Peter Preston



Profile:
Full name: Peter Preston

Area of interest: political & social issues, media, film, foreign affairs, journalism, press freedom

Journals/Organisation: The Guardian | The Observer

Email: [mailto:p.preston@guardian.co.uk p.preston@guardian.co.uk]

Personal website:

Website: http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/peterpreston

Blog: the blog arts & entertainment

Representation:

Networks:



Biography:
About:

Education: Loughborough Grammar School and St John's College, Oxford
 * Honorary degrees from City University, London and the University of Leicester, 2003

Career: The Guardian, reporter, diarist, features editor 1963/1975, editor 1975/1995, editor-in-chief (The Guardian and The Observer) 1995, Guardian Media Group, editorial director 1996

Current position/role: Editorial director of the Guardian Media Group, Columnist


 * also writes/written for: Global Journalist online magazine: Point of View column (archive)

Other roles/Main role: Other activities: Member of the Scott Trust, 1979/2003; served on the Press Complaints Commission; The International Press Institute Chairman, 1995/1997; Chairman of the Association of British Press Editors

Disclosures:

Viewpoints/Insight: British Journalism Review: How not to defend your source Vol. 16, No. 3, 2005, pages 47-52

Broadcast media:

Video: extensive radio broadcast experience

Controversy/Criticism:

Awards/Honours:

Scoops:

In connection with the investigative reporting into the affairs of Conservative MPs Jonathan Aitken and Neil Hamilton while he was the editor of The Guardian, see:
 * The Guardian: The Aitken Affair (Archive and Timeline)
 * The Guardian: The outrageous cant of Jonathan Aitken and his friends. By the man who started the story 7th March 1999
 * BBC News: Hamilton took 'wodge' of cash 29th November 1999

Other: Ben Preston, his son, is deputy editor of The Times



Books & Debate:

 * 51st state OCLC39746908, fiction, 1998
 * Bess OCLC59412297, fiction, 1999

Latest work:

Speaking/Appearances:

Current debate:Is it right to be intervening in Libya's struggle for freedom?, The Observer debate: Peter Preston and Abdelkader Benali argue for and against military action in North Africa. Plus a range of other opinions from experts, 27th March 2011 

The Guardian:
Column name:

Remit/Info: political and social issues, foreign affairs, current affairs

Section: Comment

Role: Columnist

Pen-name:

Email: [mailto:p.preston@guardian.co.uk p.preston@guardian.co.uk]

Website: Guardian.co / Peter Preston

Commissioning editor:

Day published: Monday

Regularity: Weekly

Column format:

Average length:



Articles: 2017

 * Turning tabloid can save money - but you must not skimp on talent - After the Guardian and Observer announce a move to new format, they will need fresh thinking to ensure tabloids are a compelling read - 18th June
 * Facebook needs news. So why shouldn’t it pay for it? - Advertising is falling. Paywalls push readers away. But a big endowment from the tech moguls, to be shared among all papers, could work in everyone’s interests - 19th March



Articles: 2016

 * The BBC is just whipping up more Bake Off fuss - Losing the series to Channel 4 is either a ‘disaster’ or the way of today’s TV world. Either way the BBC is only boosting C4’s prospects by going on about it - 2nd October
 * Trust in the media is the first casualty of a post-factual war - As politics polarises, the mainstream media is being abandoned in favour of partisan reporting – or no reporting at all - 25th September
 * Channel 4 needs Bake Off, if only to pay the bills - However much of a shock the BBC’s loss may be, what would we think of a publicly funded C4 that never competed for shows and always made a loss? - 18th September
 * There will be fingers in the BBC pie long after Bake Off has gone - A new royal charter that promises ‘stability’ and ‘independence’ will do nothing to protect the corporation from an endless tug-of-influence - 18th September
 * Dacre and the Mail count the heavy cost of victory in Europe - Brexit was the choice of DMGT’s indomitable editor-in-chief. But at what price to his prospects, his proprietor, or his company? - 9th July
 * Can an online Independent survive the visibility test? - Impact, influence and presence are at risk as the print editions of the paper vanish from newsstands - 20th March



Articles: 2014

 * Ed Miliband at bay: the hack pack scents the blood of vulnerable prey - Newspapers can’t destroy politicians, but they can catch a baleful mood, surf a savage tide - 9th November



Articles: 2012

 * Ageism is out there, but not in the case of John McCririck - The Channel 4 racing pundit blames ageism for his axing. But the real cause is the audience's weary over-familiarity with his eccentric style - 29th October
 * The Jimmy Savile affair has exposed the sorry chaos at the heart of the BBC - The corporation's shambolic response to the saga demonstrates the unfit state of its management structure - 14th October
 * Europe's real family values - Across the continent, where older people have a role in raising young relatives, they are also better cared for themselves - 28th May
 * An illusion of omnipotence that simply suspends belief - We survived the days when Northcliffe was all-powerful, and the real world will continue long after Planet Murdoch too - 13th May
 * A law and a courtroom, but who will be judge on Jeremy Hunt? - For years, investigations into the conduct of ministers have bogged down in political expediency. This must be the case that breaks the trend - 29th April
 * If parents are fined for children's absence, teachers must attend too - If every single day matters, teachers must make sure they do not break the essential compact of responsibility - 17th April
 * Sooner or later, the Falkland islanders will be sold out - As Prince William flies out to serve there, David Cameron's promises of security for the Falklands are just bluster - 3rd February
 * Stephen Lawrence and the melting pot of south London - My part of London has problems now as it did 19 years ago, but there is just as much triumph as disaster - 9th January
 * Why can't we be more like Switzerland? - Wistful Tories look to Basel, and being the sort of nation that can define its own self-interest daily - 2nd January



Articles: 2011

 * The better world of Strictly Come Dancing - BBC haters ought to have had this multinational dance series for breakfast. Instead they've feasted on it – every Saturday night - 19th December
 * Bendy buses were a godsend to us strugglers - The end of the bendy bus in London is a blow to the lame, arthritic downstairs lot. Does Boris Johnson think about us? - 12th December
 * Cops that fit the mood - Europe's brutally bleak dramas reflect a loss of trust in our own police after a year of scandals - 5th December
 * Why shops matter - High streets define communities, offering us a break from routine and a social reference point - 28th November
 * Remembrance day: The lessons of war are too easily forgotten - We talk of remembering the first world war, but we don't recall the lessons it taught us - 14th November
 * of problems: cereal choices tell us where Europe went wrong'' - Can the Europe of strawberry clusters and mango muesli endure the hardship we face? - 7th November
 * Britain's got a talent deficit - Tables that show education in the UK and US lagging far behind Asia's paint a grim picture of our future - 31st October
 * Holding MPs to standards in public life - Fox had a raw deal – and it's Cameron's fault, as the PM ignored past lessons and shuffled blame - 24th October
 * Let's do the television time-shift - Technologies like Sky+ and TiVo have changed our viewing habits – and ruined TV water-cooler moments - 17th October
 * Pakistan is the real victim of Bush's great 9/11 folly - It might have been an economic star by now, but the war on terror has left Pakistan a failing state - 10th October
 * Pakistan is the real victim of Bush's great 9/11 folly - It might have been an economic star by now, but the war on terror has left Pakistan a failing state - 10th October
 * NHS wards ought to be family friendly - Spanish hospitals are full of patients' relatives, but in Britain we see family care as ending at the door - 3rd October
 * When it comes to the economy, nobody knows anything - You don't need relevant academic qualifications to talk the economy talk. You can just opine away - 26th September
 * Spooks never kept us safe - The film of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy keeps alive the myth that cold war spies actually mattered - 19th September
 * Israel must come to terms with its changing neighbours - Netanyahu's regime needs to grasp how the Arab spring has changed all Middle East dynamics - 12th September
 * A big local difficulty - Councillors will be able to act without fear of scrutiny or retribution if Eric Pickles gets his localism bill through - 5th September
 * past in a pineapple ring'' - I still remember my first chicken biriani, in 1958. Whatever Jamie Oliver and co do, food will always be living history - 29th August
 * soundbite has become a nibble'' - Discussion time on our broadcast media is getting shorter and shorter. The fear of viewer boredom is everywhere - 22nd August
 * a show that throws our fears away'' - Spooks may be tripe TV, but we need its make-believe world, where we are in charge and everything works - 15th August
 * UK should ask its army to do less'' - No nation is about to attack us; the only threat is terrorism. Our defence bill should reflect that - 8th August
 * Murdoch: chairman of the bored'' - High-powered meetings? Maybe Rupert Murdoch and co just get fed up with sitting in empty offices - 2nd August
 * service: Evade, forget and bluster'' - The committee on standards in public life has been sidelined at the time we need it most - 25th July
 * view of Europe was from Wapping's walls'' - As politicians at last stand up to Murdoch, perhaps we can now talk about our true interests in the EU - 18th July
 * would take News International's papers off Murdoch's hands?'' - Its UK papers may be more trouble than they are worth to News Corp. But Richard Desmond's not much of a saviour - 12th July
 * the void after the PCC'' - I was there when self-regulation was set up: don't let's toss away the freedoms we fought for - 11th July
 * we had no bananas'' - Spanish children find rationing hard to grasp, but in essence they'd fit easily in my village school - 4th July
 * danger of road safety'' - Cyclists in Amsterdam are fearless: no helmets, no protective kit. Yet they may be safer, too - 27th June
 * regal, resurgent and on a roll: Will and Kate lead a royal comeback'' - Not so many years ago, things looked bleak for the Windsors: the Queen's annus horribilis, Diana's death, Harry's antics. Now, on the back of that wedding, the tabloids – and the public – can't get enough of them - 26th June
 * and the middle class malaise'' - Why don't the British win Wimbledon anymore? Because we aren't hungry for success - 26th June
 * without end'' - The fuss made over Prince Philip's 90th birthday indicate any hopes we may have had for a more rational Britain are dashed - 13th June
 * Obama is safer than Papa B'' - There are some electoral problems that the Republicans won't solve for sheer lack of talent - 6th June
 * Srebrenica? The west's intervention in Libya is a no-brainer'' - Cowardice in Bosnia resulted in a massacre. That's why it's still right to intervene in Libya - 30th May
 * the Mormons'' - A musical deriding Latter Day Saints – sweetly or sourly – pulls every religion down with it - 23rd May
 * and WikiLeaks have made a mockery of the courts'' - A showdown between the law and common sense is brewing as a footballer takes legal action over Twitter's injunction breach - 22nd May
 * must seize the day in Pakistan and Afghanistan'' - The death of Osama bin Laden gives us a chance to ease the problems of Kabul and Islamabad - 16th May
 * States of Amazement'' - Those who fear Brand America might be broken need to visit New York, preferably with a child - 9th May
 * Taliban trap repeated'' - The reshuffle at the top of US intelligence risks confusing the roles of soldiers and spooks, which backfired so badly in Pakistan - 2nd May
 * of the potholes: councils are still spending money on our streets'' - The hardest of times? Cuts by councils? But the same men with the same lorries are still on the job - 25th April
 * to save the BBC World Service – the UK's soft powerhouse'' - A committee of MPs believes a small shift in resources could halt cuts to the BBC World Service - 17th April
 * plan B? It's all plan B'' - Politicians love this year's most annoying mantra: it suggests conviction. Yet they forever change tack - 11th April
 * and the limits of the politics of peace'' - The new Omagh tragedy highlights the country's political problems, and Cameron's duty to help solve them - 4th April
 * squeeze and the splurge'' - It's hard to understand how in gloomy, battered Britain, demand for iPads and Nintendos is so high - 28th March
 * Gove's pupil stew'' - Michael Gove and his minions tour the globe hunting for bright learning ideas to steal. But can they work in Britain? - 21st March
 * Cuts we'll all want a say on'' - Me, I'd rather the licence fee didn't go towards future tennis stars or a gas-guzzling F1 elite - 13th March
 * and the scenery of life'' - The passing of the cast of characters you grew up with can ravage the magic that once existed - 7th March
 * accent for the Oscars'' - British actors sound clearly different at US award ceremonies but these days you'd never know it on film - 28th February
 * clueless spies'' - Secret agents are supposed to know what's going on – but history tells a different story - 21st February
 * politics of ageism'' - It's mainly reported as a TV issue, but even more so it's our political leaders who reveal their youth and inexperience - 14th February
 * way for the new in the book world'' - Save Our Libraries Day overlooked one thing: technology has changed our reading habits - 7th February
 * norms of Norman Rockwell'' - The artist Norman Rockwell gave pre-war Americans what they wanted: cheerful escapism. But times have changed - 31st January
 * bosses must curb their pay'' - In this austere era of tuition fee increases, huge funding cuts and student unrest, university bosses should not accept big pay rises - 24th January
 * game is up'' - The whole three-star ethos of endless hovering service – as seen on Michel Roux's TV reality show – is now moribund - 17th January
 * are no short cuts for the monarchy'' - A new film on George VI underlines the point about monarchy that ruling is a relentless plod - 10th January
 * in a television time warp'' - To be young in front of a TV is to be suddenly old, in a world where the past eternally survives - 3rd January



