Originally published in the Morning Star 7 September 2020 DURING an impasse in Julian Assange’s extradition hearing in February, I found myself sharing a bench in the court’s public area with three track-suited men in their early 20s. Another case …
Spring a leak: Assange’s case takes centre stage Read more »
Originally published in the August 2020 edition of NUJ Informed. When HM Courts and Tribunals Service wanted a poster boy for their revised approach to media relations, the Evening Standard’s Tristan Kirk stepped up. Speaking in a Ministry of Justice …
In the rat-infested basement of The Public Benefit Boot Company in Leeds City Market, Harry Proctor was sacked. His boss had caught him reading a novel. The tattered pages had already worked their magic, however. It was 1932 and Proctor, …
Reporting fictions: a novel start for journalists Read more »
First published in Amateur Photographer 14 December 2019 A friend of mine has been an enthusiastic photographer for nearly 40 years. The knack of composition has always eluded him, however. In his street scenes, tarmac occupies most of the frame. …
Legend dependent: only the titled achieve immortality Read more »
Eren Keskin is possibly the most striking defendant hauled before Istanbul’s criminal courts today. Dressed in black from head to toe, a quivering beehive of hair towers above her head, and her make up is distinctly rock n’ roll. She …
Cell by date: jail looms for Turkey’s journalists Read more »
Article originally published in the December 2019 editor of NUJ Informed. Each September, Porthcawl is alive with white jumpsuits, improbable sideburns and gyroscopic hips as 40,000 Elvis impersonators descend on the Welsh resort. “Arrests are very rare, the whole event …
Head hunt: how the search for Elvis signals a threat to journalism Read more »
Tweets bring little news worth cheering. One last Wednesday from Qatar was an exception, however. Abdullah bin Nasir bin Khalifa Al Thani, prime minister of the gulf kingdom, announced a reform of the country’s employment laws. He promised a “full …
Qatar solo: labour reform leveraged from Gulf state’s isolation Read more »
This article originally appeared in the July 2018 edition of NUJ Informed Walking into the Chinese state broadcaster’s gleaming studios, Mick Hodgkin passes a galaxy of other media outlets. The offices of Yanga! (serving African markets), Aparat Media (TV content …
Global transmission: London booms as world tv hub Read more »
Review of the exhibition ‘Moon’ at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London 19 July 2019 – 5 January 2020 ????? I was four when I watched the first moon landing with my mother. Not long after Neil Armstrong’s boot alighted …
Far the greatest thrill at Tallinn’s Seaplane Harbour Museum, is the building itself. It has the vast, mysterious quality of a Ken-Adam-designed James Bond film set. Its scale and proportions are those of a modernist cathedral on steriods with a …
Flight of fancy: Tallinn’s Seaplane Harbour Museum is an atmospheric triumph Read more »