Weekend News Summary: 6th/7th March 2010

March 8th, 2010 - 
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BBC

Sir Bob Geldof and the Band Aid trust are to report the BBC to Ofcom over a World Service report that millions of pounds raised for famine victims in Ethiopia in 1985 were actually spent on weapons. A group of Britain’s most respected agencies – including Oxfam, the Red Cross, Unicef, Christian Aid and Save the Children – are joining Band Aid in writing an official complaint to the chairman of the BBC Trust, Sir Michael Lyons. Geldoff, who raised $144m for Africa in the Live Aid concert in 1985, has accused the BBC of ‘wilfully naive reporting’:

‘This is a Ross/Brand moment in BBC standards for me… This story has gone around the world on the internet and created a totally false impression of what actually happened… the BBC has undermined the faith of ordinary people across the world in the effectiveness of giving to people in their hour of need. It is a disgrace.’

Nick Guttman, director of emergency relief operations at Christian Aid has condemned the BBC story as ‘outrageous and very damaging’, whilst Phil Bloomer, director of Oxfam’s campaigns and policy division has said:

‘It is palpable nonsense… We know because we bought the food, we bought the trucks, we took the food in, saw it distributed and then we drove the empty trucks out… you have to ask why the BBC seems to have been prepared to run with these extraordinary claims about our work without even putting in a call to Oxfam before they were broadcast.’ More in The Guardian HERE; Independent HERE; Times HERE; Telegraph HERE.

Prominent British Asians have called for the BBC Asian Network to be saved. Actor and writer Meera Syal and Olympic medal-winning boxer Amir Khan and are among the entertainment stars, actors and peers signing a letter – which you can see in The Guardian HERE, urging the BBC to halt the closure of the station. The letter says that the eight-year-old digital broadcaster provides a ‘key platform’ For the national Asian community and:

‘… offers creative British Asian talent an outlet which is demonstrably under-represented in the more mainstream BBC. This would all be tragically lost if these proposals are agreed.’

Jarvis Cocker becomes figurehead of the Save 6Music campaign, more in The Guardian HERE. More on the review in The Guardian HERE; Observer HERE, HERE and HERE; Sunday Times HERE

Amid reports that Chris Evans has sparked 654 official complaints to the BBC with critical messages appearing on his radio show’s message boards, Terry Wogan has written on his blog to fans, or Togs – Terry’s Old Geezers and Gals – who have been particularly vociferous against Evans since he took over the Radio 2 Breakfast Show in January. He said:

‘I asked all Togs to welcome Chris with open minds and hearts, and I know that they have… They know better than most that it took me years and years to build a loyal audience. Chris has had six weeks! I’m trying to build a new audience myself on a Sunday morning… Give us a chance.’ More in The Guardian HERE; Independent HERE; and Telegraph HERE.

Television

The survey of Britain’s main television channels, carried out for Channel 4 by the Communications Research Group, has found that men still outnumber women by two to one, and that, where they do appear, women predominantly feature in programmes about ‘soft’ issues and older women are kept off the screen. The survey indicates that the position has not changed since 2006, when a BBC report found there were twice as many men on television as women.

Women are equally represented in soaps, but make up just one third of people in factual programmes and even fewer on news bulletins. Women make up just over a third (37%) of those giving their opinion in vox pops. More in The Observer HERE and Sunday Times HERE

Publishing

Robert McCrum argues in The Observer that only belatedly are publishers confronting the implications of the digitisation of literature. He says:

‘Electronic time can seem faster than real time. The transformation of the literary landscape has happened at warp speed and it’s not over yet… So it should come as no surprise that the publishing business, a slave to real time and long lunches, should have been so slow to adapt. The book trade has always been intrinsically conservative… At first, when the Google Books Library Project was launched in 2004, senior UK publishers… instinctively found an ostrich-like default position. If they had understood the digital revolution better, they might have resisted Google’s piracy with an articulate common purpose… As it was, only Nigel Newton of Bloomsbury had the wisdom to pull his head out of the sand and raise the alarm. More HERE.

The sale of The Independent is being held up while Alexander Lebedev tries to strike a better deal with its landlord, the Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT). The Independent and London Evening Standard pay a total of £5m a year to DMGT. More in The Sunday Times HERE.

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News Summary: 4th March 2010

March 4th, 2010 - 
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Broadcasting

In the name of equality, the Guardian has left BBC 6 Music for the day, in order to ask ‘Where’s the Save Asian Network campaign?’ And then to respond that the majority of the Asian Network audience comes from the Midlands (around 70%) listens on the AM frequency, not on digital radio; you’re unlikely to find them in media-friendly places such as Twitter – ‘The Asian Network’s inability to generate its own noise seems to stem from the fact that it doesn’t appeal to middle-class male tweeters with a love of Suede B-sides.’ More in The Guardian  HERE, with the idea that breaking up the BBC Asian Network will better serve diverse communities dismissed as absurd HERE.

