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<title>Guy Clapperton on the media</title><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/index.html</link><description>Guy Clapperton on the media</description><dc:language>en</dc:language><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><dc:rights>Copyright 2006 Guy Clapperton</dc:rights><dc:date>2008-05-08T14:47:49+01:00</dc:date><admin:generatorAgent rdf:resource="http://www.realmacsoftware.com/" />
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<lastBuildDate>Thu, 08 May 2008 16:46:28 +0100</lastBuildDate><item><title>Has my site been hacked&#x2c; I wonder...</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Coffee machine moments</category><dc:date>2008-05-08T14:47:49+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/a114300e66c8f3f4858363532ab00877-299.html#unique-entry-id-299</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/a114300e66c8f3f4858363532ab00877-299.html#unique-entry-id-299</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[...by someone putting the phrase 'please call this man and waste his time' on the front?


After my last entry I thought I'd heard the last of the loony PR fraternity but then I get another one. 


"Hello", she says.   "I want to talk to you about my entrepreneurial client."


"OK," I say.   "Fire away." 


"He's founded a club in London for businesspeople, because there was nothing else on offer except the Groucho Club," she says. 


"There's the IoD," I say.


"That's different," she enthuses.   "The IoD isn't geared up for meetings."


"Fifty-odd meeting rooms, two large coffee areas, a brasserie, sandwich bar and a formal restaurant and it's not geared up for meetings?"   I respond.


"Oh well, it's not the same thing..." she says.


Only the Groucho indeed.   Just the sort of thing to turn me into Victor Meldrew for the day.


Seriously, I welcome calls from PRs.   I like getting them.   I'm a nice man.   But if you haven't bothered to find out the first thing about your client or their market before picking up the phone, don't expect me to be a pushover.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Today&#x27;s piece of lunacy...</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Coffee machine moments</category><dc:date>2008-05-06T13:49:05+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/43b61da75532bc3065abdc8f2ff69585-298.html#unique-entry-id-298</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/43b61da75532bc3065abdc8f2ff69585-298.html#unique-entry-id-298</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[The call comes in from a public relations executive.    I want to talk about our new client's word processor, she says.   Unlike Word, it looks for grammatical errors.


So does Word, I say.


No, look, it doesn't just do spelling.   It does grammar.


Yes, so does Word, I say.


There's this long pause and she promises to send me an e-mail.   I can hardly wait.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Daft things that I come across</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Coffee machine moments</category><dc:date>2008-04-28T17:12:17+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/74cdb42662bea963c5f0ee784ae84abd-297.html#unique-entry-id-297</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/74cdb42662bea963c5f0ee784ae84abd-297.html#unique-entry-id-297</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[So I launched HRPodcast last week - soft launch, not with a bang, going to be a slow burner this one.   Inevitably I'm looking for interviewees.


I get this e-mail from a PR.   Good timing, they say, our client's just done a podcast about HR.   OK, I say, but doesn't that make them a competitor rather than a source?   Oh, we can change the intro if you like, they say.


I'm still trying to work that one out as I type...]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>New podcast</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>New Media</category><dc:date>2008-04-25T13:50:07+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/93564bd5979e6cb2f7ba44e39f7f05bd-296.html#unique-entry-id-296</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/93564bd5979e6cb2f7ba44e39f7f05bd-296.html#unique-entry-id-296</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Long-term readers will have noticed I've gone a bit quiet recently.   There have been a number of reasons for this but one of the prime ones is my new business idea - HRPodcast launches today.   It's a podcast.   It's about HR (Human Resources).


Do have a look and let me know what you think.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Too provocative?</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Ethics</category><dc:date>2008-04-07T14:47:04+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/b0dc08dce61f734dd196d4027bdc4bf6-295.html#unique-entry-id-295</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/b0dc08dce61f734dd196d4027bdc4bf6-295.html#unique-entry-id-295</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[The media scrum at the Olympic Torch ceremony yesterday was extraordinary, by all means, but I did feel that ITV News went too far at one point.   People who saw the bulletin will have seen their camera operator knocked to the ground and - said the report - kicked by the police.


Call me old-fashioned but if you deliberately obstruct someone under pressure there may well be the odd fall involved.   It's simple common sense, I'd have thought.   The serious bit is the suggestion that he was kicked when he was down.


That's what we call an assault.   And in the UK, an assault is against the law.   The problem is that I can't find any trace of a complaint having been made on the ITN site.


So it starts to look less like a serious assault and more like a bit of engineered sensationalism.   I'll look forward to being proven completely wrong about this.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Churner prize</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Coffee machine moments</category><dc:date>2008-04-03T09:20:41+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/70fb189bfaf26e3fdd591daeb7e1ebcc-294.html#unique-entry-id-294</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/70fb189bfaf26e3fdd591daeb7e1ebcc-294.html#unique-entry-id-294</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Here's a good site, called the Churner Prize.   What's 'churner', you ask?   It's simply a reference to churning, the act of turning a press release into editorial copy without bothering to sanity check, go and find your own story or anything old-fashioned like that.


It's something journalists are never encouraged to do (that should probably be 'encouraged never to do' in English).   A lot of us end up doing it from time to time, though - in technology journalism it can actually be valid sometimes in order to make completely sure your technical details are accurate in whichever story you're writing at the time.


It's an excellent idea, highlighting lazy journalism like this, and a wake-up call to many of us.   I'll no doubt fail completely to let you all know when one of my pieces makes it onto the site.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Speaking again</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Coffee machine moments</category><dc:date>2008-03-21T17:34:07+00:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/16faa1c41ab892ca48abb235d4a047b4-293.html#unique-entry-id-293</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/16faa1c41ab892ca48abb235d4a047b4-293.html#unique-entry-id-293</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[So yesterday I was MC-ing the Britain's Top Employers awards at the British Library.   An enjoyable event I hope, and a reflection of the release of the annual Britain's Top Employers book.


Notes to self: no matter who's told you what, or indeed thinks they have, always find out who else is speaking before you agree to do something like this.   And if the MD of the parent company, who's been asked three times whether he wants to speak and has said no thanks, suddenly gets up and asks whether it's his turn, accommodate him.


Otherwise you end up introducing the awards about half an hour early.   And only a fool would do that...(  COUGH)...]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Boris the great communicator</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Coffee machine moments</category><dc:date>2008-02-13T11:17:05+00:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/44d8b08ee84c6ecdb761559da137a749-291.html#unique-entry-id-291</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/44d8b08ee84c6ecdb761559da137a749-291.html#unique-entry-id-291</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Now this is interesting - no, really, stay with me.   London Mayoral Candidate Boris Johnson has been awarded the Chartered Institute of Public Relations' Presidents medal for communicator.


Cat, meet pigeons, pigeons, meet hornets nests and other mixed metaphors.   On his 'A PR Guy's Musings' blog Stuart Bruce is outraged.   He points out that Boris has described black people in pejorative terms and committed other lapses in taste and common sense, and his howlers are a long-term trend rather than a one-off.


I have to confess Boris has always fascinated me.   He acts like a buffoon but everyone knows he isn't; he's also a damned good writer, perhaps oddly.   His book on Rome should be read by everyone with a vague interest in ancient history, you'll end up caring passionately about it and I have no doubt the series on which it was based, which I missed, would have been just as enjoyable.


The problem is that he's reached this age - he's about the same age as me - when being a court jester just isn't as worthwhile an occupation as it used to be if he has any ambitions whatsoever.   So he's gone for something that requires some sort of depth and will involve actual responsibility.


And this, dear reader, is where it's all likely to start going wrong.   The thing about 'characters' in the media who're also in politics is that they can often make excellent points and be really good voices of conscience, from either side of the spectrum.   In the 1960s Tony Benn was superb at telling the Labour Government where it was going wrong.   He then joined the Cabinet and ended up in a lot of trouble for not towing the party line.   In the 1960s and 1970s there was no-one better than Michael Foot at critiquing the Government of whichever political stripe - then he became Labour leader, had to compromise and fell rapidly from favour.


Boris until recently was great.   He appeared on talk shows, called for classical education for all (unrealistic perhaps but is it really so far from the new proposals to get kids into culture?)   and can make the odd excellent point, without necessarily being party political.


To this extent he's a superb communicator and his ability to publicise himself and make himself likeable to people who don't share his politics is unsurpassed.   If he'd had this award two years ago I'd have probably agreed with it.   The thing is, he's getting it now, when he's putting himself up for something serious and fighting against a heavyweight and the communication suggesting 'I'm a heavyweight too and I can stop Ken Livingston' simply hasn't happened.


So, should he have got the award?   I'm going to suggest not, at least not at this stage.   From the comments on Bruce's blog I suspect I'm not the only one who thinks like this.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Nothing for Money</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><dc:subject>Blog</dc:subject><dc:date>2008-02-12T10:36:05+00:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/fda17448c2a6d75a7a8f8f14649ae14f-290.html#unique-entry-id-290</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/fda17448c2a6d75a7a8f8f14649ae14f-290.html#unique-entry-id-290</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[A number of people will have seen this before, but if there are any commissioning editors, producers, anyone who ever asks for input from writers, could I ask you to watch the following YouTube clip:


Harlan Ellison on 'pay the writer'


Requests for free work are all too common.   A few years back I was asked to speak at a conference, as a small business specialist.   OK, I said, how much are you offering?   Oh, they said, I don't think it's realistic for contributors to ask for payment.


OK, take a step back.   This man wanted me to add value to his conference - a business for his own profit, not a charity - and he wanted me to do it for nothing.   Startup magazines often do the same.   Think of the coverage, they say - automatically guaranteeing that only inexperienced writers will contribute, as people who already get coverage will not need any more.


It's not a thing that's fading away.   Ellison puts it very well - I recommend the interview to anyone to whom the issues aren't clear.	]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>All a-twitter</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Coffee machine moments</category><dc:date>2008-02-11T10:30:35+00:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/90a5b1f6488532bf213942187fa6e70c-289.html#unique-entry-id-289</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/90a5b1f6488532bf213942187fa6e70c-289.html#unique-entry-id-289</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[OK, I've had enough of people saying they can't get hold of me, I'm elusive, they don't know what I'm doing.   They say this sometimes when it actually is some of their business as well as when it isn't (hell hath no fury than a PR who wants to know whether you received a press release three weeks ago, don't y'know).


So I've set up a Twitter page at http://twitter.com/guyclapperton.   You need to register and drop me a note as to why you need to know what I'm doing during office hours, and I'll add you to the list.


You can also instant message me as Guy@Clapperton.co.uk on Windows Live, guy.clapperton on Google Talk, or guyclapperton@mac.com if you're on the iChat system on a Mac.


I should, in short, be pretty much available.   Including at the speaking event mentioned in the last blog entry with the:101, see speaking page here, I hope to see some of you there.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Speaking again</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Admin notes</category><dc:date>2008-01-21T14:50:41+00:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/bed06065eff90b0e2b19f92a0e70ce06-288.html#unique-entry-id-288</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/bed06065eff90b0e2b19f92a0e70ce06-288.html#unique-entry-id-288</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Some of you - particularly in the PR field - might be interested to know that three members of the:101, which is the group of journalists with which I work, are speaking at a PR Week/PR Newswire event in February.   I'm one of them. 


Details are on my speaking page - it would be great to meet a few readers there if you can make it!]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Freelance journalism for a living</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Media issues</category><dc:date>2007-11-15T19:29:39+00:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/a9387f4b083d8e748c5bc420ed919aaf-287.html#unique-entry-id-287</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/a9387f4b083d8e748c5bc420ed919aaf-287.html#unique-entry-id-287</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[I've been having conversations online recently with new journalists.   They ask me for advice occasionally, it happens - and I've had some positive feedback from the steers I've given them.   I suppose I shouldn't be surprised after almost 20 years (next June) in the business, 19 years as a full-timer and almost 15 years (next May) as a freelancer.


