churnalism

Blog post

Reporting the Mili-band

July 2009

stock photos, police, photography, journalism, images, climate change, churnalism

The Times website was criticised for its coverage of Saturday’s “Mili-band”, the climate change protest where hundreds of people formed a ring around Kingsnorth Power Station in Kent. Robin Henry’s piece was illustrated with a stock photo of helmetted police in a riot situation. (This has now been removed, after reader complaints, and replaced with a stock photo of a power station which may or may not be Kingsnorth.)

Blog post

Evidence-based voting

June 2009

Twitter, partypolitics, microblogging, journalism, democracy, climate change, churnalism, blogging, badscience

Twitter is full of the claim that the Green Party is “anti-science”. Some of the people making that claim are on my own feed; they’re people I like and respect. So I’m disappointed that so many of these self-appointed champions of science seem to be basing their claim on the same Times article, while others don’t bother to give any source at all.

Blog post

It's not all bad news

January 2009

reporting, print media, NUJ, journalism, churnalism

Who cares about journalism? Judging by the turnout at last night’s meeting, the answer is: “More people than you might think.” The Long Room at Oxford Town Hall was packed with local journalists, councillors and members of the public.

Blog post

If you don't like the news, make some of your own

December 2008

reporting, national newspapers, climate change, churnalism

Yesterday I joined ten thousand people to march against climate change on the Global Day of Action. The march was one of hundreds of protests happening all over the world.

Blog post

Bra lies

December 2008

woman-flavoured rubbish, statistics, print media, national newspapers, churnalism

It’s a shocking statistic, but one that everybody knows: 70% of women are wearing the wrong size bra. Or is it eight out of ten women? Maybe it’s 90%. Either way, every article about bra fitting has to begin with the statement that most women don’t know their real bra size, before going on to explain how you find out your real size.