London Calling: the 24/7 Guardian, the BBC Empire, and Blogging with a British Accent

My tour of the London media continued with a talk at the the Sadler's Wells Theatre as part of the Guardian's Future of Journalism series. It was a conversation with Alan Rusbridger, the paper's long-serving editor, who has overseen the transformation of the Guardian into a major presence in online journalism. Its group blog, Comment is Free, launched in March 2006, with Georgina Henry as its editor. You can hear part of the conversation here.

Here is Guardian stalwart Michael White's take on the evening. And here is one from Guardian new media blogger Jemima Kiss.

After the interview, there was a small and lively dinner hosted by Alan with Guardian writers and editors, along with BuzzMachine's Jeff Jarvis who also writes a column for the Guardian. Georgina and I talked a lot about HuffPost and the Guardian sharing more of our content with each other, and we came up with some crossposting ideas we'll be implementing soon.

Today has been my BBC day. The Beeb's HQ -- aka BBC Television Centre -- is a sprawling campus with coffee shops and food stands around every corner. My mother, who was convinced something terrible would happen to you if you went 20 minutes without eating, would have been in heaven.

The BBC's reach is massive. Its international news alone reaches 230 million viewers and listeners around the globe. You get the sense here that the British Empire has relocated to the BBC.

I started with a talk at the BBC's College of Journalism for BBC staffers. Click here and here for the takes of two of the BBC bloggers.

Next up was a radio interview with Lyse Doucet, a presenter and foreign correspondent for BBC World Service Radio. This was followed by a TV interview on HARDtalk, with host Stephen Sackur. The show certainly lived up to its name. I don't want to spoil the fun of watching us cross swords on, among many topics, the ethics of journalism, online vs print, etc by giving too many details -- but we'll link to the video as soon as it's posted.

And I've just finished an inspiring afternoon at Deutsche Bank's seventh annual Women in European Business Conference. Two thousand businesswomen -- and a handful of businessmen -- gathered at The Barbican for the conference, which was opened by Cheri Blair and hosted by Kirsty Wark, a Newsnight anchor. I delivered the closing address, focusing on the theme of the conference: "Finding Your Voice."

At the reception that followed, I think I recruited some great Business and Living bloggers. So be on the lookout for those blogging with a British accent.

Previously:
HuffPostcard from London: Bush, Brown, Nannygate, and The Youthful Government in Waiting

Follow Arianna Huffington on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ariannahuff

Comments

[THINKB4USPEAK]

I have an Egyptian friend, a Bosnian friend, a Korean friend, a Phillipino friend, a Lebonese friend, a Japanese friend, a Puerto Rican, a Nigerian,,,(You get the idea by now; gatherings at my place are like a UN meeting, minus the political posturing. } Not one of these foreign nationals has an axe to grind with the American people in general. Our point of agreement is not that the USA is bad, but rather that our leadership needs fixing.

[dadw5boys]

What do the British think of the U.S. HMO attempts to get rid of the British National Health Care System?

Didn't Reagan get Margaret Thatcher to pass a bill that would allow the Health Care Industry to begin dismantling the National Health Care System?

[johnb3950]

Reading all the comments here, I'm surprised by the absence of any of the usual right-wing trolls leaping to the defence of US media and calling the pro-BBC writers unpatriotic. Suggests that this is one area where all shades of US opinion are aware just how inadequate the MSM are. Or perhaps it's just that Foxheads have no interest in reading anything at all related to other countries.­..wasn't it one of them on some show who said "Oh, I thought Europe was a country?" Hrmph - how to make eyes light up: shine flashlight in ear...

[bobo6]

I am surprised noone has brought up one of the reasons that Bush went to Belfast and did not go to Dublin.It was about a year ago that I was in Belfast and was reading a copy of the Irish Times which had an article on the resolution that passed to arrest Pres. George W. Bush if he comes to Dublin and bind him over for trial at the World Court . That was pased by the Dublin City Council.It appears that both Kissinger and Bush have to be very careful with travel itineraries.

[chascates]

Sorry! Wrong URL for the BBC's "Age of Terror" online video series. Proper one is:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/age_of_terror/default.stm

[elan4444]

Remember the ports issue when we were days away from the UAE handling all of our shipping freight? Anyone who read the papers in Britain at that time would have known well in advance about the deal, if only as an addendum to the articles in the UK news at the time - the big story there was that the UAE was buying the P&O Ferries, long a traditional British company. And at the end of every story about this, would be, "Dubai will also be taking over the freight handling at United States ports." P&O had held the contract and it was part of the deal. Considering the amount of info that is shared every day between our two countries, wasn't there even ONE congressional staffer or U.S. reporter (Keith, Chris, anybody??)who might have picked up on this extremely relevant news that became an explosion when someone finally noticed it? I was living in the UK at the time, and kept thinking, "We're going to let the UAE run our ports - really?" So, shock-a-rama, when it all hit the fan. I still can't believe no one picked up on this in the U.S., I read the Guardian online and Independent every day and surely so do others.

[chascates]

I just watched this great BBC documentary on the "Age of Terror" online:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/news/
Check out the 4th one, War on the West. It deals with the embassy bombings and what all went wrong when the staff tried to alert the State department to their vunerability. Pretty amazing. Too bad we don't have news like this here.

