Feb 1st, 2009
… a place for my media and journalism links, occasional comments/ponderings and for bringing together my bits and bobs around the web. I’m a freelance journalist due to begin studying for a PhD in autumn 2010 [More here]. Find me: @jtownend on Twitter, jt.townend on Delicious, Muskehound on Flickr. Or check out what I’m doing via my Lifestream.
Jul 9th, 2010
I’ve been working with the data mining site Scraperwiki to set up Hacks and Hacker Hack days around the UK. The idea is to get programmers, designers, journalists and bloggers into the same room for one day, to mine data for quick turnaround projects that could be polished into journalistic stories and features. Best of [...]
iPhone app developer Dave Addey has been investigating the Conservatives’ iPhone app used for canvassing: its general election app asks users to pass on their friends’ details, using data extracted from the users’ iPhone address books, in addition to noting their voting intention.
Calling the hypothetical app user ‘Peter’, and calling his hypothetical unwitting friend, ‘Bob’, [...]
Apr 5th, 2010
Bank holiday weekend brought more phone hacking revelations from the Guardian’s Nick Davies, with new accusations about Scotland Yard’s handling of the investigation into phone hacking at News of the World in 2006. It also brought a strongly-argued piece questioning Andy Coulson’s position as Tory communications chief, by Daily Mail political columnist Peter Oborne, writing in the Observer.
Firstly, what’s [...]
Apr 1st, 2010
Some news! At the end of June I’ll be leaving my reporter job at Journalism.co.uk for pastures new after (just under) two very happy years in Brighton.
I’ve accepted a three year MPhil / PhD studentship at City University London’s new Centre of Law, Justice and Journalism.
My research will be exploring legal restraints on the media: [...]