Articles: 2010

 * travel sickness'' - Whizzy notions Michael Gove and co like to import from abroad won't work in the UK because we don't get the full story - 27th December
 * bloodied heralds of politics'' - As Tom Baldwin shows, spin doctors themselves are part of the message – and in the firing line too - 20th December
 * change: human numbers don't add up'' - The best way to cut emissions is to have fewer babies – but you won't find it in the Cancún bulletin, or any politician's vision - 13th December
 * happiness in the freeze'' - Not long ago, winter was almost as cold inside as out. Now life without central heating is unimaginable - 6th December
 * travel: First among equals'' - It's dotty to find a class system on the railway tracks – sustained by taxpayers' money - 29th November
 * braver to quit Afghanistan now'' - If the date for withdrawal from Afghanistan is fixed at the end of 2014 then our soldiers may be dying for nothing - 22nd November
 * the Falklands'' - It makes no economic or political sense to hang on to the Falklands, but no one will face the truth - 15th November
 * bang too big for our buck'' - If France and the UK can share warheads and a sea rota, why have seven nuclear subs between us? - 7th November
 * for the old to stick up for the young'' - Pensioners like me are being shielded from cuts. It is wrong, and we must find a way to protest - 1st November
 * of the ragers'' - Feted in May, baited now. The treatment of Roy Hodgson is a parable of these intemperate times - 25th October
 * legacy'' - Chile's economic and democratic success is the result of a gutted society which needs to unite - 18th October
 * of the Afghan endgame'' - A soldier's death brings more grief and anger at the folly of young lives being lost in Afghanistan - 11th October
 * wary of the walkout'' - Made in Dagenham is a warm tale of success. But few striking workers will have the upper hand now - 4th October
 * our civic belt and braces'' - Many quangos may be unnecessary but this cull will lead to some utterly predictable disasters - 27th September
 * misery is a legacy'' - Armenia shows what happens if a nation becomes trapped in the past and cannot move on - 20th September
 * news is not about rigid formulas'' - News is diverse, local, opinionated and interactive – and it needs to be allowed to breathe - 18th September
 * are not a world service'' - The BBC and the Foreign Office are locked in talks over the future of the World Service. Some savings should be simple - 13th September
 * reform lost its allure'' - Politicians vote today on the AV referendum – where on earth did all the early enthusiasm go? - 6th September
 * is not the target; deal fixers are'' - Cricket needs to use its TV-generated fortune to strike at the root of the match-fixing problem - 30th August
 * day I lost my grandson'' - It was a scary moment, in between the ghost train and the Zipper Dipper – and then it went online - 23rd August
 * by the Bhuttos'' - The whole subcontinent is in thrall to dynasties, but it's Pakistan's that really takes the biscuit - 16th August
 * Ferguson: a royal opportunity'' - The duchess faces bankruptcy – this is our chance to get the Firm's spending under control - 9th August
 * storm clouds'' - Cameron can't blunder on Pakistan. Its troubles and role in terror make Afghanistan a sideshow - 2nd August
 * learning to enjoy life'' - Witnessing the hope of a graduation day, I remember that education is about more than sweat and debt - 26th July
 * to square one in Afghanistan'' - As polls on the ground show, Afghans know full well what their future holds – and it doesn't involve us - 19th July
 * temples totter'' - Many post-Soviet nations have lost their way on the road to democracy. And no one seems to care - 12th July
 * off before their prime'' - In football, age matters little – only winning and losing count. Why can't it be the same for politicians? - 5th July
 * backbench prince'' - If only Charles had gone into politics. He'd have been a natural wet, and perfect lobby fodder - 28th June
 * theatre of the absurd'' - The bumbling PR gaffes of the oil firm's chief are just distractions from the real disaster in the Gulf - 21st June
 * return to old Europe'' - The union is stalling. To restore momentum, the EU needs critically to re-engage Turkey - 14th June
 * snouts and troughs'' - When it comes to comparing wages, even doctors can be made to look guilty - 7th June
 * minus the jungle'' - In Afghanistan all the US has learned across four barren decades is how to pursue a purposeless war - 31st May
 * on parade'' - Is the sexual tendency of a supreme court nominee off limits – or do we let the blogosphere decide? - 17th May
 * hero from Harrods'' - Let's celebrate the man who revealed the slime beneath the surface of political life - 10th May
 * heads put to the test'' - Teachers who oppose Sats should use the ballot box, not wrecking crews - 3rd May
 * numbers should not be cut'' - David Cameron's idea for fewer honourable members might win some cheers, but it shrinks democracy - 25th April (Cif at the polls)
 * the CEO sums'' - Cameron is reviving the past with his plan to limit public sector pay. But were we happier then? - 12th April
 * beyond miracles'' - The Vatican debacle isn't politics with a holy twist, or archbishops sniping at each other. Faith itself is in crisis - 5th April
 * out the pain'' - As Britain's politicians try to fudge what cuts mean, US voters are involved in making the grim choices - 29th March
 * stuck in the lobbyist mire'' - It is 16 years since the MPs' cash-for-questions scandal but standards in public life still fall short - 22nd March
 * up for that Pepsi'' - Instead of a blanket hike on VAT, a targeted tax on fizzy drinks could raise money and save lives - 15th March
 * an eco prophet'' - People are drifting into a lethal slumber on climate change. More of the same won't wake them up - 8th March
 * world away from Texas'' - There are calls for Oregon, Washington and British Columbia to split from the US and Canada. Cascadia is not a bad idea - 1st March
 * sorry business'' - For all the talk of privacy and principles, Tiger Woods and co are driven by value rather than values - 22nd February
 * in the margins'' - The advice of worldly, well-educated Foreign Office diplomats is simply being ignored - 15th February
 * instincts'' - Having pets is character forming and a natural part of growing up, but - boy! – it can weigh you down - 8th February
 * phoney peace-seekers'' - From Northern Ireland to Nicosia, we talk about a 'process' but the divides remain as deep as ever - 1st February
 * defence of box-ticking'' - It may be unfashionable to say so, but targets have repeatedly been shown in fact to work - 25th January
 * fearful lack of proportion'' - In airports and battlefields the west pursues security with no regard for the cost to citizens of foreign lands - 18th January
 * indecision'' - Why did schools take wildly different decisions about the snow? Because Ed Balls passed the buck - 11th January
 * patchwork of personality'' - We are all imperfectly human. So how can centralised structures be imposed so rigidly on us? - 4th January