So I've had this thought.   I'm going to run an online course if the numbers are right.


At this stage I'm just trying to get an idea of the general interest.   If I were to run a course in January, to last six weeks, after which you'd know some of the basics of freelance journalism, how to pitch, how not to annoy editors, how to manage your accounts, stuff like that, would you be interested?   I'd be charging &pound;75 per lesson or &pound;400 if you ordered all six in advance.   There will be assignments, there will be feedback and of course there'll be more detailed information on the course before I ask anyone to hand the cash over.


At the moment I'd like to see how many people would be interested - so if you'd want to give this a go, how about mailing me with 'freelance course' in the subject header and 'yes' in the body text?   There is no question of any commitment on either side at the moment I promise - I'm at the feasibility study stage.


Thanks.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>The death of normal media?</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Journalism in practice</category><dc:date>2007-11-12T18:53:44+00:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/a2e97e989b7b5578943eb01937b02b0c-286.html#unique-entry-id-286</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/a2e97e989b7b5578943eb01937b02b0c-286.html#unique-entry-id-286</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Entrepreneur and former Dragon's Den panellist Rachel Elnaugh makes some interesting points about blogging and its impact on her own blog here.   Essentially she sees evidence that her blog rather than any press coverage has made an impact on public perceptions of her, and she suggests 'normal' press will get a wake-up call.


Well, yes and no.   The Guardian's 'Comment is Free' site is ample evidence that the traditional media does indeed understand how important new media has become.   What's going to be even more important, though, are three things about new media and blogs in particular.


1.   Responsibility: Many blogs are written by people who are inexperienced writers and who have no training.   This can be a good thing because you see their thoughts as unpolished, which can be more raw and genuine - but the laws of libel apply in Cyberspace as much as they do elsewhere.   We haven't yet had a big test case in this country.   The biggest, probably, in which Mumsnet upset Gina Ford, was settled out of court.   But which amateur blogger knows just how far they can go without falling foul of the libel laws?


2.   Quality: This brings us neatly to the second issue, which is quality control.   There's a lot of dross out there in Blog-land but then there's a lot of dross in journalism too; but has anyone told the bloggers how carefully they need to check their facts before publishing them?   Journalists, by training, are inveterate checkers and goodness knows we make enough mistakes.   Bloggers, without that background, are prone to repeating anything they hear.   Only this morning I saw a blog on the failure of the iPhone: thing is, I was there covering the story for BBC London's breakfast show in Regent Street on Friday morning and I'm telling you people were queueing.   Maybe not as many as Apple would have liked but they were there.   And has the blogger offered Apple its near-statutory right of reply?   Has he hell.


3.   Payment: i know, I know, the Internet and blogging in particular is supposed to appeal to the sort of hippie who wouldn't dream of demanding payment for his or her work.   Nevertheless, after the initial blogging bubble has subsided you've got to ask what's going to be left.   If this is going to continue and people are going to get it right, they've got to find a way to make it viable to continue.   This means making it pay.   This is likely to mean advertising, and that in turn will mean guaranteeing editorial quality (advertisers won't subsidise something that's unreadable).


It'll be almost like the traditional media all over again.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Enjoying feeling your age</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>While I was media training...</category><dc:date>2007-11-07T21:10:06+00:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/e05f744bbacbd057eed123e4a49d3584-285.html#unique-entry-id-285</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/e05f744bbacbd057eed123e4a49d3584-285.html#unique-entry-id-285</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Media training at a PR company today and I was reminded I was getting older - but for once I didn't mind.


We were discussing the old, old story that happened when the Guardian misheard singer Patti Boulaye offering her support for the Conservatives.   She said it was good that young people were in favour of a party; the paper reported that she was speaking in favour of apartheid. 


It's a long-dead issue.   The thing that appealed to me most, though, was one of the younger trainees having to ask what apartheid actually was.   Half of me said, oh no, am I that old?   The other half was actually quite pleased - it may be a sign of age, and we shouldn't ignore the lessons of history, but the further away that pernicious regime and its policies gets, the better.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>I didn&#x27;t know I had a G-Spot</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Coffee machine moments</category><dc:date>2007-10-10T15:38:58+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/115ccb3bcb91cc8e59a59b462e035524-284.html#unique-entry-id-284</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/115ccb3bcb91cc8e59a59b462e035524-284.html#unique-entry-id-284</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[...but apparently I'm supposed to.   All blokes are.   So I assume anyway, from a company that's tried to flog me some press releases on...well, here's a link to a blog from someone else who's had the same release and they've phrased it much better than I have>


http://gettingink.typepad.com/getting_ink/2007/10/things-you-migh.html]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Technical insanity part 2</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Coffee machine moments</category><dc:date>2007-09-24T11:33:49+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/2db1365e942edcf9159498a2ed14567e-283.html#unique-entry-id-283</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/2db1365e942edcf9159498a2ed14567e-283.html#unique-entry-id-283</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[So I'm working away, printing quite innocently and suddenly the toner runs out on my multifunction machine - it's a printer, scanner, answering machine, photocopier etc.   OK, not a problem, I didn't need much printing so I didn't worry about it.


Then I go out for a while and get back to find it's taken a couple of messages.   But it won't play them.   Because the answering machine will take messages but not play them back if there's no toner in the thing.


I like technology.   I do like technology...]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Too technical for me</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Coffee machine moments</category><dc:date>2007-09-13T18:15:51+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/53db48aa8f1bc80fc10c8dd47f1f93ba-282.html#unique-entry-id-282</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/53db48aa8f1bc80fc10c8dd47f1f93ba-282.html#unique-entry-id-282</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Special thanks to Brando for supplying the following information about the phones Sony Ericsson is supplying through Voda - this is formatted exactly as I received it.   I assume it's in binary or something:


Facts and figures: 


        W910i   W880i   V640i  


Walkman&reg; player 


Bluetooth stereo (A2DP) 


...Music tones (MP3/AAC) 


Memory Stick Micro&trade; (M2&trade;) support 


...PlayNow&trade; 


...FM radio with RDS 


...Picture blogging 


Video blogging 


Video recording 


WLAN/Wi-Fi&trade; 


Web browser 


...Video calling 


...Microsoft&reg; Exchange ActiveSync&reg; 


...Bluetooth&trade; 2.0 technology 


Picture messaging (MMS) 


Predictive text input 


...Text messaging (SMS) 


...Picture wallpaper 


Wallpaper animation 


...Java&trade; MIDP 2.0 


Video streaming 


Video playback 


...Stopwatch       Walkman&reg; 


player 3.0 


...PlayNow&trade; 4.0 


...2 megapixel 


2.5x 


...No 


Access NetFront&trade; 


...Yes     Walkman&reg; player 2.0 


...PlayNow&trade; 4.0 


...Yes 


Yes 


No 


2 megapixel 


2.5x 


...No 


Access NetFront&trade; 


...No 


...Yes     No 


...PlayNow&trade; 4.0 


...2 megapixel 


...No 


Full HTML Browser 


...No 


...No 
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>An important geographical lesson</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Coffee machine moments</category><dc:date>2007-09-03T18:51:07+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/a15cb406bd81863e6252e2deae6d8449-281.html#unique-entry-id-281</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/a15cb406bd81863e6252e2deae6d8449-281.html#unique-entry-id-281</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[This is for people who read this irregular blog whenever I post something - it's a YouTube video of an interview with an American beauty queen.


No, look, you've got to read this.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Is the game up for normal TV?</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Media issues</category><dc:date>2007-08-30T14:09:18+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/e1fa1c581aaaadf50ec93b907d5d30cb-280.html#unique-entry-id-280</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/e1fa1c581aaaadf50ec93b907d5d30cb-280.html#unique-entry-id-280</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[The media this week has been full of how TV is going to change radically.   We're all going to download programmes from the Internet and suchlike and stream them around the house.   Broadcasting as we know it is doomed, so you'd think.


I have my doubts.   Any chance we could have a show of hands of how many readers would know where to start streaming telly around their house - or who have the right equipment even if they do?


Thought not...]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>You turn your back 5 minutes...</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Coffee machine moments</category><dc:date>2007-07-30T17:14:46+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/a2889515d74ff82409522fc56f3943e4-279.html#unique-entry-id-279</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/a2889515d74ff82409522fc56f3943e4-279.html#unique-entry-id-279</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[OK, I've been on holiday on possibly the most interesting week in media terms in recent times.   Sorry about that, and I hope everyone's OK in spite of the floods.


But what can you make of the BBC at the moment?   'Crisis of confidence' seems not to cover it.   Charity phone-ins rigged, Blue Peter competitions faked, what on earth is going on?


Most interesting is the BBC's view that these things are intolerable.   And they won't put up with them.   Thing is, they're saying these things while they're putting up with them. and tolerating them, unless someone's been fired and they're keeping it quiet.


I'm a big BBC fan.   I still believe our TV is the best in the world.   I'm just a little concerned that in spite of all the noise, nothing has actually happened about this.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>How to make a story say what you want it to</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Media issues</category><dc:date>2007-07-02T16:54:55+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/e3cba143cb50a5116fc3103bfd3bcfee-278.html#unique-entry-id-278</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/e3cba143cb50a5116fc3103bfd3bcfee-278.html#unique-entry-id-278</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Sorry, been a bit quiet, finished editing a book last week, have been up to my eyes in it.   And exhausted.


Anyway, I thought you'd want to see this.   It's the Sun's story about how Doctor Who companion Freema Agyeman is being axed, as they predicted. 


Which is interesting because I've seen the same press release as they have.   Which says that although she's not coming back in the next few episodes, she is indeed continuing on Doctor Who and appearing in the companion series, Torchwood.   They even acknowledge this in the body of the story.


Far be it from me to criticise a fellow hack, of course.   But how in heaven's name is appearing in two related programmes rather than just one equivalent to being 'axed'? ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Nothing like a good loser</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><dc:subject>Blog</dc:subject><dc:date>2007-06-14T13:57:14+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/d4a181e5735f745cfbe1bd42abd5d9fa-277.html#unique-entry-id-277</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/d4a181e5735f745cfbe1bd42abd5d9fa-277.html#unique-entry-id-277</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[There's nothing like a good loser, and this is nothing at all like one.   It's Katy Hopkins, Uberbitch from The Apprentice, talking about how mediocre the final was and how lousy the final pair actually were.


I had coffee with ex-Apprentice candidate James Max the other week and we discussed the current bunch.   He'd met most of them and thought Simon was excellent.   He'd never struck me as up to much and we concluded, I suspect rightly, that the eventual winner simply came over less well on television than in real life.   There are a lot of people like that and looking at them through TV glasses distorts our view.


But the Hopkins rant looks to me like it's about something else.   Once she was out, she had no reason to care who won.   It's about keeping yourself in the public eye by continuing to make daft comments after the curtain has well and truly gone down. 


My best guess is that Kate wanted some sort of notoriety and fame, a businessy Simon Cowell if you like, and styled her comments to the camera accordingly.   The problem is that there's not much call for a businessy Simon Cowell.   And even if there were, it would need to be someone with style who could come up with something not just cutting every time but witty too.   When she said Kristina Grimes used waffle to cover her backside and it was a shame she couldn't do the same with her choice of skirts it worked because it was politically incorrect, bitchy but also funny.   When she suggested Adam Hosker should go back to his "little Northern chums" it was an insult with no panache.


