PCC rules Daily Mail's new page 2 column satisfies requirements on 'due prominence' for corrections

The Press Complaints Commission has ruled that offers to correct factual errors in two front page articles in the Daily Mail in its new page two Clarifications and Corrections column were a sufficient form of remedial action under the Editors' Code, including the requirements of "due prominence".

The complaints were made by Full Fact, a fact-checking organisation, relating to two front page articles. The first article reported that a paper released at the G8 summit revealed that "Britain spends more on aid as a percentage of national income than any other country in the world - while British taxpayers suffer through an age of austerity".

In fact, while the UK paid out, as a proportion, more foreign aid than any other G8 country, five other countries (Norway, Luxembourg, Sweden, Belgium and the Netherlands) paid more in percentage terms and the United States paid more in cash terms.

The second article reported on the state of Britain's schools, claiming that "violent behaviour in our classrooms has doubled in just a year". It claimed that 1,000 pupils had been excluded per school day in 2009/10, compared with 452 in 2008/09. Full Fact said that these figures were incorrect: the 1,000 figure was actually the total number of exclusions per day for the year 2008/09 including verbal abuse and threatening behaviour (not just for physical violence). The claim that violent behaviour had "doubled" in a year was inaccurate: the previous year, the equivalent figure was 1,103.

The Mail accepted there were errors in the two articles. It offered to publish corrections in both cases (in its page two Corrections column and online) in addition to amending the two online articles but Full Fact did not consider that correcting the record on page two satisfied the requirements of the Editors' Code in regard to "due prominence".

The Commission decided that "while the mistakes were sloppy, the issues were not personal to the complainant and had not caused personal harm. In addition, in the Commission's view, the errors did not render the coverage of either story to be wholly inaccurate, including on the front page" and page two corrections were sufficient in these cases.

Stephen Abell, director of the PCC, said: "The issue of ‘due prominence' as set out in the Editors' Code will never be an exact science and, as the adjudication makes clear, there will always be legitimate calls for newspapers and magazines to highlight corrections with greater clarity.

"It may be appropriate in some cases for a newspaper or magazine to publish a front page correction. However, whilst the errors in these two cases were unsatisfactory, the Commission judged that the publication of suitable corrections on page two was a sufficient offer which met the ‘due prominence' requirement of the Editors' Code".

Guardian readers' editor questions use of gruesome Gaddafi picture after complaints

Gruesome pictures on the front page of both the Guardian and its website of the bloody corpse of Gaddafi prompted nearly 60 complaints from readers and some members of staff, the paper's readers' editor Chris Elliott reports today.

In his Open Door column, Elliott appears to side with the complainants.

He writes: "At the time I agreed with the Guardian's decision to publish. On reflection – and having read the complaints – I feel less convinced about the way we used these photographs, although I still feel strongly that they are an important part of this story and should have been used.

"The scale of the photo on the newspaper front page of 21 October and prominent picture use on the website took us too close to appearing to revel in the killing rather than reporting it. And that is something that should feature in our deliberations the next time – and there will be a next time – such a situation arises."

Elliott quotes Ian Katz, the Guardian's deputy editor in charge of news, saying he believes it was "emphatically right" to use the pictures. For editors, he said, it was a case where the importance of the photo in news terms outweighed the repugnance factor. In addition, "these images [were] absolutely everywhere, and in particular on all rolling TV news and bulletins", so the idea of shielding people was unrealistic. "If I have one reservation," Katz said, "it is that the original image may have been too large, which perhaps added to the feeling some had that it was gratuitous."

• Meanwhile, Guardian media commentator Roy Greenslade also argues on his blog the Guardian was right to publish the Gaddafi pictures: "I remain convinced that it was a valid journalistic response to this most extraordinary of news stories to publish the picture and to publish it big on the front page. I take on board the worries about revelling in the death. But it would have been astonishing for newspapers to have failed to carry such a crucial news image."
• See also: The end of Gaddafi unites front pages of nationals but are the graphic pictures too gory for readers?

Indy revamps website and launches new iPad app

The Independent has unveiled a new look for its website independent.co.uk, aligning its masthead with the dramatic new one recently introduced on the newspaper, and is also launching an iPad app and revamping its mobile site.

