Of all the broadcasting anniversaries we've been noting recently in these pages, there's one that seems to have slipped by. It might seem a small thing, but it was actually quite important, especially at the time. On Thursday 8th November...

Five News to ban staged shots Is TV editing misleading? So Channel Five's new news editor, David Kermode, is banning a bunch of traditional interview techniques in a bid to try and restore trust in television news, after recent problems...

'Second Life' after the backlash Second Life's Real-World Problems This weekend the Hilton, in downtown Chicago, is playing host to the third Second Life Community Convention - SLCC 07 - along with around 800 'residents' of the on-line 'metaverse', or...

?Anchorwoman? Canceled After One Airing We're used to so-called 'reality' shows crashing and burning, or getting themselves into deep water (or other substances). The latest tale that will hopefully contribute to the downfall of this tacky tabloid show format comes...

"Big L time is three o'clock, and Radio London is now... closing down...." This is what we heard Paul Kaye say, forty years ago today, virtually to the minute as I write this. The "Marine Broadcasting Offences Act, 1967" was...

BBC Corrupted by Microsoft Free Software Foundation plans protest against "corrupt" BBC BBC Trust backs calls for Linux iPlayer So, let's look at this story in a little more detail. What this is fundamentally about is that the BBC's iPlayer,...

A recent blog entry on the web site www.defectivebydesign.org, under the headline "BBC Corrupted by Microsoft" bemoans the latest development in copy protection. What it is fundamentally about is that the BBC's iPlayer, which is required to view the content...

DELETE---It's all very well all this wailing and gnashing of teeth going on at the BBC and aired in public. We know that the phone-in quiz business was industry wide, but it's only the BBC that, so far, is...

Treasury makes complaint to BBC about Gordon Brown film Hot on the heels of the Queen/RDF storm in a teacup, Newsnight is apparently in trouble with the Treasury over a piece made by independent film-maker Jamie Campbell in which a...

Well, it's one angle that hasn't been explored a great deal by the rest of the UK media (another writer has suggested it briefly here). As has been pointed out, we don't (yet?) know where in the chain the clips...

I had the occasion recently to go into hospital for an operation. In fact, it was the second attempt to remove a lump on my vocal cords which had grown back after previous laser removal in March. So here I...

Do not go to work on an egg It really seems to be beyond the bounds of reason for the Broadcast Advertising Clearance Centre (BACC) to stop the British Egg Information Service (BEIS) re-running the famous Tony Hancock "Go...

It's evidently not enough that Ofcom has roundly condemned the participants in the Big Brother racism row (see our June article) and there's already a further racism accusation raging regarding the new series. And now the same production company responsible...

And now, finally, we know when Tony Blair will leave Number Ten. As the media - and Blair himself - continue to be concerned with what his legacy will be, our regular correspondent Russ J Graham considers what future historians...

Recently we've been watching two interleaved documentary series on BBC Two by two award-winning people: Adam Curtis's stunning three-parter The Trap (Sundays, 21:00); and Are We There Yet (Tuesdays, 19:30) by former World In Action and Panorama journalist John Ware....

The real global warming swindle You'd have thought that the arguments about global warming were more or less over. After all, even the Bush administration is appearing to go along with prevalent scientific opinion in accepting that CO2 emissions are...

You'd think the headlong rush to acquire large flat-screen TVs - that cost more to run, have a larger carbon footprint, and give a poorer picture than the CRT-based sets they replace - was bad enough at the consumer end...

Not such a pretty picture - RTS Journal vol 44/2 You'd think the headlong rush to acquire large flat-screen TVs - that cost more to run, have a larger carbon footprint, and give a poorer picture than the CRT-based sets...

Jeremy Paxman's recent article in the BBC house magazine Ariel, republished (presumably) here, seems to have stirred up a lot of fuss for all the wrong reasons. Well yes, of course, Paxman is entirely right to bemoan the fact that...

Hmmm. First we have the BBC presenting stories about WMDs that the Government doesn't like - stories that turn out, after quite a while, to have been very close to the truth - and then the resulting turmoil, unwarranted departure...

So the first of the bullies is out on her ear and Big Brother has attained its highest ratings of the series. Two stunningly unsurprising interim results. Other lacks of surprise we can expect in the future include some weak...

Hacker web sites and forums have been talking for the last week or two about a claim that the AACS (Advanced Access Content System) copy protection system used on both the HD DVD and Blu Ray Disc HD disc formats...

Hacker web sites and forums have been talking for the last week or two about a claim that the AACS (Advanced Access Content System) copy protection system used on both the HD DVD and Blu Ray Disc HD disc formats...