The very real difficulty Hopkins now faces is that people have seen through the act.   She tried to look ruthless but at the last minute, when Sir Alan Sugar demanded that she consider her choice's effect on other people, she crumbled.   Completely.   She's now portrayed herself as a ruthless businesswoman who can't quite deliver, which isn't a particularly useful place to find yourself.   (If she wants to take advantage of my media training service she's welcome, but I always advise people not to rip into the competition and I don't know if she can help herself).   There's very little left except someone trying to seem foxy in a posh dress on the News of the World website but actually just looking like a catty posh woman in a downmarket tabloid.


Mind you, we're still talking about her.   Who said nobody ever remembers who came third in something..?]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>An appalling matter</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Media issues</category><dc:date>2007-06-12T19:45:39+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/f8f46dfbadff76371cd1f6aa1049c47b-276.html#unique-entry-id-276</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/f8f46dfbadff76371cd1f6aa1049c47b-276.html#unique-entry-id-276</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[I was distressed to hear of the death of Banaz Mahmod at the hands of her father and uncle, as I'm sure were the vast, vast majority of people.   Its implications are way beyond the remit of a small and self-appointed media blog like this.


What I do consider my business, though, is the reporting of it.   Why is the media dignifying this and other filthy little murders with the term 'honour killing'?   Every time a report mentions it this seems somehow to validate it, to give it a title it doesn't merit.   Even if used in inverted commas, the term puts it into some sort of special category as if we have to understand something about the culture of these people before passing judgment.


It was murder, pure and simple.   I suggest it's time to stop calling it and cases like it anything else.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Tony Blair</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Media issues</category><dc:date>2007-06-12T19:15:15+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/6eeee571f057dbae0132211ca9b6bedf-275.html#unique-entry-id-275</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/6eeee571f057dbae0132211ca9b6bedf-275.html#unique-entry-id-275</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[So Tony Blair is calling the media a 'Feral Beast' with the Independent one of the worst offenders.   The BBC report on the speech is here, BBC political correspondent Nick Robinson's blog entry on the subject is here.


Personally I think the media is an easy target.   We're not always popular and when some sections of the press decide someone's day in the sun is over, it's not pretty - they do tend to go for them.   But Blair here is talking about the Independent.   It may not be a broadsheet any more but it retains broadsheet sensibilities.


I can only conclude that this is all about people disagreeing with him over central issues.   The Indie was among those papers celebrating ten years ago when Blair became PM.   I don't recall any complaints then.   As the years have passed and the spin grown more blatant it's become disillusioned and critical but it's never been as venomous as, say, the Mail.


So what do we make of this attack on the Indie?   With a little regret I have to say it looks like calculated spin yet again.   The red-tops would have been easy targets for Blair but nobody really takes the news stories seriously anyway.   The Mail is his sworn enemy so there's no point in going for them - it would be too predictable and non-newsworthy.


But the Indie?   That's different.   A left-leaning paper being criticised by a Labour PM.   Yes, that's non-obvious so yes, that might hit the headlines if the speech is dressed up with a few spicy words.   Sorry, does this sound cynical?   It should.   This is a PM who wants to make the maximum impact with a few words and that, I believe, is the reason he's rounded on this particular example.   You could almost call him 'feral' 


The Independent's site is silent on the subject as I type; typically, perhaps, the Guardian has reported the Indie's view instead.   You couldn't make that up.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Spell check annoyance</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Journalism in practice</category><dc:date>2007-06-07T13:21:15+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/9a83e4d64718eb67a0167fe0b2730a19-274.html#unique-entry-id-274</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/9a83e4d64718eb67a0167fe0b2730a19-274.html#unique-entry-id-274</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Let's be straight here, I'm not complaining that they shouldn't have said anything.   Far from it; due to circumstances beyond my control the copy was a few days late as well so in view of both of these factors I knocked a few hundred quid off outstanding monies owing.   I don't want dissatisfied customers any more than anyone else.


What I hate is that my system is supposed to check and alter the spelling of my documents automatically.   It's one of those Word for the Mac things.


And what I really hate is that I've been using this set-up now for two years, give or take.   And I've had the impression that it's been working properly.   I'm now very grateful to the contact who told me things are coming through looking shoddy, but I can't help wondering: how many sub-standard pieces have I been sending out to people who're just too polite to say anything?]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Work-life balance&#x2c; bah</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Coffee machine moments</category><dc:date>2007-06-05T18:50:53+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/6c8cd215a768875812ef7ce25d3a8cc4-273.html#unique-entry-id-273</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/6c8cd215a768875812ef7ce25d3a8cc4-273.html#unique-entry-id-273</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Not that I'm obsessed with this blog or anything.   It's just that I've agreed to do this piece for a supplement for one of the Nationals.   Two pieces in fact.


OK, five pieces, but three are done.   I agreed to do these in January/February with a long deadline, and the reason three of them are done is twofold.   First, if I'm honest, I organised them better.   Second, though, the case studies who'd agreed to be profiled, the PRs who set them up, didn't suddenly get in touch a fortnight ago after loads of delays and tell me they weren't going to play.


So here I am.   Tuesday evening.   Typing.   Actually, typing and hoping against hope that the people - no, let's call them saints!   - who've agreed to step in at the last minute, one of whom is in France and the other in America, will hit the 'send' key on their preliminary answers to me so I can check they're the right people and follow up with some questions to get some quotes.


Work-life balance?   Don't make me laugh...]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Another PR blog</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Media issues</category><dc:date>2007-05-25T09:55:14+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/49726cb6dc7e155bc80d27c399fcf884-272.html#unique-entry-id-272</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/49726cb6dc7e155bc80d27c399fcf884-272.html#unique-entry-id-272</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Following my little rant about how not to work with journalists a fortnight ago I've had my attention directed to this entry in Guy Kawasaki's blog.


It's well worth reading, particularly if you're about to pitch for some business in the area.   My thanks to Ed Wills on the UK Press list for telling us about it.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Bafta bemusement</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Coffee machine moments</category><dc:date>2007-05-23T20:24:19+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/9155aac09549135255aa597b478a269b-271.html#unique-entry-id-271</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/9155aac09549135255aa597b478a269b-271.html#unique-entry-id-271</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[OK, so I'm a jammy swine - I was invited to the Baftas this year as well as the after-show party as Pioneer's guest.   Many thanks to them.


I guessed all of the prizewinners, but unfortunately guessed most of them wrong; Mitchell and Webb were among the two I got right and I was delighted to see my old Week Ending producer Gareth Edwards, who now produces their show, achieve that sort of recognition.   The other one I got right was the Pioneer audience award, which went to Life On Mars and quite rightly too.


I gather, though, that I'm the only person in the UK who doesn't 'get' Victoria Wood as a serious actress.   Nor do I get why the TV broadcast of the awards cut out her winning her first award of the evening when her comments on winning her second only made sense if you'd seen the first.


But what the heck do I know.   It was a cracking evening out and if you ever get the chance to go, do so.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Someone&#x27;s been massaging my ego</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Coffee machine moments</category><dc:date>2007-05-13T14:45:51+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/aabe8ea2db1715c30cad755e66e7d590-270.html#unique-entry-id-270</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/aabe8ea2db1715c30cad755e66e7d590-270.html#unique-entry-id-270</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Personally I think anyone who doesn't know me or Sally from Adam probably has the less cluttered perspective, but what do I know.   Sally's freelance too, so I'd guess if there are any commissions going for personal appearances now that we're apparently celebrities famous enough to be quoted in adverts, you know where to find us...]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Ways of working with journalists</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Coffee machine moments</category><dc:date>2007-05-11T13:27:52+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/23b883b9e8570d5fb2d90c326be7dd3b-269.html#unique-entry-id-269</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/23b883b9e8570d5fb2d90c326be7dd3b-269.html#unique-entry-id-269</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Now, I'm not one to moan about PRs usually.   They do a tough job and are under a lot of pressure.   To be frank I don't think I could do it.   Nevertheless, from the whacky world of the last half an hour in my life, here are a few guidelines on how to work with a journalist if you have a product or service to push.


1.   When a journalist e-mails you with a request, under no circumstances read it all the way through.   Hacks are much happier if you just pick up on a key word and pitch something wholly irrelevant to what we're writing.


2.   If a journalist is after information on products and pictures only, having written a column around this structure for the whole of this century, don't offer them either - offer them an interview with someone instead.   They'll like that and of course the British media will change its structures to accommodate your client.


3.   If a journalist has specified he or she is writing in a column specifically aimed at the small business and self-employed market, ignore him and pitch something that's clearly aimed at another area entirely.   When he comments on this, tell him small businesses need to know.


4.   If a journalist specifies that he isn't interested in a particular category of product, send him information anyway.   And at least four high-res pics.   Under no circumstances check that he has a broadband connection before sending the lot.


5.   Just in case, if the journalist has multiple e-mail addresses, send it to all of them rather than just the one he's asked for.   We like multiple copies of stuff we didn't ask for in the first place, tidying up our hard disks keeps us off the streets.


I could go on...]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Patrick Moore and women</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Media issues</category><dc:date>2007-05-08T14:17:12+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/33e2c138c36d3c64ccb434c2cb044883-268.html#unique-entry-id-268</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/33e2c138c36d3c64ccb434c2cb044883-268.html#unique-entry-id-268</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[I was interested to see Patrick Moore's comments on women in broadcasting plastered everywhere today - and indeed to be asked about them during my technology slot at BBC London.


Having thought about it since, my view remains the same.   There may well be more women than men in charge of commissioning programmes at the Beeb, but they're actually commissioning a lot of blokey programmes.   When it was primarily men in charge, we had Dallas, we had EastEnders commissioned for the first time, we had Blake's 7 and Doctor Who cancelled.   Now we have the female of the species at decision making level and we have Doctor Who back, Life on Mars and its forthcoming sequel Ashes to Ashes, Hustle, loads of stuff.


It's actually a better balance than there's been for a fair while.   Yes, there has been a female captain on Star Trek (one of Moore's gripes) but times have changed.   It would have been strange if it hadn't happened.   By all means there are a lot of makeover shows but in an environment where there are literally hundreds of channels, there's a demand for something cheap and this means reality TV (or 'TV where people will work for nothing' as I like to think of it).


Overall I find myself dismayed to say the women are looking after male interests on telly much, much better than the blokes had been doing for a fair while.   I'd be interested to hear from any women with views on how we served them when the balance was the other way around a few years back.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>From the other side</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Coffee machine moments</category><dc:date>2007-05-02T16:39:49+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/0215a29daf657dbbdb99ca43861d5856-267.html#unique-entry-id-267</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/0215a29daf657dbbdb99ca43861d5856-267.html#unique-entry-id-267</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[My thanks to Andrew Smith for pointing me in the direction of this - a brilliantly-written view of a PR's day.   Do read it when you get a minute.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>A dog&#x27;s life</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Coffee machine moments</category><dc:date>2007-04-27T14:11:46+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/4af3b7541f02946cb96bbd519bad1be0-266.html#unique-entry-id-266</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/4af3b7541f02946cb96bbd519bad1be0-266.html#unique-entry-id-266</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[OK, it's Friday, it's hot, this isn't a journalism story but Clare Fisher of journalism.co.uk sent it to the UKpress list so everyone's got to see it.


http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/how-much-for-that-doggie/2007/04/27/1177459936217.html


I suggest they call them all Shaun.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Very important news I imagine</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Coffee machine moments</category><dc:date>2007-04-24T12:05:47+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/52f61a1e93a4204ebbd727dcbfe108c2-265.html#unique-entry-id-265</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/52f61a1e93a4204ebbd727dcbfe108c2-265.html#unique-entry-id-265</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Development,Software Development,Applications,Applications,


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iness,E-Business,E-Business,E-Business,E-Business,E-Business,E-Busines


s,E-Business,E-Business,E-Business,E-Business,E-Business,E-Business,E-


...ness,E-Business,E-Business,Education  Training,Education


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]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>You won&#x27;t hear this on the radio</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Journalism in practice</category><dc:date>2007-03-20T13:38:44+00:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/9ff7f8716a5033e0a15a9cc2d752e4ea-264.html#unique-entry-id-264</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/9ff7f8716a5033e0a15a9cc2d752e4ea-264.html#unique-entry-id-264</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Review kit rant</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Journalism in practice</category><dc:date>2007-03-09T11:20:07+00:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/2f816bfff18aa99ce567e981d45e7430-263.html#unique-entry-id-263</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/2f816bfff18aa99ce567e981d45e7430-263.html#unique-entry-id-263</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[So I'm reviewing some IT kit for the Guardian - never mind what it is, I wouldn't tell you before publication anyway but it doesn't affect the story.   And I need to get this equipment to my home.