Articles: 2009

 * a special relationship'' - British leaders will continue clinging to the US, for fear of what a break-up would expose - 28th December
 * of the season'' - If there's one thing worse than a Christmas e-card, it's having the real ones delivered by a 'postie' - 21st December
 * Excess Factor'' - TV programmes, films and even politics these days are swollen with inordinate repetition - 14th December
 * rewards of banking'' - Not everyone in the City is purely driven by cash. Camaraderie, loyalty and self-respect live there too - 7th December
 * Sarah Palin peculiarity'' - The UK press can't get enough of America. Are we becoming the 51st state by online osmosis? - 30th November
 * to Albania'' - We may be smug about the EU in the west, but for the troubled Balkans it offers a vision of hope - 23rd November
 * dream, not an exit plan'' - Hopes of a strong Afghan army are unrealistic. Just look at the efforts of one devious ruler in Pakistan - 16th November
 * touchline timeline'' - Just as in my childhood, winning or losing together remains a basic lesson on the great field of life - 9th November
 * climate of fear'' - Unless our leaders take radical action, global warming could usher in the far-right strongmen - 2nd November
 * question time'' - In a value-free world, it's no surprise there is so little agreement on who won the BNP debate - 26th October
 * praise of targets'' - Cameron wants the local voice back in charge. But top-down targets work – as even the Times admits - 19th October
 * military cross to bear'' - By enlisting ex-army chief Dannatt to advise them, the Tories are playing a foolish and costly game - 12th October
 * war: a huge decision awaits'' - The president can't wait much longer to choose his Afghan strategy, and either option will be painful - 5th October
 * writes its own story'' - As it votes once more on the Lisbon treaty, the British have a lot to learn from this unique land - 28th September
 * and glass ceilings'' - Dividing lines of distrust and fear turn Baroness Scotland's Tongan maid victim in a trice - 21st September
 * restraint too far'' - Calls for a ban on alcohol advertising are wide of the mark. We need more education and persuasion - 14th September
 * is purposeless'' - Skulking away from a TV debate with the BNP won't help dispel public distrust of democracy - 7th September
 * Murdoch was right'' - We need a civilised discussion, not an Edinburgh shouting match, in order to start finding media solutions - 31st August
 * problem is people, not football'' - The trouble at the West Ham v Millwall match isn't football's fault – it's back because our surly, divided society is back - 27th August
 * and chorizo'' - My son-in-law's isolated home village in Galicia is a lesson in the true meaning of community - 24th August
 * is the enemy'' - Decades of meddling have shown clearly that politicians should keep out of the classroom - 17th August
 * toothless argument'' - The success of Britain's anti-fluoride brigade is a dismal commentary on a rigid, embattled nation - 10th August
 * empty message'' - Spain must remain sane in the face of this Basque separatist madness - 3rd August
 * with their lordships'' - Just because No 10 wants a little expert help is no reason to grant outsiders a lifetime in ermine - 27th July
 * woz for a wowzer'' - My Dad died many years ago, but his bizarre and comical everyday sayings live irrepressibly on - 20th July
 * This senseless folly in Afghanistan must stop'' - Our soldiers are dying in a false, hopeless war. The true battle for security is about hearts and minds in Pakistan - 13th July
 * errors'' - When an official at the MoD makes a duff call, the system ensures that no one takes the blame - 6th July
 * currency of high office'' - The prime minister's big payday will come after No 10. So it is futile to use his salary as a public sector yardstick - 29th June
 * EU balancing act'' - The Conservatives would do well to look to Dublin for a way to deal with the question of Europe - 22nd June
 * A terrorist source - Threats made by the Real IRA give a new focus to one of the sharpest dilemmas for the press - 15th June 2009
 * at 36,000ft'' - Ryanair's boss may eff, blind and charge us to use the loo, but we keep coming back for more - 8th June
 * dystopia'' - Winged to power in 2010, the Tory leader enacts his EU referendum pledge. And all hell breaks loose... - 1st June
 * to be hopeful'' - After years of failure, Pakistan's leaders are starting to expose the Taliban for what they are - 25th May
 * lobbying rules'' - A new politics: We need greater transparency on members' interests and, most of all, independent scrutiny – and no more self-policing - 20th May
 * halfway house'' - From Basques to Scots, the best-laid plans for independence are being startlingly shredded - 18th May
 * web of destruction'' - Be it our high streets, our newspapers or the climate, the internet is ruining the way we live - 11th May
 * the game'' - Tory plans for schools ignore the role of top class management. Just look at Guus Hiddink - 4th May
 * side of the road'' - Reducing speed limits would save lives and £19bn a year. So why is the debate so cluttered? - 27th April
 * fantastic fist of Fox'' - Rupert Murdoch's US news channel thrives by trading in rage, the easy mood of the moment - 20th April
 * quagmire of indecision'' - Islamabad is desperate for support in its civil war against the Taliban - it needs help from India - 14th April
 * a bank worth saving'' - The shambles over expenses has caused a deadly serious crisis of faith. Brown needs to act - 6th April
 * them eat rum babas'' - The system for charging VAT on food makes no sense. And it encourages unhealthy eating - 30th March
 * nod and wink won't suffice'' - The days of the quiet regulator, in politics or finance, are over: the acrid stench from Wall Street to Parliament Square is sickening - 23rd March
 * up to scratch'' - The problem of children's head lice ought to be discussed in Whitehall as well as at the school gates - 16th March
 * the peace process derailed?'' - Violence will only be resurgent in Northern Ireland if the community that shields recidivist IRA cells allows them shelter - 9th March
 * eternity of celluloid'' - Cinema's gift to future generations will be the indelible stories it has to tell about today - 2nd March
 * board games'' - The partition of Cyprus resulted from the lazy certainty that, time and again, separation works - 16th February
 * posh scallops'' - The recession is proving a great gastronomic leveller, as high street takeaways can testify - 9th February
 * to the Taliban'' - Pakistan's 1.4m military shies away from fighting the extremists. It must show whose side it's on - 2nd February
 * by the book'' - Denying the Gaza appeal airtime is in line with potty BBC regulations that exalt 'impartiality' - 26th January
 * shooting'' - Politicians who refuse to duck and dive when faced with a hard question get a rough ride from the media - 19th January
 * the people'' - Politicians' lives are all stress and toil, so they tell us. It might be beneficial if they cut their hours - 5th January



Articles: 2008

 * and plots don't work in a post-debate age'' - Tub-thumping front pages are getting in the way of the good stories - 25th April
 * gloom boom'' - There's nothing like a recession to encourage a super-evasion of the super-obvious - 30th December 2008
 * after number one'' - Green campaigners can't beat the self-interest lobby in a referendum over congestion charges - 22nd December 2008
 * and corgis'' - BBC writers may struggle to find suitably ludicrous plotlines for another Spooks series. Try these - 15th December 2008
 * inside the big tent'' - Obama echoes Blair in many ways. But will he realise that being elected is not an end in itself? - 8th December 2008
 * aisles'' - Woolworths' demise is not all bad news - old brands die to make way for something better - 1st December 2008
 * on Mars isn't planet YouTube'' - It seemed a great chance for Fleet Street to put its best foot forward. Here was a pre-Budget newsstand bonanza - 30th November 2008
 * the intake, stupid'' - The results of private schools reveal that neither wealth nor class size dictate performance - 24th November 2008
 * paucity of hope'' - The left has long ended disillusioned by avowed progressives. Better for leaders to promise little - 17th November 2008
 * memory continuum'' - The past and the present are for ever linked: just compare the Somme with the Iran-Iraq war - 10th November 2008
 * holiday curse'' - Ross-Brand illustrates an odd pattern: media bosses seem always to be off when disaster strikes - 3rd November 2008
 * politics'' - John Prescott would be a hero in blue collar America; here he is the butt of endless jokes - 27th October 2008
 * with them, not us'' - If regulation is good for bankers, pause before decrying Sats and league tables for public services - 20th October 2008
 * glum to giggle'' - Bruce Forsyth, as I saw up close, is a class act who makes the good times roll. Politicians, take note - 13th October 2008
 * up Whitehall'' - Merging the energy and climate departments sells short the supreme threat of global warming - 6th October 2008
 * is a bag of Maltesers'' - My grandchildren's rows over sweets show that equality is not a state but an everlasting argument - 29th September 2008
 * troubling succession'' - Jacob Zuma's fitness for office and the manner of his elevation should give concern to South Africa - 22nd September 2008
 * Lib Dems' new friends'' - Nick Clegg is cosying up to the foes of yesteryear, seeing them as potential partners in government - 15th September 2008
 * doomed presidency'' - With the army poised for a coup and the Taliban winning hearts, Zardari doesn't stand a chance - 8th September 2008
 * football'' - Premier League teams exist in a bubble outwith economic reality. They are due a rude awakening - 1st September 2008
 * long playa'' - Getting the children from villa to beach used to be a doddle. Today, with five little ones, it's quite a task - 25th August 2008
 * gap year to a gap life'' - William used to be the monarchy's modern hope. Now his organic dad is more appealing - 18th August 2008
 * relocation'' - House prices are of little interest to a generation of mobile workers with no desire to put down roots - 11th August 2008
 * Where writs don't run - Borderland Pakistan is the old west reincarnated, and ignorant outsiders won't force change - 4th August 2008
 * The Balkan evasion - Debates on the EU treaty ignore what is crucial for peace and progress: to let the likes of Serbia in, soon - 28th July 2008
 * Morals and medals - Dwain Chambers' Olympic ban has been exalted, but it lacks fairness and compassion - 21st July 2008
 * Free rein for m'learned friends - The McCann/Murat debacle was a whopping blunder and ought to lead to wholesale indoctrination in European law for journalists in a globalised age - 20th July 2008 (Observer)
 * It must be up to Africa - For all Gordon Brown's fine diplomatic froth, he is a peripheral figure in the future of Zimbabwe - 14th July 2008
 * Making us all imbeciles - Ludicrous and lacking common sense, censors were once sent packing. But now they're back - 7th July 2008
 * The Britsport illusion - We think of ourselves as a roaring success but the only race we excel in is the league of failure - 30th June 2008
 * A nation as yet unbuilt - Afghanistan has never been a successful state. Our involvement there is based on a delusion - 23rd June 2008
 * We forget at our peril - The rightwing press may see the EU as a gravy train, but if the project unravels we are all in deep trouble - 16th June 2008
 * Young lives transformed - No child is unteachable, and George Dixon school shows us why we must never abandon hope - 9th June 2008
 * Jules and Jim - and me - Truffaut's masterpiece of cinema still seems as fresh and magical as when it first screened - 2nd June 2008
 * A pantomime of a process - It is meant to be fair, but the system of choosing presidential candidates is chaotic and self-defeating - 26th May 2008
 * Trust just got busted - It's no good blaming the media. We are all guilty of hypocrisy and to feign otherwise is simply crass - 19th May 2008
 * Tartans in a twist - Instead of making it easy for the Nats, pro-union parties could deliver a Scottish referendum now - 12th May 2008
 * El stupido, the Samaritan - Being mugged in Spain yet again hit my wallet hard. But the real cost is in losing trust in people - 5th May 2008
 * When Darling hit the booze - How much of the 10p tax climbdown will go straight back to the Treasury via alcopops? - 28th April 2008
 * The eyes of the betrayed - My friend Tom Sharpe's photographs of apartheid South Africa have a new, painful resonance today - 21st April 2008
 * The street of shame - Nobody seems remotely bothered that London is host to Europe's premier shopping sinkhole - 14th April 2008
 * Thou shalt not do irony - If a man can move from Moses to the head of the gun lobby, God must have a terrific sense of humour - 7th April 2008
 * Playing the boycott game - If Tibet proves that the Olympics are a time for protest, London had better be prepared - 31st March 2008
 * The true chill factor - As winter clings bitterly on, few seem to have remembered the human cost of high fuel bills - 24th March 2008
 * Tipping points - In the wacky world of gratuities, it's hard to know how much to give to whom. We need standards - 17th March 2008
 * Málaga to Manchester - With a million Brits, and similar political issues, Spain could be our closest European ally - 10th March 2008
 * At home with Uncle Sam - It is the daily worship of property prices that shows we really are all Americans now - 3rd March 2008
 * The kindness of strangers - The columnists' gloom is unwarranted: ordinary people still care about living together in peace - 25th February 2008
 * Wrong man for the job - The first EU president has to be conciliatory, humble and tactful - and thus not Tony Blair - 11th February 2008
 * Latte and lotteries - Middle-class parents get their kids a better deal on education. Our teachers should do a form of national service - 4th February 2008
 * Playing by the rules - It's nonsense to suggest that Brown dithered over Hain: the PM has done everything he should - 28th January 2008
 * The past is omnipresent - Public service drama should reflect the lives we live now, not recycle coagulated period pieces - 21st January 2008
 * The fable of morale - Sky high or rock bottom, it is a concept mushy enough to be a political buzzword for anybody - 14th January 2008
 * Blame us all for Britney - As the obsessive coverage of this tear-stained wreck shows, mental illness has become a spectator sport - 7th January 2008



The Observer:
Column name: Press & Broadcasting

Remit/Info: Media, broadcasting and journalism; news about newspapers, their readers and circulations

Section: Business & Media

Role: Columnist

Pen-name:

Email: [mailto:p.preston@guardian.co.uk p.preston@guardian.co.uk]

Website: Guardian.co / Peter Preston

Commissioning editor:

Day published: Sunday

Regularity: Weekly

Column format:

Average length:



Articles:

