• Welsh are most likely to seek out local news on the internet and buy local newspapers
• Online magazine subscriptions remain flat at just 2 per cent
• 62 per cent pay more attention to newspaper adverts than online

The overwhelming majority of people prefer to read magazine content in print and just a third of tablet owners use them to access magazines, according to a new study.

Deloitte's sixth annual State of the Media Survey found 88 per cent of people who read magazine content in 2011 preferred to do so in print - a proportion unchanged since 2010.

It found that 2011 was a 'good year for magazines'after 35 per cent of respondents said they subscribed to at least one magazine, up from 29 per cent in 2010.

But despite a sharp rise in the number of tablet devices in the UK, online magazine subscriptions remained flat at just 2 per cent.

Seven per cent of respondents said they preferred to access magazine content via a laptop or PC and the remainder opted for the tablet or smartphone.

The study concluded: 'Deciding whether this is due to the early stages of tablet adoption, or a more fundamental reason related to the mode of use of these devices, will be critical to the magazine industry as they move towards a more digital future."

The report also revealed that the Welsh were most likely to seek out local news on the internet (40 per cent) but also the least likely to receive and read a free paper (23 per cent).

Welsh consumers were also most likely to listen to local radio services than anywhere else in the UK - with more than 60 per cent doing so at least weekly - and they were most likely to buy a local newspaper, with nearly half (49 per cent) of Welsh consumers doing so at least once a week.

Nationally, around 40 per cent of people said they read a local paper or magazine at least weekly. The over 55s were most likely to buy a local newspaper (62 per cent).

The study found that around two-thirds of respondents read local news, weather or current events on the internet at least weekly in 2011 but that this was down ten per cent from 2010.

It also found consumers were 60 per cent more likely to view this content on the local pages of national websites than on websites dedicated to their local area.

Seventeen per cent of consumers expressed an interest in applications that send localised news to them based on their geographic locations.

Other key findings:

• The fastest growing device categories were tablets such as Apple's iPad and e-readers such as Amazon's Kindle, with Deloitte estimating five million UK consumers now own an e-reader and three million own a tablet computer.
• Half of UK consumers said they own a smartphone.
• 62 per cent said they paid more attention to newspaper adverts than their online equivalents, and 50 per cent said that they discovered websites through newspaper advertising.
• Two-thirds of respondents watch a local TV news broadcast at least daily including 80 per cent over 55s.
• London is the least likely region to watch local TV news and access local news online.

The current study is Deloitte's sixth annual State of the Media Democracy survey and questioned 2,276 UK consumers, aged between 14 and 75.

• To contact the Press Gazette newsdesk call 020 7936 6433 or email pged@pressgazette.co.uk

• Panel would be staffed by independent media experts
• Online advertising ‘will not have significant impact' of newspaper profits
• Risks of ‘news black-holes' where titles close

The National Assembly has recommended the creation of a new independent panel to examine the Welsh media and the creation of sustainable business models for the local press.

The recommendations were made in a report by the task and finish group set up to examine the future of the Welsh media last September.

It said panel should also examine issues such as the devolution of powers over broadcasting in Wales, and carry out a wide-ranging review mapping the country's 'media needs".

If it gets the green light from the Welsh Government, the new panel would be staffed by independent experts with experience across the sector. It would also be asked to monitor the Welsh media landscape and provide advice and guidance to the Government.

'What has become clear during the course of our inquiry is that there is still a healthy appetite for Welsh-focused media and information in Wales,'said Labour AM Ken Skates, who chaired the group.

'However, the way that people are consuming that information is evolving rapidly."

The group made a total of 23 recommendations. They included:

• The Welsh Government setting up news protocols to engage with newspapers following closures and job losses to ensure 'viable measures can be put in place'
• Making Ofcom, broadcasters and newspaper owners report annually to the Assembly on their responsibilities and commitments to Wales
• Closely monitoring the amount of political coverage provided by BBC Wales
• Exploring opportunities for the introduction if a 'Wales-specific Channel 3 licence".

During its submissions to the inquiry, the NUJ warned that Welsh newspapers were facing a crisis that 'threatens their survival".

In response, the task and finish group said it was clear that online advertising 'will not have a significant impact on the profitability of newspapers".

It was also difficult to see how journalists 'can continue to produce content for a number of platforms without quality suffering", the group suggested, adding that the situation was worsened by the reduction in the number of journalists.

The group recommended: 'Given the contribution that print media can make to local communities, and indeed its importance on a national level, and given the risks of news black-holes appearing where titles close, we feel that, where there are job losses at a newspaper company, or where there is a risk of a title closing, the Welsh Government should ensure that it is in a position to be able to assist those companies, in the same way that it would assist companies in similar difficulties in other industries.'

It also noted that, given the limited time frame of its investigation, it was unable to gather enough information to make conclusions on the issue of public subsidy of the press.

'However, we feel that the independent forum should consider, as part of its role, sustainable models for the print industry, and that this consideration should also include the issue of public subsidy, as happens in other small European countries,'it added.

'A strategic approach to the sustainability of Welsh Language publications should also be a focus for the independent forum‘s work."

It was reported last month that the committee's report was delayed because it was split over the subject of public notices such as traffic orders - which are considered to be a form of indirect public subsidy - being removed from newspapers.

The group concluded that Welsh Government should 'fully consider the impact any such proposals could have on an industry in which existing business models are already experiencing considerable difficulties".

News radio stations saw listener numbers fall as radio listening across the board fell slightly in the first quarter of this year.

Radio 4's flagship current affairs show Today saw one of the biggest falls, from 7,026,000 in the first quarter of 2011 to 6,660,00 in the first quarter of this year. Overall, listening of Radio 4 dropped to 10,307,000 a week from 10,829,000.

Radio 5 Live (including 5 Live Extra) dropped to 6,553,000 a week from 6,750,000.

The BBC Asian Network, which was saved after originally being threatened with closure as part of BBC cost-cutting plans, increased its numbers to 540,000 from 500,000 a year ago.

BBC local radio had a partial reprieve this week with news that budgets would be cut by £8m rather than the £15m which was originally proposed. Total BBC local/regional radio listening dipped slightly in the first quarter to 9,895,000 a week from 10,197,000.

In the commercial sector, Talksport was the top non-music station with 3,233,000 listeners a week (down slightly from 3,248,000 in the same period a year ago).

London station LBC 97.3 reached 867,000 listeners a week, down from 935,000.

Overall, according to Rajar, 90 per cent of UK adults listened to the radio at least once a week in the first quarter of this year: 46,677,000 – down from 47,266,000 in the same period in 2011.