The website's editor Martin King tells readers: "First to enter the light is the revamped website, where your feedback will ensure a rapid evolution as we work to make the experience ever smoother – notwithstanding the fact that we have to balance commercial needs.

"At the same time we are also launching a new iPad app. Then we shall revamp our mobile site as well."

Changes to the website include:

• Greater flexibility in the use of images.
  

• Smoother and more flexible integration of video.

• Clearer ways for readers to comment on articles, share them with Facebook friends or Tweet about them.

• There is also a new tagging system for the site

King says: "We approach all this with humility and some trepidation, not least because we know we must be doing some things right - the site has seen eight consecutive quarters of growth, rising from 22.8m unique visitors in the summer quarter of 2009 to 39.8m in the same quarter this year."

He adds: "The print title and the website are a pair of siblings. And like brothers or sisters they share many similarities. We stay close, but need our own space to thrive in our separate environments.

"And for independent.co.uk that means as rapid an evolution as we can manage (notwithstanding the fact that we need to take the breaks to listen to our users and polish what we have as well). I hope you enjoy the ride."

Court order for Sunday Times to hand over emails

A court has granted a production order demanding that the Sunday Times hands over emails sent between its political editor Isabel Oakeshott and Energy Secretary Chris Huhne’s estranged wife Vicky Pryce that could provide evidence that he asked her to take speeding points on his behalf, the Telegraph reports today.

The Telegraph says that a Sunday Times spokesman said the newspaper was considering appealing against the production order, which was granted during a closed court session earlier this week.

It is the second time Essex Police has applied for a production order against the Sunday Times.

In June this year the force asked the paper to hand over a signed statement from Pryce apparently confessing to taking points on her then husband’s behalf. The force also asked for a tape recording between Miss Pryce and her husband during which they discussed the allegations.

Yesterday the Crown Prosecution Service announced it had asked Essex Police to get “further information” before it made a decision on whether or not to charge either of the couple.

Late deal agreed to save Tribune from closure

Labour List reports that staff, management and the NUJ have agreed a last-minute plan to stave off closure of the left wing weekly magazine Tribune.

It says: "According to sources within the magazine, it was agreed this evening that the title should become a co-operative. Publisher Kevin McGrath has offered to take on historical debts and release the title 'debt free' and told the meeting that he would do everything possible to help the success of the transfer to a co-operative.

"Terms are to be drafted in time for a full meeting of the Tribune staff, which has to approve the deal, on Monday."

Pic exclusive: New NUJ member at Wapping

• See post below: 'News of the World execs told private detective to join NUJ as cover'
  

'NoW told private detective to join NUJ as cover'

News of the World management instructed a private detective to join the NUJ and obtain a press card so he could "become a journalist" as a cover, according to the union's submission to the Leveson Inquiry.

The NUJ says the man was told to "stop" being a private detective and instead "became a journalist" in the wake of the arrest of NoW royal reporter, Clive Goodman.

The union describes it as "a breathtakingly cynical move" given News International's refusal to recognise the NUJ, according to the latest issue of the NUJ magazine The Journalist.

It says the man's work remained unchanged - surveillance of celebrity "targets"- some of whom have emerged as victims of phone hacking.

News International derecognised the NUJ when it left Fleet Street for Wapping in 1986 and set-up its own staff association.

Sun tells Vince Cable's lawyers to 'get stuffed' over demand for an apology for its exclusive VAT story

The Sun has told lawyers acting for Business Secretary Vince Cable to "get stuffed" after they demanded an apology following the paper's exclusive yesterday (top) stating that he had been fined £500 by the Revenue for failing to register for VAT.

Private Eye-style, the Sun has published the letter from Cable's lawyers Goodman Derrick which says: "The article contained significant inaccuracies, misleading statements and distortions of the truth."

The lawyers accuse the Sun of publishing "gratuitous errors" and listed five areas where they say the paper got the story wrong.

Among them were claims that Cable was not fined, but paid a fixed penalty, and did not avoid tax. The letter also alleged the paper breached the Press Complaints Commission Code of Conduct.

The lawyers demanded a prominent correction and an apology on pages four and five of today's edition.

But a defiant Sun says: "The Sun replied to Dr Cable's lawyers last night — but our letter may have disappointed him. In polite language, we told him to get stuffed. We wrote: 'With respect, we do not accept that the article is inaccurate, misleading or distorted or that it breaches the PCC Code. We do not accept your client's complaint.