 * Phone hacking is yesterday’s news. We should focus on far greater threats - In an era of fake news and unregulated social media, arguments over press regulation seem beside the point - 8th January 2017
 * Victory over Isis will stream live on Facebook. But defeat won’t - The war in Iraq is being broadcast 24/7. But don’t think for a moment that the authorities have surrendered their control over the media - 23rd October 2016
 * Is it the Sun wot will do for Rupert Murdoch? - The tycoon would once have reacted to falling circulations by pouring in cash. Now, in its place, there’s a redundancy programme - 12th July 2015
 * Warming up for key changes at the Guardian - Alan Rusbridger’s departure brings the complex system by which the paper chooses its editor back into a bright spotlight - 14th December 2014
 * Silence is not a virtue: not even in the Will Cornick case - Naming the killer of Ann Maguire was not voyeurism, but openness – and, in part, a reaction against institutional secrecy - 9th November 2014
 * Ipso isn't perfect, but it is the only show in town - The new press regulator has been greeted with rancour. But there are no perfect solutions to the problems it faces - 14th September 2014
 * Reporters die in public, but their kidnapping is a secret - The number of abductions like Steven Sotloff's is startling. Does disguising the extent of the danger only threatens others? - 7th September 2014
 * The BBC gets its woman, but where does its future lie? - Businesswoman Rona Fairhead has been announced as the new chair of the BBC Trust. She'll need all her commercial acumen to address the corporation's problems - 31st August 2014
 * BuzzFeed: we report news differently now – but is it better? - BuzzFeed has poured resources into becoming a 'serious' news provider. But can its coverage ever be truly comprehensive? - 17th August 2014
 * For better or worse, the sheikh can't fake it any more - After Tulisa and Leveson, Mazher Mahmood's career looks to be over – but it's not entirely clear if that's a cause for celebration - 27th July 2014
 * If newspapers are dying, no one's told the Farnham Herald - Bottom lines are improving for broadsheets and some locals are thriving. Those who said digital would kill print aren't correct yet - 13th July 2014
 * If Lord Coe gets the BBC Trust job, we'll all be hacked off - The new chair of the embattled corporation's governing body ought to be a seasoned regulator, not another political appointee - 6th July 2014
 * Once humbled, but now risen: the Murdochs march ahead - Three years ago, after Rupert Murdoch's pitiful appearance before a select committee, his empire slumped in value to $35bn. Now, after a post-hacking restructure, that has soared to $88bn. Murdoch certainly has his swagger back, if not his reputation and influence - 29th June 2014
 * Newsnight really doesn't make the weather any more - Paxman, like current affairs TV itself, has hardly changed in 25 years, while digital media has transformed political debate - 22nd June 2014
 * All shamefacedly aboard for the media's great Ukip U-turn - Media concern over 'limitless extremism' before last week's elections smoothly became sonorous endorsement afterwards - 1st June 2014
 * The New York Times: little profit from a Manhattan media muddle - The NYT has been gripped by a row over personalities when it – and its competitors – should be more worried about revenue - 25th May 2014
 * Globalised news looks around the world – but too little at the north - For ambitious Fleet Street titles, the digital community has become more of a lure than real towns and cities 200 miles away - 18th May
 * Nine months to find a new BBC Trust chair? That's good news, not bad - Lord Patten's enforced departure is unfortunate. But the search for his successor can – at last – decide what the trust is for - 11th May 2014
 * Ipso is go – and the long Leveson debate is over - Hacked Off may not entirely like it, but the Independent Press Standards Organisation is now the only show in town - 4th May 2014
 * Print is not the future, but it's not the past either - The latest US figures on newspaper decline may be sobering, but pundits and managers alike are starting to despair of digital - 27th April 2014
 * One big reason why Buzzfeed might never win a Pulitzer prize - The NSA revelations, and Africa's courageous reporters, make it clear that the toughest journalism won't work as a list or a gallery - 20th April 2014
 * Maria Miller: just another departure through the revolving door at DCMS - The furore over resignations and appointments is concealing the unhappy truth that culture isn't much of a department - 13th April 2014
 * Telegraph's digital saviour takes a familiar route - Jason Seiken is leading a bottom-up digital revolution at the Telegraph – but one with him still clearly in charge - 6th April 2014
 * A licence (fee) to kill? Changing BBC funding needn't be so dramatic - European countries fund state TV in half a dozen different ways. A debate on decriminalisation doesn't mean disaster - 30th March 2014
 * Press freedom even for the news that isn't fit to print - The awkward truth confronting any regulator is that a free press is free to be wrong as well as right – and that no national body is large enough to seek redress from a globalised media - 23rd March 2014
 * Newspaper paywalls spring up, but not much is concrete - Subscription only? Metered access? Free? The news industry is trying everything, but it's still not clear what, if anything, works - 16th March 2014
 * The end of BBC3 means the end of the old BBC - When Three goes from TVs, the Birtian philosophy of something for everyone will go with it – leaving behind only hard choices - 9th March 2014
 * The Mail's paedophile 'scandal' needed the BBC to make it national news - An old story only became a big deal after Harriet Harman agreed to be interviewed about it on Newsnight - 2nd March 2014
 * Now Spycatcher is free to catch David Miranda too - The journalists who made common cause over the right to publish in 1987 are divided against themselves in 2014 - 23rd February 2014
 * As the waters rise, the sands run out for BBC funding - The international aid budget is under pressure as floods hit close to home. The analogy with World Service cuts is hard to ignore - 16th February 2014
 * You can see right through News Corp's transparency - Wapping's Mike Darcey has come under fire for his partial take on paywalls: but, in truth, every paper must find its own path - 9th February 2014
 * D notices, the MoD, and the threat to a very British way of keeping secrets - Mandarins are upset that the venerable story-clearance system failed to operate for the NSA leaks. But they should value any kind of consensual arrangement with a free press - 2nd February 2014
 * Telegraph group takes a great leap into the digital unknown - By sacking editor Tony Gallagher, the Telegraph seems to have signalled its intention to put the internet first – but there's no magic solution - 26th January 2014
 * Farewell 2013, the year of living with uncertainty - As sales of the Guardian and Telegraph hold, the prophecy of doom for printed newspapers does not look as if it will come true - 22nd December 2013
 * Who's tougher than Murdoch? Ask James Harding at the BBC - The head of news had a tycoon on the phone when he edited the Times. But now it's never quite clear who's in charge - 15th December 2013
 * Guardian v the MPs: why patriotism is the last refuge of the uncomprehending - The select committee's questioning of Alan Rusbridger is a reminder of what a Commons-regulated media might be like - 8th December 2013
 * Why John Birt is the key to a coded battle over the BBC's future - The great lost leader's expansionary vision is crucial to the debate about the corporation's role – but no one is actually mentioning his name - 1st December 2013
 * Mr Paton, put up this paywall: a Gorbachev moment for news - John Paton, one of the great apostles of free online news, is to introduce charging. Have paywalls won? Maybe not quite yet - 24th November 2013
 * Can police relations with the press be ruled by a checklist? - Chastened chief constables and journalists alike are drawing up codes of conduct that are long on safety, short on realism - 17th November 2013
 * Alexander Lebedev: can billionaires be saviours once the roubles run out? - Russian ownership has reinvigorated the Independent and the Standard. But wealthy proprietors aren't immune to crises - 10th November 2013
 * Complex newspaper regulation saga reaches a simply infuriating impasse - A charter that the press doesn't want; the newspapers' own regulator waiting in the wings; and a Tory party chairman menacing the BBC. It's a right royal mess - 3rd November 2013
 * Montgomery's new world hits an old local difficulty - The former Mirror Group boss looked to have created a devolved and hopeful future for the regional press in Local World: but discord and centralisation are rearing their heads again - 27th October 2013
 * BBC's futuristic plans raise some old questions - Tony Hall's plans for the iPlayer and music access sound interesting, but not to Murdoch or newspapers unable to compete with his spending power. Only lawyers will be happy… - 20th October 2013
 * Newspaper regulation riddle can't be solved by all these lawyers - Both sides of the reform battle have legal eagles waiting to swoop into regulatory action – but how could they protect the press from the likes of a GCHQ bust-up? - 13th October 2013
 * Ed Miliband is outraged, but doesn't want to gag Paul Dacre - The Daily Mail editor is loved or hated with equal vehemence, but behind what became the car crash of an attack lie critical questions about press regulation - 6th October 2013
 * Once we had comment. Now we have clickbait - The death of Hugo Young came at the end of an era of magisterial and non-partisan analysis. The frontiers of the web are reminiscent of journalism's early, more rumbustious era - 29th September 2013
 * First Politico took DC: now it wants Manhattan – and the New York Times - In a digital world where impermanence is the only constant, even Mark Thompson's paper feels its powers waning - 22nd September 2013
 * Margaret Hodge's trial by television only saves others from BBC blame - The chair of the public accounts committee had her fun: but political grandstanding doesn't conceal MPs' own role in the payoffs debacle - 15th September 2013
 * Reporter? Secret agent? It's hard to tell with spies like us - From the cold war to Syria, journalists have to negotiate ethical waters far murkier than anything considered by Leveson - 8th September 2013
 * ABC sales are falling – and yet the readership rises - An autumn stocktake of newspaper circulation figures looks fashionably grim. But what are we to make of huge and growing digital audiences nationally and in the regions? - 1st September
 * The next David Miranda might work for the Daily Mail - Recent developments show dangers of press infighting – but also that public interest defences must extend to tabloids - 25th August 2013
 * Troubles come in threes for Chris Bryant's spinners - The old leaked-speech trick may have worked in Alastair Campbell's day, but the wretched week endured by the shadow immigration minister shows how dangerous it can be - 18th August 2013
 * Newspapers are cheap to zillionaires, and news can be just a byproduct - So Jeff Bezos is hailed as saviour of the Washington Post. But what is the real motive of the man who says printed news won't last 20 years? - 11th August 2013
 * Shield law must cover what journalists do, not who they are - The US Senate is pondering who is a 'real reporter' – because some of them don't like the taste of activism or real passion in journalism, never mind the knotty issue of whistleblowers - 11th August 2013
 * Twitter casts new light on blanket royal baby coverage - Social media provided a parallel narrative to the royal waiting game – and perhaps raised doubts as to whether we were really all that interested in it - 28th July 2013
 * Profit and loss is hard, even after two digital decades - ABC figures show the future is far from easy to predict, but recent good news gives newspapers a chance to regroup - 21st July 2013
 * From risky exposés to setting up a regulator: the press can do both - In the wake of the Sunday Times's exposé of gangland boss David Hunt, it must be clear even to Murdoch bashers that the press can do good as well as bad - 14th July 2013
 * Pity the BBC if the moneymen start to run the show - The auditors are wrong about one thing: the Beeb does not always need to justify why it rewards an employee richly - 7th July 2013
 * Indie's new guard shows how the editor's power has waned - As two Independent promotions lower the age profile in the top job, traditional Fleet Street power has moved elsewhere - 23rd June 2013
 * Old rivals the Guardian and Times reach decisive fork in road to survival - The Guardian is buoyed by its online US scoops; the Times is putting faith in subscriptions –and maybe both will succeed - 16th June 2013
 * Stalemate over press regulation hurts us all - With no post-Leveson regulator in place, it is all too easy to dismiss press stings as grubby intimidation of politicians - 9th June
