Category Archives: Blog

Cardiff Media Summit – Top, Tail and Follow-ups

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Cardiff Media Summit 29 March 2017

My Intro and Conclusion plus Follow-ups. More on http://www.iwa.wales/click/

This Media Summit is being held on the day when Article 50 is triggered. Aimed at taking this country out of the EU, this will alter fundamentally the framework within which the UK is governed.

The referendum, like the election of Trump in the United States, raised major concerns about the quality of information put before the public, by both politicians and media. ‘fake news’ and ‘post-fact politics’. The founder of the internet, Tim Berners Lee, has gone public on his deep concerns at the capacity of big data companies to distort the democratic process.

These huge issues impact on us here in Wales. The media scenario is constantly developing and it’s going to get more complicated – which is one reason why the Institute of Welsh Affairs maintains a very necessary focus on media issues in Wales.  The Audience, Viewers and Service Users are our prime concern. Continue reading Cardiff Media Summit – Top, Tail and Follow-ups →

My Literature Wales Writers’ Bursary 2017

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I am thrilled to have been awarded a Literature Wales Writers’ Bursary for 2017. I admit (career suicide for a writer!) to being at a loss for words to describe how encouraging I find it to have expert opinion, and public money, invested in me. Maybe ‘inspiring’ will do the job. My congratulations to all the bursary recipients.

photo: Richard Outram

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Getting a Foot in the Door – Increasing Diversity in Film in Wales

Blog, Film, Industry

What’s not to like about a scheme which tackles more than one problem at a time? Ffilm Cymru Wales has launched Foot in the Door / Troed yn y Drws  focused on a large group of people in Wales who are currently hampered by exclusion from the workforce, while the workforce is hampered by losing out on their skills. Continue reading Getting a Foot in the Door – Increasing Diversity in Film in Wales →

Contestable Funding for PSB genres – good for Wales?

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A pot of £60 million to boost production in under-served genres of Public Service Broadcasting on TV and Radio sounds like good news but the DCMS consultation document gives cause for concern to the Nations and Regions.

Nowhere in the document is there evidence of an adequate understanding of the position of PSB output in Wales. Continue reading Contestable Funding for PSB genres – good for Wales? →

Big Ambitions in “The Big Picture”

Blog, Industry, Media, Uncategorized

Any report whose first word is ‘Although’ is usually heading for a ‘Nevertheless’. ‘Although’ signals an intention to strike out beyond, or push ahead despite, some obstacle, towards a goal that requires a creative sense of the possibilities in a situation and not just the limits.

Hence the significance of the opening sentence of the report from the National Assembly’s Culture, Welsh Language and Communications Committee: The Big Picture: The Committee’s Initial Views on Broadcasting in Wales.

“Although most aspects of broadcasting and media policy are not devolved to Wales, the role of broadcasters and the media in Wales is of enormous cultural and political importance.”

This simple statement is evidence of an important stage in the maturation of the devolutionary process. Here are AMs, demonstrating, once again, a determination to inhabit as fully as possible the available terrain. Notably, this does not address the issue of the devolution of media policy. It works with present capacity, with what is possible now. Continue reading Big Ambitions in “The Big Picture” →

Resourcing Journalists to Report on Faith & Belief

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Many mainstream stories feature religion as an element in the mix. It might be the conjunction of religion and violence; the clash of ethnicity, faith and culture or controversy around the relation of secular ideology and faith-based values. Who takes responsibility for ensuring that journalism students and professional journalists are well-equipped to interpret the powerful impetus of religion at home and abroad – and not only religion but belief in a wider sense?

The answer, in Wales, has been almost no one.

But that is changing, and Wales is at the forefront. In Cardiff on November 8th a day-long workshop was held which it is hoped will have a positive effect on the training of professional journalists and on university curricula.

Copyright @HirstPhotos

Continue reading Resourcing Journalists to Report on Faith & Belief →