Emily Bell



Profile:
Full name: Emily Bell

Area of interest: Media (esp. in connection with business, convergence, new media industry, advertising and broadcasting)

Journals: The Guardian

Email: [mailto:emily.bell@guardian.co.uk emily.bell@guardian.co.uk]

Website: Guardian.co / Emily bell

Blog: Comment is free

Agent:

Networks:



Biography:
Education: Oxford University: Law

Career: International Thomson Business Publishing: Trainee Reporter, 1987/1988; Campaign Magazine, 1988/1990; Business reporter, covering marketing, advertising and media, 1990/1995; The Observer: Media Business Editor, 1995/1997, Deputy Business Editor, 1997/1999; Business Editor, 1999/2000; MediaGuardian.co.uk: Editor, 2000; Guardian Unlimited: Editor-in-chief, 2001; appointed to GNL board as director of digital content, 2006-present
 * See: Agenda Setters 2007 No. 13 - Emily Bell (Silcon.com)

Current position/role: Director of digital content, Guardian News Ltd

Other roles:

Other activities: writes regularly for Broadcast magazine

Disclosures:

Viewpoints/Insight:

TV/Radio: Considerable radio and television experience

Controversy/Criticism:

Awards/Honours: Observer Business Section won Financial Journal of the year in the Wincott Awards, 1998; Online Publishers Association editor of the year, 2003; Webby Award for Best Newspaper on the world wide web, 2005 and 2006

Other: Married to Ed Crooks, the Financial Times' Energy Editor



Books & Debate:


Latest work:

Speaking/Appearances:

Current Debate: Comment is free - Andrew Keen v Emily Bell: Is today's internet killing our culture?, 10th August, 2007 

The Guardian:
Column remit: Media policy issues

Section: Media Guardian

Role: Commentator

Pen-name:

Email: [mailto:emily.bell@guardian.co.uk emily.bell@guardian.co.uk]

Website: Guardian.co / Emily Bell: All articles | Media comment

Commissioning editor:

Day published: Monday

Regularity: Weekly

Column format: Print and Web

Average length: 600/650 words



Articles:

