BBCNI

A Northern Ireland reporter’s memoir of the Falklands War from Buenos Aires

| Readers 3095

Photo courtesy History Collection  Irish passports had special uses long before Brexit. Forty years ago, at the onset of the Falklands War when the Argentines were refusing entry to single passport carrying Brits, I had the original wheeze of using mine to  gain accreditation to Buenos Aires for BBC TV  News  ( ok ,so did others who discovered they had an Irish granny).  So with Roisin McAuley joining the Newsnight team and David Capper for Radio News, BBCNI was well …

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By 2026 when the next BBC Charter runs out, how do you think the BBC should have changed?

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Every five ten years the BBC’s Charter is renewed (though the licence fee can end up being renegotiated more frequently!) and the government of the day along with the broadcaster take the opportunity to examine what direction the BBC is currently heading and decide whether to change the course or trim the sails. One approach is to decide on the purpose and scope of the BBC and then set an appropriate licence fee (or determine an alternative revenue raising method) …

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Investigative Journalism: Present and Future (23 January)

| Readers 70

With Spotlight well and truly entering middle age and reaching its 40th birthday a few months ago, BBC NI are hosting a day long event to look at the role and value of investigative journalism. Miriam O’Callaghan and Steve Hewlett will host the sessions in Blackstaff Studio (Great Victoria Street) on Thursday 23 January. 10:00-12:15 Session One: Highlights from 40 years of Spotlight; a talk by Prof George Brock from City University on journalism, its current state and future prospects …

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Mail names BBC NI Director as the weak link in latest crisis…

| Readers 169

Suddenly the vast and inscrutable machine of the BBC is under intense investigation, and the hunt is on for whomever it was at Director level that signed off on the Newsnight. The Daily Mail believes it has found the weak link in the chain. The person they now claim was responsible for sign off at the highest level was the Director of BBC NI, Peter Johnston. Johnson, whose core competence is audience development, found himself with executive responsibilities for national …

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That’ll be twelve pounds fifty please …

| Readers 132
BBC Hearts and Minds

After years of providing material for Thursday night and Friday morning posts on Slugger, BBC NI’s Hearts and Minds aired last night for the last time. [Ed – Not quite the last: it has one last swansong on BBC Parliament at 4pm on Sunday afternoon] While waiting for Sinn Fein’s Ard Comhairle to shake hands on the Ts and Cs of Martin McGuinness protocol for meeting the Queen, there’s just enough time to watch the last episode on iPlayer. Classic …

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Better BBC business coverage requires more accountability from business

| Readers 25

A plea for more and better business news from BBC Northern Ireland has come from the local arm of the Institute of Directors, via Twitter and their freshened up website NI Biz Talk. Judging from the BBC News website, this is long overdue. While the lobby is urging a write-in to the latest BBC public consultation about Radio Ulster and Radio Foyle, I suspect the case can be made for all local BBC platforms. What is “business news ” anyway? Judging …

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Hearts and Minds: Cameron, Parades and Human Rights…

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By all accounts Eamonn McCann is on classic form (he’s up and down to Belfast all this week as Raytheon comes back to the Law Courts, claiming the new parades legislation breaches our basic human rights. Despite Cameron’s visit o we have any real idea of what’s in store for Northern Ireland from the Coalition? Finance Minister Sammy Wilson is put on the spot. Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet …

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