United Kingdom

LONDON: Videos shot in smoke-filled, bombed-out London underground trains, photos of body-strewn roads – the July 7 bombings on London’s transport system brought the arrival of a new advance guard of amateur reporters to Britain. Media commentators described it as a sea-change in journalism as mobile phone photographers, text messagers and bloggers dominated initial coverage of the bombings that...

A new free daily newspaper launched in Cardiff on Tuesday could undermine existing papers which have already seen their readership drop, it is claimed. Metro, which is available in 14 other cities, contains UK and overseas news aimed at "young, time-starved" readers. Media expert Prof Kevin Williams said the launch could "undermine the viability of the existing papers." The company has played down...

HERE’S a quiz. Which UK newspaper printed a headline last week about John Prescott, the deputy prime minister, using yellow type on a lurid green background? Which newspaper asked on its front page: Is Oprah really a Zulu? And which had Catwalk Cattiness billed as its most enticing item? Anyone nominating the Sun, the Daily Mirror, or the Daily Star should remain in class and pay attention. The...

The Times and its journalists won three major prizes at the What The Papers Say awards today, where it was named newspaper of the year. Individual honours went to Richard Lloyd-Parry, Asia Editor, who was named foreign correspondent of the year, and Peter Brookes, who was named cartoonist of the year. Martin Samuel, a Times columnist, was named sports writer of the year for his articles in the...

News International chairman Les Hinton has accused 'citizen journalists" of amateurism, misrepresentation and failing to emulate the standards of traditional news organisations. Using the example of coverage of this year's hurricane in New Orleans - where he said bloggers were responsible for "bad information", including reports of unrest and rape that were not later substantiated - he called on...

What exactly is Alan Rusbridger trying to do with the Guardian, or "theguardian", as its masthead has it? On Monday, readers had their first sight of the new Berliner format, which is a shrunken broadsheet or a puffed-up tabloid, depending on how you look at it. But the biggest interest, for many, will be in how, if at all, Rusbridger changes the editorial content. The Times (of which more later)...

THE reputations of many national newspaper editors are on the line this autumn but none faces so critical a test of his judgment as Alan Rusbridger, Editor of The Guardian. Strategic decisions by Rusbridger’s two predecessors were critical to The Guardian’s standing. As editor for 19 years from 1956, Alastair Hetherington removed Manchester from the masthead, moved his office to London and made...

LONDON - The Guardian's Berliner relaunch provided a dramatic 40% sales increase on its first day of distribution. Unofficial figures suggest that The Guardian put on the 40 per cent growth following the move to the smaller format, which was supported by a major advertising campaign through DDB London. The paper is in need of significant sales increases to offset the £80m it has invested in the...

Within one week, a 184-year-old re-invents itself, a nova product for an up to now non-existing market will hit the streets, and an online product's official print version is launched. Is it coincidence that all these happened within one week, or is it just emphasising the vibrant potential of the print media market? Previously, analysts were reluctant to sound anywhere near positive about print...

A couple of parts of the traditional English landscape changed significantly this week. Not only did the country's much-maligned cricket team--eventually and after much anxiety--regain The Ashes (a sporting trophy the origin of which, like the game itself, perpetually confounds brief description), but there is now an unfamiliar presence on news stands each morning. The Guardian, the venerable...