As a
newsman by instinct, what most impresses me is good news reporting –
doggedly obtained, factually told and stylishly presented.
And
big exclusives. Recent best, the Standard ‘s scoop on Charles and
Camilla’s engagement, which forced a palace statement before anyone had
thought to apply for a licence. From the web stats I see, Charles is
huge news globally and this really did rock Rule Britannia. All credit
to Robert Jobson (also royal analyst for CNN) for working those
contacts.
Internationally, I was impressed The Independent (Kim
Sengupta) and Mail (Nick Craven) found the men claiming to be Basra
abuse victims. Also good was The Independent ‘s email interview with
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas before the London conference.
Also
at the Indy , Robert Fisk’s instant accounts from Beirut after the bomb
that killed former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri were
outstanding.
Related
There before fire services or ambulance, Fisk’s
graphic on-the-spot reports – and those of our own Brent Sadler (“I
haven’t seen anything on this scale since the dark days of civil war”)
– captured the horror but gave us political context, too. Sadler was
back at the top of the bulletins this week with the Lebanon protests
that brought about the fall of the government.
I
like New Media on the Guardian website and enjoyed Leo Benedictus on
using nethousesprices.com to find the price of your neighbours’ homes.
Dinner
parties will never be the same again. “You’ll never believe how much
this place is worth now.” “Not as much as you paid for it. You were
robbed – I’ve looked it up on the web.”
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Radio 4’s Farming Today
had a bright investigation into how, post- Shrek, hundreds of sick
donkeys are being imported as pets, then neglected. How news values
change – not so long ago, no donkey would have been safe from a
tug-of-war between the tabloids and a career on page one. I only saw
two follows. News-wise now, it seems, dying donkeys are definitely
dropped.
Graham Jones is a senior writer for CNN Europe, Middle East & Africa
Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog
