Journalism Leaders Forum

International panel of experts to debate the future of UK press regulation at UCLAN

2011-09-30T15:16:00.001Z

The head of the Global Forum for Media Development BettinaPeters, author of Journalism Ethics and Regulation Prof Chris Frost and Director of the Media Standards Trust Martin Moore will also be joining the 14th Journalism Leaders Forum in Preston on October20th to debate, "UK Press Regulation: Is there a Third Way?".

Bettina Peter of GFMD

Peters will be drawing specifically on her contribution to the recent report, “European Media Governance – The Brussels Dimension”, while Prof Frost of Liverpool John Moores University will contribute from his perspective as chair of the National Union of Journalist’s Ethics Council.
Moore, long a critic of the PPC, is also a founder of the pressure group Hacked Off.

The panel, chaired by the University of Central Lancashire’s head of journalism ethics Michael Williams, also includes Bob Satchwell, the chief executive of the UK Society of Editors, Martin Wainwright, northern editor of The Guardian and Prof Peter Cole, a former head of journalism at UCLAN and Sheffield universities and co-author of Newspaper Journalism.

"This will be more than just an interesting discussion," said François Nel, convenor of the forum which is a joint activity of the School of Journalism, Media and Communications at UCLAN and the Digital Editors Network. "We intend the panel to work towards a submission to the Leveson Inquiry which we'll forward via the Coordinating Committe for Media Reform ."

To attend the open Forum at 6 pm in Greenbank Lecture Theatre on UCLAN's Preston Campus - as well as the reception from 5pm - please register soonest. There is no charge (though donations are most welcome), but seating is limited.

If you can't be there in person, there are other ways to join the discussion. You can post your questions and comments on this site, or you can participate in the live Webcast by logging in here as a "guest". Online participants will be able to post questions to panellists and each other in a text chat room. Follow the conversation on Twitter at#14jlp .

Also in Preston earlier on the day of the Forum is the Truth Telling master class and the autumn meeting of the Digital Editors Network, with speakers from the Manchester Evening News, the BusinessDesk.com and Paul Ekman International. The following day, Grig Davidovitz of RGB Media will also lead the News Show! master class on innovative design online, on mobile and on tablets.

For more information about these and other activities of the UCLAN's Journalism Leaders Programme, which partners with media companies to develop leadership talent and innovative digital business solutions, contact François Nel by email (FPNel [at] uclan.ac.uk ), or @francoisnel on Twitter. Follow @denupdates to keep in the loop on Digital Editors Network activities.

14th Journalism Leaders Forum - UK Press Regulation: Is there a Third Way?

2011-08-02T11:34:00.002Z

These have been bruising times for the Press.

Scandals about the conduct of some journalists have not only brought down journalists, senior executives and one of the largest newspapers in Britain, but it has also prompted the resignation of the head of the Press Complaints Commission and raised questions about the future of press regulation. Those who seek to simplify the issues usually offer two options: press self-regulation, or government regulation. But others are looking further afield and so we're asking, "Is there a Third Way?"

To debate that issues the Society of Editors and the Digital Editors' Network will be co-presenting the 14th Journalism Leaders Forum at the University of Central Lancashire in Preston. Bob Satchwell, executive director of the SoE, will anchor the panel which will be chaired by Michael Williams, head of journalism ethics at the School of Journalism, Media and Communication. Other participants will be confirmed. We intend the panel to work towards a submission to the Leveson Inquiry, which we'll forward via the Coordinating Committe for Media Reform .

To attend the open Forum at 6 pm in Greenbank Lecture Theatre - as well as the reception from 5pm - please register soonest. There is no charge (though donations are most welcome), but seating is limited.

If you can't be there in person, there are other ways to join the discussion. You can post your questions and comments on this site, or you can participate in the live Webcast by logging in here as a "guest". Online participants will be able to post questions to panellists and each other in a text chat room.

Also in Preston earlier on the day of the Forum is the Truth Telling master class and the autumn meeting of the Digital Editors Network, with speakers from the Manchester Evening News, the BusinessDesk.com and Paul Ekman International. The following day, Grig Davidovitz of RGB Media will also lead the News Show! master class on innovative design online, on mobile and on tablets.

For more information about these and other activities of the UCLAN's Journalism Leaders Programme, which partners with media companies to develop leadership talent and innovative digital business solutions, contact François Nel by email (FPNel [at] uclan.ac.uk ) or Skype (francoisnel).

Play it again: 13th Forum on paywalls

2009-10-30T08:26:00.011Z

If you missed 13th Journalism Leaders Forum discussion, Paywalls: build them, break them - or look beyond them, you can view an unedited recording of the discussion here.

The international panellists were:

Robert Andrews, UK Editor of paidContent.com, for the 13th Journalism Leaders Forum in Preston.
Peter Bale is the Executive Producer of Microsoft UK, responsible for content on platforms including MSN UK – the largest commercial portal in the UK. He joined Microsoft from News Corporation where he was online editorial director of The Times and The Sunday Times.
Frédéric Filloux, editor for the international division of the Norwegian media giant Schibsted ASA and co-author of the Monday Note .
Martha Stone, director of the Shaping the Future of the Newspaper project of the World Association of Newspapers-IFRA
Gordon Crovitz, the former Wall Street Journal publisher behind the paid-content startup, JournalismOnline

François Nel, director of the Journalism Leaders Programme at UCLan, was in the chair.

Diary note: the next meeting of the Digital Editors' Network and the 14th Journalism Leaders Forum is scheduled for the autumn 2010.

For updates: Follow us on Twitter @jleaders / @francoisnel

13th Forum: Norwegian media giant Schipsted editor Frédéric Filloux joins international paywall panel on 29th October

2009-10-05T07:51:00.033Z

" 'Free', as a business model, is a figment of the imagination.

"In itself, 'Free' is not a business model, it is only a component of a broader revenue system," says Frédéric Filloux, editor for the international division of the Norwegian media giant Schibsted ASA and co-author of the Monday Note .

"Unlike Chris Anderson, author of the book 'Free' ($18.00) — a bestseller not a bestfreebie — I happened to actually practice the free 'model'," continues Filloux, a former managing editor of Liberation who was also a founder of one of the most successful free quality daily newspapers in the world. 20 minutes is now the most read newspaper in France with 2.7m readers in eight major cities.

On 29th October, Filloux will join the discussion the 13th Journalism Leaders Forum discussion, Paywalls: build them, break them - or look beyond them.

Also on the international panel are:

Gordon Crovitz, the former Wall Street Journal publisher behind the paid-content startup, JournalismOnline
Peter Bale is the Executive Producer of Microsoft UK, responsible for content on platforms including MSN UK – the largest commercial portal in the UK. He joined Microsoft from News Corporation where he was online editorial director of The Times and The Sunday Times. He was a founder of FTMarketWatch.com and was a Reuters correspondent and editor for most of his career.
Martha Stone, director of the Shaping the Future of the Newspaper project of the World Association of Newspapers-IFRA
Robert Andrews, UK Editor of paidContent.com, for the 13th Journalism Leaders Forum in Preston.
François Nel, director of the Journalism Leaders Programme at UCLan, will be in the chair.

To attend the open Forum at 6pm in Greenbank Lecture Theatre - as well as the reception from 5pm - please register HERE soonest. There is no charge, but seating is limited.

If you can't be there in person, you can also participate online. The Forum will be Webcast live. More details here. [Log in as a guest].

Gordon Crovitz, ex-WSJ publisher and co-founder of start-up Journalism Online, joins paywall panel on 29th October

2009-09-28T16:53:00.015Z

Arguably, the Holy Grail for newspapers has been how to get consumers to pay a reasonable price for online content. An increasing number of publishers in the US and internationally think that Gordon Grovitz and his partners at the technology start-up Journalism Online may just have found it.

In August, four months after setting up business, the company announced that more than 500 newspapers, magazines and online-based news sites in the United States and around the world had signed "Letters of Intent" with them. “Just one month later, we have passed 1,000, reaching more than 100 million online users, and the pace is accelerating," said Crovitz in a company statement.

On 29th October, Crovitz, who had walked out of this jobs as Publisher of The Wall Street Journal, Executive Vice-President of Dow Jones & Company, and president of the Company’s Consumer Media Group, when News Corp took over, will discuss his new project in greater detail when he contributes to a panel discussion about online paywalls at the 13th Journalism Leaders Forum in Preston.

Other confirmed panellists are:

Frédéric Filloux, editor for the international division of the Norwegian media giant Schibsted ASA and co-author of the Monday Note .

Martha Stone, director of the World Association of Newspapers-IFRA’s Shaping the Future of the Newspaper project

Robert Andrews, UK Editor of paidContent.com.

François Nel , director of the Journalism Leaders Programme at UCLan, will be in the chair discussion on, 'Paywalls: build them, break them - or look beyond them"

To attend the open Forum at 6pm in Greenbank Lecture Theatre - as well as the reception from 5pm - please register soonest. There is no charge, but seating is limited.

If you can't be there in person, you can also participate online. The Forum will be Webcast live. More details here.

13th Forum: Paywalls - build them, break them or look beyond them?

2009-09-16T12:52:00.015Z

The newspaper business has never been simple, but the business model has typically been straightforward: compile news and information for which readers pay in time and money, and then also sell their attention on to advertisers looking to connect with customers.

It's not surprising then that when print publications migrated online, they brought their traditions with them. Those on the editorial side of the business, soon found out it wasn't as simple as it seemed. Those on the commercial side of the business are finding that out, too.

With advertising revenues collapsing, Rupert Murdoch hopes readers will pay to read his websites. Research commissioned by the American Press Institute showed that 58% of publishers in the US and Canada are considering following suit. And technology giants Google, Yahoo and IBM , as well as start-ups like JournalismOnline, are stepping up to help them do so.

It's not been difficult to find detractors. Amongst them are leading UK news executives and commetators who are adament that the free-to-pay transition won't work. And a recent paidContent UK / Harris Interactive study shows that UK readers would resist the move, too.

Other have suggested alternative non-commercial and commercial business models.

So, what is the way forward on paywalls? Do we build them, break them - or look beyond them?

Leading a discussion on that question at the 13th Jouranlism Leaders Forum on 29th October will be Martha Stone, director of the World Association of Newspapers-IFRA's Shaping the Future of the Newspapers project, and Robert Andrews, the UK Editor of paidContent.

François Nel, director of the Journalism Leaders Programme at UCLan, will be in the chair.

To attend the open Forum at 6pm in Greenbank Lecture Theatre - as well as the reception from 5pm - please register soonest. There is no charge, but seating is limited.

If you can't be there in person, there are other ways to join the discussion. You can post your questions and comments on this site, or you can participate in the live Webcast by logging in here as a "guest". Online participants will be able to post questions to panelists and each each other in a text chat room.

Also in Preston earlier on the day of the Forum is autumn meeting of the Digital Editors Network, with speakers from Microsoft, UCLan, The Guardian and the Press Association (This event is now Fully Booked).

For more information about these and other activities of the UCLAN's Journalism Leaders Programme, which partners with media companies to develop leadership talent and innovative digital business solutions, contact François Nel by email or Skype (francoisnel).

12th Forum: Replay lively debate on the future of journalism

2009-05-13T05:27:00.007Z

It was always going to be lively.

And the debate on the issues facing the future of journalism, in general, and the shape of the industry in the North West, in particular, with BBC factual radio editor in Manchester Ian Bent, ITV Granada news chief Richard Frediani, The Times' development editor Joanna Geary and the Media City UK developers spokesman Paul Newman, was certainly that - and a stark reminder that an industry consensus about whether news is a lecture or conversation is still a long way off.

I you missed the 12th Journalism Leaders Forum chaired by Mike Ward, head of the School of Journalism, Media and Communication at UCLan, you can watch an unedited recording of the webcast here. You'll also find the Twitter stream at #JLP.

For more information or an invitation future events (which are free and open to the public), email Francois Nel, director of the Journalism Leaders Programme.

12th Forum: ITV news chief, Times web guru & Media City:UK exec join discussion on the future of journalism

2009-05-06T13:49:00.021Z

If you needed further evidence that it's not all grim up North, consider this:

In 2011, Media City:UK - now shooting up in Salford Quays on the edge of Manchester - will be the new home to five BBC London-based departments, including two TV channels and two radio stations representing £225m of BBC production spend and £275m of BBC commissioning spend. And that's only the start of it. The 200-acre development is expected to be the cornerstone of up to 15,000 jobs in TV, film and the creative industries.

What will this mean for the future of journalism in the region and further afield?

Find out from Paul Newman, spokesperson for the developer Peel Media, who is one of the panellists on the next Journalism Leaders Forum on May 12th.

Other participants include Ian Bent, the BBC factual radio editor in Manchester, Richard Frediani, head of news at ITV, and Joanna Geary, web development editor at The Times. Note: Culture secretary Andy Burnham had intended to participate, but has cancelled citing a diary conflict. [He offered to participate in a future Forum; we intend to invite him, again]

Mike Ward, head of the School of Journalism, Media and Communication at UCLan. will chair the all-alumni panel discussion that follows a reception to launch an evolving exhibition and book project, Journalism at UCLan: past, present & future, which will mark the 50th anniversary of England's oldest journalism programme.

To attend the open Forum at 6pm in Greenbank Lecture Theatre - as well as the reception from 5pm - please RSVP to Debbie Williams by email or call +(0)1772 894759. There is no charge.

If you can't be there in person, there are other ways to join the discussion.

You can post your questions and comments on this site, or you can participate in the live Webcast by logging in here as a "guest". Online participants will be able to post questions to panelists and each each other in a text chat room.

The Forum is scheduled as part of the Journalism Leaders Programme's Spring seminar, Innovation and the Market: Understanding Users, Delivering Value, Growing Revenue, which runs from 11-15th May in Preston, Liverpool and Manchester.

Also in Preston earlier on the day of the Forum is the Spring meeting of the Digital Editors Network, which includes presentations by Robin Goad of Hitwise, Nick Turner of Cumbria Newspapers and Patrick Altoft of Branded3.

For more information about these and other activities of the UCLAN's Journalism Leaders Programme, which partners with media companies to develop leadership talent and strategic solutions for the Networked Age, François Nel, by email or Skype (francoisnel).

12th Forum: Andy Burnham on the past, present & future of journalism

2009-04-28T07:49:00.005Z

[Update: Please note that Andy Burnham has had to cancel his participation in this Forum because of a scheduling conflict and has indictated that he hopes to participate in a future Forum. We'll certainly be inviting him again soon. 05/05/09]

Culture secretary Andy Burnham is all too aware that Government has a role to play in influencing the dramatic changes in the UK media landscape. Last week, he hosted a summit with media players to consider proposals put to him key industry bodies and companies.

On May 12th, he'll [a panel of media experts will] discuss the issues with a wider audience at the 12th Journalism Leaders Forum in Preston.

The panel discussion, part of the Spring line-up for the Journalism Leaders Programme, will be chaired by Mike Ward, head of the School of Journalism, Media and Communication at UCLan. Other participants will include Richard Frediani, head of news at ITV, and other prominent alumni from the England's oldest journalism programme.
Also that evening is a reception to launch an evolving exhibition and book project, Journalism at UCLan: past, present & future, which will mark the 50th anniversay of England's oldest journalism programme.

To attend the Forum at 6pm in Greenbank Lecture Theatre - as well as the reception from 5pm - please RSVP to Debbie Williams by email or call +(0)1772 894759

If you can't be there in person, there are other ways to join the discussion.

You can post your questions and comments on this site, or you can participate in the live Webcast by logging in here as a "guest". Online participants will be able to post questions to panelists and each each other in a text chat room.

The Forum is scheduled as part of the Journalism Leaders Programme's Spring seminar, Innovation and the Market: Understanding Users, Delivering Value, Growing Revenue, which runs from 11-15th May in Preston, Liverpool and Manchester.

Also in Preston earlier on the day of the Forum is the Spring meeting of the Digital Editors Network.

For more information about these and other activities of the UCLAN's Journalism Leaders Programme, which partners with media companies to develop leadership talent and strategic solutions for the Networked Age, François Nel, by email or Skype (francoisnel).

12th Forum to look at the future of journalism throught the rearview mirror

2009-04-26T19:30:00.002Z

With the way ahead for the media industry far from clear, it might be worth reflecting on plain-speaking business wizard Warren Buffet's observation that "in the business world, the rearview mirror is always clearer than the windshield."

With that in mind, the 12th Journalism Leaders Forum on May 12th will explore the theme: Journalism: past, present &, future.

Mike Ward, the head of the School of Journalism, Media and Communications at UCLan will chair a panel of prominent UCLan alumni, including Richard Frediani, head of news at ITV Granada.

The event will also include a reception to launch an evolving exhibition and book project, Journalism at UCLan: past, present & future, to mark the 50th anniversay of England's oldest journalism programme.

To attend the Forum at 6pm in Greenbank Lecture Theatre - as well as the reception from 5pm - please RSVP to Debbie Williams by email or call +(0)1772 894759

If you can't be there in person, there are other ways to join the discussion.

You can post your questions and comments on this site, or you can participate in the live Webcast by logging in here as a "guest". Online participants will be able to post questions to panelists and each each other in a text chat room.

The Forum is scheduled as part of the Journalism Leaders Programme's Spring seminar, Innovation and the Market: Understanding Users, Delivering Value, Growing Revenue, which runs from 11-15th May in Preston, Liverpool and Manchester.

Also in Preston earlier on the day of the Forum is the Spring meeting of the Digital Editors Network.

For more information about these and other activities of the UCLAN's Journalism Leaders Programme, which partners with media companies to develop leadership talent and strategic solutions for the Networked Age, François Nel, by email or Skype (francoisnel).

11th Forum: Reply, Review, Respond

2009-02-04T16:32:00.005Z

You'll find an unedited recording of the 11th Forum here.

On a related note: Today the BBC's Business Editor Robert Peston, who could only join the Forum via phone link from London, faced questions from MPs on the Treasury Select Committee over the media's role in the British banking crisis.

Diary note: the 12th Forum and Digital Editors Network is slated for 12th May 2009 in Preston to coincide with the Spring seminar of the Journalism Leaders Programme.

Peston joins 11th Forum panel to review 'The Bottom Line' of business journalism

2009-01-19T10:04:00.011Z

Update 23/01/2009: Liverpool Daily Post's dynamic deputy editor Alison Gow will also join the panel.

The stakes have never been higher.

Choices made this year will undoubtably shape the world's economy "perhaps for generations," says the academic and columnist Martin Wolf.

Arguably, that's true for all those who control all the levers of power. That means business and government leaders, certainly. It also means citizens whose collective choices are the source of that power.

What does it mean for the Fourth Estate, itself severely battered by the economic storm?

To help further unpack the issues - and to consider the implications - BBC Business Editor Robert Peston (left), FT.com Interactive Editor Kate Mackenzie, Crain's Manchester Business Publisher Arthur Porter and TheBusinessDesk.com Northwest Editor Chris Barry will join the 11th Journalism Leaders Forum panel at the University of Central Lancashire in Preston on the 3rd of February.

The Guardian's Blogs Editor Kevin Anderson will chair the discussion, "The Bottom Line: Is the business of journalism affecting the journalism of business?"

To attend this free programme at 6pm in Greenbank Lecture Theatre - as well as the networking reception from 5pm - please RSVP to leaders[at]ukjournalism[do]ac[dot]uk.

If you can't be there in person, there are other ways to join the discussion. You can post your questions and comments on this site, or you can participate in the live Webcast by logging in here as a "guest". Online participants will be able to post questions to panelists and each each other in a text chat room.

The Forum is scheduled as part of the Journalism Leaders Programme's Winter seminar, "Multimedia Content: making it, managing it, monetising it," which runs from February 2nd to 6th. Also in Preston earlier the same day is the Winter meeting of the Digital Editors Network.

For more information about these and other activities of the UCLAN's Journalism Leaders Programme, which partners with media companies to develop leadership talent and strategic solutions for the Networked Age, François Nel, by email (FPNel@uclan . ac . uk) or Skype (francoisnel).

10th Forum: replay, reconsider, respond

2008-10-08T12:09:00.009Z

Missed Steve Yelvington, Stephen Gray, Kevin Anderson, Simon Reynolds, Jane Singer and François Nel discussing what hard times are teaching media decision-makers about the way forward?

Read Laura Oliver's summary , replay our recording or Joanna Geary's Bambuser videostream - and, if any of the points raised have got you thinking, feel free to post a note here (or a link to your site).

Amongst the many points that has got us thinking is this: The challenge, as Simon Reynolds pointed out, is not only what we - news executives, editors, journalists and educators - should do going forward, but also what we should stop doing. What's on the top of your list?

Diary date: The 11th Forum, scheduled for 3rd February 2009, will be presented in conjunction with the North West chapter of the UK Society of Editors. For more information or to be added to the mailing list, send a note to leaders [at] ukjournalism.org .

Also: For a report on the day's [excellent] Digital Editors Network meeting, check out Sarah Hartley's [very useful] blog.

API's Newspaper Next head joins 10th Forum panel

2008-09-29T12:05:00.009Z

The American Press Institute launched the Newspaper Next project in 2005 to research and test viable new business models for the newspaper industry.

With an initial budget of $2 million, the API hired Stephen T Gray, former managing publisher of the Christian Science Monitor, and he linked up with Innosight, the consulting company built by Harvard Business School’s innovation guru Christian Clayton. They pulled together a task force of 25 industry leaders (including Jennifer Carroll of Gannett and Jonathan Landman of the The New York Times) to advise.

The first report was released in 2006. The second (2.0) early this year.

At the 10th Journalism Leaders Forum on 7th October, Gray will have a chance to reflect on all this activity as part of a panel on the theme, “Hard Lessons: What are the tough times teaching media decision-makers about the way forward?”

Joining him on the panel are:

Steve Yelvington, now Vice President of Content and Strategy at Morris Digital Works

Juan Señor, UK director of the Innovation International Media Consulting Group

Kevin Anderson, The Guardian blogs editor who is currently travelling across the US covering the presidential election race armed with a laptop, a mobile phone with built-in GPS and a photo camera.

François Nel, the founding director of the Journalism Leaders Programme at UCLan, will chair the discussion.

To attend this free programme at 6pm on Tuesday, 7th October in Greenbank Lecture Theatre in Preston - as well as the networking reception from 5pm - please RSVP to leaders [at]ukjournalism [dot] org.

If you can't be there in person, there are other ways to join the discussion. You can post your questions and comments on this site, or you can view the live Webcast by logging in as a guest at: http://breeze01.uclan.ac.uk/journalismleadersforum/. Online participants will be able to post questions to panelists in a text chat room.

Acclaimed digital media innovator Steve Yelvington at 10th Forum on 7th October

2008-09-23T14:43:00.021Z

There’s lots of talk about the urgent need to update the journalistic paradigm to suit the realities of the Networked Age. Cries for the practice of journalism to be conceived as a conversation, not a lecture has arguably become something of a mantra in progressive media circles.

One person who hasn’t just talked about it, but showed how it could work in practice - and perhaps even profit - is Steve Yelvington, now Vice President of Content and Strategy at Morris Digital Works, the consulting arm of US media giant Morris Communications.

Yelvington will join the international panel of digital media experts at the 10th Journalism Leaders Forum on 7th October. The theme: “Hard Lessons: What are the tough times teaching media decision-makers about the way forward?”

Other confirmed panellists include Juan Señor, UK director of the Innovation International Media Consulting Group, and Kevin Anderson, blogs editor for The Guardian. François Nel, the founding director of the Journalism Leaders Programme at UCLan, will chair the debate.

A longtime newspaper journalist, Steve Yelvington was founding editor of Star Tribune Online (later rebranded startribune.com) in Minneapolis in 1994 and built it into one of the top-ranked newspaper sites in the world.

As executive editor and network content director for Cox Interactive Media, he supervised a nationwide network of city sites.

At Morris Communications, he led site design and development operations that yielded more Digital Edge and EPpy awards than those of any other newspaper company. Amongst the most-discussed projects has been turning the small town newspaper Bluffton Today into a pioneering multimedia newspaper focused on and actively participated in by its community.

Editor and Publisher magazine presented him with the 2001 EPpy Award for Individual Achievement and the Newspaper Association of America presented him with the 2007 Online Innovator Award.

He now concentrates on longterm vision, strategy, and innovation for Morris Digital Works. He now concentrates on longterm vision, strategy, and innovation for Morris Digital Works. And, of course, he blogs, too.

To attend this free programme at 6pm on Tuesday, 7th October in Greenbank Lecture Theatre in Preston - as well as the networking reception from 5pm - please RSVP to leaders[at]ukjournalism[do]ac[dot]uk.

If you can't be there in person, there are other ways to join the discussion. You can post your questions and comments on this site, or you can view the live Webcast by logging in as a guest at: http://breeze01.uclan.ac.uk/journalismleadersforum/. Online participants will be able to post questions to panelists in a text chat room.

For more information about this and other activities of the University of Central Lancashire's Journalism Leaders Programme, which partners with media companies to develop leadership talent and strategic solutions for the Networked Age, contact François Nel, by email (FPNel@uclan . ac . uk) or Skype (francoisnel).

Gurus Wanted: Constituting the panel for 10th Forum on 7th October

2008-08-20T11:26:00.010Z

It was Jay Rosen who, at a previous Journalism Leaders Forum (the 7th, actually), suggested that, in aspects of the digital revolution, UK newsrooms were "about two years behind" the US.

If that is true, the recent trade news headlines of pending job losses at regional press giants Johnston Press and Trinity Mirror suggests that the waves of down-sizing and right- sizing and re-sizing that have been buffeting our colleagues across the Atlantic, are starting to crash onto our shores as well.

But, perhaps, there is a silver lining: Doesn’t our position as so-called laggards also open up to the possibly that we can benefit from the many hard lessons our colleagues in the US - and elsewhere - are learning through experience?

With that in mind, I've proposed the following theme for the 10th Journalism Leaders Forum on 7th October:

“Hard Lessons: What are the tough times teaching media decision-makers about the way forward?”

The key of course is who we get on the panel: for really smart - and useful - answers, we need really smart and insightful people. Or rather, smart and insightful people who are willing to share what they know. (Of course, modern technologies means we can link with folks almost anywhere.)

I know some of those - as is evident from the list of panellists in the previous Forums - but I sure don't know all of them. If you have any recommendations for the panel, it would be great to hear from you. Just post your comments here, or email me at FPNel @ uclan. ac. uk .

We're hoping to finalise the arrangement by 22nd September and look forward to your participation in the discussion, online or in person at the Forum in Preston, which is open and will, again, be Webcast live (log in as a guest).

Note:

- The next Digitial Editors' Network meeting and workshop is also scheduled in the afternoon before the Forum. More details on the DEN blog.

- This Forum is also part of the autumn residential seminar of the Journalism Leaders Programme. The application deadline for the next seminar, 'Newsroom Leadership in the Digital Age', is 12th September. Download this flyer for more details or contact me.

Play it again - the 9th Forum on Making Money

2008-05-01T14:03:00.006Z

This much is clear from the 9th Journalism Leaders Forum: great minds shouldn’t be thinking alike.

The mainstream media companies who have struggled to take advantage of the expanding – and profitable - media landscape will need to do things differently. Or do more things differently. Or do more of the different things faster. Ultimately, of course, success will come to those who do the right amount of the right things at the right pace. And step one is to think differently.

Perspectives on the question, ‘If the media landscape is changing, why aren’t [many mainstream] media companies?’ from Silicon Valley (Chris Anderson), an internnational digital market intelligence company (Anton Grutzmacher), a UK media industry analyst (Peter Kirwan), a digital news entrepreneur (Rick Waghorn) were chaired by online journalism author and academic (Mike Ward). Add to that an audience of Trinity Mirror editors involved in the Journalism Leaders Programme, Digital Editors Network and others in the room and online, and you’ve got a dynamic and, potentially, very useful discussion.

If you missed it, you can see an unedited recording here.

Diary note: the 10th Forum & Digital Editors Network workshop is on 14th October & the full calendar for 2008-9 is here. Applications for the next Leaders course is also now being accepted.

Also see comments from: Oliver Luft , Andy Dickinson & Joanna Geary in text or vid.

Additional links, comments and suggestions for the next Forums – themes and panellists – would be much appreciated.

9th Forum: Why isn't more media translating into more money for mainstream media companies?

2008-03-19T15:22:00.013Z

Update (17/04) : Confirmed panellists are: Chris Anderson of 'The Long Tail', Anton Grutzmacher of Hitwise, Peter Kirwan of the Press Gazette's Media Money and Rick Waghorn of www.myfootballwriter.com.

For mainstream media companies, the new Holy Grail or Holy Grail 2.0, if you will, is finding a sustainable business model for the Digital Age. While few now still argue that the old scarcity-economy model is broke, a look at the declining share prices of major media houses makes it clear that, despite much talk and even some action, still fewer are thought to have discovered how to fix it.

Last month, no less than Marc Andreessen (founder of Netscape & Ning) inaugurated “the New York Times Deathwatch” — and, as Dan Gilmore (would-be citizen journalism entrepreneur-turned-academic) in a blog post entitled, New York Times Needs to Wake Up: “the data he cites should be giving the Times-folk nightmares”.

This month, Chris Anderson (the Wired magazine editor who gave us The Long Tail ) asserted that “everything that becomes digital eventually becomes free” – and, I suspect, the data he cites will be giving everyone in the mainstream media nightmares.

Given that more people are consuming more media than ever before, a stark question arises: ‘If the media landscape is booming, why aren’t media companies?”

This is theme for the 9th Journalism Leaders Forum at Preston on 29 April 2008.

Amongst the confirmed panellists are Paul Bradshaw, author of the Online Journalism Blog and convenor of the recent Journalism Enterprise & Entrepreneurship Camp; Karen Swan, marketing head for Trinity Mirror Regionals; and Anton Grutzmacher, head of client services at the market intelligence company, Hitwise.