So I fax - or rather scan in and e-mail - the loan form to the hire company to which several manufacturers outsource the management of their product loans.   All is going well so far.   The form asks for a registered address and a company registration number.


Thing is, I'm freelance.   And by that I don't mean I've set up a company to take advantage of tax, I mean I'm freelance - legally a sole trader.   So I don't have a registered address.


We can't send it without a registered address, they said.   Well, I don't have one, I said.   Can you put the address where you receive your business mail, they said.   Not really, I said, because if I put that then it's technically fraud and for the money I get for these reviews I'm not prepared to risk prosecution, even on a technicality - and anyway, why should I pretend to be a registered company when I'm a perfectly respectable freelance?


in the end the PR company signed on my behalf.   I couldn't help reflect that they must get this all the time.   I do hope they feed this back to their clients; I wonder how much coverage actually gets lost because freelances can't be bothered to jump through all the hoops and source competitors' equipment from elsewhere?]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Radio Radio</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Journalism in practice</category><dc:date>2007-03-05T17:46:31+00:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/6eaa0e1d82115e6ebf45704fd16a764e-262.html#unique-entry-id-262</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/6eaa0e1d82115e6ebf45704fd16a764e-262.html#unique-entry-id-262</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Back from holiday and I find I'm suddenly moving in a direction I want.   Longer-term readers will remember I went onto BBC London's breakfast show on Boxing Day; I was there again today, happily, commentating on technology once more.   I'm hoping to do some more of this.


And then it was on to Olympia to record some interviews that will, hopefully, be integrated into the BBC World Service's "Digital Planet" programme.


Clearly I have no idea where all this is heading, but it's a load of fun and hopefully will produce some programmes of interest in the meantime.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Threats and more threats</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Ethics</category><dc:date>2007-02-15T18:29:37+00:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/33070943edd6662b08cb7b1f56c1eff4-261.html#unique-entry-id-261</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/33070943edd6662b08cb7b1f56c1eff4-261.html#unique-entry-id-261</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Elsewhere the agency has been named; since I don't know the person who named them and I have no evidence either way I can't repeat it because it would be hearsay and I could libel someone very seriously indeed by suggesting they'd behave in such a way.


But if you happen to know who it is, and you have any PR budget, I'd suggest avoiding using him at all costs.   The man appears to be some sort of nut and as a professional communicator his approach is, ahem, interesting.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Slow news days</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Coffee machine moments</category><dc:date>2007-02-15T13:17:26+00:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/6138e69a6c1c1a415c7ea73adf7a83a8-260.html#unique-entry-id-260</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/6138e69a6c1c1a415c7ea73adf7a83a8-260.html#unique-entry-id-260</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Well as it happens there are a lot of us criticising Blair at the moment.   Nobody has asked me for any quotes and I don't blame them; I'm underqualified and underexperienced as any sort of political commentator.   You might as well ask someone in the street, you'd have as good a chance of getting an eloquent and informed quote.


Which is what brings me to Mr.   Gallagher.   Why does someone assume that a by-now-ageing rocker is going to be any more enlightening than someone who's examined the issues and considered them dispassionately?   It's not just Gallagher of course; ever since Harold Wilson feted the Beatles in the 1960s people have been assuming that musicians will have some sort of channel into meaningful, insightful conclusions.


Personally I think it's bunk.   These are entertainers and they do a solid job of it.   For some reason since the 1960s entertainers have also become spokespeople for causes, whether it's actors speaking out about Vietnam or Gallagher being pestered for views on the Prime Minister.   Personally I think it's time to let them start entertaining again and leave specialist matters to the specialists - or get some comment from non-rich non-stars with whom the rest of us can identify.   It won't happen of course, but wouldn't it be nice.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Was Top Gear offensive?</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Ethics</category><dc:date>2007-02-12T12:09:36+00:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/a639fb60eb8853922182a7e3fc64f6bc-259.html#unique-entry-id-259</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/a639fb60eb8853922182a7e3fc64f6bc-259.html#unique-entry-id-259</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[I'm not usually one for political correctness but there's a case for saying they went too far.   The set-up was simple - they decided that, instead of hiring a car, they'd buy one and try to sell it on at the end of their holiday.


Eventually they got some beaten-up old motors, with Jeremy Clarkson at one stage offering a fat car salesman a hamburger.   It was done with style and in spite of yourself you couldn't help laughing.


Then they daubed slogans on the side - "Hillary for President", something derogatory about country and western music (derogatory comments about c&w are always justified of course) and a pro-homosexuality comment.   Understandably they had some hoots from other motorists in the deep south.


Then they stopped for petrol and the garage owner said she was going to 'get the boys'.   A chase ensued with some hints that there was violence involved.   Later on they reached New Orleans and found it was still a wreck; they offered to give their cars away and one woman from a mission - we were told, after the cameras were switched off - claimed they'd misrepresented the years of one of the vehicles they were offering for nothing, and tried to take $20K off them to stop her suing.


With this and an artificially-fattened Stig, there was a lot of anti-Americanism in there/ It was certainly entertaining but I was left with a bit of an uncomfortable feeling.   I could, I'm sure, make a good documentary about how perverted the British are if I were to film exclusively in licenced sex shops and pick up cards left in phone boxes (if there are any around these days).   It might even be a laugh, but you could still be excused for wondering why I was doing it.   I could walk into a gay bar with anti-gay slogans on my tee-shirt and provoke a fight for another article ot film if I wanted to.   I'm reasonably certain you could achieve the result you wanted if you provided the right provocation.


I'd still query the motivation for doing any of those things and I'd query why they chose to pick a fight on Top Gear as well.   It's repeated on Wednesday, 8.00pm, BBC2 - I'd be interested to hear what other people think.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Fiiiiiiiiight....</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Coffee machine moments</category><dc:date>2007-02-07T11:56:59+00:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/47da18783317880a5e5a01287cb517e5-258.html#unique-entry-id-258</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/47da18783317880a5e5a01287cb517e5-258.html#unique-entry-id-258</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Anyone who enjoyed yesterday's entry with its reference to the new ad campaign from Apple might be interested to read some of the reaction there's been from His Billness.


You'd have thought a simple ad would have been either a giggle or not and that would have been it.   But no, apparently Bill Gates is taking it all terribly personally.


I'll be honest, I'm writing this on a Mac and enjoying doing so, but I'd been a PC user before this and happy enough.   They're boxes, they work, the Mac looks a bit better in my home so that's what I use, the end and they all lived happily ever after.   But I do enjoy these occasional spats between people who think the damned things actually matter to most of us other than as a means to an end.


I'll keep you posted.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Inspired advertising</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Coffee machine moments</category><dc:date>2007-02-06T12:43:33+00:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/3bdd99d13f8a4757a4dbbd0ae1173711-257.html#unique-entry-id-257</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/3bdd99d13f8a4757a4dbbd0ae1173711-257.html#unique-entry-id-257</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[I don't normally highlight ads that people should watch but Apple's answer to the Microsoft Vista operating system is inspired:


http://movies.apple.com/movies/us/apple/getamac/apple-getamac-security_480x376.mov


I'm indebted to Andrew Taylor for pointing this out.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>A likeable blog</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Coffee machine moments</category><dc:date>2007-02-05T13:56:13+00:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/2938a79a96a8234e98989420f458cdda-256.html#unique-entry-id-256</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/2938a79a96a8234e98989420f458cdda-256.html#unique-entry-id-256</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Just seen BBC economics correspondent Evan Davis' new blog.   As you'd expect from a professional journalist it's well-written although his brief is so far-reaching I wonder how thorough he'll be able to make it over the coming weeks?


The best entry and the most commented-upon so far, inevitably, is the one about the price of wine.   Davis applies simple economics to buying - if it's expensive then it's bound to be good, in other words.


Well, up to a point.   The duty on wine is fixed so if you buy one bottle at &pound;4 and another at &pound;8 then the &pound;8 bottle actually has well over twice the value of wine in it compared to the &pound;4 version.


It's not that straightforward, however.   I might understand that a sweet Sauterne is superbly crafted, for example, but I still wouldn't touch it because I can't stand the stuff.   Then there are the so-called bargains.   A lot of my friends have been buying wines at 50 per cent less than their RRP lately and have been surprised that they're not that great.   It's not until someone points out that something that wouldn't shift for the original price is likely to have been overinflated in the first place that the penny drops.


My own instinct is to try something and then decide whether you like it or not, and if you really like it, keep a note somewhere.   Call me old-fashioned but it seems to work.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>That time of year again</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Coffee machine moments</category><dc:date>2007-01-26T14:11:18+00:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/e5ddc76ac5828c363a8e9b43b8495176-255.html#unique-entry-id-255</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/e5ddc76ac5828c363a8e9b43b8495176-255.html#unique-entry-id-255</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[OK, I've been quiet lately but it's that time of year for self-employed people - 31 January and therefore tax deadline day is only days away.


Yicch.


For people who aren't self-employed, the system works thus: you declare your income and expenditure for the financial year ended pretty much ages ago and send your figures in.   You also put in your personal finances for the same period.   Your accountant calls you in a panic - or rather doesn't because he's up to his eyes.   You then find out he or she needs more detail and they assume you know exactly what by osmosis.


I'll be blogging again by the end of the week.   Just don't be surprised if the blog looks somehow tear-stained...]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Shilpa</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Media issues</category><dc:date>2007-01-18T10:51:56+00:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/30792137d3e6b1e689f8de683efc569a-254.html#unique-entry-id-254</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/30792137d3e6b1e689f8de683efc569a-254.html#unique-entry-id-254</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[The Shilpa Shetty/Big Brother stuff is coming to a head nicely - 21,000 complaints at last count because of racism in the house.   There are arguments and counter-arguments; I'd have to agree on the surface that 'dog', which she has been called, is not actually a racist term of abuse, it's usually sexist, but in the context of all the rest it's probably been applied to her because she's Indian and therefore a "Paki" (although how that's supposed to work geographically I have no idea - presumably the bigots will find someone from Pakistan and call them an Indi in the interests of balance).


Personally I'm delighted by what's happening.   Let me rephrase.   I deplore what's happening to Ms.   Shetty as an individual - nobody should have to go through that.   On the other hand, in my experience most racists and bigots shout their abuse at people who are different then go home and forget about them.   It rarely occurs to them that these people are individuals with families, feelings and rights.   On Celebrity Big Brother the bigots can watch the abuse and no doubt find it jolly amusing - but then they have to watch the reaction.   Probably for the first time they're sitting there seeing what happens after someone is abused simply for their skin colour and culture, when they're by themselves and quiet.   I doubt that they would have realised the insult doesn't just go away once the aggressor has left the scene.


