Guardian.co.uk has launched a whistleblowing blog site for staff who have witnessed wrongdoing and malpractice in the NHS or in social care.

Part of the guardian.co.uk NHS Reforms Blog, the new site says: "Panorama's investigation into a residential hospital near Bristol exposed the horrific abuse of mentally disabled adults in care. Yet the culture of abuse prevailed despite tip-offs from staff and repeated inspections. The system plainly failed.

"Health and social care are often seen as areas where people feel unable or too scared to speak up. Yet campaigners say that the highest percentage of calls to helplines come from the care sector."

"So if you witnessed a risk, malpractice or wrongdoing in the NHS or in social care - it could be something which adversely affects patients, the public, other staff or the organisation itself - take a few seconds to answer a few simple questions so we can build up a picture of what's really happening in health and social care today."

Judges can't defeat 'Twiticus' says MacKenzie

Kelvin MacKenzie in his Sun column today pays tribute to the "tens of thousands - probably hundreds of thousands - in the online and Twitter world who are standing up against the rich and famous and their toy poodle super-injunctions."

He urges them to follow the example of the rebellious Roman slaves who refused to identify their leader and declared: "I am Sparticus".

The former Sun editor says: "I would like to see all of you simply giving a controlled V-sign to the judges and saying: 'I am Twiticus'."

He adds: "It is the first time in my memory that I have seen the High Court on one side and the Press, Parliament and the technology on the other.

"For the judges who have to face the terrible truth that they cannot defeat this troika it must come as a terrible shock for them to be challenged.

"But it is brought on by the explosion of online power where deference is destroyed, whether it's for doctors, mistresses or police officers.

"Now judges have come into the firing line. They will not win."

'Local papers aren't dying, they're just changing'

Patrick Smith, editor of TheMediaBriefing, has written a post about the local press in which he says he's considering banning the phrase “newspapers are dying” from his site.

He writes: "For the avoidance of doubt, let’s get this out of the way: newspapers are not dead or dying. It's often said by newspaper executives that 'doom-mongering' commentariat have got it all wrong by predicting the death of dead tree publishing, and these complainants have a point.

"I'm even considering putting the phrase 'newspapers are dying' on a banned list for TheMediaBriefing, such is that phrase’s inability to describe what is really going on in the news industry."

Patrick embraces much of the production changes within the regional press, such as reporters subbing their own copy and the introduction of new content management systems, claiming: "Flexibility is crucial, both editorially and commercially."

He argues the key to the future of regional newspapers is if they can get the transition to online and mobile consumption right and successfully change their revenue models.

"So not dying, but changing. That sounds about right. But will they get the transition to online and mobile consumption right? With an ageing audience and the pace of change in reader habits, the unbundling question is one that really needs answering by industry leaders."

Still getting away with the murder of journalists

Iraq is the country with the worst record for journalists being murdered and their killers never brought to justice, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists' newly updated Impunity Index.

It says none of the 92 journalist murders recorded in Iraq in the past decade has been solved, and, after a brief decline in targeted killings, journalist murders spiked in 2010.

The index, which calculates unsolved journalist murders as a percentage of each country’s population, found improvement in Russia as journalist murders ebbed and prosecutors obtained two high-profile convictions. No journalists were murdered in reprisal for their work in 2010, the first year since 1999 that no targeted media killings were reported in Russia.

But deadly anti-press violence continued to climb in Mexico, where authorities appear powerless in bringing killers to justice. Mexico’s impunity rating worsened for the third consecutive year. At least 13 journalist murders have gone unsolved in the past decade amid widespread corruption in local government and law enforcement.

CPJ executive director Joel Simon said:“The findings of the 2011 Impunity Index lay bare the stark choices that governments face: Either address the issue of violence against journalists head-on or see murders continue and self-censorship spread.

“Convictions in Russia are a hopeful sign after years of indifference and denial. But Mexico’s situation is deeply troubling, with violence spiking as the government promises action but fails to deliver.”

The index also found:

• Local journalists are the victims in the vast majority of unsolved cases worldwide.
  
• Only about 6 percent of unsolved cases on the index involve international journalists slain while working abroad.
• Prior threats against a journalist are powerful indicators of violence to come.
  
• More than 40 percent of the victims in the index had received threats prior to being killed.
• In countries with weak law enforcement, political reporting is the most dangerous beat.
• Impunity is severe across South Asia. Six of the region’s nations—Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and India—are on the 2011 index.

Editor Dave King leaves Swindon Advertiser

Dave King has quit his job as editor of Newsquest's Swindon Advertiser to be nearer his family, HoldtheFrontPage reports.

King became editor of the Advertiser in 2007 and was previously deputy editor of the Southern Daily Echo in Southampton.

HTFP says King's famly remained in the Southampton area and he has now decided to move back to the South Coast.

The new Advertiser editor is understood to be Gary Lawrence, currently editor of Newsquest’s Wiltshire weekly titles, who has assumed the rople of group editor for Newsquest Wiltshire.

Indy poll shows public want Twitter regulated

Over half of the public (54 percent) polled for the Independent on privacy and gagging orders agreed the Government "should ensure greater regulation of the internet and social media like Twitter to protect people's rights to privacy" - with 40 per cent disagreeing with that statement.

Support for tougher curbs on material published online is higher among Labour and Liberal Democrat voters (each 58 per cent) than Conservative voters (50 per cent).

Almost three-quarters of voters (70 per cent) agreed that courts had been "too willing to grant injunctions to enable the rich and famous to protect their private lives", with just 25 per cent disagreeing.

The ComRes survey finds that nearly two-thirds (65 per cent) of the public believed that "celebrities and sports stars owe their lifestyle to their public profile so they should not complain about intrusion into their private lives", while 30 per cent disagreed.

Obama visit gets more press than Ryan Giggs

President Obama's visit to the UK and Ireland pushed the furore over privacy injunctions and the outing of Ryan Giggs in Parliament into second place on the news agenda, for the week ending Sunday May 29, according to journalisted.

President Obama's UK and Ireland visits ahead of the G8, including Guinness sampling, a Buckingham Palace banquet, and historic addresses to Parliament and Westminster Hall, 340 articles; Ryan Giggs is named by MP John Hemming for having taken out an injunction, igniting further debate over privacy law and the internet, 176 articles; the G8 Summit in Paris, including talks over Middle East aid, Russia as mediator in the Libya conflict, and internet regulation, 154 articles; Iceland's most active volcano erupts, causing more than 500 flights over Scotland to be cancelled in fear of another ash cloud, 129 articles; Serbian fugitive Ratko Mladic, arrested and awaiting trial at the Hague for the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, 126 articles.

Covered little, according to journalisted, were President Sarkozy's civil service minister, Georges Tron, accused by two women of sexual harassment, 6 articles; former Egyptian president Mubarak and his sons, charged with corruption and conspiracy to murder protesters, 6 articles; infrared satellite mapping reveals 17 pyramids, 1,000 tombs and 3,000 ancient settlements around the ancient Egyptian city of Tanis, 6 articles; a teenager thought to be Britain's youngest ever contract killer is jailed for life, 2 articles.