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

[whizkid]

Since our domestic news organizations hug the root, why not.

[BongHitsForJesus]

I am very interested to see Arianna on Hardtalk. This is the sort of no compromise, hard hitting news interview program of which, I am sure, she approves.

[VictorLudorum]

Dearest Ariana as your there make up for me..I dont even know what Dawn [Blue Press]Observer Gaurdian have against .... Plus i have good memories and support in the past from BBC that used to speak up against Ian Smith or South African Aparthied.. Today Mark Tully is with Russian/Secularists leftovers and perhaps John Tidmarsh with Mick Jagger ..........­..........­..........­........St­ephen Sackur is still drinking balanced expresso so why cannot the 'detante' end!

[grevillea]

In your case a break from espresso might be a good idea!

[provgrays]

A Huff Post relationship with the BBC is a wonderful idea.

I listen to the BBC as much as I can and it puts in perspective just how shoddy the main stream media has become in the U.S. This is welcome news.

[Danny]

Am I mistaken in thinking that "BBC World Service" is a private news service unrelated to the Good olde BBC? I read it somewhere sometime ago, and it made sense at the time. And now, too.

[splott]

Yes you are mistaken.

[squander123]

Yes, you are mistaken, but what you might have been thinking of is that the World Service is funded through the British Foreign Office, rather than through the licence-fee and other funding which the rest of the BBC receives. This of course is because the licence-fee is paid by British residents to fund domestic broadcasting, and the World Service is - obviously - for the rest of the world (although many British listeners do listen to the World Service because they like its global focus). Despite this, the World Service is still editorially independent in the same way that the rest of the BBC is: the Foreign Office don't get control of what is broadcast!

Of course one way that the BBC does operate as a private company is by selling its programmes internationally - they actually make quite a lot of income that way. But that's a different issue.

I would also welcome links on the Huffington Post to British newspapers and the BBC, but also to other non-US news sources as well. I've often thought the site would be even better if it had a more international focus. So even just sticking to English-language sites, how about links to Australian, South African, New Zealand and Indian newspapers as well?

[EbonBear]

You are mistaken. The World Service is funded differently but still very much a part of Auntie Beeb.

[spikeshowdotcom]

I think you're thinking of BBC America - owned and operated by Discovery networks, leasing the BBC brand. They buy the programming independently of the Beeb, which is why you see so many Channel 4 and 5 shows on there. Thank the good lord they're now seeing sense and ditching Changing Rooms and Ground Force et al in favour of fare like Newsnight, albeit in a condensed form.

[Duncan77]

I always thought Jeremy Paxman would go down well in the US. In my darker moments I imagine Oreilly on Newsnight and how Paxman would tear him a new one.

[Fair]

Thanks for all you do Arianna!!

[AdamWykle]

God bless the BBC, if only our medias would emmulate their long-prided reputation for accuracy and honesty instead of feeding millions of Americans entertaining misinformation funded by corporation, they could earn BBC's title of the most trusted television broadcast in the world.

Any international media outlet is actually more reputable than our news channels for that matter.

[Pamela1961]

I agree that they are more fair when it comes to our country. I've heard they have problems in their own. Still I look at the overseas news to get a more balanced report.

[nyboomer]

The BBC does not need to go forth and sell lisetners ears to advertisers who might be upset if certain stories are revealed.

American main stream media fears loss of income if they let the cat out of the bag too frequently. They go for fluff at least 90% of the time since it will not interfere with income.

[navalvet]

Lyse Doucet is one of the finest broadcast journalists in the world. I will have to see if I can download the interview, tomorrow, as I did not find it now. There was a video about the baby boomers which had a
panel including Arianna

[appleknocker]

Amen! She used to be on the BBC World News broadcast here on PBS, and I've wondered what happened to her and Mishal Hussain (sp.?), the anchor. I suspected that they were ousted or demoted in the wake of the BBC shakeup that followed their upsetting the powers-that-be with aggressive reporting on the Iraq debacle. Does anyone have more info?

[scouserinlondon]

They upset the powers that be over reporting the leak that the intelligence community were worried that the Government were going to "Sex up" their report on WMD 'S in Iraq in order to justify going to war and then when ,after the invasion, if it all went arse over head the government world blame poor intelligence.It did and they did.The person who leaked this story to BBC reporter Andrew Gilligan was David Kelly top expert on WMD'S and was on his way back into Iraq as part of team searching for weapons.He had faced down Saddam numerous times.The report was not going to say what Bush,Blair etc.needed to show the public.The BBC went at it full throttle,especially Newsnight,the Govt denied it all.Gilligan got sacked.the head of the BBC got sacked and heads rolled.Years later it was proved right....no WMD'S,and the blame put on poor Intelligence.
At the height of it all,and the GOVT'S attacks on BBC David Kelly was found in woods near his home having committed "suicide",without leaving a note,the day before he was to fly out to Iraq.The worlds leading expert on chemical and biological warfare had slit his wrists and taken painkillers.(and if you believe that you can knit fog)An MP has researched and written a book on it and believes he was murdered by people who were determined to continue the march to war.Truthful men sacked and dead,

[americanalien]

I totally second that, she is indeed an incredible journalist.

[SiberianRat]

BBC is where I go for my news, including for news in the US. While Britain is known for the tabloid press, the BBC is a quality operation for sure. To me, most US news is unwatchable.

[appleknocker]

Try McClatchy.com.

[ghd]

Ahhhh ... there will always be an England.

[elan4444]

We can certainly hope so.

[ObamAtomic]

So be on the lookout for those blogging with a British accents.
Arianna, are Spanish,Af­rican,Asia­n accents welcome too?

[grevillea]

Of course not. Whatever next, giving coloreds the vote?! Seriously, have you had a good look at the diversity of bloggers they already have?

[cmbaldwin]

Hi Arianna! I hope you're having a wonderful time mixing it up with the Brits. Now can you PLEASE ask the Deutsche Bank to loan you a few dollars, make that euros - to get the Huffington Post Cable New Channel up and running?!!! :) Thanks.

Have fun. Be Safe.
Cheers!!