The continued decline in spending on public service broadcasting in Wales is highlighted by Ofcom’s latest Communications Market Report, published today (19 August). Read more on “Spend on public service broadcasting in Wales falls again” »

Glamorgan journalism student Steven Lawless has been writing about ships and libraries for the Guardian local site in Cardiff.

This pilot project in local journalism by the Guardian has proved a useful one for our students. For a snapshot of examples of their work there, and elsewhere, let your cursor hover over the links on the right of the page.

In the meantime, the three best things I’ve read this week on the future of journalism are:

• this on how algorithms are generating the ‘talking points’ that journalists traditionally find by a mix of instinct and experience
• this bleak commentary on local news in South Wales which has now provoked a backlash from the Western Mail – see comment below
• and this report on the Scottish scene, from which lessons can surely be drawn

These are interesting times, with opportunities as well as challenges, as colleague James Stewart pointed out  on these pages just a few weeks ago. And if you want to spend a year pondering some of the questions raised at the links above, there are still places on our MA courses where you can do just that – while polishing your professional skills, too.

Journalism is getting a mention now (Saturday June 19) over at the Community Radio Wales seminar in our Atrium building. You can follow it – or catch up later, via the live blog at http://communityradioseminar.blogspot.com/ or on Twitter via the hashtag #crw and I don’t doubt something might also appear on this blog later.

This is what it’s all about:

The first Community Radio Seminar in Wales

On Saturday, June 19th, community radio stations from throughout Wales will be gathering at the Wales Centre for Radio at the Atrium in Cardiff. They’ll be talking about surviving in these difficult times and building robust methods of attaining sustainability.

After months of doom and gloom, job cuts and predictions of the death of the newspaper, comes a glimmer of hope.

Writing in this week’s Media Guardian, Steve Busfield is upbeat about what he’s seen as a judge for the 2010 Regional Press Awards. He’s come across talented people willing to experiment with their journalism – and new publications ’sprouting’ online.

Meanwhile his colleague Emily Bell reports on AOL’s plans to hire 400 people – many of them ‘traditional journalists’ and to create a network of 40,000 freelance contributors!

So the message remains the same – there will be work for journalists but not, perhaps, in the forms that we have known it in the past.

Twenty-five years after the landmark series The Dragon Has Two Tongues was broadcast, the BBC is planning a major new series on the history of Wales. But how should that story be told for today’s television audience? Historians, media academics and broadcasters met at the University of Glamorgan’s Atrium in Cardiff to discuss the options. Read more on “Retelling Welsh history on TV” »

As iPad fever allegedly grips the UK, it’s worth remembering that the quest to condense news onto something small enough to carry but big enough to read is itself old news.

 Back in 1901, people were just as excited when the then Alfred Harmsworth (later Lord Northcliffe) created what was arguably the world’s first tabloid.

Read more on “iPad fever: it’s 1901 all over again…” »

A famous name in investigative journalism has been resurrected by the man who launched ‘a radical magazine for Wales’ almost 40 years ago. In its new incarnation, Rebecca is published on a website which includes a 20-minute television documentary made to professional standards. Read more on “Rebecca strikes again!” »

The man behind plans for an ambitious news service based on ITV Wales has warned that the future of quality journalism faces a continued decline unless the General Election leads to a firm decision in favour of his proposals.

Michael Wilson, managing director of UTV Television and the man behind the Wales Live project, was speaking in Cardiff at the same time as the former Controller of BBC Wales issued his own warning about the future of Welsh broadcasting. Geraint Talfan Davies called for the establishment of a Welsh Trust to manage the budget of BBC Wales and for power over S4C to be devolved to the National Assembly. Read more on “Future of broadcasting in Wales ‘in limbo’” »

The Government’s plans for digital radio are in the spotlight with the publication of a critical House of Lords report. The Communications Committee warn of a public backlash against the 2015 target date for a switch to digital, which could make millions of analogue receivers seem redundant. Read more on “Will digital future leave community radio in analogue ghetto?” »

In a move which will suprise some and disappoint others, the consortium headed by Ulster Television have been chosen as the preferred bidders to run the ITV news service in Wales.  Whether they actually get to deliver the service depends on the Government and the result of the General Election (the Conservatives have said they will scrap all plans for independent news consortia, as they are called). Read more on “Ulster news on ITV Wales? (R.I.P. HTV)” »