The Times reports the fact that 3,000 complaints have been made to the BBC regarding 6 Music, and a senior BBC executive’s report that Mark Thompson:

‘… told us he is not concerned about the outcry, because it sends a message to politicians that even if you want to close a small, niche station there’s such a large outcry; imagine what would happen if you tried to close BBC One or Two.’ More in The Times HERE, whilst The Independent focuses on new controversy around the BBC giving free sporting event tickets to celebrities HERE.

ITV chairman, Archie Norman has said ITV gains nothing from the proposed BBC cutbacks:

‘I don’t see any benefit… The savings the BBC will make on cutting back on peripheral activities will be re-invested in programming. I can’t see how that will be of any benefit to ITV.’

Speaking of ITV’s own strategic review, which will be run by chief executive Adam Crozier for his arrival on 26 April with support from consultants LEK, he said what was needed was a ‘cold-eyed, realistic’ look at ITV’s position in the marketplace and that ‘today is very much day zero’. Norman, who has in the past said that a move to pay-TV services was not on the cards, seems to be viewing the idea more favourably of late, although maintaining that ITV currently has ‘no suitable product for a pay platform’. More in The Guardian HERE and more on ITV’s profits announcements in The Independent HERE.

City of Culture

Derry was last week one of four cities shortlisted for the title of UK City of Culture, 2013, good news which at the time seemed straight-forward enough; until Sinn Féin demanded that ‘UK’ be stripped from the title if the city wins. Maeve McLaughlin, the party’s leader on Derry city council, has said:

‘I have yet to be convinced this bid, as it currently stands, reflects the views of Irish nationalists and republicans… While we are a city of culture there has to be a recognition that we’re not part of the UK. We are not opposing the bid, but… There is a huge onus on the team that’s been put together to lead this bid to put in writing how they will address the issue of the tens of thousands of nationalists and republicans in this city and region who do not recognise themselves as part of the UK.’

Speaking yesterday at a reception to launch Derry’s bid in the House of Lords, the SDLP MP Mark Durkan said Sinn Féin protests over the title were putting the city’s application in peril:

‘This bid is an opportunity for Derry to promote itself as a city and to promote the wider region. It is about our civic ambition. It is about our cultural ambition. It is nothing to do with political aspiration – in which the people of this city have very clear views and differences about wanting to be part of a united Ireland or United Kingdom… Are we going to say that any other funding or opportunity that is set up on a UK basis we count ourselves out of? We should not be disabling ourselves from making the most of any opportunity to which we are as entitled as anyone else… And we can do that without compromising any of our political beliefs, any of our interests and identities that we hold very dearly at a political level.” More in The Guardian HERE.

Tech

Ed Richards, chief executive of Ofcom, has said that several media companies had raised concerns about the issue of net neutrality in the last few months and that Ofcom is scrutinising traffic management techniques, to publish its initial findings in the spring. Whilst arguing that traffic management policies must be clearly explained and transparent, Richards has indicated that the highly interventionist approach seen in the United States might not be appropriate for the UK and Europe, and that it was:

‘… even harder to justify blanket net neutrality rules when we consider the risks they could pose to potential collaborative and desirable investment in networks… In the US, limited competition, both at the network and the ISP level, means that the potential for consumer detriment through traffic management is greater… In Europe, as recent research for the FCC indicates, the mixed model — investment in infrastructure complemented by unbundling of the local loop — has delivered a more competitive market structure from the exchange back into the network.’ More in The Telegraph HERE.

Publishing

Mills and Boon’s novels were launched in India exactly two years ago and have doubled their sales in the past year. The publisher, Harlequin Mills & Boon, is far from the only beneficiary of a boom in book sales that is sweeping India; Dan Brown’s sequel to The Da Vinci Code, The Lost Symbol, has already sold 100,000 in hardback alone; Aravind Adiga’s Man Booker winner The White Tiger has sold more than 200,000 copies since its publication in 2008.

Driving the demand is the country’s continuing economic boom – 6.7% growth in 2009 despite the global crisis – and the tastes of the new Indian middle class. Manish Singh, Mills & Boon’s country manager for India has said:

‘It is a forward looking generation… The low hanging fruit for us is the single working woman who has money in her hands, the liberty to read, no responsibilities yet, no husband, children and so on.’

In the next decade, publishers forecast that India will become the biggest English language book-buying market in the world. New distribution networks and an increasing presence of chains of major bookstores are also fuelling the expansion. More in The Guardian HERE.

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Weekend News Summary 27th-28th February 2010

March 1st, 2010 - 
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Education

An influential group of leading academics and cultural figures has issued a stark warning that they fear for the future of the arts and humanities in British universities. A letter to the Observer (see HERE) signed by the directors of major arts institutions and a number of university vice-chancellors, claims that funding cuts and a decision to focus on the sciences have left subjects such as philosophy, literature, history, languages and art facing “worrying times”. Without urgent action the country’s intellectual heritage is in danger of being diminished, they conclude, and, with reference to Labour’s decision to run tertiary education from the Business department:

“There is more to citizenship than business and skills… People’s complexity comes from their language, identities, histories, faiths and cultures.” More in The Observer HERE and HERE.

Broadcasting

BBC chiefs effectively wrote off £150m of licence-payers’ money spent on an online education service, BBC Jam, after it was axed, and officials decided efforts to recoup the cash by selling off the material “wasn’t worth the candle” reports The Independent on Sunday HERE.

