newspapers are now the least popular way to get news

Always Ofcom throws up fascinating research and a report trailed in The Guardian is no exception.

by Dan Slee

This is significant: printed newspapers have become the least popular way that people use to keep up to date with what is going on in the world.

According to a report in the Guardian the annual Ofcom news consumption study will say that 31 per cent of the population read a printed newspaper to keep informed. This is a fall from 41 per cent the previous year.

On the other hand, TV news on 67 per cent, the internet with 41 per cent and radio 32 per cent are all comfortably ahead of breaking news on the news stand.

To anyone interested in the media landscape this feels like hugely landmark news in itself. To communications teams geared-up to service the needs of newspapers first and foremost this feels especially important.

Click to read more ...

#foxnewsfacts: the mother of all rebuttals

When Fox News decided to screen an interview with an 'expert' who claimed nobody non-Muslim went to Birmingham the internet decided to settle the score with humour.

by Dan Slee

First we got mad, then we got angry... and then we just took down Fox News a peg or two by being a bit British about the whole thing.

If You missed it, right wing US news channel Fox News interviewed an 'expert' who claimed that non-Muslims no longer go to Birmingham in the UK. A city of more than one million. Not one infidel. Not one.

Just to round it all off the wide-eyed Washington-based interviewee claimed that Sharia Law was being enforced by the religious police on the streets of London.

Click to read more ...

83 gems you'll need on the UK media landscape from ofcom

It’s a goldmine for anyone vaguely interested in how technology is changing the media landscape but the latest Ofcom communications market report has been published. Published in August 2014 it gives a snapshot of where we are, where we’re headed and what comms people need to know.

by Dan Slee

Four times a year UK media industry watchdog Ofcom publishes a report on the media landscape.

Packed full of insight it is that rare thing of a free report that will help you if you work even just a little bit in digital communications.

Click to read more ...

being first with the news

There's often a tendancy to clam up when something bad happens in an organisation, especially when the subject matter is truly sad and disturbing. But one local authority took a braver approach.

by Amanda Rose

As a council press officer there are issues you’ll face which initially will fill you with dread.

Click to read more ...

how regional media companies brought themselves down

There's no question the news landscape has changed. But why have the big media companies allowed it to change? And what does the future look like? In this take the National Union of Journalists' Chris Morley poses a few awkward questions.

by Chris Morley

I first started work as a trainee on the Walsall Observer in 1983. At that time it sold about 35,000 copies per week and had an editorial staff of an editor, deputy editor, sports editor, chief reporter, four senior reporters, two photographers and three trainees.

It was the pre-eminent of three weekly newspapers in the borough, holding its own against the mighty dailies of the Wolverhampton Express and Star that had a team of 10 reporters and photographers and the Birmingham Mail that had two reporters.

Click to read more ...