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BBC BLOGS - The Editors

The End of Fortress Journalism

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Peter Horrocks Peter Horrocks | 08:17 UK time, Friday, 17 July 2009

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The BBC College of Journalism has this week made available a document called the Future of Journalism.

It's a collection of papers discussing the changes to news in a digital age from a BBC media conference that took place late last year.

In The End of Fortress Journalism, I've written about how journalists are having to reassess how they work. Some people (including Charlie Beckett, Jay Rosen, Daniel Bennett and Bill Doskoch) have been kind enough to tweet and blog about it.

I'd be interested to hear your views on what I've written. There's an excerpt below, and you can download the collection (The Future of Journalism [359Kb PDF]).

Most journalists have grown up with a fortress mindset. They have lived and worked in proud institutions with thick walls. Their daily knightly task has been simple: to battle journalists from other fortresses. But the fortresses are crumbling and courtly jousts with fellow journalists are no longer impressing the crowds. The end of fortress journalism is deeply unsettling for us and requires a profound change in the mindset and culture of journalism.
 
Fortress journalism has been wonderful. Powerful, long-established institutions provided the perfect base for strong journalism. The major news organisations could nurture skills, underwrite risk and afford expensive journalism. The competition with other news organisations inspired great journalism and if the journalist got into trouble - legally, physically or with the authorities - the news organisation would protect and support. It has been familiar and comfortable for the journalist.
 
But that world is rapidly being eroded. The themes are familiar. Economic pressures - whether in the public or private sectors - are making the costs of the fortresses unsustainable. Each week brings news of redundancies and closures. The legacy costs of buildings, printing presses, studios and all the other structural supports of the fortress are proving too costly for the revenues that can now be generated.

If this all sounds a bit grim I can make no apology, but I do think - and mention in the paper - that there are some reasons for optimism. Do let me know what you think.

Peter Horrocks is the director of BBC World Service.

Teenagers' listening habits

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Rod McKenzie Rod McKenzie | 13:13 UK time, Wednesday, 15 July 2009

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We're told his work experience document is the talk of Wall Street, Tokyo and the City.

Radio 1 logoMatthew Robson's spell at Morgan Stanley led to him penning a report "How Teenagers Consume Media" which makes some depressing reading for those who love radio and want that desire to burn brightly for future generations.

In short - he's talked to 300 youngsters and come to the following conclusions: teenagers don't listen to radio, don't go to the cinema after 15, Twitter is for old folks, newspapers are toast and they don't pay for music.

Well, up to a point Matthew.

It's clearly interesting to hear from people actually in this age bracket but is this really borne out by the facts?

Before we think this undoubtedly thought provoking and intelligent work is on the scale of a Charlie Eppes breakthrough moment (OK, without the Maths) ... it's time for a reality check.

We at Newsbeat on Radio 1 and Revealed on BBC Switch - have done a great deal of hard headed research on all this. Some of it is well founded - some of it good opinionated stuff - but all of it is worth a second glance before it passes off as "The Truth About Teenagers".

Let's take Radio. It's true than the non-visual aspects of radio is less appealing for younger teenagers than 20-somethings. That's why Radio 1 is increasingly visualised - at the moment we are running Zane Lowe and Chris Moyles "in vision" live streamed.

Radio listening among youngest teenagers is declining - but still holding up - and not every teenager is like every other teenager. For example if you want to check out new music and don't want to rely entirely on your mate's dodgy taste - Zane's show is a must.

But after you've established that you like Speech Debelle or stumbled across Wax Fang what next?

In the old days it was off down to the generic music store and parting with £11.99 for the CD. No more. Pirated tracks, Limewire and Pirate Bay have all moved into the history of file sharing - now it's good old YouTube that's the big player in the new music second listen and research stage. After all you don't spend money on music.

I'd agree with Matthew about Twitter: our evidence suggests teenagers Tweet less than any other group though as with the Facebook v Bebo battle of two or three years ago that may change. We're watching keenly.

He usually chats to male friends while battling terrorists on "Call of Duty" - social networking sites and mobile chats are for girls - and of course, cost is key for the cash strapped teenager.

On mobiles - some certainly have cutting edge technology but there are still plenty of basic hand-me-downs - cause of much embarrassment with friends. We are in a recession after all and not every parent has the deep pocket to fork out on the MP3 and top end web browsing experience.

So - last word to the teenagers themselves who checked out Matthew's work experience for me. One said he thought that teenagers not going to the cinema was a load of rubbish ...and added: "he doesn't sound like an ordinary teenager".

Where has the summer gone?

Richard Chapman Richard Chapman | 15:26 UK time, Tuesday, 14 July 2009

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With low pressure remaining the dominant force of our weather this week and the heat-wave of late June now seeming a distant memory, the question many people are asking is where has the summer gone?

Position of the jet stream for settled conditionsThe latest Monthly Outlook from BBC Weather shows increasing confidence that by the end of July and into early August we will see a return to warmer and more settled summer weather.

It is expected that the Azores high will build northwards and become more dominant. This will result in above-average levels of sunshine for the time of year and a rise in temperatures.

There is still a possibility of some further rainfall at times but it should be much drier than of late.

So why have we moved into a spell of unsettled weather with heavy showers, many of which have been thundery and accompanied by gusty, squally winds? The answer is the "jet stream".

The jet stream plays a fundamental role in our weather and its position can cause significant variations in our weather.

Over the last few days the BBC Weather team have been using the jet stream graphic to explain how this is affecting our current weather pattern.

BBC broadcast meteorologist John Hammond says:

"The jet stream graphic introduces a broader meteorological context to the 'poor' weather we are experiencing.
 
The viewer is given a clear, shorthand explanation of why our summer has 'deserted us'. In essence because the jet is unusually far south its attendant wet and windy low pressure systems are being dragged across the UK.
 
Normally they should be much further north at this time of year, allowing high pressure to settle the weather down.
 
Until the jet migrates northwards again, high pressure and warm sunshine will be rare and fleeting."

You can find out more about how jet streams were first identified and what they are here on the BBC Weather site.

Position of the jet stream for unsettled conditionsDuring the last week the jet stream has taken a more southerly track across the Atlantic than is normal for this time of year. As a result, we are seeing a conveyor belt of low pressure systems making their way across the UK. Each of these has brought an intensification of showery activity and windy conditions with sunny spells in between. In the short term this looks likely to continue.

Like many of the additional graphics we use to help tell the weather story, such as the Atlantic pressure chart, the jet stream will not be used every day. However, when it helps tell the weather story and explains why we are experiencing one weather type or another then you are likely to see it used on our television broadcasts.

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