It has also emerged that leaked proposals by Mark Thompson to axe the digital radio station 6Music have set the BBC’s director-general on a collision course with the BBC Trust. Two weeks ago, the trust published a report into 6Music which concluded the music station was “well liked by its listeners” and its audience had “grown faster than any other BBC digital radio-only service”. It emerged last week that Thompson’s proposals, to be published next month, recommend closing the station down. Other proposals include shutting the Asian Network, slashing the website’s staff by 25 per cent, selling off magazines such as Radio Times and Top Gear and capping sports rights at 8 per cent of budget, or £300m. The news that 6Music is in danger has met with vocal opposition, despite an audience of fewer than 700,000, according to the latest Rajar figures. More in The Observer HERE, HERE and HERE; Independent on Sunday HERE and HERE; FT HERE.

This Wednesday’s full-year results presentation from ITV will be the platform for Archie Norman (Adam Crozier’s start date is yet to be confirmed) to present his plan for the broadcaster’s future – including a roadmap away from the Michael Grade era. The results will be far from woeful; analysts predict pre-tax profits doubling from £34.7m to around £67m-£88m. Numis Securities has forecast a pre-tax profit of around £75m based on the belief that advertising recovered dramatically in the last few months of 2009. The Sunday Times HERE; Telegraph HERE.

Funding

A host of internationally flavoured arts events in London in the coming months are being supported by companies that intend to use cultural links to support their business interests in emerging markets. HSBC, which promotes itself as the bank that best appreciates the world’s diversity, is emphasising that message by sponsoring this summer’s Brazil festival on the South Bank, about which we’ve blogged HERE. Marah Winn-Moon, HSBC’s head of cultural sponsorship, said:

“It is a great opportunity to bring clients in with a cultural hook, and then to start talking to them about doing business in those countries too”.

Overseas companies are also exploiting London’s vibrant arts scene to promote their business in an international context. Nigeria’s Guaranty Trust became the first African corporation to support art in Britain when it sponsored Tate Britain’s current exhibition of paintings by Chris Ofili, a painter of Nigerian heritage. The bank also sponsors the next installation at Trafalgar Square’s Fourth Plinth, the British-Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare’s “Nelson’s Ship in a Bottle”, a reproduction of HMS Victory bedecked with sails decorated with African patterns. The work will be unveiled on May 24. Segun Agbaje, the bank’s deputy chief executive officer, said that arts sponsorship was an opportunity:

“… to give people another perspective on Africa, to talk about its heritage instead of droughts all the time”. More in The FT HERE.

Theatre

Sir David Hare, an associate director of the National Theatre, has said theatre lags behind other creative art forms, such as the novel, when it came to women and equality of expression. Theatres should realise that women’s writing for the theatre had reached a “tipping point”, he says:

“I don’t think the repertory of most theatres at the moment is reflecting what seems to be happening in terms of the most interesting new theatre…We would hope to see management of theatres reflecting where we think the creativity in playwriting is coming from… There’s no doubt that the structure of the theatre is plainly male… The rough and tumble of the theatre is like politics to a degree – it’s a macho business.” More in The Telegraph HERE.

Art

Some of the world’s most important paintings may be lost to the nation because there are no funds available to keep them here following the purchase of two works by Titian for £100m. The latest artwork poised to join the exodus of masterpieces is St John the Evangelist by the Italian Old Master Domenichino. Despite being in the UK for the past 100 years, the painting is likely to leave the country. Professor David Ekserdijian, of the Government’s Reviewing Committee has said:

“It is the best work by the artist remaining in private hands and its departure from the UK would be lamentable.”

Works to be lost from the country include:

Raphael’s Head of a Muse The “exquisite” drawing from 1510 – a preparation for a commission by Pope Julius II – looks likely to be on its way to America after being bought for a record £29.2m, even though “every possible effort should be made to raise enough money to keep it in the country”.

Turner’s Pope’s Villa at Twickenham One of Turner’s most important works is already in America after an export ban last year failed to find any institutions willing or able to pay the £5.4m the 1808 painting was worth.

Domenichino’s St John the Evangelist It will be “lamentable” if this £9.2m work from 1621-29 left the country after more than 100 years, according to the Reviewing Committee. Lamentable, but likely.

Works saved include:

Titian’s Diana and Actaeon A six-month campaign persuaded the public, the Scottish government and the Heritage Lottery Fund to part with £50m to buy the Old Master’s work from the Duke of Sutherland last year. Fundraising is due to start shortly to raise the same sum for the companion painting, Diana and Callisto, by 2012. Both were created between 1556 and 1559.

Turner’s Blue Rigi One of the finest watercolours by one of Britain’s greatest painters, an 1842 view of a Swiss mountain, was saved in 2007 after the Tate raised £4.95m. More in The Independent on Sunday HERE.

Banksy’s undoubted knack for exploiting the feverish interest his anonymity provokes has certainly created a lot of hype around the documentary Exit. The point is, says Andrew Johnson in The Independent on Sunday HERE, it isn’t really about him. It’s more about the creation of another street artist, Mr Brainwash, and an exposé of the art market and “suckers” with too much money who want to be part of the latest thing.