Joining the conversation from the audience will be participants in the Trinity Mirror Editorial Leaders Programme and Digital Editors Network members. Taking us through the issues will be Mike Ward, author of Journalism Online and head of journalism at UCLan.

To attend this free programme at 6pm on Tuesday, 29th April in Greenbank Lecture Theatre in Preston - as well as the networking reception from 5pm - please RSVP to leaders[at]ukjournalism[do]ac[dot]uk.

If you can't be there in person, there are other ways to join the discussion. You can post your questions and comments on this site, or you can view the live Webcast by logging in as a guest at: http://breeze01.uclan.ac.uk/journalismleadersforum/. Online participants will be able to post questions to panelists in a text chat room.

For more information about this and other activities of the Journalism Leaders Programme, which partners with media companies to develop leadership talent and strategic solutions for the Digital Age, visit the programme website or contact me, François Nel, by email (FPNel@uclan . ac . uk) or Skype (francoisnel).

WAN-IFRA's Martha Stone joins 13th Forum panel for paywall debate

2008-03-19T15:14:00.014Z

Paywalls: build them, or break them - or look beyond them?

That's the theme for the next Journalism Leaders Forum in Preston on 29th October 2009. Kicking off that discussion will be Martha Stone, director of the World Association of Newspapers-IFRA's Shaping the Future of the Newspaper project. Charting the panel will be the director of UCLan Journalism Leaders Programme, François Nel, whose paper on innovations in online business models featured at the recent Future of Journalism conference in Cardiff.

To attend this free programme at 6pm on Thursday, 29^th October in Greenbank Lecture Theatre in Preston - as well as the networking reception from 5pm - please register at here.

If you can't be there in person, there are other ways to join the discussion. You can post your questions and comments on this site, or you can view the live Webcast by logging in as a guest. Online participants will be able to post questions to panelists in a text chat room.

Sports journalists must safeguard their freedom against large sporting bodies if objective coverage of sporting events is to be maintained

2008-02-05T15:07:00.000Z

That's what was claimed at the recent 8th Journalism Leaders Forum hosted at the University of Central Lancashire on 29th January 08.

In a year which has seen large sporting organisations increasingly clash with journalists the debate was always going to be provocative and the audience was not disappointed. The panel consisted of renowned figures from the sports journalism world- Mihir Bose, BBC Sports Editor (right), Phil Townsend, Director of Communications for Manchester United Football Club, Andrew Moger, leader of the Newspaper Publishers Association’s digital rights campaign, Kadambari Murali, Sports Editor for the Hindustan Times (left) and Robert Hardie, Content Strategy Director for Associated Northcliffe Digital. The forum was chaired by Charlie Lambert, a veteran BBC North West sports presenter and commentator, who now runs the highly-regarded sports journalism programme at UCLan.

The opposing views put forward by Mihir Bose and Phil Townsend were particularly lively and served to illustrate the polarization of views between large, powerful sports organisations and journalists.

Andrew Moger said "As journalists we are letting ourselves down, we are letting a great industry down if we don't man the barricades against restrictive measures. We have been sleeping on this issue far too long. That includes publishers, owners and sports editors. We have tried to maintain relationships in the face of competition and control and we need to be much more robust on our own account."

If you missed the forum you can view the online recording at http://breeze01.uclan.ac.uk/p88174755/

Join the live Forum Webcast tonight

2008-01-29T17:08:00.000Z

The 8th Journalism Leaders forum, entitled “Spoiled Sports: Will the digital media finish off sports reporting as a credible form of journalism?” will take place at 6pm GMT on 29th January with an all-star panel chaired by Charlie Lambert.

Join us at http://breeze01.uclan.ac.uk/journalismleadersforum and log in as a guest. Look forward to seeing you there.

8th Forum asks to explore the impact of digital on sports journalism

2008-01-16T17:00:00.003Z

[An unedited recording of this Forum & Webinar is now available here.]

The 8th Journalism Leaders Forum on 29 January will bring top sports media managers and journalists from around the globe together to discuss the impact of new technologies on sports reporting today.

Entitled, “Spoiled Sports: Will the digital media finish off sports reporting as a credible form of journalism?”, the panel will be chaired by Charlie Lambert (right) a veteran BBC North West sports presenter and commentator who now runs the highly-regarded sports journalism programme at UCLan. Says Charlie:

"Journalists who cover top-level sport are facing a real challenge. Teams and organisations are so powerful and so wealthy that they want to control everything that is said or written about them.

"And while there has always been that element of friction between the reporter and the reported, sports organisations now have their own media platforms from which to reach their public without involving the traditional journalist at all. How sports journalists deal with this phenomenon is a key issue which will impact on the credibility of their profession.

Never have so many people around the globe wanted to watch, listen and read about sport. Yet never has it been so difficult for sports journalists to get to the heart of the story. "

Panelists include:

Mihir Bose, BBC Sports Editor
Mihir Bose is the recently appointed Sports Editor for the BBC who worked for the Sunday Times for 20 years before moving to the Daily Telegraph to specialise in investigative sports reporting. He has also presented on radio and television, including BBC Radio 4's Financial World Tonight, South Asia Report on BBC World Service and What the Papers Say for Channel 4. A respected journalist in India and the UK he has won several awards for his newspaper writing including Business Columnist of the Year, Sports Reporter of the Year and Sports Story of the Year. A respected author he has written 22 books on a range of subjects, including A History of Indian Cricket and Manchester Disunited.

Phil Townsend, Director of Communications for Manchester United Phil has been Director of Communications at Man Utd since 2004. Since that time, the Club has been taken over in controversial circumstances, de-listed from the Stock Exchange and endured negative headlines as it lost its shirt sponsor and team captain within weeks of failing to qualify from the Group Stages of the Champions League for the first time in 11 years. In the same period, the Club has won all three domestic honours, appeared in two unsuccessful FA Cup Finals and lost to the eventual winners of the UEFA Champions League in last year’s semi final. Prior to working at Old Trafford, Phil was the Press Secretary to the Minister for Sport for five years, serving three Sports Ministers (the late Tony Banks, Kate Hoey and Richard Caborn) and two Secretaries of State (Chris Smith and Tessa Jowell).

Kadambari Murali, Sports Editor for the Hindustan Times in New Delhi
Kadambari Murali is Sports Editor for the Hindustan Times and is one of the most respected journalists in her field. She has won several awards including best news story and cricket writer at the Indian Sports Journalism Awards for excellence in sports writing.

Robert Hardie, Content Strategy Director for Northcliffe Media
After a reporting career that took in both the regional and national press, Robert became Chief Sub Editor at the Derby Telegraph in 1997 and was appointed Head of Electronic Publishing at the title in 1998.

As Northcliffe Media's digital strategy developed he assumed Content responsibility for of all the group's operations in the Midlands. He then assumed Content control for the whole company in 2002. When Associated Northcliffe Digital was formed in 2006 he was appointed Managing Editor and moved to take up the same role in Northcliffe in October 2007. He was recently appointed Content Strategy Director with the company.

Andrew Moger, an independent consultant specialising in news media rights
Andy Moger is an independent consultant specialising in news media rights and events. He has had many years experience working as a reporter, news editor, picture editor and newspaper executive in the highly competitive London media environment. This has put him at the forefront of numerous and recent negotiations between the media, governing bodies and ‘rights holders’ in many countries. He is also enthusiastic about sport participation (including his own) and the role of sport in society.

The event, which is free and open to the public, starts at 5:15pm with a networking reception in the foyer of Greenbank Building and the 90-minute panel discussion kicks off at 6pm . To attend, please RSVP to DJWilliams1@uclan.ac.uk . If you can't be there in person, you can view the live Webcast online and join others in the chat room [Log in as a guest] .

The Journalism Leaders Forum is presented by the Journalism Leaders Programme, which will also be hosting an afternoon of workshops and discussions for the Digital Editors Network. For details about that event, please visit the DEN blog or link with the group on Facebook, where you'll also find the 'Journalism at Preston since 1962' group for alumni of England's oldest journalism course.

Queries about custom training, services and management development programs for your news organization should be directed to the Director of the Journalism Leaders Programme François Nel at F P Nel @ uclan . ac . uk .

8th Journalism Leaders Forum to tackle the influence of digital technologies on sports reporting

2007-12-12T11:00:00.000Z

There’s been quite a bit of discussion about the opportunities that digital technologies afford traditional media companies to use more platforms to create more interaction with more users around more nuanced stories and, even sometimes, to make more money.

At the start of another Olympic year, the 8th Journalism Leaders Forum on Tuesday, 29th January 2008, will consider if there's a darker side to the digital proposition by taking a closer look at developments in the world of sports.

Chairing the discussion will be Charlie Lambert (right), a veteran BBC North West sports presenter and commentator, who now runs the highly-regarded sports journalism programme at UCLan. Charlie outlines the premise for the panel discussion, which will be Webcast live, as follows:

The digital explosion has rent asunder the traditional relationship between sports journalists and the organisations they cover.

Already with many cards stacked in their favour, powerful bodies like the Football Association and individual clubs like Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool now have their own direct route to the public.

The old argument from newspaper and broadcast companies that “the clubs need the oxygen of publicity” no longer holds water. Clubs have their own media outlets including TV and radio stations and increasingly-sophisticated websites. They believe they can reach out to their customers without the need for interfering, bolshy journalists.

Clubs are increasingly using their websites as the outlet for breaking news, instead of picking up the phone to the local hack. Radio stations who access news from the sites frequently credit ‘the club website’ as their source, thus increasing the credibility of the club’s own media operation.

Does this mean that sports journalism as an independent conduit of information is on the way out?

The Forum, which coincides with the Winter residential seminar of the Journalism Leaders Programme, also helps mark 45 years of journalism at Preston, and is open to all - practitioners, academics, would-be journalists and others who are interested in the challenges of journalism in the Digital Age.

The event starts at 5:15pm with a networking reception in the foyer of Greenbank Building and the 90-minute panel discussion kicks off at 6pm . To attend, please RSVP to leaders @ ukjournalism . org . There is no charge.

If you can't be there in person, you can view the live Webcast online and join othes in the chat room [Log in as a guest] .

NOTE: Earlier the same day, we'll also be hosting an afternoon of workshops and discussions for the Digital Editors Network. For details about that event, please visit the DEN blog or link with the group on Facebook, where you'll also find the 'Journalism at Preston since 1962' group for alumni of England's oldest journalism course.

Revisiting "Local Turf Wars" Forum

2007-10-17T07:17:00.000Z

With a panel comprising Jay Rosen of Press Think, Neil Benson of Trinity Mirror Regionals, Darren Thwaites of the award-winning Evening Gazette in Teesside, UCLan alumnus Andy Mitten of United We Stand, and Emma Hemmingway of Into the Newsroom, it was always going to be a lively - and insightful - discussion. The 7th Journalism Leaders Forum, chaired by Mike Ward, head of journalism at UCLan and author of Online Journalism, was exactly that.

If you missed the event or want to revist the discussion, you will find a recording HERE.

Also, mark your calendar. The 8th Forum is scheduled on 29 January 2008, to coincide with the winter residential seminar of the Journalism Leaders Programme . Earlier that day, we'll also be hosting an afternoon of workshops and discussions for the Digital Editors Network.

Of course, if you have any comments or suggestions, we'd certainly like to hear from you.

Crowdsource journalism advocate Jay Rosen joins panel on 'Local Turf Wars'

2007-09-26T16:25:00.000Z

"A highly satisfying failure" is how Wired's Jeff Howe described Jay Rosen & Co's first pro-amateur, open source journalism project, Assignment Zero. The verdict: doing open source journalism is harder than you might think.

But Rosen & Co aren't giving up. They've teamed up with the Huffington Post and launched, Off theBus - "[US Presidential] campaign coverage by people who aren't in the club."

Rosen, an associate professor of journalism at New York University and the author of Press Think, will join in the 7th Journalism Leaders Forum discussion on 16 October entitled, Local Turf Wars: notes from the digital news frontline.

Other confirmed panellists include Neil Benson, editorial director of Trinity Mirror Regionals, and Emma Hemmingway, author of Into the Newsroom: exploring the digital production of regional television news. Mike Ward, head of the Department of Journalism at UCLan and author of Journalism Online, will chair the forum.

The event is of the first of a series of activities planned to mark 45 years of journalism education at Preston, the oldest programme of its type in England.

The open event, which is the first of three planned for 2007-8, starts at 5:15pm with a networking reception in the foyer of Greenbank Building. The 90-minute panel discussion begins at 6pm.

Please RSVP to: leaders[at]ukjournalsm[dot] org. Afterwards, you're invited to link up for a drink at the journalism department's traditional local, the Lamb & Packet . For those who can't make it person, the Forum will again be webcast live too [Log in as a Guest; on the right of the screen].

Trinity Mirror's Neil Benson examines local news at 7th Forum

2007-08-27T14:07:00.000Z

The folks at the UK's largest newspaper publisher Trinity Mirror have been pretty upbeat lately.

Early in August , the interim financial results for 2007 showed that profits were up, despite below-forecast income from the titles they shed. A few days later, on the back of the announcement of a spate of redesigns and relaunches , regional editorial director Neil Benson hinted that things had gone so well with the rollout of their hyperlocal news project at the Teesside Gazette (also the Press Gazette Regional News Website of Year 2007) that more reverse publishing (online-to-print) products may be in the offing.

Benson is amongst the panelists considering the global impact of the local news business at the 7th Journalism Leaders Forum on 16 October. The event is of the first of a series of activities planned to mark 45 years of journalism education at Preston, the oldest programme of its type in England.

The open event, which is the first of three planned for 2007-8, starts at 5:15pm with a networking reception in the foyer of Greenbank Building. The 90-minute Forum begins at 6pm. Please RSVP to: leaders[at]ukjournalsm[dot] org.

Afterwards, you're invited to link up for a drink at the journalism department's traditional local, the Lamb & Packet . For those who can't make it person, the Forum will again be webcast live too.

Learning from digital media entrepreneurs

2007-05-24T17:24:00.001Z

OK, I admit it. Perhaps the title of the 6th Journalism Leaders Forum in Preston - 'Editor as Entrepreneur: Lessons from the Digital Front' - was a bit misleading: none of the panelists nor the chair was strictly an "Editor". In fact, at the time, only one of them, Robin Hamman, was actually employed by a maintream media house (he's the BBC's Blog Network Coordinator and author of his own highly-rated blog.). And the other? Eamonn Carey had left traditional media operations to launch his own mobile start-up , Random Thoughts Media , while Nick Jaspan of How-Do has been a media entrepreneur all along.

Which raises a key question for traditional media houses: What can we do to retain talent in an age when the ease of access to technology and bandwidth means that today's star employee can (more easily?) be tomorrow's competitor?

If you missed the excellent case studies and provocative discussion chaired by the journalist-turned-tech whiz, Bob Eggington, you can watch an unedited version of the live Webcast here.

Reminder: the next Journalism Leaders Forum has been scheduled for Tuesday, 16 October 2007. On the occassion of the 45th anniversary of journalism education at Preston, we'll be looking at the opportunities digital technologies give local media to reach global audiences - and to make a global impact.

Hope you will join the conversation.

Serial media entrepreneur Nick Jaspan to join Forum panel on May 15th

2007-04-10T12:33:00.000Z

Sure Nick Jaspan got his fingers (and probably his wallet) burned last year by opening and closing the independent weekly North West Enquirer. But it'll take more than that to stop a serial entrepreneur like Jaspan.

Just this month the co-founder of Newsco Media, which he sold, and j4b (Just for Business), of which he is a non-executive director, launched his latest venture, 'How-Do', a media industry news portal for the North West of England.

On May 15th, this survivor of the (first?) dotcom bust will join the 6th Journalism Leaders Forum panel entitled, 'Editor as Entrepreneur: Lessons from the Digital Front'. Other panellists include Eamonn Carey of the mobile media start-up, Random Thoughts Media, and Robin Hamman, co-ordinator of the BBC's Blogging Network. Bob Eggington, the journalism-turned-tech whiz whose projects have included establishing BBC News Online and TV Genius, will chair the discussion.

The event, which forms part of the Winter residential week programme for participants in the Department of Journalism's Journalism Leaders Programme, is open to all - practitioners, academics, would-be journalists and others who are interested in the challenges of leading journalism in a digital age.

To attend this open programme at 6pm on Tuesday, May 15th, in Greenbank Lecture Theatre in Preston - as well as the network reception from 5:15pm - please RSVP to leaders@ukjournalism.org. There is no charge. If you can't be there in person, you can view the live Webcast online and join othes in the chat room [Log in as a guest] .

NOTE: Applications are currently being accepted for the Spring seminars, which will include sessions by Eggington and Hamman, as well as other accomplished practitioners and academics: Managing Multimedia Projects: Harnessing the Potential fo the Digital Age. Please see the Journalism Leaders Programme website or email the director François Nel for more information.

BBC über blogger Robin Hamman to join the 6th Forum panel

2007-03-26T13:09:00.000Z

BBC über blogger Robin Hamman , who is one of the drivers behind the much-discussed BBC Manchester Blog project, will be joining the panel for the 6th Journalism Leaders Forum panel discussion on May 15th.

With that in mind we should probably modify the panel theme from 'Editor as Entrepreneur' to 'Editorial Entrepreneurship' because Hamman and his colleague Richard Fair aren't strictly editors (both officially have hold positions of 'Senior Broadcast Journalist'). That, I think, makes an important point: creativity and entrepreneurial flair aren't confined to the top of the organisational chart. What that means for the newsroom management is amongst the issues to be explored by the panel - and the audience - in the interactive discussion that will be chaired by journalist-turned-tech-whizz Bob Eggington.

The Forum, which forms part of the schedule for the Spring block of the Journalism Leaders Programme, is free and open to the public. Preceded by a networking reception at 5:15pm in the Greenbank Building Foyer, the panel discussion will start at 6pm in Greenbank Lecture Theatre and will also be webcast live.

RSVP to leaders[at]ukjournalism.org . And contact the programme director François Nel at FPNel[@] uclan.ac.uk with any questions.

Media Entrepreneurs at the New Front Line of the Digital Revolution - Mobile Phones

2007-03-20T11:31:00.000Z

The good news is that mainstream media are [slowly] waking up to the potential of mobile phones, if recent studies and analyst predications are anything to go by.

A study of 38 US news sites published last week as part of The Project for Excellence in Journalism’s 2007 State of the American News Media Report showed that about a third (12 sites) of the sites in the sample allowed content delivery customization, such as RSS feeds, podcasts or mobile phone alerts. According to Visiongain, by 2008, 89% of brands in Europe will use SMS & MMS to reach their audience and 1/3 will spend more than 10% of their marketing budgets on the mobile channel.

The other news is that traditional news organizations aren’t the only alert to the potential of mobile. Others - including alpha players in the digital space, such as Google – are getting in on the act. The buzz about Google’s move into mobile, which I first picked up late last year, ratcheted up last week after a Google official in Spain acknowledged the company is "investigating" such a project.

It’s not really surprising. Google guru Vinton Cerf has been talking up the importance of mobile phones quite a bit recently saying that the future growth of the Internet lies in the hands of mobile phone users, not computers.

Cerf has pointed out that while the Internet population has exploded from 50 million to 1.1 billion since 1997, it still only reaches a sixth of the world's population. “You will get those other 5.5 billion people only when affordability increases and the cost of communication goes down," said Cerf, 63, who joined Google in 2005 as Vice President. By contrast, analysts say mobile phone connections recently topped 2.5 billion and are expected to reach 3 billion by the end of 2007 . A recent study showed that more than half of mobile phones in circulation were enabled to access data services and that 56% of users accessed at least one data services each a month, up dramatically from a year ago. “The mobile phone has become an important factor in the Internet revolution, " said Cerff.

Eamonn Carey is one new media entrepreneur taking advantage of the mobile explosion. A former producer and presenter with RTE Radio and Newstalk Radio in Ireland, Carey is the co-founder and director of Random Thoughts Media who recently produced a series of six video podcasts or vodcasts for O2 mobile, sponsors of the Irish national rugby Team. [Featuring rugby experts George Hook and Brent Pope , the final programme was available on March 17^th, the eve of the Ireland’s sensational eight-try victory over Italy.]

Eamonn will be discussing some of his projects for mobile during the 6th Journalism Leaders Forum panel discussion on May 15th. Entitled, ‘Editor as Entrepreneur: Lessons from the Digital Front’, the panel discussion will be chaired by journalist-turned-tech-whizz Bob Eggington, who’s many new media projects have including helping establish BBC News Online.

The Forum, which forms part of the schedule for the Spring block of the Journalism Leaders Programme, is free and open to the public. Preceded by a networking reception at 5:15pm in the Greenbank Building Foyer, the panel discussion will start at 6pm in Greenbank Lecture Theatre and will also be webcast live.

RSVP to leaders[at]ukjournalism.org .

‘Editors expected not only to manage existing operations, but to be entrepreneurs’

2007-03-05T13:25:00.000Z

Time was when the typical editor’s job was pretty straightforward, even predictable. He [and, in the main, it was ‘he’] needed to make sure that, when the presses rolled at a pre-determined time every day, the newsroom had produced enough pre-planned stories of reasonable quality and variety on pre-determined themes to fill the preset space between the advertising.

On rare occasions the news-making machine would be temporarily disrupted by an unexpected event of some magnitude. Then, the spine-tingling cry would go out from the editor: ‘Hold the front page!’ All too soon, though, the normal ebb and flow would resume like clockwork.
That’s changing. Mainstream media managers are expected not only to be custodians of existing operations and to satisfy existing (often shrinking) audiences, but many are also expected to investigate new opportunities to reach new users using new formats on new platforms. Increasingly, editors are expected to be entrepreneurs.

It’s that new challenge which will be the focus of the 6th Journalism Leaders Forum panel discussion on May 15th. Entitled, ‘Editor as Entrepreneur: Lessons from the Digital Front’, the panel discussion will be chaired by journalist-turned-tech-whizz Bob Eggington, who’s many new media projects have including helping establish BBC News Online.

The Forum, which forms part of the schedule for the Spring block of the Journalism Leaders Programme, is free and open to the public. Preceeded by a networking reception at 5:15pm in the Greenbank Building Foyer, the panel discussion will start at 6pm in Greenbank Lecture Theatre and will be webcast live.

RSVP to leaders[at]ukjournalism.org .

Can magazines help newspapers navigate Web 2.0?

2007-02-11T15:49:00.000Z

Newspapers navigating the tricky Web 2.0 Age should look to the magazine industry for some coordinates, Alan Moore suggested at the 5th Journalism Leaders Forum in Preston last week:

"Trust, engagement, connectivity, life-enhancement, life-simplification and navigation sums up magazines and their current success, not least through internet contact with their readers."

Perhaps Moore is on to something. A look at the 2006/2007 World Magazine Trends report from the International Federation of the Periodical Press or FIPP (Fédération Internationale de la Presse Périodique) certainly suggests rather more optimistic figures than those typically reported in the newspaper sector:

The [UK] consumer magazine industry was valued at £2,984 million in 2005, up by £135 million on the previous year. Consumer expenditure increased by 6.2% year-on-year to reach £2,157 million while advertising expenditure rose by 1% to £829 million. Total annual sales increased by 7% to 1,438 million copies per annum which means that since the year 2000, consumer magazines have enjoyed continuous year-on-year growth in both annual sales volume and purchasers’ expenditure. The number of consumer titles published rose by 42 to 3,366 between 2004 and 2005, the fourth consecutive year of growth.

The magazine industry is certainly not suffering the declines that are so typical of newspapers, but the extent to which that is due to that's because the magazine industry is Net-savvy isn't obvious. And listening to Janice Min, editor-in-chief, Us Weekly, at the Media Summit New York last week (see below), it’s clear that her magazine, at least, is still ‘trying to figure out what is going to make people come to the website in addition to buying the magazine”. (Sound familiar?)

So, if the magazine industry's edge isn't digital, perhaps it's worth examining how the industry's practice as it relates to the other issues to which Moore points: 'Trust, engagement, connectivity, life-enhancement, life-simplification and navigation".

Replay the 'Media Mashups' Forum debate - and keep the discussion going

2007-02-08T13:47:00.001Z

After more than an hour and half, we hit ‘pause’ – not ‘stop’ - on the provocative 5th Journalism Leaders Forum discussion on the challenges facing traditional media in the Web 2.0 Age.

At the time, the distinguished panel - Jane Singer, Alan Moore, Heather Hopkins and Mark Tungate – were responding to this question posted online by Mark Comerford from Sweden:

still talking to a large extent about your "traditional" base. How do you extend your brand to audiences you dont traditionally reach?

Afterwards, Jane Singer, the new Johnston Press Chair in Digital Journalism at UCLan, had this to add in response:

One of the advantages that traditional media have in the online world is their
'institutional memory' of their own communities, commonly stretching back through
many years and many generations -- which they can draw on in a variety of ways
and in combination with the new voices of users (including those both new to the
community and those with their own long-term knowledge and connections with it
as their home). None of the other companies jumping online and providing content
have a comparable capability that comes from long-term association with and deep
knowledge of a particular place, its people and its issues.

You can review a (unedited) recording of the Webinar here - and join the discussion by posting your comments on this blog. Or you can joining us for the 6th Journalism Leaders Forum scheduled for 15 May 2007. Better yet, why don't you do both?

Co-author of "Communities Dominate Brands" joins Forum on Media Mashups

2007-01-23T13:19:00.000Z

Alan Moore is CEO of SMLXL, described as a "Engagement Marketing specialist firm", and co-author with Tomi Ahonen of "Communities Dominate Brands". He's got some pretty strong views on the challenges media operations face in the what he calls "Generation C ", the connected society, and he'll share some of those as part of the panel for the 5th Journalism Leaders Forum on Feb 6th entitled, "Media Mashups! How Traditional Media Brands Survive and Thrive in a Widely Wired World."

Alan’s belief is that within the near future community-based engagement initiatives and the enabling of peer-to-peer flows of communication within organisations, and those that engage with them, will replace the traditional orthodoxies of government, management, business, media distribution and marketing as the primary media by which these organisations will successfully engage with their audiences. His message is has lots of people listening.

Alan’s notable projects include the brand strategy development and integrated communications program for a Pan-Nordic 3G mobile service; Saab’s global brand communication strategy; H&M’s store opening strategies in the US; and a number of existing brand and NPD projects for The Coca Cola Company.

Alan will join Heather Hopkins, VP for research for Hitwise, and Jane Singer, the new Johnston Press Chair of Digital Journalism at the University of Central Lancashire, in a discussion chaired by Mark Tungate, author of "Media Monoliths: How Great Media Brands Thrive and Survive".

The event, which forms part of the Winter residential week programme for participants in the Department of Journalism's Journalism Leaders Programme, is open to all - practitioners, academics, would-be journalists and others who are interested in the challenges of leading journalism in a digital age. To attend this free programme at 6pm on Tuesday, February 6th, in Greenbank Lecture Theatre in Preston - as well as the network reception from 5:30pm - please RSVP to leaders@ukjournalism.org.

If you can't be there in person, there are other ways to join the discussion.

You can post your questions and comments on this site, or you can view the live Webcast by logging in as a guest at: http://breeze01.uclan.ac.uk/journalismleadersforum/. Online participants will be able to post questions to panellists in a chat room.

NOTE: Applications are currently being accepted for the Winter seminar Feb 5-8th, which will include sessions by Hopkins, Singer and Tungate, as well as other accomplished practitioners and academics:. Please see the Programme website or email the director François Nel for more information.

Media Mashups! How Traditional Media Brands Survive and Thrive in a Widely Wired World

2006-12-06T10:22:00.000Z

The rocky (and very, very costly) tie-up of stodgy Time Warner with sprightly AOL in 1998 seemed to illustrate Raymond Hall’s warning: “All marriages are happy. It's the living together afterward that causes all the trouble.”

But this summer's surprise announcement that Old Media News Corporation was shacking up with New Social Network Media MySpace, indicates that even in the most conservative of circles, the apparent taboo of old and new media nuptials is over.

Since then, the 'oldies' have been scrambling to woo young digital operators, in general, and social network companies, in particular. CBS has embraced YouTube (who is, by the way, a partner of Verizon who has, in turn, already hooked up with MTV, ESPN, and ABC News) and the 160-year-old Reuters has tied the knot with 12-year-old Yahoo, who is also linked to baby-faced Flickr.

Of course, not every date has led to the altar: today NTL and ITV formally announced their much-discussed union was not to be.

So, where is this going? Are there any tips to help these relationships flourish? What does it all mean for journalism?

Those are some key issues under the spotlight at the 5th Journalism Leaders Forum coming up at the University of Central Lancashire in February 2007. Paris-based advertising and brand specialist Mark Tungate (left) will chair the discussion of cases and issues entitled: "Media Mashups! How Traditional Media Brands Survive and Thrive in a Widely Wired World". Media convergence expert Jane Singer, the newly-appointed Johnston Press Chair in Digital Journalism at UCLan, and Heather Hopkins, Hitwise vice president for research, will be amongst the panellists.

The event, which forms part of the Winter residential week programme for participants in the Department of Journalism's Journalism Leaders Programme, is open to all - practitioners, academics, would-be journalists and others who are interested in the challenges of leading journalism in a digital age.

To attend this free programme at 6pm on Tuesday, February 6th, in Greenbank Lecture Theatre in Preston - as well as the network reception from 5:30pm - please RSVP to leaders@ukjournalism.org.

NOTE: Applications are currently being accepted for the Winter seminars, which will include sessions by Hopkins, Singer and Tungate, as well as other accomplished practitioners and academics: Journalism and the Market: Understanding Users, Delivering Value and Principles of Journalism Leadership: Strategy for the Digital Age. Please see the Programme website or email the director François Nel for more information.

