The Oxford Times recently ran a story about a cyclist who became trapped under a car. A group of passers-by managed to lift the car off her before the paramedics arrived and are rightly praised in the article for their heroic actions.
I recently attended the NUJ’s Reporting on our health services masterclass. It was about how to carry out quality reporting on health issues, at a time when the cuts and restructuring in our health service are mirrored by cuts and restructuring in our newsrooms.
Once or twice a year, someone contacts me with a brilliant lead for an investigative journalist. Sometimes it’s a would-be whistleblower with inside information about an organisation, but more often than not it’s someone who’s discovered information that’s actually hidden in plain sight.
Last autumn I spent an unexpected amount of time in Witney Methodist Church. No, I hadn’t suddenly become religious; I was reporting a public inquiry into a local planning issue and the Methodist Church was where it took place.
We’ve been hearing a lot about the Leveson inquiry. But another inquiry has been quietly rumbling on at the same time, and the findings should be very interesting to journalists.
TThe House of Lords has a select committee on communications, and it's conducting an inquiry called The future of investigative journalism. They're asking what its role is and how it will evolve in the future.They’re also looking at business models for the industry: in other words, how do we make serious reporting pay?
Jeremy Hunt has now announced plans to give out licences for local television stations. Ofcom has identified 65 towns and cities where local terrestrial TV is technically possible and these places will be invited to bid for licences.
Newsquest’s “regional operation” could mean big job losses. Sub-editing jobs at the Oxford Mail and Times are under threat from plans to centralise. Subs were recently told of plans to create a “regional editorial production operation”, combining the subbing departments for for Newsquest Oxfordshire and Newsquest Wiltshire. The new regional operation would be based in Oxford.
The spending cuts we’re facing today will not only be the largest since World War II, but perhaps also the most heavily spun. Finding out the real impact of the cuts means going beyond the press releases and searching for the small print in lengthy documents.
Health reporter John Lister has spent the past 26 years doing just that. He has become a familiar face on television as one of the few experts who can provide informed comment on NHS funding.