Tech

In August 2009, it was hard to move around Beijing without seeing an advert for Google. China was awash with the logo of a company whose motto is “Don’t Be Evil”, and the scale of the investment was a palpable endorsement of China’s vital importance to the economics of any global company. Skip forward to January this year, and an official blogpost announced summarily that the censored results that China demanded from Google were no longer compatible with the company’s philosophy. Off the record, employees said the company would pull out of China imminently.

So did the search giant really decide to eschew profits in favour of a defence of free speech? Or did it realise it would never be the biggest search engine in China and simply cut its losses? The question that matters is simple: what does Google stand for? More in The Telegraph HERE. And the FT asks, having acquired power over those it freed, is Google now a monopoly HERE and how ethically is its power used HERE.

In the week when three Google execs have been convicted and awarded six-month suspended sentences for allowing a clip of an autistic boy being bullied to play on Google Video (see more HERE), The Observer asks HERE, When anyone can have their say, what use is the stuff that comes out the other end? What can be done with it, and who is going to be in charge of quality control when things go wrong? And Microsoft has attacked ‘aggressive’ Google, as covered in The Sunday Telegraph HERE.

Opera

The people of Thurrock are being promised a piece of Covent Garden, complete with the sparkling glamour of its greatest operatic divas and prima ballerinas. On Tuesday, the Royal Opera House will officially take over the centre of an empty 14-acre site near the Thames in Essex. Tony Hall, Royal Opera’s chief executive has said:

“I love the fact Covent Garden is going to do something in a place that is half an hour away from London by train, but could be miles and miles away in every other way… It is a place that is relatively deprived, for the south-east, and that has a history of manufacturing that makes it the right place for us.” More in The Observer HERE.

Design
The Independent on Sunday has picked up two top honours in the prestigious Best of News Design awards. Organised by the Society for News Design, the professional organisation for the world’s graphic designers who work in the industry, the awards recognise the best from around the world in newspaper production. More in The Independent on Sunday HERE.

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News Summary: 24th February 2010

February 24th, 2010 - 
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Media

The Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee’s Press Standards, Privacy and Libel report was published last night and can be read in full HERE. In summary the report:

  • Called for the Government to cut “enormous cost of libel cases” in the UK;
  • Called for the Press Complaints Commission to be renamed and have power to fine;
  • Condemned “collective amnesia” at News International over phone hacking but said the culture of hacking being deemed acceptable had now changed.

More in The Guardian HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE; Independent HERE and HERE; Times HERE; and Telegraph HERE.

Tech

It has been revealed that former children’s laureates Quentin Blake, Anne Fine and Jacqueline Wilson, among others, have opted out of the Google Books settlement. Court documents relating to the case (see HERE) show that more than 6,500 authors, publishers and literary agents have opted out of the settlement. These include the estates of Rudyard Kipling and Roald Dahl. Novelist Marika Cobbold, author of books including Guppies for Tea and Shooting Butterflies, has opted out and said:

“My feelings were, in the end, that I doubted I would lose out by opting out, whereas I might do by opting in. Also there was the principle that copyright is important… It would be like handing over my babies to a babysitter I’d never met, [and] I couldn’t understand what was in it for me. I love Google, and in principle making information accessible is wonderful, but things are moving so fast, and authors are losing so much control over what we’ve done, that my fear was who knows, in five to 10 years’ time, how this information could be used?” More in The Guardian HERE; Independent HERE; and FT HERE.

More bad news for Google as it faces a preliminary anti-monopoly probe by the European Commission into its dominant position in online browsing and digital advertising following allegations that it demotes competing websites to the lower echelons of customers’ search results. The complaints centre on the way in which Google’s search results are compiled and on the terms and conditions the company attaches to deals with advertisers. Although the commission’s investigation is only at a tentative stage, the fact that Brussels is taking the issue seriously is likely to set off alarm bells at Google. More in The Guardian HERE.

Cinema

There’s interesting coverage of the Alice in Wonderland/ Odeon fall-out in today’s Guardian, where it notes that Tim Burton’s film has become an unlikely pawn in a global struggle to ­redefine how, when and where we watch ­movies in the digital age. Disney, which ­produced the movie, wants to shorten the amount of time between some films being released in cinemas and then coming out on DVD. Exhibitors, unsurprisingly, want to preserve the exclusive ­theatrical experience for as long as possible. The studio insists that it’s not trying to enforce a new industry standard: it ­simply wants the ­flexibility to release some films sooner on DVD, when it makes commercial sense to do so. The studio argues that films typically last about two months in cinemas before they disappear off screens; this means a further two-month wait until the official DVD release, a period used by pirates to flog illegal copies. A shorter window, says Disney, will mean less money lost to the pirates.

But exhibitors fear that if they accept a three-month window for Alice, rather than a four, then other studios will ­follow suit, making a further ­contraction inevitable. This, they say, will erode the eagerness of audiences to rush out to the cinema, and tempt them to wait instead for the DVD or online release. More in The Guardian  HERE.