Innovation leaders on how they do it: inspiring, empowering

2006-10-18T10:48:00.000Z

It wasn't much of a risk, really. With a panel comprising Tim Bowdler, Tim Porter, Simon Waldman and Geert-Jan Bogaert and with Keith Sutton as ring-master, the discussion was always going to be provocative. That was indeed the case in the packed auditorium in Preston last night and also in the chat room online (see the excerpt below).

If you missed the discussion on "Leading Innovation: What to Do, How to Do It" - or want to run through it again - check out the recording.

Mark your calendar, too. The 5th Journalism Leaders Forum on February 6th, 2007, will be chaired by Mark Tungate, a Journalism Leaders Programme discussion leader and author of the first comprehensive look at the world's top media brands, Media Monolith. Watch for updates on the event here or mail us at leaders[at]ukjournalism[dot]org for an invitation.

Simon Waldman: At the moment, the most significant revenues onilne are actually derived from advertising...I think the real challenge over the next two to three years is to ensure that everyone is geared up to secure as much ad revenue as possible...
Mark: One of the reasons journalists are negitave to the changes is that they have seldom if ever consulted on how and why the changes should occur
Tim Porter: Correct. That's why more collaboration and cultural change is
needed.
Mark: directives from the top alienate the journalists who often see the changes as principally cost saving methods
Simon Waldman: Mark..you're right..
Simon Waldman: Let's not forget the Telegraph basically laid off a load of
journalists..
Tim Porter: Or ... newspapers tend to pile up priorities until there is a laundry list of goals, most unsupported by training.
Mark: too much money goes in to the technical infrastructur
which is constructed for and by technical staff. The point of departure must be
firsty "how can we tell our stories better"
Tim Porter:
There is a tremendous need for product development -- in a traditional sense --
in the newspaper industry.
Editor: The cultural battle is being won - the key to capitalising on the undoubted revenues out there is to keep traffic high thanks to the quality of journalism
Mark: product is produced by journalists. There is a tremendous need for *journalistic* development
Mark: Swedish statistics show that sanitary workers have more money for mid-career training than journalists
Tim Porter: “Merely riding the current of change, complaining all the while, is a path that leads only to cynicism and failure. It's seductively self-indulgent, but it's just plain wrong. The alternative is choosing to act.
That's leadership. And it's what these times demand.”-- David Zeeck, executive
editor, Tacoma News-Tribune, President, American Society of Newspaper
Editors,2006-07
Julia Ogden: In my opinion the desire to change and adapt to the future is in many of our newsrooms, but I would argue the investment is not - as yet. Is JP planning to roll out new media newsrooms like the one at LEP to other divisions and if so, when?
Mark: so where do the ethical standerds of journalism c0me into play?
Mark: xcuse the spelling :-)
Tim Porter: They remain. The challenge is to change the forms and practicies of journalism without undermining the principles.

Guardian digital director joins international line-up for 4th forum

2006-10-11T17:06:00.000Z

Simon Waldman, director of digital publishing at Guardian Newspapers, has just been added to the programme of the 4th Journalism Leaders Forum to be held on October 17th.

Waldman, who has played a key role in GuardianOnline, will join an international line-up to discuss "Leading Innovation: What to Do, How to Do It.”

In a recent article for the Press Gazette , Waldman said:

It is clear that the ultimate challenge is not simply to build a good web operation, but to build the news organisation of the future. And having your online operation as a remote satellite simply isn’t going to do it. Having said that, the one thing you realise after looking around is that there is no clear model for making it work that everyone can feel comfortable with.

I do predict, however, that in the next five to 10 years will bring a wave of change in newspaper offices around the world as they grapple with this.

Other panellists are:

Tim Bowdler, chief executive of Johnston Press and the person recently described as “the most powerful figure in Britain’s £3 billion regional newspaper industry”
Geert-Jan Bogaerts, digital editor of DeVolkskrant, the first fully-integrated multi-media newsroom in The Netherlands
Tim Porter, associate director of Tomorrow’s Workforce, a Knight Foundation sponsored devoted to professional development in America’s newsrooms, and author of the blog First Draft.

Keith Sutton, past president of the Society of Editors and an Industrial Fellow of the Journalism Leaders Programme, will chair the discussion.

To attend this free programme at 6pm on Tuesday, October 17th, in Greenbank Lecture Theatre in Preston - as well as the reception from 5:30pm - please RSVP to leaders[at]ukjournalism[do]ac[dot]uk. If you can't be there in person, there are other ways to join the discussion.

You can post your questions and comments on this site, or you can view the live Webcast by logging in as a guest at: http://breeze01.uclan.ac.uk/journalismleadersforum/. Online participants will be able to post questions to panellists in a chat room.

Want to avoid getting drunk on digital?

2006-10-02T12:11:00.000Z

The Telegraph’s move from Canary Wharf to their new multimedia newsroom in Victoria will make it the UK's first fully integrated multimedia newsroom. Not surprisingly, it has been closely watched and widely – and passionately- discussed.

“I have seen the Telegraph's future, and it works,” gushed GuardianOnline blogger Roy Greenslade recently after a tour of the new facilities. On the other hand, John Carey, NUJ father of the chapel, has railed, “They are tearing the heart out of this paper and each day that goes by they are doing it more and more.”

Under the headline, "The dizzying decline of a great paper," Phillip Delves Broughton, a former Paris correspondent for the Daily Telegraph, today summed up the spectacle this way:

Watching the Telegraph leap into the digital age is like watching a late arrival to a party drinking too much to catch up and then falling over on the dance floor.

The transition from print publishing to multimedia change was never going to be easy. But did it need to be quite this bruising? More than a decade into the 'digital party', are there some things that the Telegraph executives - and other latecomers - could learn from earlier arrivals, such as De Volkskrant in The Netherlands?

Geert-Jan Bogaerts, De Volkskrant's online editor, will speak to the challenges of moving from print to multimedia during the 4th Journalism Leaders Forum in Preston on October 17th.

The panel discussion, 'Leading Innovation: What To Do, How To Do It', will be chaired by Keith Sutton, an award-winning editor and an Industrial Fellow of the Journalism Leaders Programme. Other participants include the person recently described as "the most powerful figure in Britain's £3bn regional newspaper industry," Johnston Press chief executive Tim Bowdler . Tim Porter, an associate director of Tomorrow’s Workforce, a Knight Foundation-sponsored project devoted to professional development in America’s newsrooms, will contribute a pespective from the other side of the Atlantic.

The forum, which forms part of the residential week activities for participants in the Autumn block of the University of Central Lancashire's Journalism Leaders Programme, is also open to the public. To attend this free event at 6pm on Tuesday, October 17th, in Greenbank Lecture Theatre in Preston - as well as the reception from 5:30pm - please RSVP to leaders[at]ukjournalism.ac.uk .

If you can't be there in person, there are other ways to join the discussion.

You can post your questions and comments on this site, or you can view the live Webcast by logging in as a guest at: http://breeze01.uclan.ac.uk/journalismleadersforum/. Better still, do both. And let's get the discussion going.

Tim Porter: newspapers have had their 'collective heads in the ink barrel, ignoring the changing society around them'!

2006-09-19T11:30:00.000Z

Tim Porter is passionate about journalism. He’s also thinks that if newspapers are to survive as a vehicle for journalism, we need to emphasise a point that many newspaper journalists, particularly newsroom managers, don’t like to hear:

They are responsible for the decline in readership and relevance of newspaper as any of the bugaboos cited routinely as contributing causes - the Internet, pesky bloggers, disinterested youth and that Craig guys from San Francisco.

Why is that? Because risk-averse newsrooms have spent several decades with their collective heads in the ink barrel, ignoring the changing society around them, refusing to embrace new technologies, and defensively adhering to both a rigid internal hierarchy and an inflexible definition of ‘news’ that produces a stenographic form of journalism, one that has stood still, frozen by homage to tradition, while the world has moved on.

Porter believes that it needn’t all be bad news for newspapers. Associate director of Tomorrow's Workforce, a newsroom development project, and author of First Draft, a blog on quality journalism and newsroom innovation, Porter will join the fourth Journalism Leaders Forum on October 17th in Preston.

The panel discussion on "Leading Innovation: what to do, how to do it" will be chaired by Keith Sutton, an award-winning editor and an Industrial Fellow of the Journalism Leaders Programme. Other participants include the person recently described as "the most powerful figure in Britain's £3bn regional newspaper industry," Johnston Press chief executive Tim Bowdler. Other panelists to be confirmed.

The event, which forms part of the residential week programme for participants in the Department of Journalism's new Journalism Leaders Programme, is open to all - practitioners, academics, would-be journalists and others who are interested in the challenges of leading journalism in a digital age.

To attend this free programme at 6pm on Tuesday, October 17th, in Greenbank Lecture Theatre in Preston - as well as the reception from 5:30pm - please RSVP to leaders[at]ukjournalism[do]ac[dot]uk. If you can't be there in person, there are other ways to join the discussion. You can post your questions and comments on this site, or you can view the live Webcast by logging in as a guest at: http://breeze01.uclan.ac.uk/journalismleadersforum/. Better still, do both. And let's get the discussion going.

Applications are currently being accepted for participation in courses offered by the Journalism Leaders Programme in 2006-7. See the website for details or contact the programme François Nel at FPNel[at]uclan[dot]ac[dot]uk.

Johnston Press CEO on Leading Innovation

2006-07-25T21:25:00.000Z

Johnston Press has long had a reputation one of the Britain's most profitable media companies. Now CEO Tim Bowdler also wants them to be known as one of the most innovative.

In a presentation this summer to City analysts and investors, Bowdler and his team revealed the UK's second largest local newspaper publisher's plans to transform 70 traditional newsrooms into multi-media operations (with some help from the team at Preston).

Bowdler will join in the fourth Journalism Leaders Forum on October 17th in Preston. The panel discussion on 'Leading Innovation: what to do, how to do it' will be chaired by Keith Sutton, an award-winning editor and an Industrial Fellow of the Journalism Leaders Programme. Other participants are to be confirmed.

