[cma-l] Community radio - get your news from the BBC?

[Richard Berry]

News is always going to be a problem as it raises lots of issues for  
us. IRN is great as it gives the listener a fixed point in the hour  
and will keep them if they do need a news 'fix' each hour - especially  
when there are running stories like Libya or the Earthquake. But  
national bulletins from a provider will never reflect our communities  
and does rely upon us paying a fee for the service and having the  
right kit (that works) They are an easy option for us though: backtime  
a song and pop the fader up at 59:59. Simples. Would the BBC offer  
something like that? I suspect not.

So, there's the temptation to do it ourselves, which could be great.  
But ONLY if you know what you are doing. Lifting stories from the BBC  
News website might seem like the way to go but it raises legal issues  
- copyright being one of them. But also accuracy, the journalists only  
real defence against charges of libel or contempt. Personally, I would  
only ever  run a news service if all those involved had had robust  
legal training first. So, that might not be the best option as it adds  
risk and cost. IRN offer newsweb, which may solve that and I suspect  
that if the BBC were to offer us anything it would be something like  
that - a gateway into ENPS.

The big question though is why do news? Are listeners coming to us for  
news on Libya? We can't cover it better than Sky News TV, so why  
bother? Instead, focus on what we can do well, getting local stories  
on the air through programming - a current affairs approach rather  
than a news bulletin one. There's nothing stopping you from compiling  
that into a daily bulletin of local 'issues' - steering away from  
legal stories which will be well covered elsewhere. Other broadcasters  
lack the resources to get out and find out what is really happening,  
so why compete with them when we could do something else (and do it  
better)

Just a thought from the north

Rich




Richard Berry
Senior Lecturer in Radio Studies
Admissions Tutor
Programme Leader: FdA Community Radio & BA Radio
Room 212, The David Puttnam Media Centre, St Peters Campus
Sunderland, SR6 0DD
Tel: 0191 515 2239
www.twitter.com/sunderlandradio
Web: www.sunderland.ac.uk/radio











On 23 Feb 2011, at 15:29, Phil Korbel wrote:

> back in the day, Wythenshawe FM took live news on the hour from what  
> was BBC GMR.  Worked well and we got a good local-ish news service  
> for nowt, just had to cue up w 'and now the news from BBC GMR...',  
> possibly a back anno too.
>
> It was a good will arrangement between the then manager and us.  All  
> going swimmingly until a bright spark [possibly a national high up]  
> asked if we took adverts - which we did - and the service was  
> shelved 'pending further discussions' which are still pending.  The  
> solution we suggested was to have an advert 'purdah' for say 10 or  
> 15 minutes either side of the bulletin to dilute the argument that  
> we might be commercially benefiting from the BBC news content.  So  
> yes - it would be a welcome boon if this were to be resurrected..
>
> good luck,
>
> bests
>
> Phil
>
> On 23 February 2011 14:54, jaqui devereux <jaqui.devereux at commedia.org.uk 
> > wrote:
> Dear all
>
> We are aware that IRN has hiked its charges for news and are trying  
> to get a meeting with them to discuss this.
>
> We are also working with the BBC to try to extend access to their  
> news services for the community radio sector, so we do urge you to  
> at least approach your local BBC with a view to exploring the  
> possibility of getting a free news feed from them, as some stations  
> already have.
>
> Let us know how you get on as we will follow this up at the national  
> strategic level,
>
> Best wishes
>
> Jaqui
>
> -- 
> Jaqui Devereux
> Director, Community Media Association
> 0114 279 5219
>
> --
> Community Media Association
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>
>
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> -- 
> Phil Korbel
> Director
> 0161 237 5454
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