[chascates]

Sorry! Wrong URL for the BBC's "Age of Terror" online video series. Proper one is:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/age_of_terror/default.stm

[FOXYLADY]

WELL, DARN IT........­.....WE WATCH BBC AFTER CNN ETC. TO FIND OUT WHAT REALLY IS HAPPENING IN THE WORLD OF NEWS......­IT'S GOOD TO GET ANOTHER SLANT ON "TRUTH OR DARE" REPORTING.­..........­..IT'S GOOD TO HEAR "REASON" FOR A CHANGE INSTEAD OF RANTING AND RAVING LIKE FOX NEWS AND SOME CNN REPORTERS.­..........­....WHAT IS THE TRUTH??? WHO THE HELL KNOWS ANYMORE...­..........­.

[imnotstopping]

I watch and listen to BBC so I can find out that ZIMBABWE is one of the places in the world where the US and the UK and the EU and the UN should be making sure that election results are enforced and a ghastly dictator got rid of, but because the US has no "Interest" there is no coverage. This is probably one of the hot-spots in the world where we could be doing good. We don't even cover it and people are being tortured and killed by Mugabe and his henchmen.
The BBC at least tells the story.

[THINKB4USPEAK]

"I" the hell mostly, though not entirely, knows what is truth and what fiction. If you can spot anomolies in the rhetoric, you can easily detect when you are being lied to.

[ibsteve2u]

lollll...h­ere is an impractical request:

You should tour all of the nations of the world, Arianna, and give us your verdict on the responsiveness of each nation's press/media and government to the will of that nation's people.

It might be a best seller, given the increasing number of Americans who are becoming frustrated with the ongoing perversion of our once-noble system of government into a tool whose use is restricted by the wealthy to the wealthy solely for the benefit of the wealthy.

It is nice to be able to make an informed decision should you decide to throw up your hands and bail.

[Raiderfan0524]

Wanna know why I love the BBC?
It's because it can produce stories like this one.
My sister, who has had a journalist in her family for the last 16 years, never really gave a crap about what was going on in the news. She never read the papers (unless it was one of my stories, and that's only because I'm her little sister) or watched the news if she could help it.
That is, until BBC America came to her cable system.
She told me that she watches BBC News regularly, and has learned much more about America, the American political system, and what's going on in the world through it than she has ever picked up through the American media. She now better understands what I try to do as a journalist: gather the news and impart it without filters.
Since she told me that on my birthday, I considered it the ultimate present.
That's one of the reasons why my ultimate goal as a journalist is to someday work for the BBC, even if it's just as a freelancer.

[MalleusMaleficarum]

Congratulations, Arianna, this is a brilliant report on what is unquestionably a major development in the dialogue between MSM and new media. I have long held the Guardian to be the most influential newspaper in the English-speaking world. Today, The Huff Post is challenging the Guardian and the BBC for supremacy as the most influential news organization in the English-speaking world. Broadening the scope is precisely what is called for in these perilous times. A global vision of the present is what your readers deserve and nothing less will do.

[tathagat]

Long ago me asked beeb to change name of it's HQ... which is called B*sh Hse... and perhaps why, even Arianna wouldn't mention it... she just called it "The Beeb's HQ -- aka BBC Television Centre -" but actually coincidentally It IS called B*sh Hse... high time Beeb changes name of its HQ... from such an unmentionable obscene word...

[NeverCertain]

Bush House is not the BBC's HQ---it's just where BBC World Service is located. Anyhow, they will be moving out in the not too distant future.

[tathagat]

...Ah they are moving out is indeed a good news, btw Beeb nw logo @ the Manchester HQ is jokingly called by the locals as bonking worms... :)

[navalvet]

The BBC Television Center is in Shepherd's Bush, outside Central London, while the BBC World Service headquarters are in Bush House, on the Strand. That name just keeps recurring.

[bigfro]

Bidden for Vp. The only choice.

[nyboomer]

I know who Biden is but who's Bidden?

[andj]

We do have tabloid press but we also have quality papers like The Guardian and The Independent.


http://www.independent.co.uk/

They always have a unique perspective, different stories and unbiased point of view – and they taking on issues that others avoid.

[americanalien]

Arianna I grew up in a country that was apart of the British commonwealth and I'll admit, the BBC (along with the game of cricket), has to be the single thread that binds all these countries together. I remember receiving the BBC World Service on radio in my former homeland back in 2003 during the onset of the war in Iraq. It provided news and analysis 24/7, no commercials, no interruptions and amazingly I did not find this boring. It's not like NPR, it's a totally different feel. I received more information from these broadcasts than I did from the entire US media at the time. It was then that I started to develop my passion for politics. The BBC to me then was like a guide book, a source that I could turn to to inform and educate my young mind. I thought I'd discovered a treasure and I became intensely loyal to the World Service listening more than 4 hours a day. Unfortunately, I've not been able to listen the World Service on radio since I came to the US. However I still try to catch up with my 'first love in news' online as the msm here in US never fail to disappoint.

Did I also mention that the BBC introduced me to blogging? I first discovered the joys of online commentary when I started contributing to the "have your say" section on the bbc news website.

[mossey]

If you want to listen to the BBC World Service go to:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/

and click on the world service link. Also worth checking out the UK domestic station BBC Radio 4. You can listen live or select the programmes you want.

[scouserinlondon]

Radio 4.Morning time the "Today"pro­gramme"Als­o "Any Questions" and "Any answers"

[DwH]

Thank you.

I hope the radio service doesn't feature Matt Frey, who can barely disguise his love of Bush on the BBC News available on my local PBS station.