" 'We said failing to register for tax IS avoiding paying. And we pointed out the Oxford English Dictionary definition of a fine is: 'A sum of money exacted as a penalty'."

• The Sun yesterday tried to give Cable a personal finance guide called Bookkeeping For Dummies but he refused to take the gift from reporter Andy Crick.

It's goodbye from Julie Burchill as she leaves Indy

Julie Burchill has written her last column for the Independent, she reveals to readers today.

Recruited by previous Independent editor Simon Kelner, her full page column has more recently shrunk to less than half a page.

Burchill, who was often the target of critics on the Independent's letters' page, writes: "Give the people what they want, goes the old line, and that day is here at last for me and the vast majority of Independent readers as I write my final column.

"I leave you with a light heart, well aware that it's time for me to move over. So I will now concentrate mainly on learning Hebrew and writing my memoir of philo-Semitism UNCHOSEN, with supplementary activity based around lunching, lazing and loafing. And the occasional foray into journalism, of course – I'd miss my trolls too much if I retired.

"L'hitraot! as we say in Israel – be seeing you!"

Media Quotes of the Week: From Jeremy Clarkson on lifting injunctions to the truth about PRs

Jeremy Clarkson tells the Sun why he lifted an injunction on his ex-wife: "Injunctions don't work, they are pointless. If you have one, everyone on Twitter and the internet knows you've got it. But because I am bound by the same order, I can't speak about it or defend myself. There is an assumption that I am guilty because I can't say anything. My wife and I decided to let it go. My ex-wife is now free to tell her story and people can either believe it or not, it's up to them."

Conrad Black on Rupert Murdoch on the Huffington Post: "In earlier times, whenever there had been anything even slightly unfavorable about him in any of our publications, he had called me to object, or had his British managing director call my co-chief executive at the Telegraph."

Stephen Glover in the Independent: "Lord Judge, the Lord Chief Justice, made a magnificent speech last week about press freedom. It can be found very easily online, and I urge you to read it. These were no inconsequential musings from the most senior member of our judiciary. Delivered in clear, beautiful English, what he said amounted to the most powerful and moving defence of a free press that I have heard from a living person, and it is wondrous that such words should have fallen from the lips of a judge. I believe that its effect will be to reduce the likelihood of statutory regulation of newspapers almost to zero."

George Monbiot in the Guardian on advertising: "I detest this poison, but I also recognise that I am becoming more dependent on it. As sales of print editions decline, newspapers lean even more heavily on advertising. Nor is the problem confined to the commercial media. Even those who write only for their own websites rely on search engines, platforms and programs ultimately funded by advertising. We're hooked on a drug that is destroying society. As with all addictions, the first step is to admit to it."

Roy Greenslade on James Murdoch in the London Evening Standard: "The problem is that hacking is not going to go away. The police investigation has a long way yet to run. There are up to 60 outstanding civil actions. MPs are not going to let the matter drop either.At every turn, the name of James Murdoch will continue to feature in headlines. He cannot run and he cannot hide. His game is well and truly up."

Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary to a journalist after apparently contradicting the airline's head of comms Stephen McNamara, as reported in Private Eye: "Stephen's just a PR. He'll lie to you. I'll tell the truth."

Jeremy Clarkson lifts 'pointless' privacy injuction

Top Gear presenter and national newspaper columnist Jeremy Clarkson has lifted a privacy injunction banning his ex-wife from claiming they had an affair after he remarried, saying it was "pointless", the Sun reports today.

Clarkson, a columnist for the Sun and the Sunday Times, is quoted as saying: "People can now believe her story or not."

His first wife Alexandra Hall claims their sexual relationship continued after he married Frances. Clarkson applied for the order, granted last October, to be lifted so he could defend himself against claims. The High Court Queen's Bench Division agreed, meaning Hall can now write about her allegations for the first time.

Clarkson told the Sun: "Injunctions don't work, they are pointless. If you have one, everyone on Twitter and the internet knows you've got it.

"But because I am bound by the same order, I can't speak about it or defend myself. There is an assumption that I am guilty because I can't say anything.

