Derailed by a decent anecdote



Morning all, it’s Monday 17th March.

“Things Learnt (Then Forgotten)” – Week 10.

Derailed by a decent anecdote…

One of my old editors at 5Live Richard Jackson asked this on social media:

“Question for podcast listeners. Has a rapid moving story (Trump) exposed a weakness? I listened to two this morning which had to admit the time they were being recorded as they might be out of date when you listened (they were) and a third that was doing a live edition. Isn’t that radio? Does it matter?”

Have you noticed this? Is the news agenda too speedy for podcasts at the moment?

The week ahead…

Monday: New Ofcom rules on online safety come into force.

OECD publishes Economic Outlook

Tuesday: German lawmakers vote on debt easing plan.

CPI and RPI Basket of Goods and Services.

Wednesday:  Matt Hancock questioned at Covid-19 inquiry hearing on procurement.

Amanda Pritchard speaks at King’s Fund leadership conference;

Thursday: UK monetary policy committee announces interest rate decision. EU leaders begin two-day summit.

Friday: Final public sector finance statistics before Spring Statement.

England face Albania in World Cup 2026 qualifier.

Saturday: Liberal Democrats kick off spring conference.

Women’s Six Nations begins. 

Sunday: Chinese Grand Prix.

Fifth anniversary of the UK’s first Covid-19 lockdown.

“What particularly angers rank and file staff members is that they believe they work hard every day to achieve impartiality, and that battle is made far more difficult when colleagues – and worse, senior staff – seem not to do their job properly.” 

He’s a bit of an armchair-general these days, but (former boss) Roger Mosey’s article on problems within BBC News is worth a read.

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And final word (probably) on the Gaza doc furore from Hannah Barnes in the New Statesman:

“When I think back to how much scrutiny there was of the stories I covered, I simply cannot understand how this happened. Others I’ve spoken to confirm that it feels “different” this time. The mood inside the corporation is dire.”

“Why are Gen Zers like Mille Bobby Brown ageing so badly?” screamed a Mail Online headline, which I’ll assume passed you by, but it’s one of a string of similar stories which include “What HAS Millie Bobby Brown done to her face?” 

Not to sound too po-faced, but this stuff isn’t journalism. It’s a story generated from a couple of comments from random people on social media, but it does good business.

The reason I mention it is that on this occasion Millie Bobby Brown (who’s an actress by the way) has snapped and taken to instagram to call out publicly the four people who wrote the bulk of the stories. 

“This is bullying. The fact that adult writers are spending their time dissecting my face, my body, my choices is disturbing. That some of these articles are written by women makes it worse.”

One of those women is a Mail freelancer, Lydia Hawken and the only one to respond publicly. On Tik Tok she said: 

“I work on a rota system and sometimes I get to pitch stories that are my own…but more often than not I get assigned stories decided upon by an editorial team. The story about Millie Bobby Brown fell into the latter category.”

She went on to say;

“I want to say I’m sorry for writing the story and for not being brave enough to say no…This morning I officially resigned from The Mail and I won’t work with them again.” 

A grim insight into one of the grubbier corners of the journalism landscape.

Source: Mic Wright 

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See or hear a brilliant (or terrible) interview over the last 7 days? 

We’re always looking to build our library of news clips and examples.

Drop us a line 

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Footnotes:

On this day: More than 200 people were arrested after thousands clashed in an anti-Vietnam war protest outside the United States embassy in London on the day in 1968.

Monday weather: Newcastle – 8 and cloudy, Liverpool – 10 and cloudy.

Mutts: After a week of watching Crufts, some much-deserved R&R for our Stan…

Be part of the MMB. Thoughts on this week’s content, or interviews you’ve seen, heard, or (best of all) done. We’re @insideedgemedia or just reply to this email. 

Have a brilliant week.

All at Inside Edge

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