 * hacking: Can Rupert Murdoch put out the fire?'' - With the police inquiry into phone hacking reopened, Rupert Murdoch has left Davos for Wapping. He faces a difficult task - 27th January 2011
 * BBC may be a global force but needs to be championed at home'' - Corporation is dogged by poor choices and a lack of decision-making about its future - 26th July 2010
 * Stone failed to exploit Stanley McChrystal scoop online'' - The resignation last week of General Stanley McChrystal had the impact of a pterodactyl egg dropping on the US news agenda from 30,000 feet - 28th June 2010
 * Facebook's Open Graph idea must be taken seriously'' - F8 conference reveals plans that would allow users to recommend content from other sources - 26th April 2010
 * BBC might look as if it's in retreat. But its dominance remains'' - Thompson is the man who, even before becoming director general, articulated a vision of the BBC's multichannel future. But the world has changed - 3rd March 2010
 * outcry over BBC closures drowns out spending row'' - The leaking of plans for cuts to BBC websites and the closure of 6 Music has reminded people why they pay the licence fee - 1st March 2010
 * 4 can't play it both ways when it comes to the law'' - Denial of injunction over Jackson show case flags up challenges for C4's new chief executive - 8th February 2010
 * heir will be just one case of generation change'' - As News Corp's head prepares to anoint a successor, it is likely the British broadcasting landscape will alter considerably as well - 25th January 2010
 * long and the short of media content'' - the internet gives journalists more opportunity to consider quality not just quantity - 11th January
 * diverting tiff with Google'' - Newspapers face bigger challenges than aggregation, and even Google can be wrong-footed by changes in consumer behaviour - 3rd December 2009
 * will the internet look like 40 years in the future?'' - The Guardian director of digital content imagines our online future - 23rd November 2009
 * will the internet look like 40 years in the future?'' - The Internet at 40: Websites are old hat, everything is portable and we'll be able to browse space. The Guardian director of digital content imagines our online life in 2049 - 23rd October 2009
 * Moir, Trafigura and the power of online social networks'' - The public online response to the Trafigura super-injunction and then Jan Moir's article on Stephen Gately highlighted the power of networks such as Twitter to exert pressure on news organisations, the law and advertisers - 19th October 2009
 * free Standard will really test the paid-for news model'' - The make-or-break decision by the Evening Standard to go free will either lead to its closure or help it steal market share from paid-for newspapers - 5th October 2009
 * BBC is not the problem - it's an inability to let go of the past'' - Schiller described the idea that large numbers of people will pay for content as 'mass delusion' - 31st August 2009
 * Post's dinner of distinction leaves a bad taste'' - The Washington Post is so stuck for cash that staff seriously considered selling seats for dinner with its top brass for $25,000 a pop - 20th July 2009
 * expenses are hard to swallow'' - Working at the BBC is not at all like working in the commercial sector – it's time its executives realised that - 26th June 2009
 * Britain: pipes, not poetry'' - Lord Carter's Digital Britain report lacks electrifying vision, but could mark the point at which the BBC began to lose control of its licence fee - 17th June 2009
 * very social media'' - There is a white board in my office that I use instead of a memory. It has on it a list of things to do and at the moment it has a single word that causes a certain amount of smutty hilarity: twattergy - 18th May 2009
 * spectre of leaderless British media looms large'' - What kind of fool would want to lead the way when we are heading into such an uncertain future? - 4th May 2009
 * Bay founders jailed for a ship already plundered'' - The immediate question following the Pirate Bay ruling, was 'if The Pirate Bay, then why not Google'? - 20th April 2009
 * of scandal curbs the BBC far more than fear of fines'' - Historically the BBC has relied on a cultural handbrake rather than an external crash barrier to stop brand-damaging sprees of misjudgment - 6th April
 * Digital media cannot be contained by the analogue rulebook - Once something is digitised the ability to control it exponentially decreases - this is something that all our institutions and regulators need to learn to cope with - 23rd March 2009
 * the Guardian and Observer digital editions'' - In the past few weeks we've made our content available on mobile phones, through an API to developers who want to create mashups, and through various Twitter streams. But however many of these platforms we create, there's always been a section of our readership who want nothing more than to read the newspaper in a newspaper format - 16th March 2009
 * biggest mistake of the past 10 years? Too much stuff'' - Wherever you look, it is clear that the media industry is in dire need of quantitative tightening - 9th March 2009
 * talk is not the best way to start a debate on press freedom'' - The bruising encounter between the PCC's Sir Christopher Meyer and the Media Standards Trust was a classic lesson in how not to spin a report on trust and transparency - 16th February 2009
 * anthropologist's study of Digital Britain'' - The industry view of the Digital Britain report is that it was a lot of sound and fury signifying nothing. Which was either a good or a bad thing depending on where you stood on the media handout spectrum - 2nd February 2009
 * Keep politics out of the BBC's Gaza row - Mark Thompson has made an editorial decision. It is not the government's place to deem whether it is right or wrong - 26th January 2009
 * mind the Sex Pistols - here's BBCC4'' - For those of us clustered in and around the tightknit, intense community of media policy wonks, last Thursday's Oxford Media Convention bordered on the historic - 26th January 2009
 * encounters of the redtop tabloid kind'' - When I started the week I was not expecting this column to revolve around fake alien invasions and what I did on my holidays... - 12th January 2009
 * should not have been jumped on so soon'' - Kangaroo might have been able to develop a solution for video on demand - 8th December 2008
 * Mail/Indy office share will not be the last peculiar pairing'' - The Independent's relocation from Canary Wharf to the lower-cost environs of London's Kensington High Street is a bold, last throw move by Independent News and Media - 1st December 2008
 * feels the heat, but is he able to fight the fire?'' - Tim Davie is too new to the job to be blamed for a procedure and standards issue - 3rd November 2008
 * learns to handle new digital weapon'' - "It's your BBC," the slogan used to run, imploring the audience to engage with the broadcaster. After five years of encouraging viewers and listeners to "have your say", "press the red button" and "leave a comment on our blog", the BBC this week found itself on the wrong end of what might be termed "interactivism" - 1st November 2008
 * the carnage, why should we be immune?'' - This week I have mostly been riding out with the four horsemen of the apocalypse - predicting a certain amount of contraction in areas of the media business - 20th October 2008
 * no point spurning technology, creativity follows it'' - 22nd September 2008
 * stokes a diversity debate that needs addressing'' - Selina Scott is suing Five over ageism in its refusal to hire her for a maternity cover role and choice of younger presenters instead - 8th September 2008
 * it comes to making telly, old ways aren't always the best'' - There was an entirely unsurprising consensual outcome from the MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival - that we all love programmes - 25th August 2008
 * Illegal sharing is not killing music but scary letters might - The threatening letter on the doormat about licence fee non-payment might soon be joined by another from your local internet service provider - 28th July 2008
 * If Google should falter, how many others will follow? - 21st July 2008
 * Step by step, the BBC is moving towards a post-licence fee world - 7th July 2008
 * The next head of radio at the BBC will be a crucial choice - 23rd June 2008
 * What ITV needs is a commercial breakthrough - 9th June 2008
 * Medium going on great - Hay festival 2008: While critics of the internet make valid points about access and privacy, it's hard to believe it has dragged down media standards 26th May 2008
 * Thanks to the ad men, DVDs still rival on-demand content - 19th May 2008
 * Public scandal helps to wake sleeping broadcasters - It would take a heart of stone not to smile even slightly at the Ofcom report, which blistered the paint on ITV's listing hull - 12th May 2008
 * We need to start a new conversation about the BBC - Is it time to rethink the BBC's place in the British media landscape? - 28th April 2008
 * Face it – Fox News isn't something to aspire to - 7th April 2008
 * A toehold in football is worth all the Ferraris in Cheshire - 24th March 2008
 * If the bubble bursts, the web 2.0 crowd are in the best position - 17th March 2008
 * Is Charles Allen the right man to save commercial radio? - 10th March 2008
 * We're picking a path through a minefield, tin hats awry - Opinion, Emily Bell: What happens when anyone can publish anything, about anyone, anywhere at any time? - 3rd March 2008
 * A little blog abuse is worth it for a lot of discourse - 18th February 2008
 * Happy fifth birthday BBC3, but will there be many returns? - 11th February 2008
 * Microhoo has a touch of the Time Warner/AOLs about it - On Friday, Yahoo news carried a video of a monkey riding a dog in a rodeo. Which brings us neatly on to the other story of that day, Microsoft's £22bn offer for Yahoo - 4th February 2008
 * Exit one 38-year-old culture secretary and enter another . . . - James Purnell held the key post in UK media policy for barely enough time to be photoshopped into a press release - 28th January 2008
 * Can broadband keep up with Postman Pat on demand? - 21st January 2008
 * Carter and Brown - a match made in heaven? - The ascent of Stephen Carter from chief executive of PR firm Brunswick to Gordon Brown's head of communications and strategy has implications for media policy - 14th January 2008
 * Channel 4 must no longer be a hostage to indecision - 7th January 2008
 * The BBC's fuzzy picture - 19th December 2007
 * Lord Reith of the internet? Ofcom's CEO must try harder - 19th November 2007
 * Murdoch's latest twist shows operatic talent - Rupert Murdoch this week delighted us all by adding a twist to his purchase of Dow Jones and its flagship title the Wall Street Journal - 12th November 2007
 * If Channel 4 didn't exist why would anyone invent it? - 5th November 2007
 * All show, but no business - The ITV scandal reveals how little the industry understands about the world it now inhabits - 19th October 2007
 * Why the BBC should have to publish its stars' salaries - 15th October 2007
 * Sky barred from having a bit of ITV? Let them buy it all - 8th October 2007
 * Sick but on the mend - 5th October 2007
 * Fix it yourself - 12th June 2007

