Martin and Nina are writing this cool blog from Ecuador: http://colonos.wordpress.com/

Just got an email stating that the police in Germany is screening the journalists’ applications for reporting from the G8 2007 in Heiligendamm – and denied at least one person access to report from it. It is suggested that the member of a community radio station had been denied accreditation because of supposedly left-wing political opinions, as he seems to have a track record in delivering globalisation-critical reports. He hasn’t been given a reason yet either, it has only been mentioned that he should contact the head organisation of the police for more details.

Examine one current affairs TV series being broadcast in the UK. View one program from this strand (e.g. Panorama, Channel4 Dispatches) and critically examine and analyse its content. BBC’s Panorama Midwives Undercover program was 58 min long and aired on Thursday, 3rd of May, on BBC 1. It investigated serious allegations into systemic failings of understaffed, underequipped and underresourced maternity units in NHS hospitals in England, using an undercover reporter as a work experience volunteer and quotes of experts, midwives, courts, government, NHS trusts managers and concerned parents. That May week, it was the only investigative program on TV which focused on a British issue.

The one-day student conference at the centenary ADM in Birmingham was attended by eleven participants from Edinburgh, Falmouth, Cork, Essex, Nottingham, Leeds, Newcastle, Swansea and Gloucester. Following agenda topics were discussed: how to set up and what to expect from a student chapel, exploitation during work experience and an NUJ/NUS arbitration agreement in cases of student media disputes. In the discussions, students expressed their wishes for more training regarding student media and addressed the main problem of finding a properly paid job in the media after finishing their degrees. General Secretary Jeremy Dear and the outgoing president Chris Morley also chatted with us students, whilst Linda King explained the NUJ training opportunities and courses.

Paul Bradshaw organised a blog run by students to report live from the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) Annual Delegate Meeting (ADM) in Birmingham. This year I took a lot of pictures for the 100 years of NUJ Flickr site. I also recorded some audio, but unfortunately my minidisc recorder was stolen back in Edinburgh, from Infoseed at The Forest Cafe, before I had a chance to edit it. For me, it was luckily enough possible to write a lot for the blog because of having the old laptop with me but unfortunately the wireless connection did not work. Reports by me about the NUJ conference are: