Churnalism

There's a new book causing some consternation in media circles called 'Flat Earth News' by Nick Davies. I haven't read it yet but I have read quite a number of the reviews so I am pretty confident I understand its drift. Basically Nick Davies says that too many news stories in national newspapers are poorly researched, rarely second-sourced and, more often than not, fed to them by PRs. He says that this is the consequence of a long-term, dwindling investment in UK editorial resources by publishers.

I think he is right about the dwindling investment piece and partly right about the source of stories. It is pretty clear that journalists are more reliant on companies and their PR representatives for information than they ever have been. From personal experience I can confirm that, if they dont want to know about your story they will still let you know in no uncertain terms. However I think the bigger picture here is what people want to read in their papers. Once you are beyond the big news of the day on page one what do you put in the following pages before you get to the sport? And how do you ensure you choose the stuff that keeps people coming to your paper? If you were in the editorial chair you might be tempted to take the low road after a while. Much cheaper..and people seem to read it.

(I promise I will read the book soon..and sooner if it proves that I have made a point that the book already covers adequately!)

There Will Be Blood

Actually it was crud...........

I thought this was going to be a modern epic. Not in the least. Daniel Day-Lewis did a great Burt Lancaster impression but there was no story, emotion or drama. Maybe all the critics had just come out of National Treasure before they went into it.

(I note I have just broken the basic tenet of this blog. Mmmm....must do better.)

At Ease Sergeant

Fabio Cappello has made headlines more for his off-the-field decisions than his on-field ones so far. If he wasn't a stylish Italian, I think most people would think we had appointed a 1950's sergeant major. So it was good to see that he resorted to the Big # 9 in the second half. An English manager would have got pilloried for that. Maybe he is going to ask all the players to have a short back and sides and go to the Brecon Beacons for a yomp when the rest of the Premiership is competing in Austria and Switzerland next summer. I think his best bet is to drop a star every time to keep the talent on their toes. If he keeps doing that maybe we will yet see Joey Barton at the World Cup. On 2nd thoughts......

Microsoft and Yahoo!

Microsoft want to buy Yahoo! and try and fight back against Google. It is amazing to think that two relatively new giants of the internet age might need to join together. The trouble is that internet search defies management theory. There are meant to be three strong global players in any one market. In internet search there is only one. And it doesnt look like there will be another one for a while. Why change when it is so good? The other problem is Yahoo! It is incredible that a company so young has managed to evolve so fast into a company that combines the worst of 70's conglomerates with the 'anything goes' ethos of dotcom. I hope Microsoft know what they are taking on. (Although, incidentally, Yahoo! Answers is very good. You can ask any question and someone will give you a really good answer within five minutes. Someone should spin it off and float it as a separate business!)

London Calling

I just read Chris Salewicz's biography of Joe Strummer. It brought back alot of memories. At the end of the seventies, when punk petered out, The Clash were the one band who took the best of punk and developed it. OK, they filched lots of rock'n'roll postures and gear and were occasionally a little self-aggrandising , but, particularly, around the time of those 1978 singles such as Complete Control and White Man in Hammersmith Palais, and, a year later, with London Calling, they were the best by far. The book is very balanced in terms of how it presents him. Joe Strummer comes across as someone determined not to be taken in by the star trip, unlike Mick Jones in the Clash's heyday, and also someone more open to new experiences than most, especially if they also involved booze, women and staying up all-night. They don't make pop stars like that anymore - those who not only aspire to stay one of the people but are actually able to do it. One of my friends at school went by tube to the Rock Against Racism concert in Victoria Park in 1978 when The Clash were second on the bill. He reported sitting next to Joe Strummer on the tube going to the concert. Can you imagine Thom Yorke or Damon Albarn doing that? The book also implicitly stresses the point that, if you find a good partner in life or business, then don't let the detail get in the way of the big picture. If the partnership works then let the little things go, the big things matter more. This was clearly how Strummer and Jones felt. At least they stayed friends and played together once more before he died.