Music

It’s National Sing Up Day today, ‘Sing Up’ works on the basis that every child deserves the chance to sing every day. Singing improves learning, confidence, health and social development; it has the power to change lives and help to build stronger communities. You can read more about Sing Up’s work at their website HERE. There is also news this week that teaching stroke patients to sing can “rewire” their brains, helping them to recover speech. Dr Nina Kraus, a neuroscientist from Northwestern University in Chicago, also studies the effects of music on the brain. She has discovered that musical training seems to enhance the ability to perform other tasks, such as reading; providing yet more evidence that musical training is an important part of children’s education. More in BBC News HERE.

Auction

A rare copy of the first comic book to feature Superman sold for $1m (£640,000) yesterday, smashing the previous record for a comic. The 1938 edition of Action Comics No1 was sold by a private seller to a private buyer. Neither released their name. The issue, which has a cover featuring Superman lifting a car, originally cost 10 cents. More in The Guardian HERE.

Libraries

Miranda McKearney, Directorof the Reading Agency has given an interview to The Guardian, talking about their schemes to promote authors and books to communities, through such means as Summer Reading Challenges and reading groups. More HERE.

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News Summary: 19th February 2010

February 19th, 2010 - 
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Fashion

Harold Tillman, chairman of the British Fashion Council, called for a minute’s silence in memory of the late Alexander McQueen, at the opening of London Fashion Week, at Somerset House, this morning.

“His impact on London and this international fashion industry has been extraordinary. And he will be sorely missed… He proved that this industry and this city is one of opportunity, he left school with one O-Level and, with a good mix of determination, hard work and genius, he became and will remain one of London’s leading lights… To ensure London, his home city, continues to grow as a global fashion centre will be a fitting tribute to this brilliant man.”

London Fashion Week has also put up a memorial wall for fashion press and buyers to leave messages for the much-loved designer. More in The Independent  HERE and Times HERE.

So many designers (more than 40) are planning to live stream their shows from this season’s fashion week catwalks – to include Burberry’s 3D live streaming on Tuesday, that the British Fashion Council has had to produce the world’s first digital fashion schedule. More in The Independent HERE; Times HERE; and Telegraph HERE

Music

Another Abbey Road update today as Andrew Lloyd Webber has announced that he would like to buy the studio. EMI’s private equity parent Terra Firma is said to be hoping the north London site could raise tens of millions of pounds for the embattled music group. Following the National Trust’s statement that it will consider buying the studios to preserve them for the nation, a spokesman for Lloyd Webber has now confirmed that  too was “very interested” in buying Abbey Road studios:

“He first recorded there in 1967 with Tim Rice. Andrew has since recorded most of his musicals there, from Jesus Christ Superstar to his new musical Love Never Dies… He thinks it is vital that the studios are saved for the future of the music industry in the UK.” More in The Guardian  HERE; Independent HERE; and Telegraph HERE.

Broadcasting and Publishing

We reported yesterday on the BBC’s announcement of a new range of free applications that will deliver its online services to mobile devices, starting with BBC News in April. The Newspaper Publishers Association (NPA) has now issued a statement complaining that the BBC’s ambitions are a threat to an important source of revenue for commercial media organisations; as people increasingly receive their news via Apple iPhones and other handheld devices. NPA director, David Newell has said:

“Not for the first time, the BBC is preparing to muscle into a nascent market and trample over the aspirations of commercial news providers. At a time when the BBC is facing unprecedented levels of criticism over its expansion, and when the wider industry is investing in new models, it is extremely disappointing that the Corporation plans to launch services that would throw into serious doubt the commercial sector’s ability to make a return on its investment, and therefore its ability to support quality journalism.” More in The Guardian HERE; Independent HERE; and FT HERE.

There has also been some reaction against the BBC’s plan to get the Pope to record a ‘Thought for the Day’. Terry Sanderson, the National Secular Society president, has said:

“I think the BBC under Mark Thompson is going to go into overdrive and we are going to have Pope, Pope, Pope, driven down our throats… We cannot help but suspect that Mark Thompson’s recent visit to the Vatican for what were called ‘high-level talks’ with Vatican officials might well have been to plan this kind of propaganda exercise.” More in The Independent HERE.

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News Summary: 2nd February 2010

February 2nd, 2010 - 
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Macmillan Publishers seem to be quite successfully capitalising on the bitter rivalry between America’s technology giants, Apple and Amazon, to strike a blow for old media by forcing through price increases on digital versions of its books.

Macmillan is one of five publishers – along with Penguin, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster and Hachette – to have signed up with Apple to make ebooks available through its online iBookstore. Last weekend, Amazon removed Macmillan books from its US website (more in the Guardian HERE and FT HERE) in protest at the publisher’s demand that they match the $12.99 and $14.99 pricings suggested by Apple. Protestations by the publishing industry then forced Amazon into a U-turn hours later (more in the Telegraph HERE and HERE and in the FT HERE). Amazon told readers:

‘We want you to know that ultimately… we will have to accept Macmillan’s terms because Macmillan has a monopoly over their own titles, and we will want to offer them to you, even at prices we believe to be needlessly high for ebooks’.

