Wildcat Strike

As broadcast journalists we have to stick to the OFCOM Broadcasting Code to show 'due impartiality'. In this report on the strike at the Staythorpe power station in Nottinghamshire, it was important for me to tell the story without being biased in favour or against the workers who were striking - just to tell the facts of the story.

Chris Morris on ITV Calendar

I recently set up an interview with Chris Morris, a comedian who's renowned for never doing interviews. He was on ITV Calendar to promote the premiere of his new film Four Lions at the Bradford Film Festival.

Here's the whole interview plus the post interview chat between our correspondent Jon Hill and Chris Morris...



And this is how we told the story on the Calendar programme...



Click here to read an article on Chris Morris at the Bradford Film Festival in The Times. It gives you more depth on his appearance there.

Biggest Dairy in Europe

To tell this story I used a graphic showing where the dairy is being planned for. The graphic also helped me because I didn't have many shots to choose from to tell the story.

My Top Podcasts - Part 2

Unlike the podcasts I went through in my previous post, the following aren't broadcast on the radio and are only accessible through the internet.

John Pienaar's Political Review podcast. The week's events in Westminster are mulled over by 5 Live's Chief Political Correspondent and a guest (often a political reporter for a national paper). It's informal yet informative and best of all, concise - normally 15 minutes.

The Guardian's Media Talk podcast is a round table discussion on the week's events in the media. This is the commercial rival of BBC Radio 4's The Media Show. There's much more banter, gossip and rumours in this podcast which makes it an easy listen. The presenter and guests are Guardian and Observer journalists and occasionally they'll have interviews with some of the industry heavy weights.

The Guardian's Politics Weekly podcast undoubtedly has centre-left leanings, as you'd expect from a political discussion by Guardian journalists. Well worth listening to if politics is your thing - an intelligent insight into politics from some of the Guardian comment writers including Polly Tonybee. It also has a BBC Radio 4 equivalent, The Weekly Political Review.

Prayer from Taizé podcast. Taizé is a Christian community in France which I've blogged about in the past. It comprises of highlights of the past week's prayer services from the church Taizé. I'm often reminded of the amazing times I've had by the beautiful singing.

I also enjoy the BBC Match Of The Day Magazine podcast, even though it's aimed at children. They're expertly produced by a good friend of mine.

So as the above shows, it's not just the BBC who produce superb podcasts. Give them a go and let me know what you think.