Full breakdown of UK radio station listener numbers in the first quarter of 2012:

Name of station: weekly reach in thousands, percentage change year on year

• 102.1 Bay Radio : 44 , 4.8
• 102.4 Wish FM : 79 , 2.6
• 102.5 Radio Pembrokeshire : 47 , 14.6
• 102FM Touchradio - Warks Worcs Cotswolds : 54 , 42.1
• 105-107 Atlantic FM : 66 , -7.0
• 106 JACKfm (Bristol) (was Original 106) : 118 , 15.7
• 106 JACKfm (Oxford) : 57 , -6.6
• 106.1 Real XS (was 106.1 Rock Radio) : n/a , n/a
• 106.1 Real XS Manchester (was 106.1 Rock Radio) : 122 , n/a
• 106.3 Bridge FM : 37 , -7.5
• 107 The Bee : 25 , 8.7
• 107.2 Wire FM : 63 , 12.5
• 107.3 Touchradio - Warwick : n/a , n/a
• 107.4 Tower FM : 51 , -3.8
• 107.5 Sovereign Radio : 23 , -11.5
• 107.6 Banbury Sound : 16 , 6.7
• 107.6 Juice FM : 204 , 16.6
• 107.7 The Wolf : 45 , 12.5
• 107.8 Arrow FM for Hastings : 22 , 0.0
• 1Xtra from the BBC : 916 , 2.7
• 2BR : 58 , -1.7
• 3FM : 24 , 9.1
• 96.2 The Revolution : 30 , -14.3
• 96.2FM Touchradio - Coventry : 17 , -45.2
• 96.3 Radio Aire : n/a , n/a
• 96.3 Radio Aire : 133 , n/a
• 96.3 Real XS Glasgow (was 96.3 Rock Radio) : 68 , -1.4
• 96.4 BRMB : 354 , -12.4
• 96.4 Eagle Radio : 153 , 7.0
• 96.4 FM The Wave : 141 , 10.2
• 96.9 Viking FM : 206 , -2.4
• 97.1 Radio Carmarthenshire : 38 , -2.6
• 97.2 Stray FM : 44 , -13.7
• 97.4 Cool FM : 404 , 7.4
• 97.4 Rock FM : 276 , -3.5
• Absolute 80s : 857 , 37.3
• Absolute Radio 00s : 84 , -50.6
• Absolute Radio 60s : 151 , n/a
• Absolute Radio 70s : 157 , n/a
• Absolute Radio 90s : 380 , 19.9
• Absolute Radio Classic Rock : 396 , 15.8
• Absolute Radio London : 580 , -4.0
• Absolute Radio National : 1194 , 31.1
• BBC 6 Music : 1454 , 12.1
• BBC Coventry and Warwickshire : 75 , -7.4
• BBC Essex : 235 , -15.8
• BBC Hereford & Worcester : 104 , -13.3
• BBC London 94.9 : 504 , -9.5
• BBC Oxford 95.2FM : 77 , 28.3
• BBC Radio 1 : 11141 , -5.8
• BBC Radio 2 : 14560 , 0.2
• BBC Radio 3 : 1902 , -15.8
• BBC Radio 4 : 10307 , -4.8
• BBC Radio 4 Extra : 1502 , 29.6
• BBC Radio Berkshire : 120 , 10.1
• BBC Radio Bristol : 144 , -25.0
• BBC Radio Cambridgeshire : 106 , -24.8
• BBC Radio Cornwall : 169 , 19.9
• BBC Radio Cumbria : 112 , -28.2
• BBC Radio Cymru : 136 , -5.6
• BBC Radio Derby : 182 , -3.2
• BBC Radio Devon : 229 , -6.5
• BBC Radio FIVE LIVE : 6364 , -4.3
• BBC Radio Gloucestershire : 95 , 6.7
• BBC Radio Guernsey : 25 , 31.6
• BBC Radio Humberside : 216 , 0.9
• BBC Radio Jersey : 27 , -10.0
• BBC Radio Kent : 258 , -3.7
• BBC Radio Lancashire : 247 , -1.2
• BBC Radio Leeds : 250 , -7.4
• BBC Radio Leicester : 175 , 5.4
• BBC Radio Lincolnshire : 105 , -9.5
• BBC Radio Manchester : 259 , 27.6
• BBC Radio Merseyside : 390 , 20.7
• BBC Radio Newcastle : 310 , 2.6
• BBC Radio Norfolk : 234 , 3.5
• BBC Radio Northampton : 97 , -11.0
• BBC Radio Nottingham : 225 , 1.4
• BBC Radio Scotland : 1007 , -3.6
• BBC Radio Sheffield : 268 , 3.1
• BBC Radio Shropshire : 111 , 0.9
• BBC Radio Solent : 273 , 0.7
• BBC Radio Stoke : 172 , -6.0
• BBC Radio Suffolk : 142 , -0.7
• BBC Radio Tees : 159 , 3.9
• BBC Radio Ulster : 509 , -9.8
• BBC Radio Wales : 462 , 0.7
• BBC Radio Wiltshire/Swindon : 89 , -1.1
• BBC Radio York : 84 , -8.7
• BBC Solent for Dorset : 24 , 20.0
• BBC Somerset : 67 , -18.3
• BBC Sussex and BBC Surrey : 229 , -23.7
• BBC Three Counties Radio : 162 , -11.5
• BBC WM (Birmingham & Black Country) : 239 , 13.8
• BBC World Service : 1303 , -27.2
• Beacon Radio : 242 , 0.8
• Buzz Asia 963 & 972AM : 119 , 7.2
• C.F.M (Bauer Carlisle) : 87 , -23.7
• Capital Birmingham (was Galaxy) : 431 , -6.1
• Capital East Midlands (was Leicester Sound RAM FM & Trent FM) : 478 , -13.7
• Capital London : 2269 , 4.1
• Capital Manchester (was Galaxy) : 453 , -10.3
• Capital North East (was Galaxy) : 521 , -7.8
• Capital Scotland (was Galaxy) : 484 , 5.2
• Capital South Coast (was Galaxy) : 236 , 13.5
• Capital South Wales (was Red Dragon) : 207 , -33.2
• Capital Yorkshire (Was Galaxy) : 1107 , 3.3
• Central FM : 51 , -5.6
• Channel 103 FM : 45 , 7.1
• Cheshire's Silk 106.9 : 17 , -10.5
• Chester's Dee 106.3 : 33 , 0.0
• Chill : 229 , 33.1
• Choice FM London : 577 , 36.4
• City Talk 105.9 : 76 , 22.6
• Citybeat 96.7/102.5FM : 134 , -11.3
• Classic FM : 5444 , -10.5
• Clyde 1 FM : 517 , -10.7
• Clyde 2 : 184 , -28.1
• Colourful : n/a , n/a
• Connect FM (was Connect FM and Lite 106.8FM) : 42 , -2.3
• County Sound 1566 : 6 , -33.3
• Dearne FM : 55 , 3.8
• Downtown Radio (DTR) : 228 , -19.1
• Dream 100 : 47 , -4.1
• Exeter FM : 28 , 3.7
• Fire Radio : 48 , 29.7
• Fire Radio South Coast : 5 , n/a
• FIVE LIVE SPORTS EXTRA : 952 , 19.1
• Forth2 : 76 , -20.0
• ForthOne : 354 , 18.4
• Gem 106 : 380 , -19.1
• Glide FM 1079 (was Oxford's FM 107.9) : 19 , -5.0
• Gold Birmingham : 71 , 34.0
• Gold Cambridgeshire : 38 , 8.6
• Gold Coventry : 21 , -8.7
• Gold Devon : 52 , 30.0
• Gold East Anglia : 64 , -5.9
• Gold East Midlands : 71 , -15.5
• Gold Essex : 54 , -3.6
• Gold Four Counties : 79 , 12.9
• Gold Kent : 49 , -5.8
• Gold London : 266 , -16.1
• Gold Manchester : 103 , 3.0
• Gold North West & Wales : 30 , 42.9
• Gold Solent : 72 , -6.5
• Gold South Wales : 54 , -1.8
• Gold Sussex : 66 , 20.0
• Gold Thames Valley : 41 , -18.0
• Gold West Country : 94 , -4.1
• Gold Wolverhampton : 47 , 6.8
• Hallam FM : 388 , 4.0
• Heart Cambridgeshire : 205 , -20.8
• Heart Devon : 299 , -6.3
• Heart East Anglia : 312 , -3.7
• Heart East Midlands : 97 , 223.3
• Heart Essex : 399 , -1.2
• Heart Four Counties : 617 , 21.5
• Heart Kent : 353 , -9.3
• Heart London : 1939 , -8.0
• Heart North West and Wales : 205 , -1.4
• Heart Solent : 322 , 11.4
• Heart Sussex : 367 , -6.9
• Heart Thames Valley : 385 , 0.5
• Heart West Country : 677 , 1.0
• Heart West Midlands : 766 , -6.8
• Heat : 716 , 14.4
• IOW Radio : 39 , 5.4
• Island FM 104.7 : 26 , -3.7
• Jack FM South Coast (Was The Coast) : 165 , 38.7
• Jazz FM : 564 , 13.9
• KCFM 99.8 : 79 , 25.4
• Kerrang! 105.2 : 295 , -22.6
• Kestrel FM : 35 , 9.4
• KESTREL FM - was Delta Radio : 17 , -5.6
• Key 103 (Manchester) : 503 , 14.3
• Kingdom FM : 78 , 2.6
• Kismat Radio 1035 (Greater London) : 105 , -2.8
• Kiss 100 FM : 1958 , 7.5
• Kiss East : 467 , 17.9
• Kiss West : 448 , -7.2
• KL.FM 96.7 : 41 , -10.9
• kmfm East : 98 , -7.5
• kmfm West : 54 , -31.6
• Lakeland Radio : 16 , 14.3
• LBC 97.3 : 867 , -7.3
• LBC News 1152 : 405 , -9.4
• Lincs FM 102.2 : 309 , -9.6
• Magic 105.4 : 1963 , -1.8
• Magic 1152 (Manchester) : 112 , 16.7
• Magic 1152 (Newcastle) : 169 , -1.2
• Magic 1161 (Hull) : 66 , -28.3
• Magic 1170 (Teesside) : 105 , 9.4
• Magic 1548 (Liverpool) : 99 , 25.3
• Magic 828 (Leeds) : 107 , -8.5
• Magic 999 (Preston) : 42 , -4.5
• Magic AM (Sheffield) : 82 , 2.5
• Manx Radio : 39 , 5.4
• Mercia : 144 , 3.6
• Metro Radio : 385 , 5.2
• Midwest Radio : n/a , n/a
• Midwest Radio : 41 , n/a
• Minster FM : 69 , -19.8
• Mix 96 : 36 , -14.3
• Moray Firth Radio (Bauer Inverness) : 127 , 6.7
• Nation Radio : 100 , 1.0
• NME Radio : n/a , n/a
• North Norfolk Radio : 23 , 4.5
• Northsound One : 127 , -3.1
• Northsound Two : 42 , 0.0
• Nova Radio - Weston (was Star Radio in North Somerset) : 20 , 5.3
• Oak FM : 25 , -30.6
• Original 106 (Aberdeen) : 50 , 11.1
• Palm FM : 39 , 2.6
• Peak 107 FM : 90 , -1.1
• Pirate FM : 161 , 6.6
• Planet Rock : 861 , 8.0
• Premier Christian Radio : 153 , 13.3
• Pulse 2 : 44 , -17.0
• Q : 214 , -26.2
• Q100.5 (Was Five FM) : 19 , -17.4
• Q102.9FM/Q97.2FM/Q101.2FM : 81 , -5.8
• Q106 (was Six FM) : 12 , -7.7
• Q107 (was Seven FM) : 14 , -17.6
• Radio Borders (Bauer Borders) : 57 , -6.6
• Radio Ceredigion : 10 , n/a
• Radio City 96.7 : 447 , -0.9
• Radio Mansfield 103.2 : 38 , 2.7
• Radio NORWICH 99.9 : 53 , 3.9
• Radio Wave 96.5 FM : 73 , -8.8
• Reading 107 FM : 23 , -11.5
• Real Radio North East - (was Century Radio) : 309 , -11.0
• Real Radio North West - (was Century Radio) : 461 , -2.3
• Real Radio Scotland : 650 , -0.6
• Real Radio Wales (North) : 56 , n/a
• Real Radio Wales (South) : 412 , -10.6
• Real Radio Yorkshire : 386 , 15.6
• Ridings FM : 45 , 15.4
• Rother FM : 39 , 14.7
• Rugby FM : 24 , 20.0
• Signal One : 292 , 7.4
• Signal Two : 64 , -7.2
• Smash Hits Radio : 991 , -9.4
• Smooth Radio East Midlands : 320 , -1.2
• Smooth Radio Glasgow : 290 , 11.1
• Smooth Radio London : 626 , -2.6
• Smooth Radio North East : 420 , 12.3
• Smooth Radio North West : 848 , 2.8
• Smooth Radio West Midlands : 387 , 10.9
• Southend & Chelmsford Radio : 56 , 9.8
• Spire FM : 44 , 0.0
• Spirit FM : 42 , -26.3
• Star NE - North (was Durham FM) : 24 , 26.3
• Star NE - South (was Alpha 103.2) : 27 , 22.7
• Star Radio in Cambridge : 23 , -28.1
• Sun FM : 75 , 7.1
• Sunrise Radio (Greater London) : 285 , -15.2
• Sunrise Radio National : 457 , -2.6
• Swansea Sound - 1170 MW : 62 , -8.8
• talkSPORT : n/a , n/a
• talkSPORT : 3233 , n/a
• Tay-AM : 72 , 2.9
• Tay-FM : 124 , -4.6
• TFM Radio : 202 , 5.8
• The Bay : 111 , 6.7
• THE BEACH : 53 , -7.0
• The Breeze (East) (formerly The Quay) : 20 , -35.5
• The Breeze (South West) (was Star Radio (Bristol)) : 23 , -30.3
• The Breeze (West) : 19 , 18.8
• The Hits : 1081 , -5.3
• The Pulse : 125 , -29.0
• Time FM 106.6 : 16 , -23.8
• Total Absolute Radio (London) : 797 , 10.1
• Total Choice (UK) : 788 , 19.0
• Touchradio Staffs : 28 , 0.0
• Town 102 FM : 62 , 40.9
• Trax FM : 94 , -1.1
• U105 : 193 , 0.0
• Wave 102 FM : 27 , -15.6
• Wave 105 FM (Bauer South Coast) : 378 , -6.9
• Wessex FM : 43 , 0.0
• West Sound (Bauer Southwest Scotland) : 189 , 3.8
• Wyvern FM : 105 , -7.1
• XFM London : 409 , -32.3
• XFM Manchester : 153 , 13.3
• Yorkshire Coast Radio : 44 , 10.0
• Yorkshire Radio : 96 , 29.7

