Rising Dawn

George Monbiot: The most potent weapon wielded by the empires of Murdoch and China | Comment is free | The Guardian
If you want to know how powerful Rupert Murdoch is, read the reviews of Bruce Dover’s book, Rupert’s Adventures in China. Well, go on, read them. You can’t find any? I rest my case.

As lucid and alarming as ever George Monbiot puts Murdoch in his sights and provokes an intelligent discussion on the Guardian’s Comment is Free blog.

The Times used to be the final authority in British Newspapers. No longer. I’d rather read The Telegraph. At least I know what it’s bias is. I have to work hard to discern which part of Murdoch’s empire The Times is championing on any one day, but I know it’ll be in there somewhere.

Do I have Sky? Yes, but only for the football. And if wanted to rant on I could whip up a good argument for the way pay TV has ruined the beautiful game too. 

The article may be long but it’s worth reading, including the comments from readers.

Wall Street | Wall Street’s crisis | Economist.com

“Every banker knows that if he has to prove that he is worthy of credit, however good may be his arguments, in fact his credit is gone.” Walter Bagehot

I like The Economist. It’s level headed, even handed, has its ear to the ground and its feet on it too. Even when the FTs headlines are screaming and echoing panic from the trading floor, The Economist accepts the current position and points to a way out.

It’s also a newspaper - so within it’s pages are reports from around the world, including Tibet where it is the only foreign news organisation with official approval to be there.

I’m at my son’s house in London, staying overnight before a workshop day in the capital tomorrow. The is the fourth workshop day I’ve run as part of the Women’s Interfaith Media Literacy project.
I’ll run two short workshops to experience the storytelling part of digital storytelling while other practitioners pass on their skills in print media, broadcasting, and PR. Previous days have been in Bradford, Leicester, Coventry and now London. No matter where I go, I find that people love telling stories, but many don’t know where to start - or finish!
So I will use my Magic Story Bag to see what secrets it reveals and then teach them how to structure those revelations into a story script. Behind all the best journalism is a good story and the best writing is storytelling. What’s your story?