Sunday Round Up: Tabloids face further privacy action, Andy Coulson, BBC, BSkyB
This week's round up of the Sunday newspapers for what's going on in the world of media includes fresh allegations against tabloid reporting, the impact of Andy Coulson's resignation on BSkyB and the BBC's new controller hitting out at his organisation.
British newspapers are set for a new crisis as other British tabloid red tops face allegations of phone hacking, following Andy Coulson’s resignation as director of communications for the Government, while editor of the News of the World. The Observer has claims that lawyer Mark Lewis has confirmed that he is now representing four other individuals who believe that they have been targeted by newspaper other than those owned by News Group.
The Sunday Express reports this morning that the resignation of Andy Coulson will impact Rupert Murdoch’s attemt to take full controll over BSkyB. Coulson, who was editor of News International’s News of the World, has apparently made the takeover issue ’a hot potato’ the papers says that a ‘senior media industry source’ has claimed.
The Sunday Express is also running a story reporting that the BBC’s new controller Danny Cohen has branded the organising as being too obsessed with the middleclass and has vowed to change its mentality, according to The Sunday Mail. Cohen is now set to order more ‘blue collar programming’ in a bid to better reflect the people who are watching the BBC.
Head teachers are apparently scouring the internet in a bid to ensure that their staff are not up to anything that would cause their schools embarrassment. A report by the Sunday Mirror says that teacher’s union NASUWT, has seen ‘a surge’ in disciplinary hearings against teachers for their code of conduct, with some teachers even handed warnings for attending a gay pride march.
The Sunday Mail claims that the Advertising Standards Authority is set to announce that it is to investigate the accuracy of claims by broadband providers over the speed of their broadband and unlimited useage . The advertising watchdog will look to investigate the claims by broadband providers and the actual service levels that they are delivering to customers.
Finally, spending watchdog The TaxPayers’ Alliance has criticised the Scottish Government for its scheme to ‘siphon’ £75 million a year from public funds to pay for its Scottish Digital Network. The Sunday Express says that the watchdog has claimed that if such an amount of money is available, it should be use to ease the current burden on taxpayers instead.