April 2013 Newsletter

Ritchie Cogan
Ritchie Cogan 1st April 2013


Welcome to IBT’s April newsletter with a brief update on our work and relevant news from the media industry.

 

Welcome to India master class and networking event

Last month we held our first master class which looked at the making of the BBC2 documentary series Welcome to India. We also heard about some forthcoming projects being made by Keo Films and how the production company develops new ideas. The event was packed and feedback was very positive. Comments afterwards included ‘very useful in terms of understanding how documentary makers think about storytelling in innovative ways’ and ‘incredibly useful to have face to face time with the people we pitch to, to understand their needs.’ We’ll be holding more master classes in the future. Notes on the event are available to all IBT members – just email me if you’d like a copy.

 

Future IBT events

Later this month we’ll be holding two training events on stills photography with Crispin Hughes, an experienced photographer and trainer. These are now fully subscribed, but there will be more training events in the future. Next month, we’ll return to our series of commissioner briefings with Tom Giles, the Editor of Panorama, talking about the BBC’s principal current affairs strand. Future briefings will focus on Sky News and Unreported World.

 

ITV and Channel 5 licences

Following the publication of our report on the future of current affairs, An Uncertain Future – the threat to current affairs, we are now preparing our submission to Ofcom which is reviewing the licences for ITV and Channel 5. We’ll be arguing that international current affairs on the commercial public service broadcasters has a crucial role to play. This was also the consensus of the round table event which we held in February with current affairs producers and commissioners. We are optimistic that this will remain a statutory requirement when these two licences are renewed next year.

 

Expert Women database

The BBC has lent its support to the campaign by Broadcast magazine and City University for more women experts on news and current affairs programmes, by launching an Expert Women database and a YouTube channel to showcase some of the new experts who have received media training by the BBC Academy. The training programme is continuing and, whilst many of the women so far have come from the world of science and academia, there is no reason why in future they should not come from the NGO sector. Further information about the database can be obtained from holly.blake@bbc.co.uk

Fall in news site traffic

Latest figures show a slump in traffic to most news websites with only Guardian.co.uk website showing a month on month increase. The latest figures make for interesting reading with the top UK news website Mail Online followed by Guardian.co.uk, Telegraph.co.uk, Sun.co.uk, Independent.co.uk, Mirror Group digital, Metro.co.uk and finally Standard.co.uk. The Sun and The Telegraph have both announced that they will start to charge online users.

 

Apple removes Channel 4’s Sweatshop app

Apple has removed the Channel 4 Education-funded mobile game Sweatshop from its App Store after claiming it was ‘uncomfortable’ with the game’s themes.  The game is designed to make youngsters think about the origins of the clothes they buy and involves playing the role of a manager in a factory which is manufacturing goods for a British high street store. After Apple removed the app the team amended it, to make clear that it was a fictitious game but Apple refused to reinstate the app. The game, which has had more than 1 million plays, remains available on the playsweatshop.com site.

 

One World Media Awards

The finalists in the One World Media Awards have been announced after a record number of entries. Tickets for the 25th annual awards are now on sale. The event will take place on Tuesday May 7th at Kings Place in London. http://oneworldmedia.org.uk/awards/

 

Follow IBT on Twitter

For regular updates on our work and on any relevant news in the field of media, development, human rights and the environment follow us on Twitter @_ibt

 

Best wishes

Mark

 

 

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