Category Archives: Blog

Seamus Heaney – Walk on Air

December 31, 2015Blog, Poetryangela

I want to end 2015 by writing about something that connects death and life. On August 12th I went with my husband and our friends, Anne and Huw to the large village of Bellaghy in County Derry, Northern Ireland. I’d been there before to visit Bellaghy Bawn, a substantial house dating from the early seventeenth century, from the days of the Plantation of Ulster. It has for some time housed memorabilia connected with the poet, Seamus Heaney who grew up not far away.

But it’s not so much the Bawn that has stayed with me from this visit. It’s the graveyard.

Continue reading Seamus Heaney – Walk on Air →

Small World: Coverage of International Issues WCIA

December 17, 2015Blog, Dialogue, Portfolio, PortfolioPrint, Printangela

photo credit: Emyr Jenkins

On December 3rd the Welsh Centre for International Affairs hosted an excellent joint event with Cardiff University School of Journalism about reporting on international news stories. I was keen to hear from the panel of very experienced journalists and it was indeed a treat to have them all in Cardiff for the evening as they certainly did give us entertaining and valuable insights into their field of expertise in both broadcasting and the press. See reports below from Maria Diaz and William Hayward.

Continue reading Small World: Coverage of International Issues WCIA →

Welsh Affairs Committee – Inquiry into Broadcasting in Wales

December 15, 2015Blog, Industry, Portfolio, PortfolioTelevisionangela

Western Mail report

On 14th December Hywel Wiliam and I gave evidence to the Welsh Affairs Select Committee inquiry into broadcasting in Wales on behalf of the IWA.

Our written evidence submitted in advance.

What’s in it for Wales? Tony Hall’s new BBC

November 24, 2015Blog, Industry, Portfolio, PortfolioTelevision, Televisionangela

“This is the story I want to focus on this evening.” said Tony Hall, Director General of the BBC in a speech given to Cardiff Business Club on Monday 23rd November. “The BBC as a home for distinctive quality and creativity, supporting the best talent and brightest ambition – a driving force behind the UK’s extraordinary global competitiveness in the creative industries.”

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Television from Small Nations – Internationalisation

November 20, 2015Blog, Industry, Portfolio, PortfolioTelevision, Televisionangela

How big is ‘small’ in terms of a nation? And to what extent should size determine the value of a culture? Or should cultural value be kept separate from political clout? These questions matter increasingly in many arenas but on 16th November I spent a day at the first of three University of South Wales workshops with people who address them in terms of tv. It was fascinating and inspiring.

I loved the trailer we were shown by the producer of Norskov, a new Nordic detective story set in a fictional regional town in Denmark. A cheerful character addresses a huge, jovial crowd:

“Some people say Norskov’s out on the edge. I guess they don’t know the world’s round!”

Roars of approval.

The centre is where you are, is the message. Because you matter. Your culture. Your place. Your language. You are the hub of the universe. Continue reading Television from Small Nations – Internationalisation →

IWA Wales Media Audit and Cardiff Media Summit

November 17, 2015Blog, Industry, Media, PortfolioTelevisionangela

“get reading this thorough and classy piece of work”

I had the pleasure of chairing the second Cardiff Media Summit on the 11th November at the Wales Millennium Centre. The first summit was held in December 2014, a half-day event. It was clear then that in order to address the problems and take advantage of the opportunities facing the media in Wales there was an urgent need for objective facts as the basis for policy recommendations. Just under a year later we have the IWA Wales Media Audit 2015 , launched at the summit.

This is an update to the Media Audit done by the IWA in 2008. The 2015 Audit offers information about provision in Wales of press, online and broadcast media, includes a review of all major policy statements since the last audit and, drawing on the information gathered, makes 37 recommendations. Continue reading IWA Wales Media Audit and Cardiff Media Summit →

An End to the Centre-Periphery Game? Arts and the Media in Wales

November 9, 2015Blog, Industry, Mediaangela

David Anderson , Director General of Amgueddfa Cymru takes the BBC to task for its poor coverage of arts and culture in Wales. In a hard-hitting article in the latest edition of the IWA’s ‘The Welsh Agenda’ magazine he analyses how what he calls ‘The Centre-Periphery Game’ has encouraged this shortcoming, exacerbating a failure of perception on the part of the BBC centrally but also a failure of the arts community in Wales to challenge the status quo.

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Is the BBC Trust getting the message from Wales?

October 24, 2015Blog, Industry, Media, PortfolioTelevision, Televisionangela

The BBC Trust held a seminar in Cardiff ‘as part of the Charter review process’ on 20th October. It was open to the public but the majority of those present were media workers, academics or correspondents. The Western Mail report on it is accurate but conveys nothing of the atmosphere among the attendees which was, at times, mutinous and, finally, outspokenly critical. These sore spots have to be examined or they will go on festering to no good purpose.

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IWA Media Audit – Dialogue and Debate

October 23, 2015Blog, Industry, Media, Uncategorizedangela

Throughout the past week the Media Policy Group of the Institute of Welsh Affairs has been publishing its draft analysis of the state of main media sectors in Wales. This approach has allowed us to receive valuable feedback on our chapters on the radio industry and the press that will be incorporated into the final report. This will be launched at the Cardiff Media Summit on November 11th. We have also had the benefit of expert comment pieces carried on the IWA site and look forward to more. It is proving to be a good experience of dialogue around these important issues and of the kind of debate about them that has long been called for in Wales.

The analysis we have laid out is sobering. Continue reading IWA Media Audit – Dialogue and Debate →

Media in Wales – A Democratic Necessity

October 13, 2015Blog, Industry, Mediaangela

Media in Wales – A Democratic Necessity

Lee Waters and Angela Graham introduce the first part of the IWA Wales Media Audit.

This post first appeared on the IWA clickonwales site October 13th 2015

Continue reading Media in Wales – A Democratic Necessity →