Blog

Quarantine and Gaming: Third Way Interaction

As we approach a month in isolated life, this situation gives us an excuse to do (or attempt) something productive while we twiddle our thumbs and wait for this bug to blow over. I’ve tried painting through my vast backlog of unfinished plastic miniatures and have even taken up learning a language with the time […]

Journalism Diversity Fund

The deadline for applying for the next round of bursaries from the Journalism Diversity Fund is 6 November.  The Fund has been established by sponsors from within the journalism industry to support the training of journalists from ethnically and socially diverse backgrounds who do not have the financial means to support themselves on an NCTJ accredited […]

Online news day executive team

The executive team for Friday’s assessed news day comprises: Alan McGuinness: Joint-editor Becci Hughes: Joint-editor Kelsey Williams The names of the assessed reporters will be posted tomorrow afternoon. You will be required to produce an online news service with a mixture of national, international and local stories using all of the multimedia techniques at your […]

Congratulations – MAs and Year 2s

Congratulations to the many Year 2s and MAs who passed the recent NCTJ Essential Media Law exam. There were some great results. Five people  –  Peter Brown, Danielle Morris, Tiia Mustonen, Claire Burke and Nick Guttridge – gained A grades and all of the MA group passed. Well done! 

Quick-fire Anelka steadies Chelsea

After a week dominated by the latest bout of managerial turmoil in West London, the focus was switched back to matters on the pitch. A quick-fire Nicolas Anelka hat trick gave Chelsea a deserved victory over Watford in front of their new manager Guus Hiddink. Chelsea, no doubt eager to impress their coach, raced out […]

News from our grads at Sky + job alert

CfJ grad Emma Rae Woodhouse is the producer of a new daily show on Sky News dedicated to climate change which goes on air soon.  It’s ‘the first prime time show dedicated to the climate crisis,’ according to Sky. Follow Emma on Twitter at @journo_EmmaRae. https://twitter.com/journo_EmmaRae/status/1374091507603476488   Sky News are recruiting. CfJ grad Jess Sharp […]

Is there a bias towards offensive players in today’s NBA?

MIP_award.jpeg   Is there a bias towards offensive players in today’s NBA?     Sports are for the fans. The fans who feel great pride in their cities teams, who form attachments to players and coaches. The fans talk as if they are part of the team, as if the team is part of them. […]

Fear and Loathing in Journalism: a Savage Journey to the Public’s Cross

As I’m sitting here, right about sunset, the blood-red light illuminating the walls of my room, I keep pondering over the reason of the brutality and treachery of man. For years now, we have been more and more flooded with news, do we like it or not, combined with the effect of the events themselves. […]

Corporate lobbying and health policy

Daniel Hannan MEP’s vitriolic comments about the NHS on Fox TV have provoked a torrent of newspaper analysis and commentary. Among the most acute contributions is Peter Wilby’s column in the Guardian identifying the vast power of corporate lobbyists to influence the US policy debate. Lobbying is beginning to corrupt British politics in a similar […]

Sports Personality

With 2008 reaching its climax and no more really important sporting events left to go, I was just wondering what everyone thought about this years Sports Personality of the Year Award. I expect the leading contenders will be: Chris Hoy for his epic achievement in the cycling at the olympics, Rebecca Adlington in the swimming […]

A musical radio documentary

Apologies for plugging this quite a bit (but it’s not easy to find on the audio site), but if you haven’t seen it already, here’s the musical radio documentary I did for the site. Here is Parts 1, 2 and 3. [Editor’s note: I have unpublished these links due to copyright violations. See comment below]

Congratulations to our Daily Mail scholars 2019: Brad Harper and Frazer Norwell

DailyMail.jpeg Many congratulations to Brad Harper and Frazer Norwell, who have won the highly prestigious Daily Mail scholarships for 2019.  Brad, who won the postgraduate scholarship, impressed with his feature submission on the 98-year-old Kent grandmother who survived being imprisoned by the Nazis for distributing anti-Hitler leaflets. Frazer’s story on the campaign for fairer paternity […]

Invicta News goes live

IMG_1229.jpg A fresh news brand covering the latest news from Medway, the UK and the world has been launched today. Invicta News will be run by final year undergraduates in the Centre as part of their coursework, serving audiences online, on social media, on radio and television. With a logo based on Kent’s white horse – […]

007 – Who does it best?

007 – Who Does it Best? APOLOGIES FOR ANY SPOILERS   With the 25th and much delayed James Bond film coming out in cinemas later this year I thought there would be no greater time than a global pandemic to sit from start to finish and watch all of the Bond films. After my flatmate […]

How social media saved my life…

Okay, slight exaggeration – but it did help with my assessment this week and I figured first years haven’t yet had to put up with my Twitter ramblings.  Not that I was at all guilty of leaving my video project to the last minute, but I was, on Wednesday night, madly searching for some more […]

Shorthand dictation on the web

http://freewebs.com/weloveshorthand/Home.htm contains lots of material for speeds from 50 upwards. (You might have to save the files before you can listen). Jenny will be reading some exam passages in next Wednesday’s lesson, so perhaps those of you who have run out of practice material can use this site.

Junior Camera Operator opening at ITN

ITN are looking for two Junior Camera Operators, ideal for anyone who enjoyed camera work. The job description includes a number of Skills taught at the Centre; Qualifications Practical experience as a working camera operator Evidence of creative camerawork and filming under time pressure Aptitude to learn non-linear editing to a high standard Closing date […]

Paying for the Future

How will expensive reporting be paid for in the multimedia future? Can the web fund future Bob Woodwards and Paul Foots? I believe Centres like ours must contribute to the search for economic models that can preserve the quality and plurality of journalism. I’ve written about the topic at greater length today on the Guardian’s CommentisFree website.  

Sunday Times journalist, Marie Colvin, killed by shelling in Homs

It is a sobering day for journalism. The day after students at the University of Kent were given an inspirational talk by Alex Crawford on reporting in conflict, Sunday Times journalist, Marie Colvin and French photographer Remi Ochlik, were killed during shelling in the city of Homs, Syria. I left the lecture last night full […]

100 Album bucket list (50 – 26)

  Nearly there! We’re halfway through the list now, covering albums 50 – 26.   #50. THE DOORS ­– THE DOORS 50.jpg The most Woodstock album on the list Cutting through the posers and wannabe’s, The Doors shows how you do surreal rock, especially in an age where social and cultural barriers were broken down […]

Blogging is Dead

Interesting piece by Paul Boutin in Wired, the Web Magazine.  Apparently the future is multimedia. Text based blogging has been colonised by professionals. Folk want video and audio as well now. Someone should teach this stuff at university. Read the piece here 

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