If one person, be they a builder or a ballet dancer, thinks twice about shouting abuse next time, or reconsiders their BNP membership as a result of watching Shilpa, this might have been worth it.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>To review or not to review</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Media issues</category><dc:date>2007-01-12T09:20:02+00:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/e67e987558b3bcaa27e119a54171f03f-253.html#unique-entry-id-253</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/e67e987558b3bcaa27e119a54171f03f-253.html#unique-entry-id-253</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Initially my reaction was one of anger; he's been on the radio (something I'm keen to build on as long-term readers will know, so let's acknowledge the professional jealousy angle immediately) and talked about something of which he has little first-hand knowledge.   And contrary to his blog's claim that Microsoft didn't send out any review copies of Windows Vista for review until January, I and loads of other tech journalists have been playing with the beta release for months (you get it by phoning the press office and asking).


Then I had another think.   Isn't every journalist prone to review books or equipment turning up late?   Can we honestly all claim that we've never done anything in a hurry with a slightly shaky brief?   So how is this case different and why did I react angrily?


Two possible reasons spring to mind.   One is simple professional jealousy.   I'm not proud of my feelings here but I'd love to go on the World Service and if I've seen Vista and used it then a large part of me says that should have been my gig rather than that of someone who hasn't even seen the damned thing.   The second, which is more serious to my mind, is in blogging the transgression afterwards.   If someone found the broadcast interesting they might, for example, do a web search on the journalists involved.   They might find the blog and then see the programme completely undermined by one of the contributors.


As a competitive journalist I'm annoyed at it for reasons of petty jealousy, I admit it.   If I were the producer and found my programme being apparently dismissed in this way, I think I'd be furious.


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</script>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Tomorrow&#x27;s World is back</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Media issues</category><dc:date>2007-01-09T11:22:58+00:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/44e541cfe0d41228bcecc063d20a3c5f-252.html#unique-entry-id-252</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/44e541cfe0d41228bcecc063d20a3c5f-252.html#unique-entry-id-252</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Albeit only as a brand within the BBC, talking about tech stories under the auspices of Maggie Philbin.   On a personal level of course I find this highly frustrating.   Readers will be aware that over Christmas I did a little tech spot on BBC London and if all of the tech spots are now going to come under one banner then it's thank you and goodnight to me.


I'm looking forward to it, though, not because of the quality of the stories or the (deserved) resurgence in Maggie Philbin's career, but because they might start dropping clangers again.   Does everyone else remember how we were all going to be wearing high-tech clothing made of old vinyl records by the 1980s (predicted in the 1960s)?   Or how CDs were foolproof and completely indestructible?


Of course there'll be the sensible stuff as well, but personally I wish Maggie Philbin every success and courage in coming out with as much cock-eyed tripe as the new formats will take.   That was always half the fun of the original.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>My favourite thing...</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Coffee machine moments</category><dc:date>2007-01-08T19:29:20+00:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/e2c8d2fa5ed3b1319afc14c288e01216-251.html#unique-entry-id-251</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/e2c8d2fa5ed3b1319afc14c288e01216-251.html#unique-entry-id-251</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[...is also the least sociable thing I've done for ages by far but hey. that's life.   On Boxing Day - that's Boxing Day, mark you - I was up at 6.00am to drive to the BBC for an 8.40 interview.   I've been trying to get a slot on the breakfast show for, oh, ages now and finally they called me in.


A cynic - OK, my father-in-law - might suggest that they'd take anyone mug enough to get up at that time on Boxing Day but I can only say that the combination of producer Sarah Ryan and presenters JoAnne Good and Baylen Leonard are an unusually welcoming combination, particularly since they'd been broadcasting since 6.00 and no doubt preparing the show for an hour or so before then.


Sometimes you get these things you really want to do again.   Fingers crossed.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>More on Suffolk</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><dc:subject>Blog</dc:subject><dc:date>2006-12-19T16:50:14+00:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/9ba53f911856d4f24bddb1aceb67f31b-250.html#unique-entry-id-250</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/9ba53f911856d4f24bddb1aceb67f31b-250.html#unique-entry-id-250</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Definitely, hats off to the Guardian for reporting this - many papers would have shied away from putting something in that ran so contrary to their interests.   The BBC, meanwhile, is attracting a fair bit of flak amid a small amount of praise for publishing the guy's name in its editors' blog.


Personally I'm with the critics on this one.   The BBC has so overstepped the mark it's not true.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>How not to present to the media (or bishop-bashing for beginners)</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Coffee machine moments</category><dc:date>2006-12-19T11:59:05+00:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/50cca6cc572e2f51c850c0cd18fb9fbf-249.html#unique-entry-id-249</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/50cca6cc572e2f51c850c0cd18fb9fbf-249.html#unique-entry-id-249</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Or at least stop telling everyone you must have been sober on the night you can't account for because you got home OK.   Loads of us do it when plastered - it's not difficult.   Even then, you could draw the line at explaining your route home from Green Park to Streatham - a claim that you did this straightforwardly via London Bridge is tosh, the straightforward route is Green Park tube then change at Stockwell and straight to Tooting Bec.


The real problem is that the Bishop is claiming he wasn't drunk and because of his position everyone thinks it's hilarious.   So whatever ill-advised interview he gives, he's not going to win.


I do wonder about some of the other conditions that could produce the same symptoms as this, though.   Supposing, after proper medical assessment, he wasn't drunk but was found to have had a stroke?   Or that this was the onset of Alzheimer's?   It might not sound quite so hilarious I suppose, and won't sell the papers.   But deep down inside me there's a niggle that says a middle aged to elderly man found completely out of control is more of a cause for concern than for a laugh.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Don&#x27;t talk to the Beeb</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Media issues</category><dc:date>2006-12-18T17:10:47+00:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/1dcdeaa98f480398ffeeb0fe2faf34cc-248.html#unique-entry-id-248</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/1dcdeaa98f480398ffeeb0fe2faf34cc-248.html#unique-entry-id-248</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[The beeb says in its report that he gave the interview on the understanding that it was for background and would not be broadcast.   It seems that now he's a murder suspect their undertaking is null and void.   I'm not comfortable with this.


There are a few reasons for my unease.   First, remember he's a suspect and has yet to stand trial.   So by law he's assumed innocent until proven guilty.   This means the BBC is trashing a promise to an innocent man for the sake of a story.   The world now knows he pays for prostitutes.


Also, even if he's guilty - and please don't tell me his trial can't be prejudiced by the above disclosure - when did it become OK to break a promise of confidentiality just because someone's a criminal?   I can see the logic of handing the interview to the police.   Lives are being lost here so of course anything material should be disclosed.   But publishing or broadcasting has nothing to do with preventing further killing.   Instead it has everything to do with chasing a story no matter whose word is broken in the process.


But who's going to give the BBC a backround interview again?   I don't think I'd trust them.   And as always it's the viewer, whose stories won't be as well-informed as previously because of people holding back, who'll suffer.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Craig&#x27;s funeral</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><dc:subject>Blog</dc:subject><dc:date>2006-12-15T09:53:24+00:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/f8eff1023284ece06666adbc5855422c-247.html#unique-entry-id-247</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/f8eff1023284ece06666adbc5855422c-247.html#unique-entry-id-247</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Craig Hinton was cremated yesterday at a quiet service in Portchester Crematorium.   It was well attended by friends past and preset.   Played in to the strains of the Doctor Who theme - made sense if you knew him - and played out to Total Eclipse of the Heart, it was tastefully done.   How his mother coped I don't know.   I suppose you just have to.


Inevitably the gathering afterwards turned into a bit of a social event.   It was good to catch up with some old friends, all of whom agreed we need to get together again before another funeral unites us.   Whether this will happen I don't know but I hope so.


Goodbye, Craig.   It was a nice service, just 40 years too early.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Craig Hinton</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><dc:subject>Blog</dc:subject><dc:date>2006-12-06T11:03:31+00:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/426c9c11dd5cedebea6283748f1526d7-246.html#unique-entry-id-246</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/426c9c11dd5cedebea6283748f1526d7-246.html#unique-entry-id-246</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[It's with sadness that I report the death of one of my former commissioning editors, Craig Hinton.   He edited one of the network publications at VNU about ten years ago and was always helpful with a brief and an all-round good type to work with.


Dismally he was 42.   The tributes around the web are concentrating on his science fiction output, which was prodigious; a lot of us in the tech press/formerly of the tech press will miss him too.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Press Gazette lives</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Media issues</category><dc:date>2006-12-06T11:02:08+00:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/c1c1046fce2277c7f37895906adb5cf7-245.html#unique-entry-id-245</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/c1c1046fce2277c7f37895906adb5cf7-245.html#unique-entry-id-245</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[It's back:


http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/article/051206/wilmington_buys_press_gazette_magazine_journalism_newspaper


The only question remaining will be how they address a readership whose members share less and less in common with each other.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>I hate it when this happens...</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Coffee machine moments</category><dc:date>2006-11-28T13:07:06+00:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/029b22211bce1e8857669d8753ab4648-244.html#unique-entry-id-244</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/029b22211bce1e8857669d8753ab4648-244.html#unique-entry-id-244</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[One such occasion has happened to me just recently - or indeed several such occasions.   I'd been to a meeting or two with Microsoft's PRs, informally.   We spoke, among other things, about Microsoft's new "Office Live" offering.   I couldn't get to the formal launch but that was OK, I knew about the product.   I thought.


I assumed - quite wrongly, it turns out - that this was the long-threatened, by analysts if not by Microsoft itself, version of Office onto which you could log from anywhere - a fully-hosted application suite.   Sounded a good idea to me.   I made noises like "people have tried this in the days before broadband and of course it didn't work", and of course Microsoft - which was preparing Office Live, which is actually a web-writing and hosting and e-mailing product - agreed.   I said, people will have to trust the host implicitly and reliability will be everything.   Microsoft agreed again.


Looking back on it, I couldn't have done a better job of not quite asking the question or making the comment that would have alerted them to the fact that I had completely the wrong concept in my mind if I'd tried really, really hard.   So it didn't occur to me that when I mentioned the launch in the AOB section of the Guardian's Business Sense supplement I was actually outlining an entirely different product to that which Microsoft had actually launched.


I have to say Inferno PR, Microsoft's voice on Earth for this product set, has been very professional and constructive about the whole affair.   It'll be sorted out relatively painlessly.   Mistakes and misunderstandings happen.


But if anyone ever sees me looking complacent about what I do, feel free to whisper 'Office Live' into my ear.   I might not look pleased but a swift reminder won't do me any harm.
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Press Gazette: the post mortems begin</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Media issues</category><dc:date>2006-11-27T19:23:17+00:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/a3b3648a28d98f485aeb2b905f779707-243.html#unique-entry-id-243</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/a3b3648a28d98f485aeb2b905f779707-243.html#unique-entry-id-243</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[For my money, after discussion with a number of fellow hacks, I'd agree that the nature of journalists has changed since the PG's heyday.   In the 1980s desktop publishing started and with that came a whole bunch of DTP'd magazines.   Many were about computers.   This is important because these magazines brought with them a new form of journalist, one who popped up ready-formed rather than going through the traditional local press followed by national press route.   This has spread way beyond the IT press by now.


This meant that a lot of journalists - many of whom are now pretty senior - have grown up respecting but taking no real interest in the regional press.   This in turn made a lot of the content of the PG redundant for a lot of its readership.