Journalists at the BBC have accepted a 1 per cent pay rise staving off the threat of strike action disrupting the Queen's Jubilee celebrations next month.

The pay offer for 2012 -13 also includes a minimum increase of £400 and other 'concession'on conditions.

NUJ general secretary Michelle Stanistreet said: "We are now making constructive and positive progress with trying to find proper and long term solutions. The immediate risk of redundancies at TV Current Affairs and the World Service have been averted. This has only been achieved because NUJ members have stood solidly together in opposition to compulsory redundancies.

"We have been deeply concerned by the failure of the redeployment process so the settlement today addresses the problem which we welcome. The BBC's stance on pay is disappointing, but the package of concessions on other pay-related issues and appraisals addresses key concerns for journalists across the BBC."

The agreement is a joint deal with BECTU. That union's general secretary Gerry Morrissey said: "There is absolutely no question that the BBC's handling of this year's pay talks will continue to anger staff and what is more, our members, not least in London, will suffer financially. However from the soundings we have taken, viewed nationally, pay was not the primary concern and in light of this we doubted the success of strike action over the Jubilee weekend.

'However, putting basic pay to one side for the moment, we believe that this week's agreement with the BBC, incorporating as it does valuable concessions, not only on collective bargaining but on key allowances, appraisals and on redeployment, represents vital protections for staff which will resonate with members across the country."

A BBC spokesperson commented: 'It is great news that the threat of a strike has been lifted and that BBC viewers will now be able to enjoy the Diamond Jubilee coverage without fear of interruption."

The director of BBC Vision, George Entwistle, has been named as the successor to outgoing director-general Mark Thompson.

Entwistle has been with the BBC since 1989 when he joined as a broadcast journalism trainee.

Before his current position he was controller of knowledge commissioning, and before that had stints as head of current affairs and editor of Newsnight.

Entwistle will receive a salary of £450,000 as director-general, compared with his predecessors salary of £671,000.

Thompson announced his intention to leave the BBC in March this year and will hand over to Entwistle in the autumn.

Announcing the appointment, BBC Trust Chairman Lord Patten said: "George is a creative leader for a creative organisation.

"His experience of making and delivering great programmes that audiences love - built up through many years of working for the corporation - will prove invaluable as he and his team work to ensure the BBC remains the greatest broadcaster in the world.

"Above all George is passionate about the BBC, is committed to its public service ethos and has a clear vision for how it can harness the creativity and commitment of its staff to continue to serve audiences in ever more innovative ways."

Entwistle said: "I'm delighted that the chairman and trustees have decided I'm the right person for the job. And I'm very excited about all that lies ahead. I love the BBC and it's a privilege to be asked to lead it into the next stage of its creative life."

Thompson added: "I think this is a brilliant appointment. George has shown himself to be an outstanding leader with an intuitive understanding of public sector broadcasting.

'He has a formidable track record as a programme maker and in recent years has also shown his calibre as a leader. I wish him and the BBC every success in the years to come."

A son beat his retired BBC journalist father to death with a hammer in a "shocking and gruesome" attack at the country cottage they shared, a court heard today.

Joseph Cooper, 24, even broke the hammer handle in half as he used it, along with three kitchen knives and a pair of large secateurs, to inflict appalling injuries on Winton Cooper.

The 64-year-old was discovered by police at the cottage in the picturesque Dorset village of Marnhull, near Sturminster Newton, on 15 April last year.

Cooper pleaded guilty today at Winchester Crown Court to manslaughter through diminished responsibility but denied murder.

The prosecution accepted his plea after reports found he was mentally ill.

Cooper was a retired BBC Radio Sheffield reporter who was at the 1989 Hillsborough football tragedy where 96 Liverpool fans died. He was killed on the 22nd anniversary of the disaster.

Stewart Jones QC, prosecuting, said Cooper junior had a troubled childhood at the hands of his father and mother, who had drink problems and Cooper had been violent and abusive to his son.

His parents had acrimoniously split in the 90s and Cooper was the middle of three brothers and he had spent his younger years in care and in trouble with the police after his father did not want him and his mother could not cope with him, the barrister said.

Cooper moved to Dorset after his retirement to look after his elderly father and eventually his son came to stay. Jones said the pair lived a "peaceable existence" in the village revolving around going to the pub, local shops and home.

But Cooper did attack his father in December 2009 with a bar and pleaded guilty to actual bodily harm, the court was told. The older man had barricaded himself into his bedroom on that occasion after his son "lost it".

But in April last year Cooper launched the fatal attack on the landing of their home just hours after Winton Cooper had told neighbours his son "was acting strangely".

After the killing, Cooper phoned his brothers and mother Gail to say he had killed his father. Jones said that, at first, all three were sceptical but eventually Mrs Cooper called the police and three officers turned up.

"The scene that confronted the three there was a shocking and gruesome one," Jones said.

Two psychiatric reports found that Cooper suffered from such an abnormality of mind it had impaired his responsibility for his actions.

Judge Guy Boney QC adjourned sentencing for a date to be fixed so that Cooper can undergo a hospital assessment.

No mitigation was entered on his behalf at today's hearing.

The editor-in-chief of the Reading Chronicle has accused BBC radio of reading out page leads from her paper “masquerading as its own news bulletin”.

Sally Stevens raised her concerns with Labour’s Deputy Leader Harriet Harman at a recent meeting along with nine other regional newspaper editors.

Writing in the Chronicle this week, she said:

... I await Labour's reaction to the Leveson Inquiry confident that the Opposition will quote at length my passionate plea not to tar local newspapers with the same brush as the national media; to protect The Chronicle's right to give a voice for the many people in the communities we serve who feel they are not being heard; to respect Berkshire Media Group as a business and local employer; to tell the BBC off for paying 60p a week for our reporters' hard work so its radio presenters can read a page lead out every day masquerading as its own news bulletin and castigate other newspapers for copying and pasting our online news onto their own websites.

Stevens said she also raised concerns over the use of the phrase "the media' to cover “everything from an independently-owned local newspaper to the international portfolio of the Murdoch Empire”.

She added:

No one would expect to lump together a little church hall pre-school and a university so why not refer to 'the national media' and 'the local media'?

I expressed support for the Press Complaints Commission which I feel works fairly and promptly to resolve issues between local newspapers and readers, free of charge to both parties, and was supported by the other editors who strongly argued against statutory regulation for local newspapers and national papers which was described as 'using a sledge hammer to crack a nut'.

I personally would not be against the PCC accepting complaints from third parties.

I just hope I am not misquoted by the Shadow Deputy Prime Minister and Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport - after all, to whom would I send my complaint?

Richard Horsman is a radio consultant and lecturer at Leeds Trinity University College

Don't get me wrong, I love commercial radio. I worked in it for 22 years, plus a further two as a consultant, and during that time I took great delight getting one up on the BBC and our other media rivals whenever I could.

I've also been a strong, often isolated, defender of the commercial sector in the academic world where the default position tends towards 'public service good - profit bad'.

But I've reached a position where I think it has to be said that UK commercial radio news has become a vampire industry, sucking in talent whilst putting next to nothing back.

There will be those reading this who will decide that Dickie's finally gone native. The self-styled 'least likely academic' has opted for a comfy armchair and forgotten how tough life is in the real world.

After all, getting a job in commercial radio news has always involved effort and sacrifice.

For many years the conventional route into an IR newsroom has been through higher education; either an undergraduate degree or a postgraduate qualification accredited by the Broadcast Journalism Training Council (or increasingly the National Council for the Training of Journalists, but that's a topic for another day).

The trainee takes all the risk, paying for their own training with no employer support long before they're in a position to even bid for a job.

The employer benefits from a Darwinian struggle in which the brightest, the fittest or in many cases just those with the richest parents come hammering at the door looking for placements.

Editors and corporate suits tend to romanticise this bit. They call years of poverty and sacrifice 'determination', recalling their own days of breaking into radio.

Yes, my generation gave up a lot of time and energy to earn our chance, cleaning carts for free instead of flipping burgers for money. My youth and enthusiasm was expended in a Bradford basement.

But my university education was paid for, and I was even able to claim the dole during the long holidays. Support became less generous over time but the model worked, more or less, until the advent of tuition fees.

Kids graduating under Labour's 'three grand' model ended up with an average of 14 thousand pounds of debt at graduation, allowing for living costs. Those starting now under the Coalition's full cost scheme (thanks, Clegg, that includes my son) will accumulate debt of between £30-£40K over three years of study; money they'll still be paying back when they're my age.

Today's talent can't afford to take on all that and give up the same time and effort.

The first candidates to be deterred by debt are those from the diverse backgrounds employers claim to be seeking so diligently. As I've witten before, diversity matters, but even for the relatively affluent the model is broken.

So what is the radio industry doing about it? Next to nothing is the answer.

In terms of bursaries, I was able to launch a Real Radio bursary, shared between Leeds Trinity and Sheffield University, in 2004. This scheme was absorbed within the Scott Trust and expanded to cover the whole country with two broadcast training bursaries in (if I recall correctly) 2009. What will happen now GMG's being merged into Global is still unclear. I think Global themselves pay for a student at LCC under some legacy deal. If there are any other bursaries I'm unaware of them - please let me know.

The consequence of neglect of training will be a falloff in the number of suitable applicants for news roles.

Of course there will always be plenty of wannabes, but those with the right skills - voice, legal knowledge, appreciation of what popular news is about - will diminish. Those who do have the skills will be lured, increasingly, by the BBC. Commercial radio news could become trapped in a downward spiral.

So I would urge all commercial radio employers to consider their position.

Decide what you can do to invest in maintaining local and regional news services that often form such a large part of successful franchise bids as a fast, sharp, bright, popular alternative to the BBC; not (OK, I'm mixing my undead metaphors) a zombie service of rip 'n' read and newsline calls.

I'm delighted to have taken the first steps on this route last week, signing a partnership deal with Bauer Radio in Yorkshire to help recruit applicants for my course. There's no bursary on offer but it's a start, and it's always easier to negotiate when an ideal candidate is standing in front of you. Other groups, from the very largest to the smallest, should see what they can do to match or exceed this commitment.

Otherwise the suits should remember what happens to vampires at the end of the movie. They usually crumble to dust.

This blog was first published on Richard Horsman’s blog.

BBC London 94.9 continued to lose ground to commercial rival LBC in the second quarter of this year.

The owners of the Australian radio station behind a prank call where the pregnant Duchess of Cambridge has suggested the UK media is on a “witch-hunt” after one of the nurses they duped was found dead in a suspected suicide.

Austereo, the company behind Sydney-based station 2DayFM, has been at the centre of a media storm since news of nurse Jacintha Saldanha’s death broke on Friday afternoon.

The two presenters behind the prank, Mel Greig and Michael Christian, have been suspended from the station and expressed their remorse in a series of interviews today.

A spokeswoman for Austereo, Sandy Kaye, told the Sydney Morning Herald: “The backlash is just ferocious.

“Australia seems to be much more balanced. In the UK it's like they're on a witch-hunt.

“It's intense and what's incredible to me is it's so much easier for the British media to have us as the target. They haven't once looked at the hospital.”

