Steve Penk rushed to hospital

I have posted before re: Mr Penk's takeover of 96.2 The Revolution and so far, so good from what I have heard but I bet some people who have been victims of his famous prank phone calls are feeling slightly smug after the poor man fell victim to kidney stones recently.

He was rushed to hospital on friday morning and will be unable to do his morning breakfast show for a while but I'm sure he will soon be back on the air when he is fit enough to do so!

Apparently, the radio station sent out a press release about the issue and it is good to hear that people were wishing him well as I bet kidney stones hurt...

Going a bit off topic = I am awaiting the results of the NCTJ Newswriting and PA exams (Local and Central Government) after taking them at the University of Salford on Tuesday and Wednesday last week.

I had already failed Newswriting by four marks (or per cent) so lets hope when I find out on the 22nd December - make or break xmas - that I will be in a good mood.

While at Uni me and a few fellow students grew to be wary of this examination body and its power over the industry, especially how CRITICAL the qualifications are despite the obvious bonus they have.

And to my shock on the local gov exam paper question two they made a howler that anyone would be proud of. You see, it is supposed to be a choice of 16 local government-related key terms of which you have to answer 10 - fair enough I hear you say...

...however the exam paper saw only 14 key terms for us to choose from and one was the same one! Technically making 13 - shocking for an industry supported examination council.

But, in fairness, they have admitted their mistake and said that their markers will take it into account which is as good as they can do but the mistake really shouldn't have been made in the first place should it? Ahh well thats just how life rolls around some times isn't it and I do feel slightly sorry for the person who put that paper together as I don't think they would have had a good time recently!

No ultra local websites from BBC

So it seems official that the BBC has scrapped plans to launch web-based local video services as Paul McNally report says on the Press Gazette website.

Damn. I wouldn't mind a job with the BBC and 300 jobs that would have been created are now not going to be. Damn.

Apparently it

would not extend the BBC’s reach to those audiences it is not serving very well

oh and it would have cost £68m over four years...

Dominic Ponsford (press gazette again) says that the decision has provided a "chink of light" for the regional press but he also warns that they have to take it.

After just graduating Uni a few months back we had the discussion about the survival of the regional press so many times most of the arguments for and against its survival and future moulding have become cemented into my head.

And I have to admit I agree with Kyle Christie and as he references a few other people who have a interest in the media world when it is stated that the BBC may have missed an opportunity.

It is a saturated market already and more competition would obviously have an affect on local newspapers and coming from the BBC the impact could have been even worse but I don't think it would have all been bad news.

But the fact of the matter is as Andy Sennitt says:

The BBC Trust’s decision will be warmly welcomed by publishers of regional and local newspapers across the UK, who are facing the loss of display advertising and job advertisements as a result of the economic recession

So now the opportunity is there local papers have to take it and "get to grips" with the online section and how they can serve their audience in new ways such as an online update like the Lancashire Evening Post and the Manchester Evening News, which is to an extent leading the charge when it comes to this sort of thing with video and audio

It is a very amicably decision by the BBC Trust but is it the right one: NUJ General Secretary Jeremy Dear says not:

Local papers are closing and job cuts mean thousands of journalists don’t have the time to do their jobs properly anymore. ITV is withdrawing from its regional and local news commitments. Against a significant decline in local journalism, here was an opportunity to take a small step in the opposite direction by actually enhancing local news provision

I guess we will just have to wait and see what happens but local editors have got their wish, for now, so now it is over to them and their staff so see what they can do.