"My wife and I decided to let it go. My ex-wife is now free to tell her story and people can either believe it or not, it's up to them. "

The injunction banned any reporting of "sexual or other intimate acts or dealings" between the pair. It also barred reporting his "private thoughts, feelings, his health and financial affairs".

The Sun says in a statement released by her agent Max Clifford, Hall said: "I'm delighted the injunction has been withdrawn. It feels like a huge cloud has been lifted."

It also reports that Clarkson will spend the rest of the week working 300m under the ocean on a Royal Navy submarine.

Occupied Times of London launches at St. Paul's

The Occupy London protesters camped outside St. Paul's launched their own newspaper - The Occupied Times of London - today quoting some activists saying they were prepared to stay "until Christmas".

The paper has produced its first edition, running to 12 pages, a fortnight after the camp was set up outside St. Paul's Cathedral.

Around 2.000 copies of The Occupied Times of London will be distributed to people at the camp, visitors and city workers.

The back page of the paper carries the slogan "Here To Stay" which is designed to be used as a placard.

However, the London Evening Standard, is leading on a story tonight saying the City of London Corporation believes it has discovered legal grounds to evict the demonstrators.

The Standard says protesters have vowed to fight the move with "a team of solicitors and barristers" supporting them, claiming: "This is a civil liberties issue." It also reports that St. Paul's may reopen to the public on Friday.

• The Occupied Times of London is online and there is a Twitter link @OccupiedTimes
  

Occupy London protesters to launch newspaper

The Occupy London protesters camped outside St. Paul's are planning to launch their own newspaper - Occupied Times of London - this afternoon.

Around 2000 copies of the newspaper will be distributed to people from the camp, visitors and city workers.

The first copy will be framed and donated to the Museum of London. The paper has been created in a week and will be 12 pages of comment, news and information.

Meanwhile, Occupied London has disputed press reports that only 90 per cent of their tents are occupied overnight. They say: "This is simply not the case. We try to keep vacancy to a minimum and operate a sign in/sign out system to help ensure this happens. When someone knows they will not be staying overnight, they offer their tent to someone else."

The Telegraph has used thermal imaging cameras to check if the tents are occupied (see video here). The organisers say: "We might be in a public space, but these tents are our homes – at least some of the time – and everyone has a right to privacy. Being woken up in the middle of the night by a journalist with a camera is an unpleasant experience, and even more so for a female sleeping in a tent alone."

The Telegraph says one of its reporters and two video colleagues were evicted from the Occupy site and the journalist was called "slime" by the protesters.

Pic: Jon Slattery

Unions to ballot over BBC cuts and job losses

The NUJ and the other broadcasting unions are to ballot their members at the BBC after claiming that the Corporation is determined to press ahead with redundancies and cuts to services after rejecting proposals put to them by the unions.

The union proposals included:

• Withdrawal of the 1st April imposition date on changes to terms and conditions for new joiners.
• No formal consultation with the unions to commence before the BBC Trust concludes its public consultation in areas covered by the public consultation.
• Full public examination of the plan to move factual programmes from Birmingham to Bristol.
  
• Co-ordinated voluntary redundancy trawls in BBC divisions prior to formal consultation in all areas - rather than all divisions acting differently and arbitrarily from one another.
• No new pay and grading structure to be implemented prior to the end of this licence fee settlement.

The unions say the BBC has accepted that it will await the outcome of public consultation in two areas – local radio and Asian Network – before starting formal consultation, but it has said that if the outcome of the consultation is delayed beyond March 2012 it reserves the right to begin formal consultation.

Michelle Stanistreet, NUJ general secretary, said: “It is vital that any consultation process that takes place over such major cuts across the BBC is genuine and meaningful – the NUJ is not prepared to accept a fait accompli.

“These misguided cuts put the BBC’s very future as a world class public service broadcaster at stake. BBC executives and the Coalition government might not care about quality journalism and programming, but staff and members of the public care passionately about the Corporation’s future. It will be up to all NUJ members and the wider public to fight for our BBC and I urge everyone to do all they can to support our campaign.”

BBC reps will meet next week to discuss the next steps.

How death of Gaddafi dominated press in UK

The gruesome death of Gaddafi dominated the news in the week ending Sunday, October 23, from the red-tops to the quality press, reports journalisted.

