Former SNP leader Alex Salmond has accused the BBC of bias after the corporation took action against a pro-Scottish independence website after claiming its use of BBC News excerpts in videos was a breach of copyright. The BBC approached Youtube after it found 13 videos on the official channel of Scottish political blog Wings Over Scotland that used copyrighted material from BBC News. Following the complaint, Youtube temporarily shut down the channel on 26 July in accordance with its “three strikes” policy, which results in anyone accused of three copyright infringements has their content removed from the video streaming site. The 13 videos remain inaccessible.In a letter addressed to BBC director general Tony Hall, and printed in Scottish daily paper The National today, Salmond said: “Firstly the news excerpts complained about on Wings Over Scotland seem exactly that – news excerpts which you would fully expect to be covered by the fair comment exemption to … [Read more...] about Alex Salmond hits out at BBC after pro-Scottish independence videos taken off Youtube over use of news excerpts
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BBC Radio 4 Today programme loses 800,000 listeners after record high last year, new RAJAR audience figures show
BBC Radio 4’s Today programme has lost 800,000 listeners since last year, according to the latest RAJAR audience figures. The BBC has attributed the almost 10 per cent drop to its listenership stabilising after a busy news period last spring, including a snap general election, the Grenfell Tower fire disaster and terror attacks in Manchester and London.TimelineAugust 2, 2018Alex Salmond hits out at BBC after pro-Scottish independence videos taken off Youtube over use of news excerptsAugust 1, 2018Former BBC and New Statesman political editor Nyta Mann hailed as ‘uncompromising journalist’ after death aged 51July 31, 2018BBC must appeal Sir Cliff ruling on behalf of UK media or help bring about new ice age for journalism The Today programme, edited by Sarah Sands since early 2017, had 7m weekly listeners between 2 April and 24 June this year – down from a record 7.82m in the same quarter last year.It had 7.22m listeners in the previous quarter, according to RAJAR … [Read more...] about BBC Radio 4 Today programme loses 800,000 listeners after record high last year, new RAJAR audience figures show
DEBATE: With listener figures down from last year, is BBC Radio 4’s Today programme out of date?
With listener figures down from last year, is BBC Radio 4’s Today programme out of date? Sven Hughes, chief executive and founder of Verbalisation, says YES. The BBC sits in its own bubble at Broadcasting House – and it still doesn’t even realise it, a year after the Brexit vote. For the revered Today programme, selected interviewees and guests now have such media training that even the most calculated questions are likely to be avoided or hijacked. The extent to which strategic communications companies now influence our understanding of the entire political landscape means that, even when a story is covered with seeming independence, it is likely that a spin has already been applied, and that genuine editorial interrogation of the issue is virtually impossible. Sadly, the Today programme, like so much else of the BBC’s output, has become a mouthpiece for carefully crafted elite interests and the maintenance of an engineered status quo. It has lost touch with … [Read more...] about DEBATE: With listener figures down from last year, is BBC Radio 4’s Today programme out of date?
BBC to review YouTube policy following Wings Over Scotland row
0 Have your say The BBC is to review its process of taking down copyrighted material from YouTube, following a row with a prominent pro-independence blogger. Stuart Campbell, editor of Wings Over Scotland, claimed he had been victim of censorship after his channel on the video sharing website was abruptly suspended last weekend.Mr Campbell had shared dozens of videos, many of which contained clips from BBC current affairs programmes, in recent years.The channel was restored to YouTube this morning, but without 13 videos at the centre of the dispute. The BBC had claimed the 13 videos shared on the channel breached its copyright.The broadcaster now has been two weeks to start an appeal against the decision through the courts. If no appeal is lodged, the 13 videos will also be allowed to return to the Wings Over Scotland channel.A spokesman for the BBC said it regularly took action to protect its copyright “whenever we receive complaints about large volumes of … [Read more...] about BBC to review YouTube policy following Wings Over Scotland row
Former BBC and New Statesman political editor Nyta Mann hailed as ‘uncompromising journalist’ after death aged 51
Former political editor at BBC News Online and the New Statesman, Nyta Mann, has died aged 51. Mann had been living with multiple sclerosis – a disease that attacks the central nervous system. It is understood she took the decision to end her life through assisted suicide at Switzerland’s Dignitas clinic and died this year.TimelineJuly 31, 2018BBC must appeal Sir Cliff ruling on behalf of UK media or help bring about new ice age for journalismJuly 30, 2018BBC resolved just one quarter of formal pay grievances in year since first list of top earners published, new figures revealJuly 30, 2018BBC News appoints economics editor Kamal Ahmed as new editorial director amid management team restructure She began working as a political journalist in 1992, starting off on the New Statesman where she had a weekly political column.Whilst at the news magazine, Mann worked in the Westminster Lobby as political correspondent and later political editor.After four years with the New … [Read more...] about Former BBC and New Statesman political editor Nyta Mann hailed as ‘uncompromising journalist’ after death aged 51