I’ve had the pleasure of arranging a number of articles to be posted on the IWA’s clickonwales blog site (see link below) from 20th March in the run-up to the IWA’s Cardiff Media Summit, 29th March. Those in italics are already posted. Continue reading Blogs on Media Policy for Wales
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?
I’m very pleased to be nominated among Wales Arts Review ‘s most followable women tweeters in Wales on International Women’s Day. And especially that my displayed tweet is a recent bilingual one. Continue reading 100 Women of Wales on Twitter
The Media Policy Group of the Institute of Welsh Affairs made a submission on 3rd March to the Inquiry into the future of S4C which is being held by the Culture, Welsh Language and Communications Committee of the National Assembly of Wales.
This inquiry precedes that expected from the DCMS.
Continue reading National Assembly of Wales Inquiry into the Future of S4C
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”
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.
Continue reading Resourcing Journalists to Report on Faith & Belief
Sodom and Gomorrah came to mind. I was watching the Assembly’s Culture, Welsh Language and Communications Committee’s scrutiny session with Lord Tony Hall last month. The Director General of the BBC proved himself cannier than God – at least on the issue of funding for English language television for Wales. Continue reading Waiting for the Money – Funding English Language TV in Wales
Lord Hall, Director General of the BBC, this morning ( 2 Nov 2016) has a session with the Assembly’s Culture, Welsh Language and Communications Committee (CWLC). And so…?
And so this, in itself, demonstrates a sea-change in the attitude of Wales to its media. That a committee has been created which pulls together these three core elements is evidence that Wales is determined to get to grips with the communication essential for its democracy and its life as a nation.
It also shows that in the non-devolved area of broadcasting and communications Welsh politicians are willing to shoulder responsibility to the limits of the devolutionary settlement. Here we certainly see a proactive and creative willingness to get the best for Welsh media. Continue reading The BBC and Wales – Time to Deliver
During this year’s Celtic Media Festival in Dungarvan I was on a panel about factual tv. I took immediate issue with the assumption behind the session’s brief – The most prolific and successful genre in the Celtic nations is factual, both in English and in the indigenous languages. Is factual prolific and what is the measure of success? But further, I question the festival’s decision to ignore the biggest challenge to the factual genre – adequate media policy.
Continue reading The Politics of Celtic Media – Get Your Facts Straight
PSB Television in a digital world – what’s the recipe for Wales?
On April 6th there was a chance to get Welsh voices on the record at the session for Wales of David Puttnam’s Future of PSB TV Inquiry. The event was hosted by Cardiff University’s School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies. This independent inquiry is gathering evidence from around the UK and will report in June.
I spoke for the Institute of Welsh Affairs alongside Angharad Mair (Tinopolis, BAFTA Cymru), Huw Jones (S4C), Rhys Evans (BBC Cymru Wales) and Ian McKenzie (Nations and Regions, Channel 4).
See Future of TV Inquiry – Content and Platforms in a Digital Age
“The Inquiry has been set up to consider the nature, purpose and place of public service television today and for the future. It aims to address how public service content can be most effectively nurtured taking into consideration a range of services, platforms and funding models. Continue reading Future of PSB TV Inquiry – Wales