 * Rupert Murdoch is now an old man on a lonely throne at News Corp - In his 80s, with no clear successor, the media mogul and his spun-off newpaper operation are in a precarious position - 2nd June 2013
 * The Woolwich footage was grotesque. Our reaction need not be - The debate about the horror of the London killing should not revolve around whether the images should have beeen shown, but how the government and media responded to them - 26th May 2013
 * Newsnight needs less of the night, more of the news - Hiring Ian Katz from the Guardian is brave, but something radical is needed to save a format that starts too late and runs too long - 19th May 2013
 * A Communications Act to rein Rupert Murdoch in? The web's done it already - Harriet Harman's new-found courage on media ownership regulation is a belated solution to yesterday's problem - 12th May 2013
 * London no longer looks for northern lights like Harry Whewell - Once upon a time, news editors in Manchester and Glasgow were the equal of those in Fleet Street. Now a regional political breakthrough like Ukip's takes the capital by surprise - 5th May 2013
 * At last, a press charter that's worth supporting - The press-backed alternative to Westminster's regulation proposals is really a call for agreement and face-to-face negotiation, without which no regime will really succeed - 28th April 2013
 * The future's out there: but we can't see over the paywall - Newspapers have the will to survive: what they need now is much better data about what makes money online - 21st April 2013
 * New Mail on Sunday mag is a happy Event for print - Event, the Mail on Sunday's new culture and celebrity magazine, is a serious and very welcome effort to be creative with what print can do - 14th April 2013
 * Can Lord Hall give 'em what they want? It's particularly tricky at the BBC - Audience has a powerful influence over editorial direction. But if you're the new DG, which audience do you try to please first? - 7th April 2013
 * The paywalls go up – but papers still aren't secure - The free news model is dying in the US, where more and more media groups are charging. But that revenue doesn't nearly replace what has been lost on print advertising and cover price - 31st March 2013
 * This pizza-box press regulation is a sticky mess - Leveson dreamed of a voluntary regime, not an expedient political compromise imposed at two o'clock in the morning - 24th March 2013
 * Whichever way the Leveson vote goes, it's poison - The whole sorry saga of press regulation has been undermined by hidden agendas - 17th March 2013
 * To implement Leveson properly, it would be nice to have him around - Sir Brian wrote his report and departed, leaving contradictions that trouble his successors. But – please – that's not a good enough reason to abandon what looks like progress - 10th March 2013
 * Tim Montgomerie may make the Times a more openly Conservative home - Appointed by an acting editor with a staunch centre-right track record, the paper's new comment chief has clear Tory leanings - 3rd March
 * Hall needs a hero to battle BBC chaos and misery - Strikes, low morale and a poor awards night… let's hope Lord Hall can wave a magic wand and give the BBC its pride back - 24th February 2013
 * Press regulation needs consensus, not a flimsy solution pegged to a libel bill - Lord Puttnam and friends have done us no favours by attaching Leveson's reforms to measures going through parliament - 24th February 2013
 * As hacking-gate drags on, who can blame Lewis for heading to New York? - With Scotland Yard plodding slowly through phone-hacking and bribery evidence, as handed over by the former Telegraph editor, many journalists' lives are on hold - 10th February
 * Leveson asked: who guards the guardians? It seems to be Oliver Letwin - The appearance of independence in the new press regulatory body will be impressive. But look who's appointing the grandees that make the decisions - 27th January 2013
 * Times directors find voice as Rupert rings the changes - John Witherow has been named 'temporary' editor of the Times, but in the face of opposition from its reinvigorated independent directors - 20th January 2013
 * Print suddenly spies hope amid the struggle and the losses - Circulation and advertising continue to slip – but, both here and in the US, a determination is now emerging to fight the decline rather than merely manage it - 13th January 2013
 * Chicago Tribune sell-off could see Rupert Murdoch printing money - Buying up newspapers no longer seems a crazy idea – if you're prepared to attach them to the kind of multimedia empire that US regulators now seem more relaxed about - 6th January 2013
 * The writing is on the paywall – but the end of print is not quite nigh - The figures show the print-online relationship is more complicated than the prophets of digital revolution assume - 30th December 2012
 * The BBC must lay the ghost of Birt's broadcasting corporation - Director general John Birt built the corporation into a complex and mystic web of referrals and compliance. Tony Hall's task next year must be to sweep all that away - 23rd December 2012
 * Farewell to James Harding: and an uncertain hello to Times integration? - The feted editor's departure comes at a confusing juncture: but the consequences of this muddle may be far-reaching - 16th December 2012
 * State media regulation? Ask the reporters in Turkey's jails how it works - When journalists make trouble for the PM in Istanbul, the tax inspectors or counter-terrorism officials soon appear in the newsroom. So now almost no one makes trouble - 9th December 2012
 * Leveson: an elephantine, sloppy exercise in cut-and-paste - Shuffling bundles in his Strand courtroom, Lord Justice Leveson offers surprisingly little original thought or research - 2nd December 2012
 * Journalism once had Woodward and Bernstein. Now it's guns for hire - As investigative staff reporters are cut, the hunt for exclusives is outsourced – which is how Newsnight got into trouble - 18th November 2012
 * As Lord Justice Leveson ponders, the world of media is in chaos - In an exploding digital age, arguments about press regulation are simply becoming silly - 11th November 2012
 * Media navel-gazing prompted by Savile scandal will not help us win back trust - Other professions briefly lose the public's faith, then go back to business: only in the media village do we obsess about our failings at such length - 27th October 2012
 * Time for media women to tip the balance in their favour - Yes, there are still obstacles for women who want to reach the top of broadcasting or newspapers, but with so many in powerful roles, surely we are about to reach a watershed moment? - 21st October 2012
 * BBC shouldn't need tabloid 'permission' to probe Jimmy Savile allegations - So Newsnight doesn't do celebrity exposés, and Panorama's too pompous … and the BBC did nothing about finding out what was really going on with Jimmy Savile - 14th October 2012
 * Press barons may be for good or ill, but it's the accountants you have to watch - The death of Arthur Sulzberger and departure of Marjorie Scardino have sparked palpitations at the New York Times and FT – because the number-crunchers might now take over - 7th October 2012
 * Time Out – the listings magazine with no listings - The newly free publication puts recommendations in print but leaves the detail online. Does that solve the digital dilemma? - 30th September 2012
 * Making trouble is the greatest press freedom of all - A excoriating book by Mick Hume on the 'rogues' of Fleet Street casts an important new light on the tight and nervous world of post-Leveson journalism - 23rd September 2012
 * The digital readership is out there. But is there money too? - The new combined print and digital audience figures are impressive and heartening. The trick will be to monetise them - 16th September 2012
 * Broadcast news is losing its balance in the post-truth era - It's one thing to show both sides of an argument – but sometimes impartiality doesn't tell the whole story - 9th September
 * Epic boobs reveal extent of the digital conundrum facing the PCC - When Prince Harry's Las Vegas antics are all over the internet, how can the PCC or any successor make a ruling on what newspapers can publish? - 2nd September
 * Harry reveals why Leveson and British law are impotent in the digital age - Sir Brian Leveson should take note: one more Harry debacle will make any new press regime seem idiotic within minutes - 27th August 2012
 * A message for Mark Thompson: don't listen to the doubters - The world is watching the former BBC boss as he tries to create a stable future for the New York Times – because if he can make one there, he'll make one everywhere - 20th August 2012
 * Libel law reform poses a serious test for Lord Justice Leveson - The proposed defamation bill will force claimants to show 'serious harm' has been done to their reputations. Perhaps it's a test that Leveson could make use of in press regulation - 12th August
 * Are the days of striving for fair and impartial news dead? - Fox and MSNBC in the states are going great guns because they are openly biased – so perhaps it's time for the BBC to rethink its approach to news - 5th August 2012
 * British press is too diverse to be pinned down by a powerful regulator - Any top-down solution to regulation by Leveson is bound to fail, because of the competing forces within the industry - 30th July
 * News industry struggles with the fear that general interest has had its day - Niche publication Politico is flourishing on the net while all-rounder the Daily flounders – so does this also mean doom for its old-fashioned print cousins? - 22nd July
 * Britain isn't as broadsheet as Leveson would like - Tabloids command a far larger readership in the UK than the quality papers, but it is the minority press, and its proposals, that hold sway over the inquiry - 15th July 2012
 * Without print news gathering, fighting over media plurality is academic - Newspapers spend the most money on editorial staff. As circulations fall off and reporters are cut, is there any point worrying about the power of Murdoch or the BBC? - 9th July 2012
 * Is there too much press freedom? Ask 72 dead journalists - In Lord Justice Leveson's courtroom, the talk is of restrictions and control. But no one in the Strand has heard from reporters struggling with the consequences of state repression - 2nd July 2012
 * If junior ministers can't get their facts straight, all we are left with is comment - Chloe Smith's grilling by Jeremy Paxman on Newsnight goes to show that the blurring of reporting and commentary in the media can't easily be regulated - 2nd July 2012
 * Leveson leads the press to the last-chance saloon – again - The time has come for Sir Brian to fix the problems of the press. But that's what Ross, Shawcross, Younger, McGregor and Calcutt wanted too - 17th June 2012
 * Washington Post's sad decline raises tricky questions in US - One of the greatest US papers is a shadow of its former self. Now, more and more critics – including even internet guru Clay Shirky – think it needs to change tack - 10th June
 * Trinity Mirror fires two editors and press freedom is wounded - The merger of the Daily and Sunday Mirrors, and departures of Richard Wallace and Tina Weaver, reduces pluralism in the media – as Lord Justice Leveson should note - 3rd June 2012
 * Time for the press to stop bickering in front of the advertisers - Fleet Street is riven with discord and loathing. But the outside world regards it as a single coherent industry – and that's how it should act when promoting itself - 28th May 2012
 * A Tory at the BBC? It wouldn't be the first time - Boris Johnson was as outspoken as ever about political placement at the BBC. But rare is the chairman of board or trust who has not been affiliated to one of the main parties - 20th May 2012
 * Newsprint's salvation may be arriving at the weekend - The latest ABCs reveal how strong Saturday sales are compared with Monday to Friday. Perhaps blending free weekday digital content with a weekend print subscription could be the future - 13th May 2012
 * Phone hacking: blind, wilful… and that's just the select committee - There is real criminality to be investigated: but if MPs want to be a part of press regulation, they cannot make their interventions so openly partisan - 7th May 2012
 * As Rupert Murdoch leaves the stage, trouble waits in the wings - Murdoch's appearance before Leveson was merely a sideshow – the real problem is now what the lord justice is going to do about Jeremy Hunt - 29th April 2012
 * Digital age is making newspaper editors redundant in more ways than one - The digital-first era is putting local newspaper editors out of a job – and in the world of 24-hour comment and Twitter, is there a need for them at national level? - 22nd April
 * If the Telegraph can turn a profit, so can the Times - The Barclay Brothers saw their broadsheet title make £55m last year, and Times group losses are coming down fast. Could it be there's still money to be made in newspapers? - 15th April
 * News Corp in 2016: clean, fresh… and ready to bid for Sky again? - In four years' time, the media and governmental landscape will look very different. But will the Murdochs' media giant be sufficiently rehabilitated to claim its coveted prize? - 8th April 2012
 * David Cameron's default position as troubles pile up for the Tories - Murdoch strikes back … grannygate and petrolgate … Leveson grinds on … and the prime minister is busy setting up yet another inquiry - 1st April 2012
 * Newspapers should be wary of link-ups with digital brands - Engaging with your audience is a step forward, but pinning your survival on Facebook, Twitter or Google could be a big step back - 25th March 2012
 * A new John Birt wouldn't be the boss any more at Patten's BBC - The future of broadcasting looks so tumultuous that some say the corporation needs a visionary like Lord B. But how would he or she handle being monitored by a powerful Lord P? - 18th March 2012
 * Murdoch's past horrors haunt future of press regulation - A new Communications Act should try to cope with the pace of technological innovation – not worry about Rupert Murdoch's old tricks - 11th March
 * America's digital apostle has some harsh news for print - Stop listening to newspaper people, says John Paton of the Journal Register group. 'We've had since the mid-90s to get this right and we are no good at it' - 4th March 2012
 * A war reporter in Homs is worth any amount of outrage on Facebook - Marie Colvin's tragic death in Syria shows that social networks are only part of the answer. When it comes to exposing a cruel dictatorship to the world, there's no substitute for a war reporter - 26th February 2012
 * Rupert Murdoch's last gamble: that the Sun won't set - The head of News Corp is staking everything on the Sun on Sunday – a project whose success he can no longer control - 20th February 2012
 * The great and good shall inherit the media regulators - All the watchdogs seem to be led by ex-politicians or mandarins. Many of them do a splendid job – but are they really independent of government? - 12th February
 * Leveson inquiry needs a lesson in press regulation history - Another stab at reinvention risks bringing back the worst characteristics of previous regimes - 5th February 2012
 * New York Times bows to Mail Online – for now - The UK tabloid has overhauled the US broadsheet as most-visited newspaper website, but there are nuances the statistics can't measure - 29th January 2012
 * Phone-hacking payoffs won't make the ugliest questions go away - If large-scale deception was indeed being practised at News Group, the hacking scandal becomes a matter for the courts – not any present or future regulator - 22nd January 2012
 * The Leveson inquiry aside, are we going to have any newspapers left to regulate? - The ABC figures made gloomy reading, but even more depressing is a lack of consensus on the way ahead for the newspaper industry - 15th January
 * Colin Myler heads to New York for the clash of the newspaper dinosaurs - Former News of the World editor to take over at New York Daily News, which continues its bitter rivalry with the Post despite both newspapers' declining circulations - 8th January 2012
 * If you choose your own news, you'll be less well read - Digital news offers customers the choice of what they want to read. But print offers something extra: stories that people didn't know they wanted to read until they had read them - 1st January 2012
 * Eurosceptic hysteria over Nick Clegg needs a little balancing invective - Anti-Europe backwoodsmen should to be fought with scorn – but why has it come from New York instead of from the UK press? - 19th December 2011
 * Leveson inquiry: would privacy have extended to Profumo too? - Some love-affair exclusives are merely tawdry and prurient; others go on to have major political significance. Trying to draw the line between them is going to be exceedingly difficult - 11th December 2011
 * Leveson and public interest? 20m tabloid readers can't be wrong - Leveson inquiry into phone hacking should be put in context of the newspaper circulations that support media tittle-tattle - 4th December
 * Retreat on BBC local radio cuts should signal advance for local media policy - Joined-up thinking with broadband at its heart can revolutionise news coverage and bring communities together - 27th November 2011
 * Andrew Lansley's reality test - Waiting lists, infection rates, referral times: like it or not, targets are healthy for the NHS - 21st November 2011
 * Murdochs are not a mafia – but the family firm is in meltdown - The Murdochs are at war with their soldiers and their empire will soon be consigned to history - 13th November 2011
 * How Richard Desmond could learn to love press regulation -Express boss does not like the Press Complaints Commission 'private club' – might he prefer statutory regulation? - 6th November 2011
 * The tyranny of Twitter: when 140 characters don't add up to enough - The speed and brevity of Twitter generates a kind of knee-jerk debating style that leaves too little room for subtlety – and politicians, journalists and readers are all falling into the trap - 30th October 2011
 * Boundaries are crossed as grim images of Gaddafi flood the media - Publishing graphic pictures of the dead and dying has become less taboo over the years; but the tone of vengeance Fleet Street adopted for this death was new - 23rd October 2011
 * Better red than dead: the Independent keeps on fighting - Ten editors in 25 years, and more crises than you can count: but the Indy's new redesign is fresh evidence of a paper that refuses to die - 16th October 2011
 * It's the end of the road for BBC cuts – until next time - Mark Thompson says there is no more fat to cut, but will he be believed in five years? - 9th October 2011
 * The future of reading: iPad, Kindle … and hardback - It's not a surprise that ebooks are booming, nor that mass-market paperbacks are suffering. What's fascinating is how well hardback books are still selling - 2nd October 2011
 * That settles it for libel law reform. Thanks, Mr Murdoch - Out-of-court payouts to phone-hacking victims put no cap on lawyers' fees - 25th September 2011
 * There's no single answer to plurality, Mr Hunt - It's not just a matter of how big or small media groups are. The bigger question is whether more regulation will choke off the pursuit of vital news stories - 18th September 2011
 * Ethics aren't the whole story when the news is really big - Lord Leveson's inquiry into phone hacking is asking leading journalists this weekend about what role ethics should play in the media. But it's an almost impossible question to answer - 11th September 2011
 * Newspaper magazines still matter; they deliver women readers - As the Observer magazine reaches 45, there's life – and money – in supplements in the digital age - 4th September 2011
 * future may be online, but many will slip through the net'' - As circulations plummet, digital seems the only future for newspapers. But supposed 'trends' create a very confused picture - 28th August 2011
 * No thanks. Papers are best as family businesses'' - The Murdochs' grip on News Corp unsettles investors. But God save us all from Trinity Mirror's fate – a model public company subject to the tender mercies of the market - 21st August 2011
 * riots: wild nights on the screen, calmer days in the papers'' - Every part of the media spectrum – from the immediacy of TV and live blogs to the cooler analysis of print – was needed to paint a full picture of the rioting - 14th August 2011
 * paywall that pays? Only in America'' - The New York Times's 'soft' digital paywall has recorded some impressive results, but it's too soon for excessive optimism - 7th August 2011
 * could let the News of the World rise again'' - Rivals are snapping up readers, but millions want their favourite Sunday paper back – and offering the title for sale would attract buyers ready to relaunch it - 31st July 2011
 * regulation needs to be reformed, but not by settling old scores'' - When it comes to pluralism, the Leveson inquiry is hardly a shining example - 24th July 2011
 * worth remembering: press freedom is a messy business'' - News of the World hacking scandal has prompted demands for 'independent' regulation – but be wary of the siren call - 17th July 2011
 * Corp saga is gripping: let's soak up the family drama'' - The resignations of Rebekah Brooks and now Les Hinton mean the News International saga is set to roll on - 17th July 2011
 * punish innocent papers: it's the rogues that need to be regulated'' - The likes of the Guardian, Telegraph and Independent have nothing to do with the current debacle. They should not be made to suffer for the failings of others - 10th July 2011
 * for the Independent may get the Standard answer'' - Independent editor Simon Kelner moves on while Chris Blackhurst brings a new perspective to the newspaper - 3rd July
 * bile – on sale now at your Asian newsagent'' - While Tesco eagerly adds ethnic foods to its shelves, Fleet Street recoils from emerging groups of consumers – some of whose members make up a vital part of its distribution network - 26th June 2011
 * can't 'deliver quality first' at the BBC if you cut the best bit of the service'' - There is undoubtedly waste at Broadcasting House and White City. But must BBC news suffer so much in the cost-cutting plan? - 19th June 2011
 * is just the headline. The story is who reads what'' - As redtops and qualities slipped again last month, 2.8m ABC1 readers still chose the Sun - 12th June 2011
 * the iPad tablet really be the cure for newspapers' ills?'' - Murdoch backed the Daily on iPad with $30m, but no one knows how this page-turner will end - 5th June 2011
 * superinjunctions fail, the PCC won't save privacy'' - Ryan Giggs should have called the Press Complaints Commission, says its chair – but it's not that simple - 29th May 2011
 * comes first at the BBC – so other things will have to go'' - MPs fear the BBC will spread itself too thinly if it tries to retain all its services, and Lord Patten has made journalism the first priority. That doesn't bode well for channels like BBC3 - 22nd May 2011
 * the front page - it's time US papers had a redesign'' - The Wall Street Journal looks fresh and modern, and circulation is rising. For many other American newspapers, neither of those things is true - 8th May 2011
 * media renews its fairytale romance with the British royals'' - In the land of the free, broadcasters assumed viewers would be in thrall to the royal wedding - 1st May 2011
 * Fleet Street's new land of opportunity'' - British papers' transatlantic readership figures are impressive – but how to make money out of the States is less certain - 17th April 2011
 * has no right to call the tune in the social mobility blues'' - Nick Clegg's privileged upbringing is not so different from many of the journalists who are attacking him - 10th April 2011
 * Murdoch's move has to be more than just an old man's shuffle'' - The timing of Murdoch junior's return to News Corp HQ might seem odd to some - 3rd April 2011
 * news may be what's needed to crack the paywall'' - Content directed at movers and shakers and underpinned by accurate and informed journalism could make good money - 27th March 2011
 * or no paywall, print is still what pays'' - The New York Times's model for online charging will no doubt be widely copied. But according to one analyst, print will still be providing 86% of UK newspapers' revenues even in 2017 - 20th March 2011
 * the i have it for quality journalism?'' - Small, cheap and modest, the mini-Independent may be proving a good idea - 13th March 2011
 * Murdoch: don't fear an old man in his twilight years'' - The BSkyB deal makes News Corp more powerful than ever. But it was Murdoch senior's beloved stable of newspapers that made it a competition issue; once he departs the board, News Corp's passion for print will fade - 6th March 2011
 * is no substitute for proper war reporting – just look at Libya'' - Citizen journalists reach places war correspondents cannot go, but their output can be hard to verify - 27th February 2011
 * slice makes the iPad a bad deal for newspapers'' - Apple will take 30% of revenues from subscriptions sold through its app store. That makes iPad editions almost as expensive to distribute and sell as print copies - 20th February 2011
 * bank manager is happy, but will AOL be?'' - Even with $315m in her pocket, can Arianna Huffington work her magic on the lumbering monster that is AOL? - 13th February 2011
 * need better online circulation figures, but nothing's clicking'' - Three different organisations offer three wildly varying estimates of internet readership, leaving everyone – particularly advertisers – confused - 6th February 2011
 * a no win, no fee lawyer for exposing the phone-hacking scandal'' - Lawyers' hated 'conditional fee agreements' are on the way out after a European court ruling. But without them, the phone hackers might still be operating in the shadows - 30th January
 * not just Andy Coulson: newspapers need a second chance too'' - While the News of the World was hacking phones, dozens of journalists at other papers were blagging their way into bank accounts and medical records - 23rd January 2011