Commentators in other Australian titles have also come to the defence of the DJs.

Andrew Bolt, writing in the Daily Telegraph, wrote:

Three days after being made a butt of a joke that went around the world, Saldanha killed herself. Cue the outrage. The ‘blood on their hands’ fury of commentators. The tens of thousands of furious tweets. The messages, some disgusting vile and abusive, on the 2DayFM website.

But wait right there. No one can yet be certain if the prank was in fact the primary cause of Saldanha's suicide. Indeed, it seems an unusually extreme reaction.

And before we scapegoat Greig and Christian, remember also all the radio and TV stations which gleefully rebroadcast their prank and all the listeners and viewers who laughed. They are just as culpable.

To be guilty of bad taste is one thing but to be held guilty of manslaughter is a monstrously unfair other, and makes the finger pointers seem hypocrites. Want to push more people over the edge? Keep on screaming ‘blood on their hands’

Let's see if Greig and Christian now crack, too. Is that the game?

An editorial in the same paper said:

It is profoundly unfair to load responsibility for Ms Saldanha's death upon the shoulders of 2DayFM's young presenters.

They could not have possibly known anything of the torment that clearly placed the mother of two at risk of self-harm.

Writing in the Sunday Mail, journalist Jane Hansen said she felt for the pain of the presenters “because I have been there":

Fifteen years ago I did a story for A Current Affair on a television repairman who was overcharging for work not done.

It goes down as one of the most despicable pieces of journalism in Australia because of its outcome.

It was the weekend promotion for A Current Affair and it ran on the Monday of that week.

This man committed suicide several days later.

I can't begin to fathom the pain his family has been through, although I have met with them and cried with them.

I will forever blame myself for walking into the newsroom that day and being assigned that story and not seeing the disaster that was coming.

Those consumer protection stories were daily fodder for nightly television current affairs, and still are.

The shame and humiliation this man obviously felt were quickly my shame and humiliation as well.

The then-host of Media Watch, Stuart Littlemore, called me an "unspeakable bastard" and, of course, I agreed with Littlemore.

In fact, I agreed with every aspect of the criticism.

There was no justification for the outcome, but the event tore my life apart too.

In a series of emotional interviews on Australian TV networks, Greig and Christian insisted their prank call to the King Edward VII's Hospital in central London had "never meant" to get that far and they had expected staff to hang up on them.

A tearful Greig told Today Tonight on Australia's Channel Seven: “There's nothing that can make me feel worse than what I feel right now. And for what I feel for the family.

"We're so sorry that this has happened to them."

Christian said he was "gutted, shattered, heartbroken" by the nurse's death.

The BBC is recruiting a new director of news after moving Helen Boaden to the job of director, BBC Radio.

Boaden was sidelined from her job in November pending the outcome of the Pollard review into BBC coverage of Jimmy Savile child abuse allegations. Her deputy Stephen Mitchell resigned in December.

Incoming BBC director general Tony Hall announced Boaden’s job move today and also revealed that former Labour Secretary of State for Culture James Purnell has been recruited director, strategy and digital.

Hall said: “I am building a senior team that will define the BBC and public service broadcasting for the next decade. It will be a team that is made up of outstanding talent from outside the BBC combined with the best people from within.

“There will be more changes over the coming months and there is a lot of hard work ahead but today’s appointments are the first steps in delivering that vision.”

Purnell is currently a senior producer at Rare Day and adviser to the Boston Consulting Group. His new remit will include running the Strategy, Digital, Communications, Policy, Public Affairs, Marketing and Audiences divisions.

Purnell said: “I'm really excited to be coming back to the BBC, to work on its future with such a great team. Over the last couple of years, producing and developing programmes has rekindled my passion for the career I had before politics. I feel very lucky to have the chance to return to the BBC at such an important time.”

Acting director-general Tim Davie is to move back to BBC Worldwide as chief executive and will also be director, global, responsible for developing the BBC’s international brand and editorial strategy.

Tim Davie added: "I am very pleased to take on the important task of building the BBC brand

Boaden said: “It is a huge pleasure to be returning to my first love of radio. I look forward to working with our outstanding Controllers and some of the most creative on and off air talent in the BBC. The British public love BBC Radio and I intend to cherish and champion it.”

The National Union of Journalists and broadcast union BECTU have announced plans to take strike action at the BBC over Easter.

The unions said the action is being taken in protest at compulsory redundancies, excessive workloads, bullying and harassment.

The BBC is shedding some 2,000 jobs under the Delivering Quality First programme and the NUJ is particularly opposed to compulsory redundancies. According to the BBC, some 30 journalists are at risk of compulsory redundancy.

The NUJ said that a new strike ballot had resulted in a 61.2 per cent vote in favour of strike action and 79.9 per cent ion in favour of action short of a strike.

Last month the NUJ led a nationwide journalists' strike at the BBC.

According to the BBC, it had to cancel and replace 17 hours and 58 minutes of broadcast news output for licence fee BBC radio and television networks throughout the day on 18 February.

This included the cancellation of Today on Radio 4. The corporation has estimated that 1,935 individuals took part in the last stoppage.

The NUJ said BBC members in Scotland will be on strike on Friday and Monday over and that there will be a “demonstration of solidarity” at New Broadcasting House on Friday, while all members will be observing a work to rule.

Further action for the Easter period, in collaboration with BECTU, is expected to be announced tomorrow.

The NUJ and BECTU have called for a six-month moratorium to discuss the cuts.

In addition the NUJ has provided evidence to the BBC’s review on policies and processes relating to sexual harassment. This comes, according to the NUJ, after allegations that there was a “culture of endemic sexism and harassment” at the BBC.

The NUJ said a request for confidential evidence resulted in “huge” response showing a “picture of widespread bullying and harassment and the management’s failure to deal with the perpetrators”.

In a statement, NUJ secretary general Michelle Stanistreet said:

“It is disappointing that once again the BBC has decided not to properly engage, refusing our call for a moratorium to give space for meaningful discussions on the worrying impact of the cuts. BBC executives know they've got a major problem on their hands – the recent investigation into bullying and harassment has lifted the lid on a problem that has been allowed to grow to shocking levels, under the noses of senior executives supposed to be responsible for upholding 'BBC values'.
 
“We hope the forthcoming Respect at Work report will be a positive step forward in tackling a problem that has become institutionalised – but it's hard to believe that there's a real commitment to change when we're seeing cases of people who have been targeted, bullied and unfairly picked off being rushed out of the door. Compulsory redundancies being pushed through at the same time as jobs are being advertised externally is not just bad management, it's a waste of licence fee money.
 