The event, which forms part of the residential week programme for participants in the Department of Journalism's new Journalism Leaders Programme, is open to all - practitioners, academics, would-be journalists and others who are interested in the challenges of leading journalism in a digital age.

To attend this free programme at 6pm on Tuesday, October 17th, in Greenbank Lecture Theatre in Preston - as well as the reception from 5:30pm - please RSVP to leaders[at]ukjournalism.ac.uk .

If you can't be there in person, there are other ways to join the discussion. You can post your questions and comments on this site, or you can view the live Webcast by logging in as a guest at: http://breeze01.uclan.ac.uk/journalismleadersforum/. Better still, do both. And let's get the discussion going.

Applications are currently being accepted for participation in courses offered by the Journalism Leaders Programme in 2006-7. See the website for details or contact the programme François Nel at FPNel[at]uclan.ac.uk.

Talking money, too.

2006-05-24T13:43:00.000Z

Someone had to ask it. The where’s-the-money question, that is.

If you missed last night’s Journalism Leaders Forum roundtable on “news as conversation” with Kevin Anderson, the BBC’s 2004 US election blogger who is now on the "World Have Your Say" programme team, it went like this:

Jethro Goko: "I’m glad, Kevin, that you don’t necessarily see a bleak future for print because of blogging. But I do worry about blogging. I can not see a business model for blogging. For me, as long there is no business model and somebody can not make real money, the future looks bleak [for blogging]."

Kevin Anderson: "Well, I think there is two issues and if you are talking strictly about people blogging, there are companies quite happily making money with blog hosting companies. If you are talking about why should you, as a mainstream media outlet, blog. I can give you quite a few compelling reasons...

What I say (and I say this a lot at the BBC) blogs are public interface for a public broadcaster. There is a famous blogger, Robert Scoble, who blogs for Microsoft. And obviously he’s part of their developer network and he says blogging keeps him close to his customer.

For us, blogging keeps us close to our audience. It makes sure that we’re not just off on our own agenda. And I think that is something that we should take on board. That some times there are things our audience wants to hear or talk about, things that aren’t necessarily part of our agenda.

The other thing - and quite honestly it is something that I had an opportunity to do two years ago [when I blogged the 2004 US presidential elections for the BBC] and I haven’t had the opportunity to do, and something I would give my leg for the opportunity to do it-... Blogging is an incredibly powerful news tool.

I can do things, breaking news wise with a blog that I would never be able to do with a newspaper, that I would never be able to do with a radio, that I would never be able to do with television. It’s a missed opportunity. And it enriches our journalism. It returns a responsiveness, it returns a rawness, an immediacy that I think is really somehow missing in our journalism. It is a huge opportunity that is not being met. I think in some ways it’s because a lot of people in the mainstream media don’t understand what blogging actually is or what it represents.

They see it as another opportunity to publish their content. They don’t see it as a way to have a conversation with their audience. Or as a very lightweight powerful tool to publish content from the field and to also take questions from your audience.

Just think if I was on the scene of a breaking story able to publish updates minute by minute that could be pushed out to a network of people who had SMS alerts set up and then they could send me a question and ask me questions directly in the field. That is a powerful relationship with your audience that will make money, that will keep your brand relevant. It is something the mainstream media is not doing. And, quite frankly, it’s a failure on our part."

You can view an unedited recording of the lively discussion here.

Mark your diary, the next forum is scheduled for the week of October 16th. If you want to receive an invitation or e-mail alert, send a note to leadersatukjournalism.org.

We’re still accepting applications to the Principles of Journalism Leadership module this autumn. Check out the participant reviews here - and if you want to join in, you'll find out how on our website.

The Challenge: Make News Conversations Happen

2006-05-08T11:42:00.000Z

It’s one thing to acknowledge that active, connected information consumers are challenging traditional journalism models by demanding that the news be a conversation not a lecture. It’s quite another to translate that into a regular, viable news product.

That’s exactly what the BBC World Service set out to do with ‘World Have Your Say’ which engages in a ‘global conversation’ every night on the radio between 1800-1900 GMT and 24 hours a day via their website.

Online specialist Kevin Anderson, a key member of the programme team (and contributor to Corante) , will discuss the nitty gritty of making the programme happen - and reflect critically on the lessons learned to date - during the third Journalism Leaders’ Forum at the University of Central Lancashire on May 23rd .

The roundtable discussion chaired by Mike Ward, author of Journalism Online and head of the Department of Journalism at UCLan, forms part of the residential week programme for participants in UCLan’s Journalism Leaders Programme. View the Webcast live from 6pm BST here and join the online chat.

For more information about the Journalism Leaders Programme, read what the participants have had to say or contact the course leader François Nel by email or Skype (francoisnel).

Watch it again: forum webcast recording available

2006-02-01T16:18:00.000Z

Missed the discussion with Dan Gillmor, Pete Clifton, Cath Hearne, John Fray and Mike Ward on the impact of citizen journalism on the media establishment? Or want to watch it again?

An (unedited) recording of the Journalism Leaders Forum webcast is available HERE.

Of course, we’d welcome your feedback and suggestions for the next forum, which is scheduled for 6:30pm GMT on Tuesday, 23 May 2006, in the same space.

Let's keep the conversation going.

Also read:

Jemima Kiss at journalism.co.uk
Paul Bradshaw at Online Journalism Blog

The implications of Citizen Journalism for the Media Establishment

2006-01-18T14:17:00.000Z

In a digital environment, where news consumers can also be news producers, how should traditional news media respond? Is citizen journalism a threat or an opportunity?

The second Journalism Leaders’ Forum at the University of Central Lancashire on January 31st will bring together exponents of traditional and new media to debate these questions.

Dan Gillmor is author of We the Media. A former US newspaperman, he is one of the web’s leading advocates of grassroots journalism.
Pete Clifton is Editor of BBC News Interactive, responsible for one of the web’s most successful news sites.
Cath Hearne is editor of BBC London’s nightly news programme and was at the helm on July 7th, a day in which some of the most vivid images of the London bombings were contributed by members of the public.
John Fray is Deputy General Secretary of the National Union of Journalists, which represents 35000 journalists in the UK and Ireland.
And Mike Ward is author of Journalism Online and head of the journalism department at UCLAN.

The debate will be chaired by Nigel Kay, former Head of Journalism Development at the BBC and now an Industrial Fellow at UCLAN. “Traditional journalism stands at the threshold of the digital age, uncertain about what lies ahead,” says Kay. “This discussion will tackle some of those concerns and seek to identify the opportunities.”

The event, which forms part of the residential week programme for participants in the Department of Journalism's new Journalism Leaders Programme, is open to all - practitioners, academics, would-be journalists and others who are interested in the challenges journalists face.

To attend this free programme at 6:30pm on Tuesday, 31st January, in Greenbank Lecture Theatre in Preston - as well as the reception from 5:45pm - please RSVP to FPNel@uclan.ac.uk .

If you can't be there in person, there are other ways to join the discussion. You can post your questions and comments on this site, or you can view the live Webcast by logging in as a guest at: http://breeze01.uclan.ac.uk/r81768061/.

Better still, do both. And let's get the discussion going.

Diverse panel and audience agree: 'It's still about the audience'

2005-11-02T14:28:00.000Z

The panellists and the audience of the inaugural Journalism Leaders Forum could not have been much more diverse.

But they all agreed on one point.

Perhaps the greatest question journalism leaders should be asking in the 21st Century is simply this: How are audiences best served?

That should still be the key concern whether journalism leaders are tackling the challenges of reporting and disseminating news under an oppressive political regime, such as Wilf Mbanga of The Zimbabwean is. Or straining under the relentless demands of profit-hungry shareholders, which pressurises regional newspaper editors such as UK Society President Keith Sutton. Or grappling with the uncertainties of making journalism in a context of technological-savvy audiences, which concerns Mary Glick and others at the American Press Institute in Virginia, UK.

You can watch an edited version of the lively discussion here.

Want to know even more? Check out Journalism Leaders Programme course leader François Nel’s in-depth interview with Wilf Mbanga. The first in a series of 'Conversations with Journalism Leaders' is available for viewing* here [recommended for broadband connections] and here [recommended for dial-up connections].

Amongst the questions Mbanga answers is this: Why, as the then-head of the Zimbabwe International News Agency, did he not report on the 1980s massacre of tens of thousands of civilians by President Robert Mugabe's North Korean-trained Fifth Brigade?

Of course, don’t hesitate to post your comments on this blog, too.

Mark your calendar : The next Journalism Leaders Forum at 6:30pm GMT on Tuesday, 31 January 2006, will be chaired by Nigel Kay, who has been a BBC journalist for more than 30 years. When he left the corporation in October 2005 he was the professional line manager for 3000 television, radio and online journalists working in the BBC’s Nations and Regions. We hope you can join us in Preston, or online.

* These videos require RealPlayer software, which can be downloaded for free here.

Which questions should we be asking?

2005-08-10T14:28:00.000Z

There has been much talk of late about crises in the media. Crises of trust. Crises of competence. Crises of confidence. And, as may be expected, there has also been a great deal said about what the solutions are.

But, perhaps, those concerned about the state and future of journalism would do well to pause and consider the advice of management sage Peter Drucker: In the 20th century, great leaders gave great answers. In the 21st century, however, great leaders will ask great questions.

If that is so, what are the great questions that journalism leaders should be asking?

That is the question we will explore during the first Journalism Leaders Forum, 7-9pm British Summer Time (GMT+1) on Tuesday, 11 October 2005, in Greenbank Auditorium, Lancashire Business School, University of Central Lancashire, Preston, UK.

Keith Sutton (far left), president of the UK Society of Editors, Mary Glick, associate director of the American Press Institute, and Wilf Mbanga (above right), editor of The Zimbabwean, are amongst those on the panel. François Nel, course leader for the Journalism Leaders Programme, will chair the session.

To attend this free programme on the day - as well as the reception from 6:30p - please RSVP to leaders@ukjournalism.org . If you can't be there in person, there are other ways to join the discussion. You can post your questions and comments on this site, or you can view the live Webcast at: http://breeze01.uclan.ac.uk/r81768061/.

Better still, do both. And let's get the discussion going.