 * man Simon Greenberg must bring new reality to News of the World'' - News of the World phone-hacking scandal can only be resolved with big bucks and honest inquiry - 16th January
 * the monopolist? Not in a digital future'' - The debate over whether Rupert Murdoch should be allowed total control of Sky is far too simplistic in an age where Google, Apple – or some techies from California – can achieve greater dominance in a globalised media - 9th January 2011
 * Proprietor of the Year Award 2010'' - The award has gone to figures as varied as Rupert Murdoch and David Montgomery. But this year's winner is perhaps the most colourful of all… - 2nd January 2011
 * Yeates murder case puts media coverage in the spotlight'' - The attorney general's concern at reporting in the case emphasises how laws on contempt of court are falling into contempt - 2nd January 2011
 * tactics with Vince Cable stretch public interest defence too far'' - Subterfuge of reporters posing as constituents hard to reconcile with PCC's code of conduct - 26th December 2010
 * Cable stitch-up leaves Telegraph Group in a tangle over BSkyB deal'' - The Telegraph has blundered by humiliating the business minister who was its best ally in the fight against Murdoch – but will it really make any difference? - 26th December 2010
 * the BBC Trust do so much polling? Please tick 'yes' or 'no''' - The BBC may want public opinion to shape the organisation but it shouldn't judge creativity by sending out endless forms - 19th December 2010
 * protest – somewhere between a merry dance and chaos lies the truth'' - The student fees protests underlined the need for reporters to avoid kneejerk reactions and keep on digging - 12th December 2010
 * can leave you lost in a moral maze'' - Is what Julian Assange does somehow purer than a telephone hacker paid by newspapers? Discuss ... - 5th December 2010
 * Murdoch's Daily iPad venture looks thin in the profits column'' - Linking up with Steve Jobs and Apple to produce a pseudo-newspaper on tablet screens is not much of a game-changer - 28th November 2010
 * to the Mail – the Middletons are from Middle England too'' - Delight at the royal wedding is widespread. But the tone adopted by our very middle-class papers towards a very middle-class family has not always been so benign - 21st November 2010
 * blast or small riot – it's the hot air that counts'' - What does the breathless reporting of the Millbank riots tell us about what sort of news really matters? - 14th November 2010
 * isn't a newspaper. But it might be the future of print'' - The political news specialist employs 175 people to broadcast in print, on video and over the internet. In other words, it focuses on subject, not medium – and makes a profit doing so - 7th November 2010
 * fees mean the BBC has a licence to think the unthinkable'' - The frantic bargaining over the licence fee showed that the BBC has very little independence when the chips are down. If it wants to control its fate, it may have to make some startling decisions - 24th October 2010
 * thought the internet was killing print. But it isn't'' - There is no clear correlation between a rise in internet traffic and a fall in newspaper circulation. Some papers are growing in both formats, others are succeeding in neither, according to new research - 17th October 2010
 * press defenders of Middle England rail against the toffs'' - Cameron and his whiggish friends face a rough ride from the likes of Heffer and Oborne - 10th October 2010
 * Hunt wants local TV – maybe he should search Google'' - Jeremy Hunt's local TV dream looks like a financial nightmare – but something like Google TV might provide a cheap answer - 3rd October 2010
 * Miliband is ahead of the pack while pundits are stuck in Gridlock Gulch'' - Ed Miliband's Labour leadership win has left political commentators just where you would expect them to be - 3rd October 2010
 * to Cable over Murdoch's BSkyB plans won't solve anything'' - Yes, Rupert Murdoch could use Sky customers as paywall fodder to bolster News Corp websites - but how likely is it? - 26th September 2010
 * Murdoch does need watching. But he's hardly the Emperor Ming'' - Rupert Murdoch remains a powerful figure in global media, but it is too easy – and ultimately self-defeating – to exaggerate the threat he represents - 12th September 2010
 * phone hacking really cricket? Yes, sometimes'' - Sometimes the News of the World goes too far. But sometimes it performs the kind of public service that its lofty rivals must envy - 5th September 2010
 * BBC's champion punched back hard, but this fight will never end'' - Mark Thompson is a fighter in the original Reith mould. But the ground is shifting under him, and the nigglers won't go away - 29th August 2010
 * of middle class benefits will soon rouse the media pack'' - The media have been kind to the Cameron-Clegg government in its first 100 days. But every paper will have readers' interests to defend when the axe comes falling - 22nd August 2010
 * won't become famous if Richard Desmond relaunches it on the cheap'' - Anyone can run a tacky TV station. If Five's new owner wants respect, he's going to have to spend money and listen to advice - 15th August 2010
 * beat the doomsayers' final deadline'' - Not long ago, the experts predicted 10 US papers would be gone in 18 months. They were wrong. And prospects for print are looking better, not worse, than they did in the depths of the crunch - 8th August 2010
 * Afghan story raises dilemma over safety of sources'' - The WikiLeaks log showed the failures of the Afghan war – but the media moved on, overwhelmed by the weight of material - 1st August 2010
 * BBC wants to have breakfast in Salford. What a dog's dinner'' - The BBC's £2bn regional revamp and its newsroom integration plan are contradictory and impractical - 25th July 2010
 * Clegg as a cartoon figure - it's fun but does it really hurt?'' - Nick Clegg is now a target for political cartoonists and is not faring well. Here four leading political cartoonists reveal what inspires them and Peter Preston explains how the damage can be minimised - 18th July 2010
 * whom can the BBC trust to be its champion?'' - Too many enemies; too few advocates – the corporation's trust should be doing more cheerleading instead of placating critics - 11th July 2010
 * Monde retains its independence, but at the price of common sense'' - Wealthy new partners have saved France's famous newspaper but it was their Sarkozy-backed rivals that had the expertise - 4th July 2010
 * speak up for the poorest tabloid reader? Er, the broadsheets'' - Newspapers are supposed to represent the interests of their core readers. But in the wake of the budget, both the Guardian and Independent are angry on behalf of a working class that barely acknowledges their existence - 27th June 2010
 * Stone and Stanley McChrystal put Afghanistan back on the front pages – but why was it ever off them?'' - General Stanley McChrystal's unguarded comments were big news while the daily grind of failure in Afghanistan is not - 27th June 2010
 * Standard almost in profit after going free'' - It seemed barely credible that London's evening paper would succeed as a giveaway. But the power of old-fashioned print advertising revenue has moved it to the brink of profitability - 13th June 2010
 * Murdoch's paywall at the Times may not be a disaster'' - Losing perhaps 95% of browsers (how much are they worth?) can be more than offset by winning committed readers - 30th May 2010
 * Apple's iPad won't save the newspaper world'' - The iPad won't deliver newspapers the revenue streams they dream of because it's seen as more than just a news device - 23rd May 2010
 * Clegg: an apology. We didn't realise how clever you were being'' - Fleet Street was furious when the Lib Dems began talking to Labour. They didn't understand what was really going on, but fortunately, the New York Times did - 16th May 2010
 * Lewis fell into the gap between Euston and Victoria'' - The Telegraph got rid of a 'superb colleague' because of a culture clash - 9th May 2010
 * Wall Street Journal is coming to Greater New York. What if the Times turned its attention to Greater London?'' - Rupert Murdoch is going head to head with the New York Times. But there are plenty of other big-city markets with room for some media competition - 2nd May 2010
 * MPs' attempt at legally inflicted tedium is worthy of Mussolini'' - If politicians want press freedom, they must take the rough with the smooth - 11th April 2010
 * papers are to survive, they must stop playing catch-up to news on the net'' - Print media needs to react effectively to news coverage on the internet if it wants to remain a necessary supplier of information - 4th April 2010
 * Lebedev will bring hope, not instant salvation'' - The nature of the ex-KGB man's purchase of the Independent titles was muted but may show this saviour is in for the long haul - 28th March 2010
 * unique users – killed by the paywall'' - The walls going up around Wapping leave the old system of measuring readership in ruins. A new model is long overdue - 21st March 2010
 * Venables case reveals the dark side of online opinion'' - Was the tabloid press telling readers what to think in the row over the return to prison of James Bulger's killer? Or was it responding to what they thought already? - 14th March 2010
 * hail Rupert Murdoch. Without his money, there would be no good Times'' - As Rupert Murdoch turns 79 and the Times relaunches, it's worth remembering how much he has done to support print journalism - 7th March 2010
 * privacy and press standards need more careful consideration'' - Fevered interest in News of the World phone-tapping and Cameron's spin doctor Andy Coulson are preventing calm reflection about these important issues - 28th February 2010
 * Enquirer: supermarket rag in Pulitzer prize shock'' - The Enquirer exposed Senator John Edwards and ended his career. Can the Pulitzer judges bear to give it the award it deserves? - 21st February 2010
 * and losses as Trinity snaps up Guardian's regional titles'' - Hailed by the City, Trinity Mirror's deal to buy the Guardian's regional titles is part of a business rebalancing act - 14th February 2010
 * unique user losers turn to the paywall game'' - As web newspapers search for engaged users, some should ask whether they will find them among the masses - 7th February 2010
 * iPad has wow factor but is no rescue act for newspapers'' - Despite media groups' desire to join Apple's iPad revolution, the facts suggest online ads and apps are no revenue solution - 31st January 2010
 * York Times wants paying, but will it make money?'' - Behind a pay wall for content from the New York Times lie some very complicated questions - 24th January 2010
 * plus Lebedev hardly adds up to Independent thinking'' - What can a Millwall-supporting blogger incarnate and a Russian oligarch bring to two struggling titles? - 17th January 2010
 * and losses in the small print of the Financial Times model'' - Behind working pay walls and a global readership, full-price UK sales have plummeted - 10th January 2010
 * media's future is written not in gloom and doom, but shades of grey'' - Television, newspapers and radio can be sure of only one thing in the next decade: their future is far from certain - 3rd January 2010
 * dozen reasons to be cheerful about the state of the British media'' - Everyone was geared up for a death in the media but, against the odds, our national papers survived and things are looking up for TV - 27th December 2009
 * Street suffers from poor circulation, but there are signs of health'' - Slumping sales from dailies to Sundays and redtops to top drawer are not the whole picture - 13th December 2009
 * we really trust Ofcom to guard the BBC?'' - You can't turn one watchdog into a model for all walks of life - 13th December 2009
 * Tiger Woods thrown into the rough by a voracious media'' - Secrecy and discretion about the golfer's life vanished when he hit that fire hydrant - 6th December 2009
 * Lewis seeks a wider digital world outside the Telegraph brand'' - There are profits to be made from the net quite separate from the newspapers - 29th November 2009
 * pay walls will be paper tigers – and he daren't put them round Sky'' - Newspapers protest at free BBC online news, but press websites are already outgunned by cable networks - 22nd November 2009
 * Sun got too hot without its coolest head'' - Les Hinton, now departed for Dow Jones, would never have allowed the paper to make such intemperate attacks on Gordon Brown - 15th November 2009
 * pay walls have a lot of confused writing on them'' - As Murdoch hesitates, there are no simple solutions over charging for digital content - 8th November 2009
 * job cuts more to do with David Cameron than financial logic'' - 1st November 2009
 * Street shows America how to win online success'' - Global reach and sharper reporting (with nothing dull-but-worthy) reveals British papers' US rivals as parochial - 1st November 2009
 * fury has the instant power to hit advertising'' - Outrage over a columm about the death of Stephen Gately has lost the Daily Mail money - 25th October 2009