“The BBC is adamant that the cuts are having no impact on quality. NUJ members know this is bunkum – they are the ones dealing with the real impact of cuts that have been targeted directly at frontline programming, they can see that corners are being cut, that staff are being put under huge pressure to deliver with fewer resources, and inevitably quality journalism is compromised. Calling their package of 20 per cent cuts Delivering Quality First was always a nonsense and an insult – and it is becoming clearer every day that these cuts, which are being badly implemented from the top, are diminishing quality journalism at our public service broadcaster.”

The National Union of Journalists has announced strike action at the BBC next week threatening a string of high-profile news and current affairs shows.

In a joint action with Bectu, staff will walk out of BBC studios at midday on Thursday 28 March, hitting the corporation’s Easter schedule.

The NUJ is complaining about compulsory redundancies, excessive workloads and even bullying and harassment at the corporation.

The 12-hour strike has been prompted by the Delivering Quality First project that will lead to 2,000 job losses. The corporation has called upon both unions to cancel the proposed action as it says cost savings are unavoidable.

NUJ general secretary Michelle Stanistreet said: “Members are taking strike action next week in a clear message to the BBC that it needs to listen to its staff and properly address the problems created by their ill-conceived and badly implemented cuts programme.”

The NUJ claims that the Corporation is refusing to engage with staff or discuss the impacts of cuts.

Worse still, the Union said: “The recent investigation into bullying and harassment has lifted the lid on a problem that has been allowed to grow to shocking levels under the noses of senior executives supposed to be responsible for upholding BBC values.”

BBC Scotland will be hit by a strike tomorrow and Monday over the continued threat of compulsory redundancies.

UPDATE: The BBC Scotland industrial action has been called off.

The NUJ held an earlier walk-out on 18 February which affected shows such as BBC Breakfast and Radio 4’s Today.

A BBC spokesperson claimed they had held “constructive meetings” with unions in recent weeks but said redundancies were necessary because of tighter budgets.

A spokesperson said: “We must progress with those given the significant savings we have to make and strike action will simply not change this.

“We continue to work extremely hard to redeploy staff and have already succeeded in redeploying nearly double the number of people that have been made redundant. We hope with such a low turn out and relatively small numbers voting for a strike that the unions will reconsider taking industrial action.”

The NUJ said they had 61.2 percent support for a strike with a further 79.9 percent favouring action short of a work-stoppage.

The NUJ has handed over a dossier of evidence collated by Dinah Rose QC consisting of confidential reports of bullying and harassment suffered by current and former staff.

NUJ National Broadcast Organiser Sue Harris called on the corporation to implement a six-month moratorium on all redundancies to allow further talks.

According to the NUJ, the BBC has already lost more than 7,000 jobs over the last decade.

The Corporation admitted that 1,935 people took part in last month’s strike forcing it to cancel and replace almost 18 hours of television and radio broadcasts – including the cancellation of Today on Radio 4. 

The National Union of Journalists has cancelled tomorrow’s planned BBC strike action in Scotland after management agreed to defer compulsory redundancies.

Following an eleventh hour intervention, plans to sack the three NUJ members on 31 March have been put on hold, the union said.

As a result, the planned strike tomorrow and a further strike on Monday, 25 March have been cancelled.

Talks on the future of the three staff have now been extended into April, allowing the possibility of retraining or redeployment of the staff at risk.

A planned protest outside New Broadcasting House in London tomorrow has also been cancelled.

Scottish NUJ and BECTU members will still join the UK-wide 12-hour BBC strike next Thursday

Paul Holleran, NUJ Scottish Organiser, praised the move to seek further talks and avoid confrontation.

He said: "This was achieved by the NUJ Scottish chapels standing firm behind their colleagues and some spirited negotiations by their officials. It has been extremely hard work but it will all be worth it if we can get work for these members and enter talks in a constructive manner in how our newsrooms operate in the future.”

The BBC has now received nearly 600 complaints over Eddie Mair's interview with Boris Johnson on the Andrew Marr Show.

A BBC spokesman said the total number of complaints was 589, having risen from 384 yesterday. The Corporation says it has been contacted by 21 people who voiced their appreciation of the programme.

NME Radio stopped broadcasting at midday on Monday, shortly before NME magazine owners IPC Media announced a decision to bring the station back in-house.

Tony Hall began work as the sixteenth BBC director general this morning, and is spending much of his first day speaking to staff about how to improve the corporation's reputation.

Lord Hall, 62, was the only person contacted by the BBC to replace George Entwistle in November, having already narrowly missed out on the job in 1999 to Greg Dyke.

Entwistle stepped down from the £450,000-a-year director general post after just 54 days in the wake of the Savile scandal and Lord McAlpine sexual abuse allegations.

Lord Hall said the BBC was “learning lessons” from these “difficult times”.

He said: "We are now winning back trust, something which will always be the most precious commodity for our organisation.” He added: "We must never take it for granted." 

During his first week, Hall is going on a tour of the country to get views from BBC staff and viewers outside of London, according to The Daily Telegraph. He will listen to concerns and ideas on how to restore public faith in the BBC’s damaged reputation.

Hall has already appointed former Labour Culture Secretary James Purnell as director of strategy and digital, but he still needs to find a new director of television and director of news. At the moment these roles are being temporarily filled by Roger Mosey and Fran Unsworth respectively.

Having joined the BBC as a trainee in 1973, Hall became head of news and current affairs in 1996, and oversaw the launch of Radio 5 live, BBC News 24, the BBC News website and BBC Parliament.

Restoring the BBC’s reputation is not Hall’s only challenge – he has to contend with low staff morale; fights with unions over job cuts, pay and rising work load; renegotiating the licence fee; and the upcoming royal charter renewal.

The ongoing dispute over job cuts could see the the NUJ hold strikes timed to disrupt key events such as Wimbledon or the political party conferences. According to The Daily Telegraph, Hall has already rejected union calls for the BBC to renegotiate the current licence fee freeze. 

Torin Douglas leaves the BBC after 24 years as media correspondent next month and he told Press Gazette that he leaves the corporation at a time when morale is low.

Douglas cited job cuts under the Delivering Quality First scheme and the Pollard Review, which “exposed real weaknesses”, as factors in making BBC staff “unhappy”.

“The fact is, morale within the BBC is not good – particularly with the strikes and everything,” said Douglas, who has taken voluntary redundancy under the DQF scheme.

“A lot of BBC staff are unhappy about the pay of their managers, the way the BBC is managed and so on.”

Douglas is leaving the corporation on 31 May this year. He is not retiring and will continue to speak at events and to write.