Is the use of the term ‘monopoly’ accidental, or a flagging up to regulators potential price-fixing between publishers and Apple, and/ or a gearing-up for a legal battle? More in the Guardian HERE and Independent HERE.

Google Books’ plans to carry ‘substantial extracts’ of books that are out of print but still within copyright, with buyers then paying to download the title in full, continues to be criticised as a ‘massive rights’ grab’. Revenue generated would be split, with 63% going to the rights holder and the rest to Google. Philip Pullman, author of the His Dark Materials trilogy, has said:

‘Just because a book is out of print doesn’t mean it belongs to Google. It belongs to me. And if I want to sell my rights to anybody, why the hell should I have to go and ask Google first?’

American authors, publishing organisations and Google are currently trying to agree the settlement, which has yet to be ratified by a New York court and could be one of the most important agreements in digital publishing. Google insists the proposed settlement ‘is not about acquiring rights to books… It is about creating a new revenue channel for rights holders, and opening up access to these books’. More in the Guardian HERE, with British author’s reactions so far in The Times HERE.

Does Habermas have a Tweet for you?! The German social theorist and philosopher Jürgen Habermas apparently tweeted the following ‘It’s true that the internet has reactivated the grass-roots of an egalitarian public sphere of writers and readers’. But, alas, when asked if he had indeed joined Twitter, the 80 year old Frankfurt School doyen is said to have responded ‘No, no, no…This is a misuse of my name.’ see more HERE. We however like to take this opportunity to happily inform you that Ed’s Twitter Page is bona fide and that he can be found merrily tweeting away every day, and does so like to be followed…

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News Summary: 28th January 2010

January 28th, 2010 - 
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Congratulations West End, for a £500m-mark –topping; record-breaking; recession-defying 2009!

The Society of London Theatre has announced that the total receipts for 2009 added up to £504,765,690; marking the seventh record-breaking year in a row. What’s more, while in previous years it has been musicals that have driven increases in box office takings, in 2009 the rise was almost entirely accounted for by the performance of drama at the box office. Led by the success of shows such as War Horse, Waiting for Godot and Calendar Girls, plays were 26% up on 2008 levels, while opera, dance and entertainments were up 7%. Musicals were 2% down over the year. More in The Stage HERE and the FT HERE.

So, after much, much speculation and hype, the iPad was finally presented, in all its ‘truly magical and revolutionary’ glory, by Steve Jobs yesterday. The innovation of chief interest to us has to be its e-reading capabilities and the co-launch of the iBookstore; a new way to buy books and newspapers. The New York Times was among the companies called to the stage to promote a dedicated iPad app yesterday, saying it would offer a more newspaper-like experience than anything that has been created for a smartphone and that ‘We’re pioneering the next version of digital journalism.’ Latest consideration of the saleability of digital journalism can be found in MediaGuardian HERE.

With millions of people now used to downloading apps, music and movies from its online stores, Apple now has the chance to dominate the digital books market as it has with music. John Makinson, chairman and CEO of the Penguin Group, represented publishers’ excitement (Simon & Schuster; Rupert Murdoch’s Harper Collins; and Macmillan were among those immediately committing to sell books for the iPad) thus:

‘[The iPad] represents an important step in the development of a digital audience for books. Penguin already maintains a close partnership with several digital platforms and channels, and is delighted to extend our approach with Apple. The iPad and iBookstore will, we believe, appeal to existing Penguin customers and also attract millions of new readers.’

Notably, not everyone agrees with this. A Cowen & Co analyst concluded ‘This is not an e-reader – this is a device that can be used to read books… This doesn’t change the game. At the same time, Apple is a formidable competitor and our view is that over time, Apple and Amazon will emerge as the two largest players in e-books.’ Further responses in the Guardian HERE; Independent HERE; Times HERE and Telegraph HERE.

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News Summary: 16 December 2009

December 16th, 2009 - 
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YouTube are considering offering subscription services that allow users to watch major new TV shows and films online. Some broadcaster including Channel $ and Channel Five have already forged deals with the Californian website to show full-length programmes online, Youtube is now considering paid options as well. More HERE.

Online security group Detica is launching a system that con monitor illegal filesharing over Virigin Media’s Network. It has dismissed concerns that it could be used to identify and spy on individual users, saying ‘customer privacy is at the very heart of this’ more HERE.

Rage Against the Machine was outselling X Factor Winner Joe McElderry in the midweek sales figures, more HERE. More than 500,000 people have joined a campaign on Facebook encouraging people to by the 1992 single Killing in the Name in an attempt to upset Simon Cowell’s domination of the Christmas charts.

A new website plans to use commuters’ music players to revive the art of the short story by selling audiobooks of work by famous writers. More HERE

Just starting to warm up, with the Golden Globe nominations out. Congratulations to British nominees Helen Mirren, Carey Mulligan and Emily Blunt more HERE.

The Guardian Fashion Awards for the year are out HERE. And no, we have no idea what that thing on Madonna’s head is either.

Ed was interviewed by the BBC’s Hard Talk this week, talking about culture and media policies and the wider Conservative agenda more HERE.

