MEN named newspaper of the year

October 5th, 2009

I can’t help but have a fondness for the Manchester Evening News. Following months of difficult changes, and the loss of many talented journalists and photographers, it’s interesting to see that they picked up the top title at the 02 Media Awards for Greater Manchester and Lancashire held at Urbis in Manchester last week.

On Friday (the day where 39 staff left the paper), we saw a presentation by an ex-MEN staffer at TEDx. Sarah Hartley is a good friend of the agency and is a new head of digital for the Guardian. She spoke openly about the future of journalism and the challenges the craft faces following the growth in hyperlocal community news sites.

Amongst other examples, Sarah flagged the East Salford Direct TV project, (billed as the regional alternative to CNN) who deliver hyperlocal TV news over the Internet, as an example of how the face of journalism is changing.

Sarah talked about how the growth in community journalism represented a major challenge to the traditional regional paper, and discussed how the two could find a way to work together.

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by katie and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Democracy, Gone surfing | No Comments »

TEDx and the BBC

October 2nd, 2009

Such a long silence from us… we have been beavering away but it’s been just too long since I’ve blogged so as there’s so much to cover let’s start from scratch with today.

Today we’re off to the BBC for TEDx Manchester and on the way have popped into the lovely café Eighth Day for some veggie food to sustain us through all the talks, debates and general chatter.

Over lunch I’ve been reading a great piece of opinion in The Independent on, funnily enough considering our destination today, the BBC. I agree with Johann Hari; I love the BBC, but more than that I’m proud of the BBC.

I don’t mind in the slightest paying £2.60 a week for all the TV, radio and online content which I consume, and it’s a lot. I don’t love everything that the BBC produces, in fact I probably don’t love most of it, but the bits I chose to watch, listen to and engage with I value very highly.

I once heard a comedian explain that expecting to be able to control all BBC content because you pay the license fee was a bit like getting on a bus, buying a ticket then telling the bus driver to drop you off outside your house and wait for you all night to take you to work in the morning… quite.

by Jennifer O'Grady and tagged , , , ,
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We’ve been away but we’re back

October 2nd, 2009

I know we’ve been seemingly quiet over at Democracy Towers for a while. We’ve been getting our new website sorted, and fingers crossed within the next few weeks it’ll all be done and live.

For those of you who know us, the past few months of silence have felt like some kind of gag – and new website launch or not, we simply couldn’t wait a moment longer to share what we’ve been upto.

Today, we’re out and about at TEDx, meeting old and new friends alike as we share our thoughts on all things digital and looking forwards to the next communications challenges and opportunities.

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by katie and tagged , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Democracy, Marketing, Media, Technology | No Comments »