The Libyan dictator killed after being found in Sirte, generated 555 articles (including reminders of the Lockerbie disaster, 134 articles; reminders of murdered police officer Yvonne Fletcher, 58 articles; and references to Gaddafi as 'Mad Dog', 43 articles).

The second biggest story was St Paul's Cathedral closes temporarily due to Occupy London Stock Exchange protesters, 173 articles; travellers at Dale Farm lose final legal battle against eviction and, after some resistance, walk away from the site, 155 articles; the Liam Fox and Adam Werritty saga continues to be reported, 129 articles; and UK inflation rises to 5.2%, its highest level for nineteen years, 118 articles.

Covered little, according to journalisted, was the world's first commercial spaceport, Spaceport America, opened by Virgin Galactic, 12 articles; The University of Wales is effectively abolished after visa scam controversy, 8 articles; and suspension bridge collapses in India, killing 32, just 2 articles.

Oborne: 'BBC and C4 need major documentaries'

The Daily Telegraph's political commentator Peter Oborne has said that the BBC and Channel 4 must continue to make major documentaries.

Oborne, one of the reporters on Channel 4's Unreported World documentary strand, was speaking at a Frontline Club event about the programme in London last night.

He said: "Both the BBC and Channel 4 need to maintain a really serious documentary presence. In the case of BBC, if they are to be taken seriously as an impartial national free to air broadcaster they have to do it. For Channel 4 it is very much part of what they do.

"It is very easy to bow to commercial pressures I think it is very, very important that these major channels justify the fact that they are out there in the public domain by producing major documentaries and continuing to do so."

Krishnan Guru-Murthy, who now presents each Unreported World programme and updates them at the end, said: "the golden age of television is now."

He said that although some documentary strands have come and gone, the tv industry was bigger than ever and the costs of making documentaries had fallen considerably.

Asked by a member of the audience how to get into working on documentaries, Guru-Murthy replied: "Make them". He said: "It's so easy to buy a cheap camera, put a documentary on YouTube and get an audience."

Unreported World website.

Monbiot mad at Mad Men: 'Advertising is poison'

Guardian commentator George Monbiot bites the hand that helps feed him today with a searing attack on advertising.

He describes it as a poison whose "pervasiveness and repetition act like a battering ram against our minds."

But accepts: "I am talking about the industry whose output frames this column and pays for it: advertising. For obvious reasons, it is seldom confronted by either the newspapers or the broadcasters."

Monbiot argues that newspapers will lean more heavily on advertising as print sales continue to fall.

He writes: "I detest this poison, but I also recognise that I am becoming more dependent on it. As sales of print editions decline, newspapers lean even more heavily on advertising. Nor is the problem confined to the commercial media. Even those who write only for their own websites rely on search engines, platforms and programs ultimately funded by advertising. We're hooked on a drug that is destroying society. As with all addictions, the first step is to admit to it.

Sun takes the mickey out of WikiLeaks cash crisis

This is how the Sun headlined its story today about WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange announcing a "temporary suspension"of publishing by the whistleblowing website while it fights a financial blockade by banks.

The site has been deprived of donations since companies like Visa, Mastercard, Bank of America and PayPal refused to handle payments 11 months ago. Assange claims the "arbitrary and unlawful financial blockade" had wiped out 95 per cent of its revenue.

A Mega prize: Guest editing MediaGuardian site

Guest editing the MediaGuardian website for a day is one of the prizes offered in the Guardian's 2012 awards for digital innovation, launched today under the new name "the Megas" .

The awards, began in 2008 as the 'MediaGuardian Innovation Awards', will focus on digital accomplishments, in line with Guardian News & Media's digital-first strategy, announced earlier this year, the company says.

The new free to enter categories are: Tech guru of the year (sponsored by Creative Industries Knowledge Transfer Network); Young innovator of the year (sponsored by Wired);Best startup business (sponsored by Taylor Wessing); Best startup leader / CEO.

Categories costing £200 per entry are: Best new website; Best new app; Best digital campaign – communications, marketing & PR; Best use of technology for social change.

Chair of the judging panel Dan Sabbagh, Guardian News & Media's head of media & technology, said: "Offering one winner the opportunity to guest edit the MediaGuardian website is a new move for us, and I'm sure this will result in some fascinating issues being covered on our website once the winners are announced next year."

