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Thursday, August 9, 2007

The Spike

nibs, snippets, odds and sods…

The power of the Press...?
The Times, November 28, 2006
Missionary position
Sir, Now that Mr Blair has expressed regret about Britain's involvement in the slave trade, is any nation going to apologise for eating our missionaries?
REVEL BARKER
Gozo, Malta GC
...
Now see:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=NBGJ100S5I4EJQFIQMGSFF4AVCBQWIV0?xml=/news/2007/08/16/wpapua116.xml
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Congratulations to young James Mellor who has been poached from the Sunday Telegraph newsdesk by Colin Myler to become news editor at the News of the World.
He follows in the footsteps of his father Phil Mellor, the legendary deskman at the Sunday Mirror – a man who’s been around so long some of his bylines are in Latin.
But has there been a mix-up at Wapping? Mellor senior has been telling chums: ‘Colin wanted me, but I’m too young!’ – Axegrinder, Press Gazette

When the Daily Express sent the dark presence of one Peter Baker - a powerful and fearsome name at the time – to Manchester office he was received in the news room by Geoff Brennand.
Who are you? – ‘I am Peter Baker, from London office.’
What are you doing here? – ‘I've come to organise things.’
Good. Then would you organise me a cup of tea? - GM
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William Randolph Hearst, always in search of sensational stories, once sent a telegram to a leading astronomer: ‘Is there life on Mars?’ it read. ‘Please cable 1000 words.’
The astronomer’s reply - ‘Nobody knows’ - repeated 500 times. - KA
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PERKY reporter Amy Jacobson, who worked for Chicago's NBC station WMAQ-TV and also does stories for Today, has been ‘let go’ by the windy city station after videotapes showed her in a bikini at the home of a woman whose mysterious disappearance she was covering. Tapes made by rival CBS station WBBM showed Jacobson at the backyard pool of Lisa Stebic, who vanished on April 30. She was with Stebic's estranged husband, Craig, whom police have questioned in the case. Neighbors told WBBM that Jacobson has visited the Stebic house ‘frequently’ since she began covering the story. - AB
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One of Cudlipp’s first jobs as a reporter on the Penarth News was to cover a performance of Handel’s Messiah by the local choir. Though he knew nothing about the Messiah he just managed to scrape together 2,000 learned words by diligent research in Grove’s Dictionary of Music. But his editor had asked for no fewer than 3,000 words. Cudlipp had an inspiration. Opening a new paragraph he wrote: ‘The names of the choir were…’ His editor was delighted. - KA
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