Archive
Reuters blog archive
from MediaFile:
News International loses top PR exec
News Corp exec James Murdoch
If we were at Rupert Murdoch's daily UK tabloid The Sun we'd probably have a headline today that reads: Will the last person to leave News International please turn off the lights?
Oh wait, The Sun already did that -- but with Britain as its subject.
But we can't help ourselves as News International executives drop like flies following the terrible phone voicemail hacking scandal which has rocked its parent company News Corp right to its core. Nearly 20 executives or journalists have either resigned, been fired or arrested since the hacking scandal escalated.
The Guardian today broke news that Alice Macandrew, the much liked, much respected senior communications executive at News International handed in her notice after falling out with News International top brass including James Murdoch about the handling of the communications strategy once the proverbial good stuff started to hit the fan this summer. We've since confirmed the news from our sources.
We're keen to find out more details of what the disputes over strategy were. We're especially keen to hear what Macandrew or indeed any other PR folks would have done much differently given the sheer weight of evidence and feeding frenzy around as the media sharks sensed Murdoch blood in the waters.
from UK News:
Will the Sun win the election for the Conservatives?
The Sun trumpeted "It's the Sun Wot Won It" after the Conservatives won the 1992 general election following the newspaper's polling day headline "If Kinnock wins today, will the last person to leave Britain please turn out the lights".
Five years later, Britain's top-selling daily newspaper switched sides and backed Tony Blair and Labour at the next general election, remaining loyal to the centre-left party at the 2001 and 2005 elections.
from Commentaries:
Counter-Revolution?
Rupert Murdoch used News Corp's fiscal fourth quarter conference call on Wednesday to say he wants to be paid ANYTIME his news is read online. Perhaps he was just in a cranky mood, but most of the reporters listening to the call thinks he's going beyond what he's said many times before on the topic.
from UK News:
MPs shoot themselves in foot over expenses
The online release of MPs' expense claims has only served to further dent their already battered reputation.
Forty-two days after the Daily Telegraph began to investigate MPs' expenses the Houses of Parliament finally got round to publishing official details of them. Or rather it didn't, as lots of key information was blacked out.
from UK News:
Brown flatters, but are we still best of friends, papers ask
"Brave" was how most of the British press responded to Prime Minister Gordon Brown's speech to both houses of Congress in Washington.
Brown was the first European leader to be invited to Washington by the new U.S. administration and was only the fifth British prime minister to speak to a joint session of Congress.
from UK News:
You know things are bad when..
-
You know exactly what the population of Iceland is and can also pronounce the name of its prime minister.
Even the word 'crisis' seems to have lost its currency.
Countries pop up for sale on eBay for 99p and get few offers.
Posters on BBC messageboards stop discussing the undulating pitch of Robert Peston's voice and listen to what he's actually saying.
The speech bubble on Page 3 of the Sun is given over to discussing the credit crisis.
Financial market updates displace stories about Jade Goody on the tabloid front pages.
Bad news stories from government departments are rushed out day after day and not even the Opposition seems to notice.
Estate agents finally admit house prices have fallen but tell you now is a really great time to buy because the market is stabilising.
People marketing get-rich-quick property seminars don't get taken seriously any more.
The Chancellor, writing in the Financial Times, says that "now, more than ever, we need new ideas".
Your primary school-aged children know that credit crunch is not a type of biscuit and that IMF isn't just a fictional organisation in Mission Impossible.
You go for a while without noticing one estate agent's mini and then you see a whole bunch of them on the back of a car transporter.
A pensioner on the evening tube train from Canary Wharf gives up her seat to a banker because she reckons he might need it.
The Ivy rings to ask if you'd like a table tonight or any night.
There are no spare trolleys when you turn up at Aldi to do your weekly shop.
Do you have any better suggestions? All contributions welcome - please send in your selection.
from UK News:
Sun’s man gets gaffe in early
Former Sun editor Kelvin MacKenzie has scored the first own goal of the Haltemprice & Howden by-election, just hours after saying he was a likely candidate for the Humberside seat.
In off-camera comments broadcast by BBC television he described Hull as "an absolute shocker, it's beyond shock, actually."
from UK News:
Wednesday’s front pages
The papers are nearly all agreed that Chancellor Alistair Darling's 2.7 billion pound fix for the 10p tax row is the day's main story.
"Darling seeks end to 10p tax backlash" reports the Financial Times, noting that the move will still leave 1.1 million poorer households worse off following the abolition of the lowest tax band in last year's budget.
from UK News:
Tuesday’s front pages
The cost of living and falling house prices, school tests, knife crime and pictures from the Chinese earthquake feature in Tuesday's headlines.
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Abolish Tests for Pupils at 11 and 14, Urge MPs
MPs who say pupils are being drilled to pass exams to inflate schools' positions in league tables rather than being encouraged to learn, are calling for some tests to be scrapped, the paper says. Story here
from UK News:
Monday’s front pages
There were further potentially damaging revelations about Gordon Brown from within the Labour Party, claims about the rising cost of living, as well as coverage of Manchester United's Premier League title win on Monday's front pages.
DAILY EXPRESS: Family Tax Up 51 Percent
The tax burden has risen by 51 percent under Labour and the average family now pays a crippling 20,700 pounds a year, the paper says. Story here