The judging panel for the awards includes Wired editor-at-large Ben Hammersley and TV presenter Aleks Krotoski.

For more info see the Megas' website.

Pink 'Un turns blue: FT puts Man City pic on front

The Financial Times usually covers the City but following the sensational football match in Manchester yesterday it's got a pic of Man City striker Mario Balotelli, who scored twice in the 6:1 thrashing of Man United, on its front page.

Conrad Black on Rupert Murdoch's sensitive side

You would think newspaper proprietors were pretty thick skinned about their own coverage in the press given the way their own titles dish out criticism, but a piece by former Telegraph owner Conrad Black on Huffington Post about Rupert Murdoch shows otherwise.

First Black complains about his coverage in the Murdoch press: "I was naturally disappointed when, as my own legal problems arose eight years ago, his vast media organization swung into vitriolic defamatory mode, endlessly accusing me of crimes years before any were alleged.

"When revelations of his own sleazy behavior came to light in the hacking scandals in England, it also came out, confirming what I had heard from my own sources, and which I would have known from my knowledge of how his company is run, that Murdoch had personally intervened to make reporting on my problems nastier (despite having assured me in writing that he would try to prevent excesses)."

Then Black reveals how Murdoch complained about the Telegraph: "In earlier times, whenever there had been anything even slightly unfavorable about him in any of our publications, he had called me to object, or had his British managing director call my co-chief executive at the Telegraph. Even as he was stoking up the media lynch mob against me, he told his latest biographer, Michael Wolff, as he told others, of his high regard for me as a publisher, as if his febrile libels and fabrications were the coincidental, spontaneous antics of autonomous underlings."

It seems, as Corporal Jones would say, that newspaper proprietors "don't like it up 'em!".

Gaddafi: Papers go graphic rather than gruesome

Two newspapers went for graphic illustrations on the death of Gaddafi rather than graphic pictures. The National Post, Toronto, Canada (left), and Die Tageszeitung, Berlin, Germany, (right). But do they have the same impact as the gruesome pics of the dead dictator used by most newspapers in the UK?
Front pages via the Newseum.

Guardian iPad app is 'most successful' to date

The Guardian says its new Guardian iPad edition app launched last week has been downloaded 145,880 times and is its most successful app so far.

Alan Rusbridger, editor-in-chief, Guardian News & Media, said: "Since launching last week, the new Guardian iPad edition has already been downloaded over 145,000 times. This number of downloads in a week is a fantastic achievement, and shows the appetite among our readers to access our content in new, digital ways.

"This is our most successful app launch to date, and an important milestone as we continue to evolve into a digital-first news organisation."

A geographical breakdown of the Guardian iPad app downloads shows:

UK: 85,018
US: 29,082
RoW: 31,780
Total: 145,880

The Guardian iPhone app launched in January this year has been downloaded over 570,000 times, with nearly 100,000 users going on to take out subscriptions.

The Guardian Android app launched on 7 September, which is free and ad-funded, has been downloaded over 250,000 times.

Just over a million members of Facebook have installed the Guardian's Facebook app.

Source: Guardian press release.

Subs' nightmare: 112 ways of spelling Gaddafi

I noticed that while the British press called him Gaddafi or Gadaffi, the New York Post called him Khadafy.

So, how many ways are there to spell Gaddafi?

According to the ABC News website there are 112.

• Qaddafi, Muammar
• Al-Gathafi, Muammar
• al-Qadhafi, Muammar
• Al Qathafi, Mu'ammar
• Al Qathafi, Muammar
• El Gaddafi, Moamar
• El Kadhafi, Moammar
• El Kazzafi, Moamer
• El Qathafi, Mu'Ammar
• Gadafi, Muammar
• Gaddafi, Moamar
• Gadhafi, Mo'ammar
• Gathafi, Muammar
• Ghadafi, Muammar
• Ghaddafi, Muammar
• Ghaddafy, Muammar
• Gheddafi, Muammar
• Gheddafi, Muhammar
• Kadaffi, Momar
• Kad'afi, Mu`amar al- 20
• Kaddafi, Muamar
• Kaddafi, Muammar
• Kadhafi, Moammar
• Kadhafi, Mouammar
• Kazzafi, Moammar
• Khadafy, Moammar
• Khaddafi, Muammar
• Moamar al-Gaddafi
• Moamar el Gaddafi
• Moamar El Kadhafi
• Moamar Gaddafi
• Moamer El Kazzafi
• Mo'ammar el-Gadhafi
• Moammar El Kadhafi
• Mo'ammar Gadhafi
• Moammar Kadhafi
• Moammar Khadafy
• Moammar Qudhafi
• Mu`amar al-Kad'afi
• Mu'amar al-Kadafi
• Muamar Al-Kaddafi
• Muamar Kaddafi
• Muamer Gadafi
• Muammar Al-Gathafi
• Muammar al-Khaddafi
• Mu'ammar al-Qadafi
• Mu'ammar al-Qaddafi
• Muammar al-Qadhafi
• Mu'ammar al-Qadhdhafi
• Mu`ammar al-Qadhdhāfī 50
• Mu'ammar Al Qathafi
• Muammar Al Qathafi
• Muammar Gadafi
• Muammar Gaddafi
• Muammar Ghadafi
• Muammar Ghaddafi
• Muammar Ghaddafy
• Muammar Gheddafi
• Muammar Kaddafi
• Muammar Khaddafi
• Mu'ammar Qadafi
• Muammar Qaddafi
• Muammar Qadhafi
• Mu'ammar Qadhdhafi
• Muammar Quathafi
• Mulazim Awwal Mu'ammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Qadhafi
• Qadafi, Mu'ammar
• Qadhafi, Muammar
• Qadhdhāfī, Mu`ammar
• Qathafi, Mu'Ammar el 70
• Quathafi, Muammar
• Qudhafi, Moammar
• Moamar AI Kadafi
• Maummar Gaddafi
• Moamar Gadhafi
• Moamer Gaddafi
• Moamer Kadhafi
• Moamma Gaddafi
• Moammar Gaddafi
• Moammar Gadhafi
• Moammar Ghadafi
• Moammar Khadaffy
• Moammar Khaddafi
• Moammar el Gadhafi
• Moammer Gaddafi
• Mouammer al Gaddafi
• Muamar Gaddafi
• Muammar Al Ghaddafi
• Muammar Al Qaddafi
• Muammar Al Qaddafi
• Muammar El Qaddafi
• Muammar Gadaffi
• Muammar Gadafy
• Muammar Gaddhafi
• Muammar Gadhafi
• Muammar Ghadaffi
• Muammar Qadthafi
• Muammar al Gaddafi
• Muammar el Gaddafy
• Muammar el Gaddafi
• Muammar el Qaddafi
• Muammer Gadaffi
• Muammer Gaddafi
• Mummar Gaddafi
• Omar Al Qathafi
• Omar Mouammer Al Gaddafi
• Omar Muammar Al Ghaddafi
• Omar Muammar Al Qaddafi
• Omar Muammar Al Qathafi
• Omar Muammar Gaddafi
• Omar Muammar Ghaddafi
• Omar al Ghaddafi

New York Post gets local angle on Gaddafi killing

The New York Post goes for a local angle on the death of Gaddafi (or Khadafy) claiming that his killer is a fan of the New York Yankees baseball teams. The story is based on a picture showing one his captors wearing a Yankees' cap and carrying a golden gun said to be taken from Gaddafi.

The end of Gaddafi unites front pages of nationals but are the graphic pictures too gory for readers?

One of those rare days when all the nationals lead on the same story. The death of Gaddafi.

Most go with graphic pictures of the battered dictator's body - but are they too gory for readers?

The comment below suggests they are, particularly to those with young children. But who wouldn't have seen them on tv news yesterday?

Media Quotes of the Week: From how to alienate people to not throwing journalists overboard

Stephen Glover in the Independent on Kelvin MacKenzie's performance at the Leveson Inquiry: "By accusing David Cameron of 'obsessive arse kissing', and Lord Justice Leveson of being a fool, Mr MacKenzie will have alienated potential supporters and undermined the cause."

Kelvin MacKenzie says sorry, in his Daily Mail column, to Lord Leveson: "On reflection, I owe an apology to Lord Leveson, the judge heading the inquiry set up in the wake of the News of the World phone-hacking scandal. On Wednesday I made a speech to the hearing — with Lord Leveson only yards away — in which I was somewhat disparaging of his ability when, as a young QC, he failed to win a conviction for tax evasion charges against Ken Dodd. Before I delivered my speech, he was very courteous to me and yet I repaid him by being disobliging. I shouldn’t have done it and I am sorry."

Liverpool MP Steve Rotherham on Kelvin MacKenzie during the Commons debate on Hillsborough: "Given what he said about the Prime Minister the other day, there may even be some Tories that now agree that the man is a pariah (as we on Merseyside know him to be). This is a man who preaches about free speech, but who dehumanized the deaths of 96 people for a cheap headline. What an absolute hypocrite!"

Liam Fox in his House of Commons' statement: "It is unacceptable that family and friends who have nothing to do with the central issues should be hounded and intimidated by elements of the media including, in this case, elderly relatives and children. It is difficult to operate in the modern environment, as we know, where every bit of information, however irrelevant or immaterial, is sensationalised, and where opinions or even accusations are treated as fact."

Simon Hoggart in the Guradian on Liam Fox's statement: "What a farrago of self-regarding, self-congratulatory self-exculpation it was! He even contrived to tiptoe round the notion that he had done anything wrong. 'The ministerial code has been found to be breached,' he said, as if it were like a hurricane battering a levee, a force of nature for which nobody is to blame."

Dole House Blues, a blog by an unemployed journalism graduate: "I’ve written more stories for websites that make lots of money without receiving any myself. And I’ve applied for a job, posted today, that already has several hundred views. As I conclude this post, I realise there’s no real point to it – hence the title. Perhaps I’ve invented my own genre: Benefit Beat. That’ll catch on, right? I really wasn’t prepared for just how tough it is out there at the moment."

Sir Ray Tindle on how his titles have fared in the recession: "The papers are surviving but profits have fallen very considerably against pre-recession levels. Eight or nine of our centres are losing money. The group's profits are currently running at around one fifth of 2007 and still falling. Despite this, the directors are proud that the company is the only newspaper group which has not yet had to turn to redundancy to keep the ship on an even course. No journalist has been asked to leave our employ."

Independent warning on 'secret justice' plans

Secret justice looks set to be a regular feature of British courts and tribunals when the intelligence services want to protect their sources of information, the Independent warns today.

It reports: "Civil courts, immigration panels and even coroner's inquests would go into secret session if the Government rules that hearing evidence in public could be a threat to national security.

"The proposals, which run counter to a centuries-old British tradition of open justice, were introduced to a sparsely attended House of Commons yesterday by the Justice Secretary, Ken Clarke – and met almost no opposition. The planned changes to the British justice system follow lobbying of the Government by the CIA."

Ten reasons to be cheerful about journalism

After being accused by some marketing bloke of “whinging and bemoaning” on the state of journalism in my last column, The media and my part in its downfall, for The Media Briefing I’ve decided to accentuate the positive this month.

I've given them 10 reasons to be cheerful about journalism (despite plummeting circulation figures, diving ad revenues and soaring unemployment among journalists).

Feel free to add your reasons for being cheerful about journalism.

BBC staff magazine Ariel to close after 75 years

The BBC is closing the print version of Ariel, its staff magazine, which has been published for 75 years.

It is part of the latest round of cuts which will see the BBC's communications division shed 30 posts.

Ariel Online will continue to carry BBC staff news and views.

Four posts will be lost from the existing Ariel team along with comms jobs across the division, as it seeks to make 25% savings.

Candida Watson, Ariel editor for the last two years, said that compared with the cuts across the Corporation, the end of the magazine "pales into insignificance".

But added: "That doesn't make it any less of a shock to the long-serving staff who produce Ariel, to our regular correspondents who make the letters page a thing of occasional joy and frequent conversation, or to those who like to pick up the paper and read it quietly in a break, or take it to read on the journey home.

"And how will certain tabloids fill their diary columns now?"

Watson also said: "I know staff will be sad to see it go, and that the online version is different to the print issue; I know some people will see it as a none-too-subtle way of diminishing internal criticism of BBC management.

"It is true that the current Ariel online site has no comment facility on stories, but that is something we are working to address. We still have a letters 'page' and readers can still comment on any issue that they want to raise, and in the online only Ariel you won't have to wait a week to see your letter printed."

The final printed Ariel will be published at the end of December.