I don't know what you do when your readers start to fragment, and by dividing its pages up accordingly PG did its best.   Other issues contributed, though.   As a former contributor I'll admit to finding it galling that the MD who took it increasingly into loss and then buried it was on &pound;133,000 per annum while contributors were getting &pound;190 per 1000 words.   The commissioning editors often seemed embarrassed at the word rate and I don't blame them.


I'd like to think there'll be another trade mag for the press emerging at some stage, but the silo mentality - in which the magazine journalists are only interested in passing in the newspaper journalists and in which trade journalists don't readily identify themselves with their colleagues on the regionals- will remain an obstacle for anyone attempting to set it up.


And that's from an editorial point of view only.   How you'd make a case for advertising in a mag that attempted to straddle all of those groups I just don't know.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>And it&#x27;s gone.</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Media issues</category><dc:date>2006-11-24T19:32:14+00:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/00743eabcbb5c0874588ea5164c221a9-242.html#unique-entry-id-242</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/00743eabcbb5c0874588ea5164c221a9-242.html#unique-entry-id-242</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/article/241106/press_gazette_closes_40_years_magazines_journalism


Dismal news.   The UK press is now without its own trade rag.


If any of the staff are reading, I wish you luck in everything you go on to do.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Press Gazette</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Media issues</category><dc:date>2006-11-08T12:47:04+00:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/e7be8317bbeca3bc6a8d9b2ff6024c5f-241.html#unique-entry-id-241</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/e7be8317bbeca3bc6a8d9b2ff6024c5f-241.html#unique-entry-id-241</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[I had a bad feeling about this when they started canvassing for new owners on their front page a little while back.   I can only hope that someone's in there - no doubt waiting for the price to go down - and will keep the thing running.


Mind you, if someone does step in and buy it at bargain basement prices you can't help but imagine the rate they pay freelances, which is already unspectacular, will sink even further.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Freelancing for a living</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Media issues</category><dc:date>2006-11-06T18:16:47+00:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/54260298e7a9eefffec87a6abbb5734e-240.html#unique-entry-id-240</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/54260298e7a9eefffec87a6abbb5734e-240.html#unique-entry-id-240</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[There is an excellent article on the subject here at journalism.co.uk.   It's worth reading, and to the hints in there I'd add:


1.   Try to understand what the editor has to do for a living.   Make it simpler and you'll succeed.


2.   Remember they can always buy articles from elsewhere.


3.   Specialise in something - my own freelancing has only taken off since people have thought 'small business, we'll ask Guy'


4.   Never take a rejection personally.   The editor doesn't know you, they know your idea.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Owning the press</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Media issues</category><dc:date>2006-10-26T13:07:39+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/1287c99f658d460df7efbc4386b6ab62-239.html#unique-entry-id-239</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/1287c99f658d460df7efbc4386b6ab62-239.html#unique-entry-id-239</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[I've written for the PG on a number of occasions and agree the current arrangements aren't entirely satisfactory.   It's co-owned by ex-PR supremo Matthew Freud and ex-Mirror editor Piers Morgan.   And there has been a lot of controversy as a result, with editors boycotting the awards because of Morgan and soforth.


My guess is that they're doing the right thing in getting out.   I don't know how they didn't see the difficulties coming in the first place.   But the really awkward thing is, if you have to advertise for a new owner on your front cover as the PG is now doing, aren't you really admitting your magazine is in serious trouble?]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>C4 loses Lost</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Media issues</category><dc:date>2006-10-20T11:46:48+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/2af3a8db57b235019bf3c32cf949e8d8-238.html#unique-entry-id-238</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/2af3a8db57b235019bf3c32cf949e8d8-238.html#unique-entry-id-238</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[The full story is in the Guardian and it's certainly a coup for the Murdoch empire.   I can't help wondering though, whether it's actually too late.   I watched the first few episodes and then sort of tuned out, and according to the Guardian's report |'m not alone.


It wasn't that the episodes had got worse or anything, I should add - just that forcing my wife to sit through the revamped Doctor Who was enough for her to bear and I decided to compromise somewhere (we;ll be recording Torchwood on Sunday, of course, what with Prime Suspect being so good last week).


But Lost shed a lot of viewers between seasons one and two.   It's likely to do the same for season 3 and this effect will be magnified by a move to satellite.   Has Sky done itself any favours?   Personally I think not.   Lost is the sort of series whose viewers will frankly already have satellite or cable in their homes.   With Freeview coming around as a competitor, if I were in charge of the Murdoch channels I'd be looking for a way to bring new viewers in rather than appease those I already had.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>I never understand economists</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><dc:subject>Blog</dc:subject><dc:date>2006-10-19T14:37:31+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/b630fe8cf0a113985f2648129f6323e7-237.html#unique-entry-id-237</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/b630fe8cf0a113985f2648129f6323e7-237.html#unique-entry-id-237</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[I'll never understand this. we get several years of why we're all doomed because we're spending too much on credit and not usng cash we actually have - then we cut back and people are baffled, saying it's actually bad news.


Anyone who can explain this is welcome to have a go.   Or you could just have too much time on your hands.   But I'm surprised the journalists never make the connection - isn't it our job to ask the awkward stuff?]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>I have no fax</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Journalism in practice</category><dc:date>2006-10-16T12:14:03+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/26df440a922b6c8a391258172a7486bb-236.html#unique-entry-id-236</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/26df440a922b6c8a391258172a7486bb-236.html#unique-entry-id-236</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[As you'll have gathered from over a decade of hype, this is the information age, we're all tethered to the information superhighway and so on.


Well, sometimes.   I've been looking at digital cameras and cameraphones just lately - or I would have.   Unfortunately I have no fax.   You remember faxes - we weren't going to need them once e-mail had set in, and more often than not I still don't.   I have an Internet-based fax number on which I can receive the things if people insist, but the idea of sending one is simply antiquated.


Or so I thought, until I discovered once again the vagaries of the PR machine.   Yes of course we'll lend you a camera to evaluate, they said.   Just print this form, sign it and send it back and that'll be fine.


Grr.   I can assure everyone I am not a thief.   If I tell you I'm borrowing a camera and I'll send it back, that's what I'll do.   Indeed I'm not sure that signing a physical bit of paper would be any more binding than an e-mailed exchange in an instance like that; I'm either a crook or I'm not, and a signature's not going to get in my way if I am.


And yet everyone with loan kit insists on sticking with old technology.   Baffling...]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>A magazine for me</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Journalism in practice</category><dc:date>2006-10-05T19:07:30+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/Your%20intrepid%20blogger%20is%20enthused%20by%20a%20new%20publication.html#unique-entry-id-235</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/Your%20intrepid%20blogger%20is%20enthused%20by%20a%20new%20publication.html#unique-entry-id-235</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[The title gives you a strong idea of where the content's going - it's all about the sort of technology designed to make life simpler for all of us, but which so often doesn't quite get there (I should add that the telly I won from the prize draw in the Currys Digital Christmas launch is the exception to this).   But unlike, say, Stuff, you might notice something about the cover.   And the contents.


To put it bluntly, it's titty-free.   Even bikini-clad ones.


I like that.   I've been married 14 years last week and honestly, folks, I know what breasts look like.   And if I wanted to see some more I'm not shy of buying a suitable publication.


But if I want to read about technology for my home I don't want a mag that's going to get my daughter (6) asking why the lady working the iPod isn't wearing many clothes.   I want something that addresses me with common sense as an intelligent adult, within reason.   I want something which, like this publication, takes into account that all these gadgets and stuff have to go into the living room and be made to fit into it whilst looking reasonable.


And at long last someone's published something for me.   And I'm in it.   And I'm delighted.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Alas poor David&#x2c; they&#x27;ve got him then got themselves</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Coffee machine moments</category><dc:date>2006-10-04T16:54:50+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/86cea370e20eba4abd3743d21eb444da-232.html#unique-entry-id-232</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/86cea370e20eba4abd3743d21eb444da-232.html#unique-entry-id-232</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Great piece from VNUNet speaks of David Cameron's blog which has video and all sorts of clever stuff.   It seems he's been clever but not clever enough to register www.webcameron.info - which, inevitably, has therefore been snapped up by UKIP.   They've put a comedy sketch about Cameron aping Tony Blair up there.


Except...


They nicked the sketch from YouTube, and it's copy protected.   So when you open the page you can't see the sketch.


Tories and UKIP both making fools of themselves at the same time.   Oh, happy day....]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Here&#x27;s a bit of fun</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Coffee machine moments</category><dc:date>2006-09-21T18:17:29+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/b49552cbd4684702a82981b7d014c9dc-231.html#unique-entry-id-231</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/b49552cbd4684702a82981b7d014c9dc-231.html#unique-entry-id-231</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[A silly thing for a Friday morning is Blogshares, in which your favourite blogger gets his or her site rated according to how many people link to it.


As you can see, my value is increasing almost alarmingly - sadly this doesn't translate into actual money...]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Dogs reclassified</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Coffee machine moments</category><dc:date>2006-09-15T13:29:20+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/23cf5f074ea68c5949124cf575e53255-230.html#unique-entry-id-230</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/23cf5f074ea68c5949124cf575e53255-230.html#unique-entry-id-230</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[If you ever think you're getting jaded and have seen everything, look at something like this:


http://j-walkblog.com/index.php?  /weblog/posts/canine_americans/


Yes I know it's cheap, and yes I know that this bloke's only one nutter among, I'm sure, a quite sane nation.   But being only just back from walking my Canine Briton I'm surprised to find someone doesn't want her to be classified as a dog any more...]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Silly stuff</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Coffee machine moments</category><dc:date>2006-09-08T18:41:20+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/0e9c63b81b0fb52754f03d586b526256-228.html#unique-entry-id-228</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/0e9c63b81b0fb52754f03d586b526256-228.html#unique-entry-id-228</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Anyone want to know the time?


http://www.yugop.com/ver3/stuff/03/fla.html]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Back from hols and the new book&#x27;s out...</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Coffee machine moments</category><dc:date>2006-09-07T14:18:00+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/4758aece559141b36a770930132661c8-227.html#unique-entry-id-227</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/4758aece559141b36a770930132661c8-227.html#unique-entry-id-227</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[What a superb place Bewdley in the Midlands is for a break.   Genuinely interesting local museum with activities for the kids, the Severn with a bunch of very attractive swans, a safari park which my daughter loved only five minutes away...highly recommended.


And I'm refreshed enough to be glad to be back.   Work's coming in and oh yes, the new edition of Britain's Top Employers is out from the Guardian and the Corporate Research Foundation.   It's my third as editor, fourth as contributor and we're now doing them on an annual turnaround.


Which means there's no time for a party as it's just about now that we start working on the next one.   Which will, of course, be even better than the current book, with which I'm happier than its predecessor.


More on this anon.   Meanwhile I'm happy to say it looks as though there'll be more podcasts to talk about soon...actually I'm quite happy at the moment...]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Why Googling is good for Google</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>New Media</category><dc:date>2006-08-15T10:01:22+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/f66717afece52eba598277bbdde0ede0-226.html#unique-entry-id-226</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/f66717afece52eba598277bbdde0ede0-226.html#unique-entry-id-226</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[OK, here's a case in which a new media company has completely misunderstood the planet on which it is based.   Google (for it is they) want to stop people referring to 'googling' when they're just looking something up.   They say it could be bad for their brand, according to the story you can reach through the link just there.


Hmm.   That'll be why nobody's ever heard of Hoover, and people who think they have a Hoover very often have something made by someone else entirely but continue to project the Hoover name whenever they mention it.   It's bad for branding in the same way that calling things the Rolls-Royce of their field is bad for the car company, getting them a mention even when their product is nowhere around.