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News Summary: 8th December 2009

December 8th, 2009 - 
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Glasgow-based Richard Wright wins this year’s Turner Prize. To take a look at some of the painter’s works click HERE.

The government is launching its long-delayed child internet safety strategy, “Click Clever Click Safe” today. More HERE

The BBC will name its 105 staff earning more than £150,000 more HERE.

Despite the closure of 383 magazines this year, the U.S magazine industry is still optimistic. The editor of Time, Rick Stengal, argued that the survivors “will not only survive but thrive.” HERE

A new price comparison site looks set to challenge iTunes’ monopoly of the downloads market. More HERE

Gustavo Dudamel has taken over as music director of the L.A. Philharmonic. The Venezuelan musician has attracted a level of media attention over the past few years normally only reserved for pop-stars, the kind of thing that can cause concern in classical music circles. However, the New Yorker points out that “notions of the irreconcilability of commerce and art smack of college-dorm Marxism, and run counter to the spirit of Beethoven, Verdi, and Mahler, who addressed themselves passionately to the general public.” We couldn’t agree more, full article HERE

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Weekly email 8-10-09

October 8th, 2009 - 
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Here is this week’s news:

 

It was the Tory conference this week, so we’re kicking off with news from there…

 

Conservative Party Conference

David Cameron referred to our “great arts and culture” in his speech this afternoon – the only Leader of the three parties to refer to the arts in his speech.

 

Jeremy and Ed packed in as many fringes and arts visits as possible, including: the arts public affairs network at the Lowry, the Manchester Art Gallery, the People’s History Museum, Policy Exchange on digital Britain, NESTA and the Creative Industries, The Corner House, Contact Theatre, Microsoft and CPS on broadcasting policy, UK Music and protecting creativity, CILIP breakfast on Libraries, Royal Exchange Theatre, T mobile and Channel M.

 

By Tuesday, our fringes were so popular we were turning people away. We talked a lot about: music piracy (and agree something must be done), the BBC (we love them), and Sky (we also love them).

 

Our Arts and Creative Industries Network party with Sky Arts was very well attended by all the right people and was so popular even the Labour PPC standing against Jeremy was there. Although Sky didn’t appear to have received the ‘no Champagne’ memo, both Ed and Jeremy remained sober.

 

Elsewhere at conference:

Proposals for openness from Francis Maude, shadow Cabinet Minister, who said that we will publish online the salaries of top civil servants, organograms detailing staff numbers and job descriptions for all government departments and every item of spending of more than £25,000 more HERE  These reforms will obviously be implemented in DCMS.

 

Quangos – Breathe in: George Osborne has proposed cutting the budget of all quangos by a third, cutting overall spending by £3 billion a year by the end of the parliament, more HERE. Influential: In the run up to conference, the Telegraph published their top 100 influential right wingers. Ed is the 56th most influential, HERE and Jeremy the 25th, HERE.

 

Eddie the Eagle: Ed clearly has some distance to go before he masters the Wii, coming last on the conference leader board – by quite a long way. More HERE.

 

Ben Bradshaw Special

Ben Bradshaw has overruled Mayor of London Boris Johnson’s appointment as Chair of the London Arts Council HERE. It is quite clear that this is a political decision by Bradshaw, and it is equally clear that the appointment of the Chair of the London Arts Council is in the Mayor’s gift.  We are astonished that the Secretary of State should intervene in this way, and will support the Mayor in pressing for Ms Wadley’s appointment.

 

However, perhaps we should not be so surprised, given that Bradshaw this week attacked the impartiality of the BBC, despite being the Minister responsible for the BBC.  Bradshaw attacked Radio 4’s Today programme, accusing it (on Twitter, naturally) of running a ‘feeble and biased’ interview with Shadow Chancellor George Osborne, more HERE. It’s worth following Bradshaw on twitter HERE. Our favourite fawning tweet is ‘looking forward to Gordon Brown’s Speech.’  Strangely there is no follow up “tweet”, such as ‘brilliant speech by GB!’ or the like.  It seems that would have been a step too far, even for the careerist Bradshaw. 

 

 

Creative Industries:

 

Music piracy

The Creative Coalition Campaign have written to the Times, highlighting the growing problem of illegal file-sharing and pledging support for the Government’s recent proposals for how to tackle this issue and commending the Government for “putting the UK into the lead globally in creating a safe and secure broadband internet that will serve consumers while not killing jobs in the UK’s world-class creative industries”. More HERE

 

BBC

Jeremy has warned of tough times for all, and urged the BBC to ‘cut its cloth’ in response to the new climate, HERE.

 

The BBC Trust has launched a public consultation on the revised draft of the BBC’s Editorial Guidelines, which guide programme makers and other content producers on issues such as impartiality, accuracy, harm and offence, as well as covering war, religion, politics and children’s issues. This is the first time that licence fee payers will have a say on the standards which are suitable for BBC programming, a move that we applaud. More HERE.

