Gavin Drake

The Leveson Inquiry – a brief update of the evidence to date (it’s all Tom Watson’s fault)

Gavin Drake — Fri, 11 May 2012 10:43:19 +0000

It’s not the Murdochs’ fault, it’s one lone journalist.

It’s not the one lone journalist’s fault, it’s the executives.

It’s not the executives’ fault, it’s the lawyers.

It’s not the lawyers’ fault, it’s the police.

It’s not the police’s fault, it’s the company.

It’s not the company’s fault, it’s the private investigators.

It’s not the private investigators’ fault, its the journalists.

It’s not the journalists’ fault, its the readers.

Tom Watson MP clearly read the Sun and News of the World as he has complained about what was in them.

It’s all Tom Watson’s fault.

Note, the above is an attempt at satire and parody and is not meant to be a political comment!

Happy Birthday to the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham

Gavin Drake — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 13:58:40 +0000

The Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham – Pope Benedict’s structure to provide a space for former Anglicans in the Roman Catholic Church, is one year old tomorrow.

I’ll be reporting for BBC Radio Four’s Sunday Programme, looking back at the Ordinariate’s past year and looking forward to its future.

You can hear the programme from 7.10am, Sunday 15th January, on BBC Radio Four, or after its has been broadcast, via the BBC iPlayer.

My blog in 2011 – a summary

Gavin Drake — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 09:21:08 +0000

Most of this will be meaningless, as I’ve deleted all the posts from last year to comply with neutrality of reporters required by some of my clients; but it is interesting (to me at least) none-the-less.

Last year, the most popular search terms which brought people to my blog via search engines were:

Gavin Drake Blog
Gavin Drake
Giles Fraser
Policing By Consent
Tottenham Riot

This is a sign that social media is only one way of getting the word out about blogs – the fact that people were searching specifically for me and for the blog meant they were hearing about it from other means (word of mouth) and trying to find it.

That doesn’t mean that social media isn’t an essential tool to get the message out. The top referring sites (where people came to my blog from), are:

The busiest day of my blog last year was 1st March with what became the most-read article of the year: Misplaced outrage over High Court “ban” on Christian foster parents.

Those stories have gone now. And I’m not entirely sure what shape the blog will take in 2012; but I hope it remains interesting and relevant.

Thanks for following and reading in 2011 – please stick with me through 2012 too.

Happy New Year!

Than

New front in Israeli / Palestinian conflict opens up in Britain’s system of advertising regulation

Gavin Drake — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 16:00:16 +0000

Last week, Britain’s Advertising Standards Authority released its latest adjudication on an advert by the Israeli Government Tourist Office in London.

The advert featured the feeding of the five thousand and the authority ruled that it was not misleading or offensive for the national press and magazine advert to say “the masses have always been well fed in Israel” or to say that Israel is “a melting pot of races and creeds”.

This week’s adjudication is the sixth time in the past nine months that the authority has adjudicated on complaints by pro-Israeli or pro-Palestinian campaigners as activists take the battle for the Holy Land to the sphere of advertising, as Gavin Drake Reports.

The link above is an extended audio report. A shorter version, suitable for radio broadcast, is available on request.

The all-new singing and dancing Gavin Drake blog

Gavin Drake — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 21:21:12 +0000

Welcome to my new blog! Actually, it is my old blog, but without the old content.

Having moved back into news journalism it is no longer appropriate to maintain a blog in which I espouse my opinions, thoughts and prejudices. Not least, because some of my clients don’t like their freelance (or in house) journalists doing that. Some news organisations go as far as to say its reporters can’t do that. And so I won’t.

To some extent, it goes back to one of the lessons I was taught by my very first editor: “Opinions are like backsides, everybody has one.”

That doesn’t mean I no longer have opinions, thoughts and prejudices. Of course I have. Every journalist has – because every journalist is a real living human being. But it does mean that I now have to keep these to myself and let the facts tell the story – without my prejudices getting in the way.

My blog isn’t dead, though. It just has a different purpose and identity.

I will be posting summaries with links to those news organisations which have had the good sense to use and pay me for my work. I’ll be posting some articles here exclusively. And I’ll be writing about some of my more interesting exploits in this glamorous world of news media.

And all the time I’ll be trying to ensure I stay on the right side of my clients’ policies on social media, opinions and the like.

I hope this doesn’t mean that this becomes a boring blog. It will just be a different blog.

Thank you for sticking with me thus far – please stay with me in the journey ahead.