Google apparently wants to stop this free. de facto marketing.   Crazy.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Media trainers and interviews</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Coffee machine moments</category><dc:date>2006-08-10T12:07:00+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/a016cfcaa4e3165520fa9580a509b16b-225.html#unique-entry-id-225</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/a016cfcaa4e3165520fa9580a509b16b-225.html#unique-entry-id-225</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[OK, it wasn't perfect.   The Woman's Hour interview/debate is now on the web and you can listen to it very soon by clicking here.   I've trained people to speak to journalists and told them they need to be fluent, calm and everything - and of course when it was me I noticed every umm and aah that went on the hour.   But I think my points were made, intact.   And Jenni Murray was a sympathetic interviewer.


Overall I rather enjoyed that.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>More radio</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Coffee machine moments</category><dc:date>2006-08-09T15:47:36+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/b3a017690fffe0b451fc706c2325880b-224.html#unique-entry-id-224</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/b3a017690fffe0b451fc706c2325880b-224.html#unique-entry-id-224</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[So I get a mail from the BBC picking my brains for a contact from a piece I wrote on work/life balance a while back for the Guardian.   And I get chatting on the subject to the researcher, and we seem to get on OK.   Then the producer calls...


...and what do you know, I'm on Woman's Hour tomorrow talking about self-employment and work/life balance issues.   It's only for a few minutes but it's a paid radio gig on the BBC.


I'm quite disproportionately pleased about that.   In fact I'm just very pleased, and if I can set up a link to the item through 'Listen Again' it'll be up here tomorrow.   Anyone else needing any voice work done, you know where I am.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Off with its head</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Media issues</category><dc:date>2006-08-03T12:01:44+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/9ace7252e851876f5745761b68dbe88b-223.html#unique-entry-id-223</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/9ace7252e851876f5745761b68dbe88b-223.html#unique-entry-id-223</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[The inevitable has happened - ITV has demanded the resignation of its chief executive, Charles Allen, or so the BBC says.   For all I know he resigned to spend more time with his family.


The question will be where ITV goes from here, though.   The ratings are in free-fall and so, I'm afraid, is the quality.   Other than Corrie fans I find it hard to think of anyone who has a good word to say about much of its output.   The question will not be whether they replace Allen with someone who can learn from his mistakes but whether a change in chief executive is going to be enough to turn the thing around.


As to who replaces him, one name not in the BBC's report but who's offered his services, albeit light-heartedly, is that nice Greg Dyke, late of the BBC.   I wonder...]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>ITV damned</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Media issues</category><dc:date>2006-07-28T09:22:57+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/b57f3e48c832364c514b72872204c821-222.html#unique-entry-id-222</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/b57f3e48c832364c514b72872204c821-222.html#unique-entry-id-222</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Let's accept for the moment that the Guardian has never had much of a liking for ITV.   The news coverage from ITN has a right-wing slant which will be anathema to such a famously liberal (with a lower-case 'l') paper.   It doesn't have the lofty detachment the BBC can afford because of its state-subsidised status.


Nevertheless, predicting the downfall of the channel could be argued as a bit extreme - until you look at the recent output.   Philip Schofield's new show canned after a single episode.   Love Island, give me strength...


ITV could, just about, pull it around except for one thing.   It's announced big cuts in drama.   The BBC's star is firmly in the ascendant precisely because of drama - Doctor Who, the forthcoming Robin Hood, Life on Mars, the more realistic stuff like Sorted, The Street - it's finding that people actually like well-written and well-produced stories and they'll watch in numbers.


ITV - which gave us The Sweeney, Jeremy Brett's Sherlock Holmes, Brideshead Revisited and the Jewel in the Crown, has instead pinned its hopes on formats that are by now proven disasters or cheap dramas with stars the BBC has already nurtured and established (which kind of reasserts the BBC's mastery over the television craft).   I can't honestly see a way back.   I hope to be proven wrong.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Stephen Lawrence</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Media issues</category><dc:date>2006-07-27T09:25:23+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/8ddf5795be48b6420ff393847c5b949d-221.html#unique-entry-id-221</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/8ddf5795be48b6420ff393847c5b949d-221.html#unique-entry-id-221</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Let me say first that I have no idea whether or not the men accused of murdering Stephen Lawrence are guilty or not.   The consensus seems to be that they are; the courts decided otherwise some time ago.


As I say, I have no idea.   But I do feel, pretty strongly, that if there's new evidence then the place for it is at New Scotland Yard, or indeed Stephen Lawrence House rather than a TV programme.   I have no doubt that the current incarnation of the Met will take the allegations very seriously - they'll also have to take into account that they came from a self-confessed bent copper - and investigate anything new that arises.


But the accused lawyers, should they come to trial again under the double jeopardy rules. will have a pretty cast-iron case saying that the men can't get a fair trial because the media has convinced everyone of their guilt in advance.   I'm not entirely sure how that helps.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>How to get your film season advertised for free on the BBC</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Coffee machine moments</category><dc:date>2006-07-24T13:18:35+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/9ceb9ad66a07e50d15e92182949d1cb7-220.html#unique-entry-id-220</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/9ceb9ad66a07e50d15e92182949d1cb7-220.html#unique-entry-id-220</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Easy - you frame it as a poll and the BBC does something like this.   I imagine most of these movies will be turning up on Film4 anytime now...]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Define &#x27;frustration&#x27;</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Coffee machine moments</category><dc:date>2006-07-19T11:12:38+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/d11f2f6913b9d25ab12a67488ec47f59-219.html#unique-entry-id-219</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/d11f2f6913b9d25ab12a67488ec47f59-219.html#unique-entry-id-219</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[I've just had one of those ordinary things happen to me that are nonetheless truly annoying.


A few weeks ago I was offered an interview with a minor celebrity - emphasis on the 'minor' but never mind.   She's setting up in business and it sounded vaguely sellable.   So I sent out a few mails and didn't give it much more thought.


Then yesterday the features editor of a national paper gets back to me with a 'yes please'.   It was for the main features section and this might have opened a new market for me - might have opened up all sorts of new markets, you never know.   The word rate was superb.   I was what we call in the trade 'motivated' - which isn't a bad thing in this heat.


Only, when I get back to the PRs, they tell me that the same paper's business section already has a piece going in.   So I get back to my commissioning editor - and there's no criticism, he couldn't possibly have known about it - and understandably his view is that the pre-existing interview in the same paper kills the piece stone dead.


One of those things, certainly, but damn.   Damn, damn, damn.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Part-time for a while</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Coffee machine moments</category><dc:date>2006-07-17T11:09:52+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/155315235decaf4dc80549eb427ea981-218.html#unique-entry-id-218</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/155315235decaf4dc80549eb427ea981-218.html#unique-entry-id-218</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[It's that summer holiday time again - from the schools' point of view anyway.   Charlotte is off, so she's in her room 'tidying up' for a while as I finish some bits and pieces of work.   Her version of tidying up seems to involve jumping up and down on her bed quite a bit, but I digress.


This leaves me sort of part-time until September.   This could be quite a giggle, going part time and seeing whether anyone can actually see a difference; given the school run you could argue I've been doing it for a while already.


If I find I'm more engaged whilst working shorter hours and my money actually goes up, I'll be doing more of this...]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Not quite a run for your money</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Coffee machine moments</category><dc:date>2006-07-15T14:20:55+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/55c28c1b17562971a26140a4757c9d91-217.html#unique-entry-id-217</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/55c28c1b17562971a26140a4757c9d91-217.html#unique-entry-id-217</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Damn.


So I get up this morning all raring to go for the Sport Relief mile.   The child-minding had fallen through so I was going to have to take my daughter, but no matter.   It was going to be fine.


Then she was tired.   But that was OK, we could walk.


Then she started straining to put her trainers on.   How long, we asked, have they been too tight?   Quite a long time, was the answer.   OK, we thought, the school plimsoles came back yesterday - but these, too, were on the small side, it turned out.   And she was flagging even whilst putting them on.


So rather absurdly I'm sitting here having raised &pound;215 (many thanks to all who donated) without having run a mile.   I promise, promise, promise I'll do one, even if it's on the treadmill at the gym.


But if anyone spends all of Monday mailing me about how it went today, don't be surprised if I sound a little frustrated.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Internet Providers and copyright</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>New Media</category><dc:date>2006-07-12T10:48:16+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/d1ac7ae6850de1b2aff6b6b9739f7092-216.html#unique-entry-id-216</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/d1ac7ae6850de1b2aff6b6b9739f7092-216.html#unique-entry-id-216</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[The kerfuffle over Internet Service Providers being held liable for people pirating music is an entertaining bit of dirt - here's the latest - but if anyone wants to test it in the courts I'd be very surprised if they got anywhere.


Yes, an ISP's infrastructure allows someone to exchange copyright-protected files illegally, but then most of that network moves over BT's cabling in the UK.   Is anyone asking BT to remove their cabling from the offenders' houses?   I think not.   And if the ISPs are responsible for someone downloading music they shouldn't then so, surely, is the manufacturer of the computer on which they're doing it.   Plus the shop that sold it to them.


ISPs are a soft target but they're not responsible for someone pirating items using their systems.   What'll be next, photocopier manufacturers sued for similar copyright breaches?]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Someone shoot ITV and put it out of its misery</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Media issues</category><dc:date>2006-07-11T17:32:26+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/26ead0f52f648c1b84418fdc858f3862-215.html#unique-entry-id-215</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/26ead0f52f648c1b84418fdc858f3862-215.html#unique-entry-id-215</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Incredible.


Last year ITV made itself look completely stupid with a show called 'Celebrity Love Island'.   The premise was that a load of single celebrities went to an island, sunbathed, and, er, not a lot else happened.


Unbelievably they've brought it back but to make things really relevant and down to earth - yes, that's irony - they've reduced the celebrity content.   That is to say they've taken the word out of the title so when you don't recognise any of the celebs, you don't mind so much.


And what do you know, it's a ratings disaster again.   3.2 million for a first episode.


Anyone with the least idea why they thought this tosh might be more popular a second time around is more than welcome to get in touch.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>A phone call</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Coffee machine moments</category><dc:date>2006-07-10T14:41:37+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/03a5d10fde200ee25069a5a374c885b6-214.html#unique-entry-id-214</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/03a5d10fde200ee25069a5a374c885b6-214.html#unique-entry-id-214</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[If you ever want proof that some people just don't listen, here's a summary of a phone call I received today.


"Hello, Mr.   Clapperton?   It's PC World Business.   You have an account with us and haven't bought anything for ages - we'd like to know whether it was the service, the products, or what we can do to help."


"Oh, er, right.   Actually I'm a freelance journalist.   About four years ago the Guardian asked me to do a bit of mystery shopping and pretend to be a businessperson, and to write about how I was treated.   I wrote it up and that was that, really."


"Oh, OK.   So, are you in a position to buy something now?"


Duh...]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Saddest headline on a press release</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Coffee machine moments</category><dc:date>2006-07-06T13:33:43+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/c8bbe0ba046c323e8d69afbd726a4ebe-213.html#unique-entry-id-213</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/c8bbe0ba046c323e8d69afbd726a4ebe-213.html#unique-entry-id-213</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[And the prize for the most desperate, sad headline on a press release this year so far goes to this one:


"UK Beats Portugal in Tackling Spyware Threat"


Lucky we didn't win the match or it would have ruined it for them...]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>A freelance credit card</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Journalism in practice</category><dc:date>2006-06-28T11:57:59+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/ac60528e3dfb4ede8b2bb83c8dbdc9f7-212.html#unique-entry-id-212</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/ac60528e3dfb4ede8b2bb83c8dbdc9f7-212.html#unique-entry-id-212</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Here's something you don't see every day - an offer of a credit card.   I'm being ironic of course, but this one, from Tesco, appears to have something to recommend it in that it's aimed at sole trader/freelances who want to keep their business and personal spending apart.