Broadcast magazine:
Column name: Emily Bell

Column remit: Media

Section: Opinion and blogs

Role: Commentator

Pen-name:

Email: [mailto:emilybell@emap.com emilybell@emap.com]

Website: Broadcastnow.co / opinion & blogs

Commissioning editor:

Day published:

Regularity:

Column format:

Average length:



Articles:

 * Time to cut the crap with kids - Why Blue Peter's decline was predictable and utterly avoidable - 11th February 2009
 * Moore power to the people - Could ex-Telegraph editor's licence fee rebellion become a mass act? - 29th January 2009
 * Questioning Ofcom's PSB role - Submissions to its PSB review are calling on Ofcom to get tough. The eye-straining business of reading the submissions to Ofcom on its upcoming review of public service broadcasting was not entirely a waste of Optrex. It was an exercise that rekindled my somewhat dormant faith in the wisdom of crowds - 14th January 2009
 * VoD future is a leap in the dark - Why the Kangaroo team will find life tough in the on-demand world - 10th December 2008
 * PSB - The regulator finds itself shackled to a policy of its own making, says Emily Bell - 24th September 2008
 * Archive of activity - Keating's new job as chief BBC archivist is no demotion in the in-demand world - 23rd July 2008
 * The regulation game - The new Ofcom chair must encourage innovation - and punish bad acting - 9th July 2008
 * Exploiting TV's riches - It's time for media companies to blow the dust off their archives - 11th June 2008
 * Novel ideas - What TV can learn from the Hay book festival about the distributed world - 27th May 2008
 * What's the outlook? Airey's return to Five is unlikely to change the odds of an ITV deal - 6th May 2008
 * The Abramsky legacy - The director of BBC Audio and Music has been a force to be reckoned with - 23rd April 2008
 * Joost desserts - Web TV is proving a tougher nut to crack than new providers expected - 8th April 2008
 * Changing the channel - Channel 4 needs to redefine itself before it's fit for public service - 18th March 2008
 * How to save ITV - Can Fincham and Grade come up with the wholesale reinvention ITV needs? - 4th March 2008
 * Emily Bell on the US writers' strike - Striking writers are wrong to think they should be paid more - 7th November 2007
 * ITV can't rewind values - The return of a trusted newsman will not restore the network’s former glory - 24th October 2007
 * Fakes and pains - The Nodding Yentob is not a TV crisis - but it still hurts the BBC's reputation, thinks Emily Bell - 13th September 2007
 * The regulation game - There is still a governance gap at the BBC - but Ofcom is not the answer, argues Emily Bell - 2nd August 2007
 * Calling Sky's box bluff - BSkyB's paid-for DTT service smells more like a diversion than a genuine plan - and the sooner Ofcom rules on it, the better for the industry - 22nd February 2007
 * Adapt and survive - The radio industry is coping better than television in the digital age because it views new technology as enabler, rather than threat - 8th February 2007
 * Uncharted waters ahead - The BBC may have a guaranteed income for six years but it faces political uncertainties its rivals don't have to worry about - 24th January 2007
 * Green eyed monsters - As Sky News' green week has an impact at home, Emily Bell imagines how the other broadcasters might want to save the planet - 11th January 2007

