Bragg: Nurture young talent

By Jake Kanter

Melvyn Bragg was honoured for his contribution to broadcasting last night and called on the industry to nurture young talent.

The BBC Radio 4 In Our Time host was presented with the annual Media Society Award at a ceremony in London and received glowing tributes from high profile industry figures.

The award celebrated Bragg’s “unique and distinguished” career and past recipients include Sir David Frost, David Dimbleby and Sir Michael Parkinson.

Broadcasters, writers and artists lined up to commend Bragg for his work on In Our Time and his 32 years as host of The South Bank Show, which was axed by ITV last year.

Outgoing Radio 4 controller, Mark Damazer said In Our Time is “one programme that best expresses what a public service can achieve” and was a “masthead for the entire station”.

Former culture secretary Chris Smith said Bragg had “enriched lives with intelligence, integrity and a wonderful passion for culture”.

Bragg accepted the award with modesty, deciding to return the tributes he received and herald a new generation of broadcasters.

“There is no fall off of energy and talent coming into the [broadcast] industry,” he said. “We have a responsibility to pass it [our skills and understanding] on.”

Melvyn Bragg Annual Award Dinner

Who won the TV Election?

Lawyers and Journalists - bedfellows or enemies?

Lawyers and Journos - bedfellows or enemies? from Ryan Mahan on Vimeo.

Britain's New Media Election - Narcissistic Tosh or Big Step Forward?

As reported elsewhere on Journalism.co.uk, last night City University London hosted the ‘Will 2010 be the first new media election?’ event, supported by the Media Society and the Media Trust.

• Listen to Evan Davis talking to Journalism.co.uk at this link: the BBC Radio 4 Today journalist posed, rather than answered the ‘how much influence will social media hold’ question, but said both new and media forms have their merits. “What might be quite interesting is the way they interact: the way old media results get amplified through the new media and the way the old media events are interpreted through new media.” Both these events will have more resonance together than they would on their own, he said.

• Listen to Google’s director of communications and public affairs (Europe, Middle East and Africa) DJ Collins talking to Journalism.co.uk at this link: “The great thing about the internet is that it’s not national, it’s not local, it’s everywhere. Ordinary people can interact in way they couldn’t before, with traditional media.”  Collins agreed with the BBC’s Nick Robinson that “strong” viewpoints were aired online, but said “you’ve got to trust people to make their own minds up” about the quality of blogs and comments.
• Watch the video here.

Will Self on TMS Award Honouree Melvyn Bragg

"While other pupils have come and gone, he remains; and when it was announced last year that, after 30 years, Bragg’s principal vehicle, The South Bank Show, would be ceasing transmission, there was – among those I spoke with – a feeling that this was the end of an era: the barbarians were at the gate. Moreover, we would miss Melvyn’s perkily browned features – like those of a handsome walnut – as the camera cut away from this or that artistic nabob, to show him bobbing and grinning assent (shots that are known in the industry as ‘noddies’)."


Read the complete article in the London Review of Books.

Max Clifford Speaking...

Finally, is it any wonder that the News of the World apparently sought advantage in a phonehack of Max Clifford's mobile. The man just can't leave the thing alone. They were bound to find out something. Appearing as part of a high-powered panel on a platform at Westminster University this week, Max alone was hindered from making a focused contribution by the fact that his mobile kept going off and that he kept answering it. Ring! Ring! "Hello Mischon de Reya … I am at Westminster City College [sic]. Can I call you back later?" Aside to the audience: "They pay my salary so I have to answer." Ring! Ring! "Hello. I'm in a live debate." To the audience: "I adore anybody who pays me a fortune." I'm here for free, whereas all these people pay me, he told them, and then… Ring! Ring! "The fame game is a drug," he explained. "You spend your life sucking up to egomaniacs." Ring! Ring! Poor Max.


John Mair