Well, yes, good idea, and as a freelance of 13 years' standing I'd certainly recommend that as good practice.   The thing is that's all I'd say about it - indulge in good practice and you'll save some money, most likely.   Is it then necessary to go and get a special credit card for which you need to be VAT registered?   I'd suggest not.   In fact if anyone is starting up as a sole trader I'd advise against getting an extra credit card, cash flow can be unreliable (says the man sitting on people owing him tens of thousands) and borrowing at high interest is probably the most expensive way of sorting it out.


There's a lot in what the Tesco man says in the attached piece.   Take Tesco and the new card out of the equation and I'd really recommend following his advice.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Text for a DVD</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Coffee machine moments</category><dc:date>2006-06-27T13:30:27+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/174a4d0e44b5d924e7e15ec704d811fa-211.html#unique-entry-id-211</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/174a4d0e44b5d924e7e15ec704d811fa-211.html#unique-entry-id-211</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[The Times says it has been enormously successful in a recent promotion in which people sent texts for a free DVD.   The story is here.


I've no doubt it's true, and indeed we received our Railway Children DVD as a result of the promotion last week.   What they don't tell you, though, is that we were sent two copies in error.   OK, 'Guy gets extra DVD' isn't much of a story - but if multiple mailouts skew the figures at all then the claims of success could be a little exaggerated.   And even if they don't, since the cost of the text was simply to pay for the postage then any accidental send-outs of extra copies must by definition push the whole project into the red.


Hopefully we were an isolated case.   Otherwise they stand to spend an awful lot before they realise where their money's disappearing to.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Jonathan Ross and Cameron&#x27;s rank</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Media issues</category><dc:date>2006-06-26T12:56:16+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/146173973b683e7d62236ae59ab9d8c6-210.html#unique-entry-id-210</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/146173973b683e7d62236ae59ab9d8c6-210.html#unique-entry-id-210</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[OK, it's all over the papers (fnar fnar), radio and TV - Jonathan Ross made a lewd comment to David Cameron about whether he fantasised about Margaret Thatcher on ye olden days when she was PM.   The Independent's coverage is accurate and brief.


Personally I don't give a stuff whether Ross has made inappropriate comments - on balance he delivers the viewers which is what he's paid for, and if everyone's really offended they can soon find the 'off' switch on their telly (deprive him of viewers and listeners and watch that lucrative contract get rewritten).   Three things, though, stand out for me about the whole affair.


First is the predictable and regrettable number of people chipping in on radio programmes and elsewhere with 'I didn't see it but my opinion is...'   Look, if you didn't see it, shut up about it.   It's that blunt. 


Second is that it makes a good cover for the pretty unremarkable job Ross was doing of asking serious questions of the would-be Prime Minister.   This leads me to the third point, which is that I don't actually understand the objectives of anyone taking part.   Did Ross and his team think laugh-a-minute Dave would fall in with the ribaldry and make an all-singing and dancing smut-fest?   Or did Cameron and his advisors think Ross would tone down what you might call the 'Ross quotient' and do a reasonably straight interview?


My best guess - and I stress 'guess' - is that actually, the outcome was precisely as predicted for both parties.   Ross got a potential PM on the show, which was a coup.   He's also in all the papers for a question which was broadcast in what was apparently a ten-minute extract from a longer, 40-minute, interview.   Cameron, meanwhile, looks a bit fearless to the new Tories and has dealt a further one in the eye to the older factions who've been losing the party successive elections, and of whom he clearly can't wait to be rid so he can complete his new Conservative project just as Tony Blair could only complete New Labour once a load of the old left had walked.


Cynical?   Me?   OK, why else would he have agreed to go on a show so renowned for its laddish innuendo?]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Podcasting for the Guardian</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Journalism in practice</category><dc:date>2006-06-22T09:59:14+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/97f3c5fd2e84738ceb893bb7df465d69-209.html#unique-entry-id-209</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/97f3c5fd2e84738ceb893bb7df465d69-209.html#unique-entry-id-209</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[OK, I'm excited about this one.   It's been that frantically busy 'not-many-blog-entries-here' time of the month in which I've hardly touched this site, but one of the reasons has been that I've become a podcaster for the Guardian.   You can listen to the two shows here.


Where this leads, if anywhere, I don't know.   But I thoroughly enjoyed doing the programmes, and am really grateful to the people who helped put the contacts together - and of course the producer, Laurence Leonard, who makes me sound a hell of a lot more confident than I felt during my first stab at presenting.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Why does one bother...</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Journalism in practice</category><dc:date>2006-06-14T12:46:22+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/0a2368d50aa6b0b10d242729e9d1813c-208.html#unique-entry-id-208</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/0a2368d50aa6b0b10d242729e9d1813c-208.html#unique-entry-id-208</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[So I did a piece in the Observer on Sunday, about going green and saving money.   Not a bad little piece, hardly front-page stuff but useful enough.   It made the point, among other things, that there isn't much point in using energy-efficient lightbulbs, you're better off using ordinary ones and switching them off when they're not in use.


And on Monday I get the weekly e-mail from the financial writers' group rounding up what's been in the weekend papers.   "Guy Clapperton on going green," it said.   "Telling us to buy energy-efficient lightbulbs and the like."   Or words to that effect.


I mean, come on, guys.   You could at least read the thing before summarising.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Spooky or what?</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Coffee machine moments</category><dc:date>2006-06-07T16:12:44+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/24aefb08c90c53cb59ada5f990575a28-207.html#unique-entry-id-207</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/24aefb08c90c53cb59ada5f990575a28-207.html#unique-entry-id-207</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[My phone has broken.   It picked up calls before I answered and crackled at them horribly, then it stopped ringing, just crackled.


Yes it could have been the line.   But I thought, better check the handset first before getting BT onto it, particularly as the Internet was working so the line must be doing something right.


And then this delivery bloke turns up.   With a new phone from Philips, with a press release attached.   And it works perfectly.


I'd write and thank them, but the contact on the release is someone called 'insert local contact here'.   So it looks as though they won't get much publicity out of that one...]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Critics and their subjects</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Ethics</category><dc:date>2006-06-06T12:38:48+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/69329f687f567e861a1fce3686358ffe-206.html#unique-entry-id-206</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/69329f687f567e861a1fce3686358ffe-206.html#unique-entry-id-206</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[There's an interesting post from BBC London radio presenter Jo Good on her blog in which she talks about critics.   Critics, she believes, can be incredibly rude about people.


Well, I've been on both sides of that particular fence.   About ten years ago I had a short story published in a BBC Doctor Who book and it was deemed good enough for actor Colin Baker to read it as an audiobook.   "I would rather do anything than listen to this again," said the regular chappie in Doctor Who Magazine.   And of course as a journalist I've said when I think a book or a performance is poor.


The thing is, the subjects of these criticisms - whether it's me as a writer or Jo Good as an actress - present ourselves as natural targets.   We've put our heads over the parapets, nobody forced us, and if someone wants to take potshots that sort of goes with the territory and there's no use complaining.   Of course the best critics go for the work rather than for the person - if someone says 'The Chuckle Brothers gave a below-par performance in East Grinstead last night' that might not be pleasant for them but it's more reasonable than 'The Chuckle Brothers are creeps', which may or may not be true but which is neither constructive nor useful for the reader.


Even so, moaning about critics is starting to become legitimate, and this is partly because of the spread of blogs.   It's one thing if I write an article about someone which criticises their work; this will have been through a commissioning editor, a sub, a magazine or newspaper editor and will be deemed to stand up and be acceptable somehow to a number of people.   And there will be a letters page or some way in which the subject can address the points raised if they want to.


Blogs are different.   People can remove comments or just not allow them.   Or people can get personal in the comments they add - Jo Good's own blog has a comments section in which people are quite unpleasant about her style on radio (which I rather enjoy but that's by the by).   The're moderated but they definitely veer towards personal comments rather than objective criticism of what she does in public.


And that remains the central weakness of the blogging model for the moment.   Professional writers can bleat all we want about quality of online writing but bad writing tends simply to go away; the lack of redress is likely to end up as the most lasting issue.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Curiously satisfying website</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Coffee machine moments</category><dc:date>2006-05-23T18:14:27+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/b2c203392a1e6b502e4727d7cc1aff1d-205.html#unique-entry-id-205</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/b2c203392a1e6b502e4727d7cc1aff1d-205.html#unique-entry-id-205</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Here's something entertaining.   You'll need Flash installed.


Hold your mouse down on him and you can throw him around the screen.   Very therapeutic.   My thanks to William Poel for drawing this little masterpiece to my attention!]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Fathers for lotteries</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Coffee machine moments</category><dc:date>2006-05-22T11:15:20+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/c153729b402e692dbfa8d9588b12675a-204.html#unique-entry-id-204</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/c153729b402e692dbfa8d9588b12675a-204.html#unique-entry-id-204</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[So, um...did anyone see the National Lottery on Saturday?   As interrupted by a number of people wearing t-shirts about family lottery or some such thing.


Sorry, did I sound a little dismissive there?   OK, maybe I did.   And the reason I did was that I had no idea what these people were protesting about until I read about it in the papers (it was one of these Fathers for Justice groups, with whose aims I have some sympathy if not their methods, which seem to involve making a damned fool of yourself).


I hold no brief for trespassers, violent people or anyone who uses means other than lawful ones to make a point.   But guys, if you must make your presence felt in this way, could you at least put some meaningful slogan on your shirts?   Those of us who weren't privy to the lead-up will have had no idea what you were objecting to, or why, or why the Lottery was a suitable target.   You had millions watching and you didn't tell us a thing.


You might want to have a little think about that.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Running for Sport Relief</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Coffee machine moments</category><dc:date>2006-05-19T08:15:12+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/587a8847f1d90b45bf20d8beafb39c67-203.html#unique-entry-id-203</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/587a8847f1d90b45bf20d8beafb39c67-203.html#unique-entry-id-203</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Look, nobody laugh, but I'm going to be running a mile in July for Sport Relief.   You can sponsor me, you lucky people, using the new page on this site and the link that's on it.


People who've met me will no doubt have observed that I'm overweight and pretty inactive and wonder how I'm going to manage.   Well, I have eight weeks and it gives me a goal.   I'm hoping to be fitter than I've been since my mid-thirties by 15 July and to use this as a starting point rather than an end in itself, and who's talking about mid-life crises here?   I'm hoping it'll cost me a fortune in clothes as everything I own will be too big by the end of it all.   I get fit, loads of charities benefit - I'm struggling to find a loser here.


Anyone wanting to sponsor me will have my gratitude - many thanks.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>When is a contract not a contract</title><dc:creator>Guy@Clapperton.co.uk</dc:creator><category>Journalism in practice</category><dc:date>2006-05-18T09:29:59+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/9e63d71bb02571abc743a63ea7fd942c-202.html#unique-entry-id-202</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.clapperton.co.uk/Blog/files/9e63d71bb02571abc743a63ea7fd942c-202.html#unique-entry-id-202</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Interesting stuff is happening over at the Freelance e-mail list, to which you can sign up at www.journalism.co.uk if you're a journalist.   Someone pitched an article, it was agreed, the editor has decided it wasn't what the mag was looking for and now doesn't feel obliged to pay after sitting on it for a while.


I've had that, in the distant past - people thinking that once they've commissioned something, if they don't feel like using it in the end they don't have to pay.   If I've missed the brief, fair enough, it's still a commission so we can negotiate.   If I haven't, as happened a couple of years ago, but there's been a space problem 