 * to save local journalism, US-style'' - A report on funding 'accountable' reporting recommends a mix of philanthropy and familiar ideas on levies - 25th October 2009
 * defeat holds some lessons on press freedom'' - Trafigura fight was won by an alliance of print, broadcasting and the blogosphere - 18th October 2009
 * won applause for cutting top BBC salaries, but talent has to be paid for'' - George Osborne's call for pay cuts at the top of the BBC sound popular but ignore the price of talent - 11th October 2009
 * wants to charge for news, but what will readers be prepared to pay?'' - Rupert Murdoch has ordered his lieutenants to fix a price for internet news, but the answer remains stubbornly elusive - 4th October 2009
 * new paper points to print's future'' - New launch shows rethinking the newspaper can raise circulation - 4th October 2009
 * O'Brien rocks Independent's boat ... again'' - If O'Brien got his hands on INM, he would wield power that would make even bankers baulk - 27th September 2009
 * Mail's net gains may have more showbiz glamour than real quality'' - User figures for August are ahead of the Guardian and Telegraph, but critics say the online content is more Heat than Middle England's newspaper of choice - 27th September 2009
 * answer to future of BBC?'' - RTS Cambridge convention was a squabbling soap opera, where axes were sharpened but not properly used - 20th September 2009
 * news: there's no such thing as a giveaway'' - Plenty of news websites look like they are free - but they have a hidden cost to the industry and the taxpayer - 20th September 2009
 * with little focus on the future'' - When the great names of TV governance assemble in Cambridge to examine the industry's navel, there's always a stark choice of format - 20th September 2009
 * hasn't won the battle with Murdoch, it's beginning a long war'' - The ICM poll that the BBC used to rally the troops shows most people think the corporation is no more reliable than any other media outlets - 13th September 2009
 * newspapers trapped in a web time warp?'' - This is a voyage of discovery and rediscovery, not a walk in the park - 6th September 2009
 * coils of the net are filled with dead cartoonists'' - Political cartoonists are an endangered species, thanks to the internet their work no longer fits the bill - 30th August 2009
 * thelondonpaper. So what's the future Standard of success?'' - Rupert Murdoch, to his great credit, does not kill newspapers lightly - 23rd August 2009
 * Street loses out in complex numbers game'' - The big hitters of cable such as MSN, CNN and AOL rout any newspaper site in a numbers race - 16th August 2009
 * the axe? It's just not as simple as that'' - Gorgeous, but unbalanced | Bose needed a Slate test, not a slating | Figures not worth ogling - 9th August 2009
 * fiddling fails to let freedom reign on television'' - How can you organise a proper network of functioning, co-operating free states if one of them is governed by a media tycoon - 2nd August 2009
 * referee needs to show some red cards'' - When the commissioners uncover behaviour that 'concerns' them, they should be able to say so publicly - 26th July 2009
 * free news services pay, somehow'' - The entire newspaper and magazine industry feels itself looking into a financial pit - 19th July
 * bad... but the watchdog has got the message'' - When the PCC issued its amplified warning after Goodman, it did succeed in scrapping the hacks. Self-regulation worked - 12th July 2009
 * in crisis pick and choose their principles'' - A press in profound crisis has one hand outstretched - and the other tied behind its back - 5th July 2009
 * expenses scandal? It just doesn't add up'' - It's ludicrous to turn the BBC's expenses into a foaming cause célèbre - 28th June
 * price the Mirror as Star wars rages on?'' - Look at the Star-Mirror fight: locked in identical desperation and very much the same - 21st June 2009
 * feels the pain of a slipped disc'' - Only one incendiary circulation figure matters in the latest month of audited statistics. How did the Telegraph do, as it ladled out Westminster's sludge day after day? - 7th June 2009
 * future is a complex web'' - Start with a word that newspapers shun: complexity - 31st May 2009
 * for lobby to answer'' - The Sun said no long before the Telegraph said a resounding yes - though it kept damned quiet about it - 24th May 2009
 * in victory, secrecy and evasion prevail'' - Sri Lankan government may have beaten the Tamil Tigers, but now faces defeat in crucial battle for public opinion - 24th May 2009
 * for news that's fit to print'' - Those who sniffed when the Telegraph bought that pirate Westminster disc seem to have contracted swine flu and retired to a darkened bedroom with Speaker Martin - 17th May (see: MPs' expenses: summary)
 * men are in the same mess as Rupert'' - It's not newspapers alone, or television, or ad agencies that are having problems. It's everything on and off the net - 10th May
 * the flu panic button or write it off?'' - Naturally, people grow cynical when health hurricanes hardly happen - 3rd May 2009
 * the rules, make the deals and local papers survive'' - What price Trinity Mirror's 134 regional dailies and weeklies, or the 300 titles in the Johnston Press mix? - 26th April 2009
 * the web cripples papers, an internet licence fee could help deliver the news'' - Internet websites taking over print's role without providing anything approaching traditional newspaper revenue streams: no cover price, few subscriptions, only fatally cheap ads - 19th April 2009
 * the Indy needs to find a new format for its survival'' - The figures, alas, are predictably horrible. The Independent's audited circulation in March was down 16.7% in 12 months - 12th April
 * secrets of politicians and publishers'' - do newspapers, when they act as moral guardians and apostles of outrage, need to make sure their own dusty corners are cleaned out first? - 5th April
 * can make hope out of folding papers'' - Media gloom? It sometimes seems like a norovirus surging round Heston Blumenthal's kitchen - 29th March 2009
 * 6 - the TV station that knows where you live'' - Last year's big media row erupted over the BBC's wish to put out more video with its local online news. And this year's outbreak of peace, apart from its regional partnerships with ITV, may see fury from local newspapers turned on its head as everyone begins to agree about really local television - 22nd March 2009
 * Sir Tony, have the Indies got a safety net?'' - Perhaps, in more modern times, King Lear would have settled for Monarch Emeritus - plus votes of thanks from the Independent News and Media board - 15th March 2009
 * bulks and see what's a dead giveaway'' - Ross and Brand need not comply | Reasons to be cheerful: we're not the Mail | Rockies and a hard place | Lite shines in the darkness of Wapping cutbacks | - 8th March 2009
 * still profit on the page'' - Rupert Murdoch's newspaper obsession could still be Wall Street wisdom rather than an achilles heel - 1st March 2009
 * media of our discontent'' - Everything - in the teeth of this recession - begins to connect. Everything from the floppings of Fleet Street to the failings of ITV - 22nd February
 * of subs sent to rescue sinking flagships'' - Subscriptions underpin regular purchase. Their time has definitively come - 15th February
 * at last: is it a solution for the Standard?'' - the strategy for reviving the Evening Standard: more editions and targeting the ABC1 reader - 8th February 2009
 * the lobby pack missed the biggest prey'' - Following last week's corruption uproar, the House of Lords is not best beloved by Britain's journalists - 1st February 2009
 * Britain still needs its local papers'' - Everything connects, surely? But look for the hole in the middle of the masterplan - 25th January 2009
 * through a pile of roubles'' - It would make a perfect newspaper bill on Oxford Street: "Ex-KGB billionaire set to buy the Standard sensation!" - 18th January 2009
 * era? It's all Huff and puff'' - The medium-term weakness of the bright new websites is that they need grist as well as glitz - 11th January 2009
 * face far more than a local difficulty'' - Too many papers, abandoning editionalising, have also abandoned their fundamental reason to exist - 4th January 2009
 * the winner is ... nobody'' - Sadly, the crunch claims another victim. This column's renowned Newspaper Proprietor of the Year award is dead (or at least deep frozen) in the face of constant calamity - 28th December 2008
 * might not care for it, but we must share'' - One of Fleet Street's sagest elder statesmen talks contraction on a wincing scale - 21st December 2008
 * owners, not papers, that are the problem'' - The central problem isn't the internet (a dampener on profits and spreader of uncertainty, at worst; not the end of everything). The problem is newspaper ownership flawed by misplaced ambition and short-sighted management - 14th December 2008
 * and mortar don't have much to do with good journalism'' - On the relocation of the Guardian from Farringdon to King's Cross - 8th December 2008
 * have we forgotten what freedom is?'' - The 'public interest' so repeatedly invoked at Westminster is the same public interest that journalists recognise when they reach for their keyboards - 7th December 2008
 * on Mars isn't planet YouTube'' - It seemed a great chance for Fleet Street to put its best foot forward. Here was a pre-Budget newsstand bonanza - 30th November 2008
 * in arms over Sergeant'' -  It's absurd for the BBC to clutch vital facts and phone-in cash so close to its chest - 23rd November 2008
 * not hard for the BBC to win a bit more trust'' - The trust, has offered the corporation a chance to be appreciated for what it offers not where it threatens to go next - 23rd November 2008
 * last, good news for the complaints commission'' - The committee that never sleeps over questions of newspaper self-regulation and privacy strikes again in February - 23rd November 2008
 * must be free to offend'' -  You have to be pretty oblivious of history, and market reality, to believe that kiss-and-tell tales are not a formidable sales aid - 16th November 2008
 * home win for US journalism'' - Never in media history had so many pundits, presenters and digital demons dished up so much - 9th November 2008
 * complaints and it's war on the licence fee'' - 2nd November 2008
 * the fun of the Fairness Act'' - The trickle of American editorial columns revealing their election choice has turned into a flood - 26th October 2008
 * papers in freefall? Not if they innovate'' - 19th October 2008
 * lurks for BBC's bloggers'' - The speed of blogs is part of their attraction, and we've reached a stage where one man at his terminal can rain billions over Britain - 12th October 2008
 * fold faster than papers'' - The list of newspaper casualties, of actual closures amid the gloom, is strangely slim - 5th October 2008
 * Fleet St writes for Main St'' - What America decides clearly affects us - and not just when one catches Wall Street pneumonia - 22nd September 2008
 * going gets tough, and the price goes up'' - If advertising is falling off a cliff, then the only other source of revenue - cover price - has to be tapped - 14th September 2008
 * medals in sight, red-tops put on a burst of extra speed'' - A great deal of rain, an enfeebled pound and the Olympics were good news for newspaper sales in August - 7th September 2008
 * sexism on TV news'' - 31st August 2008
 * deserves to get a slice of BBC's action?'' - 24th August 2008
 * to tell you if a kiss and tell cover-up could happen here'' - Could the UK press overlook a senior politician's affair for several months - as happened in the US? - 17th August 2008
 * are no easy route to big profits. Seems obvious now'' - 10th August 2008
 * this rate, ads cost what you feel like paying'' - 3rd August 2008
 * little comic relief from Ofcom'' - 3rd August 2008
 * spanking for Murdoch and the red-tops'' - Everyone, says the pivotal clause 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, 'has the right to respect for his family life, his home and his correspondence' - 27th July 2008
 * rein for m'learned friends'' - The McCann/Murat debacle was a whopping blunder and ought to lead to wholesale indoctrination in European law for journalists in a globalised age - 20th July 2008
 * mind Rupert the bear - there's more to this picture'' - 13th July 2008
 * like chronicles of small beer more than the Daily Moan'' - 29th June 2008
 * We don't need to catch the US media's cold - 22nd June 2008
 * Terminal decline of the office? - The Daily Telegraph's fully integrated newsroom may be roughly the size of the Faisal mosque, but the BBC's rival leaves it for dead - 15th June 2008
 * The Times is all colour, but the future is grey - 8th June 2008
 * We can't be trusted - if you can believe that - A recent survey on public trust in the media highlights issues about both reporting and pollsters themselves - 1st June 2008
 * Regional TV quotas are beyond their sell-by date - 25th May 2008



News & updates:


References:
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Links:

 * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Preston