 

Sky

BSkyB will re-brand to present a warmer image and replace the BBC as the UK’s ‘most loved and respected source of entertainment’ more HERE

 

Diversity and children in TV

Pact, the BBC and Channel 4 have appointed Angela Chan to the newly created role of diversity adviser, aiming to boost diversity in the production sector by helping production companies achieve their diversity goals more HERE

 

Freemantle Media has launched a kids division, the first time the company has moved in to the children’s TV business. Given the crisis in children’s television, we welcome the move.  More HERE

 

Publishing

Congratulations to Hilary Mantel, winner of the 2009 Man Booker Prize for her historical novel Wolf Hall. More HERE.

 

Conde Nast is to close four titles to concentrate on those ‘with the greatest prospects for long-term growth’ more HERE

 

John Ridding, editor of the FT, says newspaper websites need to abandon ‘free is good’ doctrine and work out what they can charge for. More HERE

 

Chris Cramer, the global editor of multimedia at Reuters has argued that: ‘curating news is as important as news gathering, because citizen journalism is not a fad or an intriguing addition to traditional journalism, but here to stay’ at the AOP 3C summit, more HERE

 

 

Arts and Heritage

 

Libraries

Margaret Hodge has delayed the publication of the DCMS Library Review and results of the Wirral enquiry as she told the public library authorities conference in Bristol that she needed ‘a little time to develop and bring in some of the thoughts I have’ including suggesting libraries work with Amazon, more HERE.

 

We are astonished the Government has not published the Wirral libraries report, and amazed that it is still delaying the libraries review, showing yet again their complete failure to lead libraries.

 

The much anticipated APPG Libraries report is now published, and it too says that the public library service is ‘woefully’ lacking in leadership. The report recommends a bringing together of funding and functions responsibility within a single government department, the creation of a new agency to provide leadership and advocacy, and adjusting the ‘role, function and funding of the MLA accordingly’ more HERE and the full report HERE. Now doesn’t this all sound strangely familiar? Wherever have we heard this before? Hold on, isn’t this very similar to our own library proposals, as set out by Ed in the Spring? More HERE.

 

In response the MLA said ‘were happy to give evidence to the APPG enquiry. It is for others to draw conclusions. In particular, questions about the merits of various kinds of agencies and divisions of responsibilities are matters for politicians, for government and for Parliament.’

 

New guidelines drawn up by CILIP, the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, say that a good library should be accessible with opening hours which suit local needs, and with regularly refreshed print, audio-visual and online resources, more HERE  and full guidelines Error! Hyperlink reference not valid..

 

MLA

At the Museums Association conference this week, Sir Andrew Motion argued the case to keep the Renaissance programme for museums as it ‘forms the backbone of a highly successful museum sector that is making a real difference to people’s lives’ more HERE

 

Arts

What the Tories will do for the arts HERE

 

Museums

Conclusive proof that this Government ran out of good ideas some time ago, as BIS and the MLA launch a ‘Learning Festival’ to ‘play a major role in demonstrating the value and purpose of learning for personal development’. Priceless, and HERE

 

Culture 24

The Culture24 website has gone live this week with a new design and some great new functionality, more HERE. Well done to MLA and ACE, this is a much-needed site.

 

Heritage

Apparently, ‘charismatic’ Ed might well be good for the heritage sector, more HERE.

 

Archaeological sites may face ruin from treasure hunting ‘nighthawkers’ as the recession bites, warns Pete Wilson a senior archaeologist at English Heritage, more HERE. Those using metal detectors to search for treasure should ask the landowner for permission. There are also strict codes of conduct to ensure archaeological sites are not damaged. If they find anything of value they should declare it to the local coroner within 14 days, under the Treasure Act 1996

 

Visual Arts

The Praemium Imperiale, a group of prizes to support the development of art and culture worldwide, have announce this years’ awardees and usually, four Laureates out of five are UK based artists, Richard Long, Zaha Hadid, Tom Stoppard and Alfred Brendel, more HERE and HERE. The award giving ceremony will be held on the 22 October, each Laureate will receive £100,000 and a medal presented by HIH Prince Hitachi. Someone close to the awards tells us:  ‘It is quite unusual to have the international laureates based in one country as the judging panel tends to have a good balance of representing countries.  This years award clearly shows the UK as the international hub for creativities’. We agree, congratulations to all the nominees.

 

And Finally…

The Obamas have borrowed some 45 works of art from several Washington museums to decorate the White House, suggesting, according to the New York Times, that ‘The Obamas’ taste in art is as broad as abstract canvases by Josef Albers, American Indian scenes by George Catlin and paintings by little-known figures like Alma Thomas, the African-American Expressionist painter’ More Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.

 

Tracey Emin is considering moving to France to escape Gordon Brown’s 50% tax regime, more HERE.

 

 

Where we’ve Been and who we’ve seen

Manchester! Director of Culture at Manchester City Council, BBC World Service, The Lowry, the Manchester Art Gallery, the All Party Writers group, HLF, the People’s History group, NESTA, Corner House, Microsoft, UK Music, CILIP, Royal Exchange Theatre, T mobile, Channel M.

 

 

 

Ed Vaizey

Shadow Arts Minister

 

Jeremy Hunt

Shadow Culture Secretary

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