He said: “I’m not giving up work but I’m getting off the treadmill because in this job you are on call all the time if a big enough story breaks – they have no qualms about calling you and getting you on the air. So it will be nice, after 24 years, to get off that.”

Talking about the challenge of covering his own employer, he said: “The BBC was always going to be a major part of the story. We’ve had phone-hacking, we’ve had Leveson, so obviously the press stuff has come back in to centre stage – in a way as it was when I started in 1990.

“But the BBC is the one that keeps coming back, and it’s all about the BBC crises… There is always something to say about the BBC - partly because it’s publicly funded, but also because rival media have economic interest in the BBC being damaged.”

Admitting that it was difficult for the BBC to "break" stories about itself, he said: "I don't mean we never break stories about the BBC – obviously we’ve done a lot over the years – but it’s not easy to break unconfirmed allegations...It sounds odd if you say, ‘the BBC has learnt that the BBC is going to do this’, or that ‘the BBC has done that’.

“Once a story is moving then it is perfectly possible for the BBC to broadcast certain things about itself. But I wouldn’t look to the BBC for a big exposé about the BBC.”

Asked whether the corporation covers its own affairs too much, Douglas said: “I do think there is a danger that the media are more interested in the media than the public at large.

“It’s a difficult balance. If you don’t cover stories that are critical about yourself you could be accused of a cover-up – particularly if it’s being heavily covered in the newspapers.

“But on the other hand you could say that you are obsessed with your own affairs.

“Sometimes I think the BBC does give too much coverage to itself but I don’t think you’ll ever find the BBC covering its own affairs more than the newspapers are covering the BBC’s affairs.”

BBC Radio is launching a new apprenticeship scheme believed to be the first of its kind, which will focus on giving school leavers a chance to break into radio. 

The two-year BBC Radio Journalism Apprenticeship will offer six candidates the opportunity to combine study at Lambeth College in London with work placements at the BBC radio production department. 
 
The scheme will concentrate primarily on BBC Radio 4 and the World Service and will train the individuals in every aspect of radio journalism, from creating accurate and balanced reports, to writing for radio, the web, and social media.

The apprenticeship is aimed at people who can demonstrate passion for radio rather than those with academic qualifications from University.
 
Ruth Gardiner, acting controller of radio and music production, said: “We want to give people who do not have graduate experience but who listen to some of our programmes and who have a genuine interest in how such programmes are made the opportunity to join the department.
 
“Apprenticeships are important because they help attract recruits from a wide range of backgrounds by offering the opportunity to earn while learning.”
 
James Hardy, head of communications at BBC Radio, added: “Applicants will not be expected to have a great deal of technical proficiency and know-how, just a real passion for radio.”
 
The apprenticeship has been developed in conjunction with the National Council for the Training of Journalists and at the end of the two-year period the six individuals should have all the skills to gain an Advanced Apprenticeship in Journalism.

Last year Press Gazette revealed the London Evening Standard and Independent titles would be taking part in the same NCTJ apprenticeship scheme. Managing editor Doug Wills said the titles were planning to take on three school leavers.
 
Joanne Butcher, Chief Executive of the NCTJ, said: “The Advanced Apprenticeship in Journalism is a brand new qualification developed by the NCTJ in partnership with leading employers.
 
“It provides a new pathway into journalism careers, combining learning on the job and at college, and to the same exacting standards we expect from all NCTJ trainees.”
 
The pilot apprenticeship and work placement will start in September 2013 and at the end of the two years, successful candidates can expect to be in with a chance of a job within BBC radio.
 
Hardy said: “The hope is to offer the six successful candidates a job at the end of the scheme because there is no point spending all that time and effort training someone if you’re not going to take them on full-time. 
 
“Of course in some cases it might not work out, but we would hope the qualification would help them to find a position elsewhere.” 

The application process will open via the BBC Careers site on 6 May.

Mark Silverman, Principal of Lambeth College, said: “We are delighted that we have the opportunity to launch the new Apprenticeship in Radio Journalism in partnership with the BBC Radio production department.”

Good news from the Loverson Inquiry

It’s rather sweet really that an office romance has come out of the Leveson Inquiry.

Loathsome perma-tanned counsel for the victims of press intrusion David Sherborne has somehow managed to win the heart of married counsel for the inquiry Carine Patry Hoskins.

The Daily Mail is in a ferment of moral outrage over the affair, crying foul over how it could have compromised the process.

The Sun played it for laughs by giving away “a FREE holiday for two romantic readers to the beautiful Greek island of Santorini.

“And – just like Leveson lovebird lawyers David Sherborne and Carine Patry Hoskins – you don’t have to be in a relationship before you step on the plane to paradise…”

The pair insist that the romance only blossomed after the inquiry had finished. But Axegrinder doesn’t see why professionals on opposing sides of the fence can be romantically entangled.

Remember, for instance, David Leigh who was news editor of the Daily Mirror when his wife Sue Thompson was news editor of The Sun.

He once told Press Gazette: “We’d be on duty at weekends, bidding for the same stories – she’d be on the upstairs phone and I’d be on the downstairs one talking to our respective reporters. If she got the story I wouldn’t be best pleased and vice versa.”

Middle-class revolt

Torin Douglas, who has taken redundancy after 24 years as BBC media correspondent, once had to encounter middle-class revolt against proposals to radically change the Radio 4 longwave offering.

Reminiscing on his 24 years, he said: “Perhaps the most surreal BBC story I ever covered was the protest march on Broadcasting House in the early 1990s when the BBC was planning to turn Radio 4 longwave into an all-news station – the one that eventually became Radio 5 Live.

“The middle classes descended on Broadcasting House in droves, one Saturday afternoon – and you can still find my report in the BBC archive.

“This was the politest march you have ever seen and heard.  

“They were chanting: ‘What do we want? Radio 4.’    

“‘Where do we want it? Longwave.’”  

“‘What do we say? PLEASE.’”

Reporting is the worst profession?

Axegrinder has always taken the view that at least journalism is clean work indoors, but according to the US website CareerCast.com being a newspaper reporter is worst profession there is.

It rated 200 jobs on five criteria: physical demands, work environment, stress and hiring outlook. And newspaper reporter came out worst.

Reporting ranked some 50 places below being a janitor. Actuaries came out top.

Tony Lee publisher of CareerCast.com said: “It’s been low for a while”, (last year the role of newspaper reporter was ranked 196 out of 200). “What probably pushed it to the bottom is that several things got worse – job prospects decreased, the average salary continued to fall, and work hours continued to rise. Those factors also make the job more stressful.”

To compile its list, the firm primarily used data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and other government agencies.