Outlook – with Paulette (Thursday)

On Air: Thursday 11-1pm

Presenter: Paulette

The Show:

The show that peels back the layers and analyses community issues to seek out the truth. These are the issues that YOU care about.

Its RAW, REAL and REFRESHING!

Paulette presents Outlook on a Thursday, exploring in depth topics such as Immigration, Education, Health, Employment, Identity, Social Welfare and Community development.

Listen in and talk to me!

Paulette using paulette@ujimaradio.com
Contact: 

Text: 07960 240198
Phone: 0117 942 8313
Email: 98@ujimaradio.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“More Than Words”

Thank you to Federico for sending on the info from BBC Radio 4 about “More Than Words” – A listening festival for Bristol 16^th - 18^th March.

I managed to secure places at two of the sessions – a masterclass with Jonathan Dimbleby and the Listening Project with Fi Glover. Both were excellent informative and provoking. Jonathan Dimbleby was interviewed by Jon Kay. Jon told us that JD began his career as a cub reporter on BBC Points West. JD took up that intro by saying that a memo was sent to a producer of Points West saying something like, “Here is another Dimbleby – see how he does”. JD paid tribute to Bristol and the place it holds in the media and journalistic world. He covered issues of ethics, privacy and censorship within the context of the Leveson Enquiry. The issues of compliance and impartiality were illuminated through examples of his work in journalism and broadcasting.

One of his first assignments was to go out and record the Bristol dialect – the “L” which some locals add to the end of words as in Americal and Indial. He had to record people using the L dialect and asked them to say, “I sent a cargo of bananas to Bristol”  expecting “I sent a cargle of bananals to Bristol”. But he could not find anybody speaking Bristolian, and so in desperation and against compliance rules he finally, after a long day, asked someone to say “I sent a cargle of bananals to Bristol”. He was asked about what makes a good journalist/interviewer/presenter and answered – curiosity and homework. He told us that he had a “strongly developed political sense” but he had to always remember to stay totally impartial.

He was asked how the BBC could stay impartial over the Palestine/Israel question when Israel has a huge political, military and media machine. He answered that it is in the interrogation that one has to expose the weakness of their position. He felt that there was indeed a role for campaigning journalism, but one had to be clever. You had to have information to back up your crusade. You had to put that information over in a more than interesting, imaginative way.

Banging on about it – ranting about it was boring. Be clever about your interests and make them everyone’s interests – do your homework, research and above all be accurate.

He was questioned about balance and he said he was critical of the BBC’s record. He is founder/chair of Index on Censorship and had objected strongly to the decision to pursue reporter Jeremy Bowen for alleged lack of balance over the Israel/Palestinian question.

He was asked how he could be quiet when he must sometimes know a lot more about a subject than the person he is interviewing. He answered that he feels strongly about global poverty, wind farms, philosophy etc. and even if he did know more than his interviewees he must always remain impartial and act as a referee – the skill was in the questioning.

He was asked by a member of audience who had been at the previous night’s “Any Questions” session and claimed that JD had not been impartial over Government policy on reading. JD explained that his statements were made after the show and that he did feel that this and previous Government policy on reading had all been counterproductive.

We as a nation had slipped from 7^th to 25^th he said that the approach needed by Government, parents and schools to turn that Titanic round was colossal. He then demonstrated his skill in dealing with the impartiality issue by saying, “having just said that, hands up all in the audience who agree with me”.

He was also asked what the role of the media was in stimulating the apathy of global issues. He replied that we had to continually ask ourselves questions that show the contradictions – like growth and accommodating  the needs of the planet. He emphasised that all should be seen in context. He did comment on his sense of frustration over the daily news coverage and air time given to big issues. He gave as a good example of the above the program on radio by Alan Little about Europe. Little’s stories about  European business people was fascinating and much more real than the same old “tired discussion” dominated by the Euro-sceptics that we always see and hear in the media.

He finished by saying that the BBC faced a challenge – “What is the BBC for?” It needed to have a clear sense of direction and should offer what other service providers could not provide in terms of originality and difference. I really enjoyed listening to the debate and learnt a lot.

The Fi Glover listening project was informative. We had to all wear blindfolds and listen to the conversation between two people. A  mother and a daughter talked about Exit and Dignitas in Switzerland. It was moving and I cried. Afterwards,  the editor explained that the daughter had always wanted to discuss the reasons why her mother wished to end her own life.

We also listened to another moving account of a mother in conversation with her child who has a heart deformity, as do two other of her five children. They talked about death as a possibility. The roles almost reversed with the mother seeking assurances from the child. The editor then explained the concept of the programme. They hope to capture 1000′s of conversations and archive them at the British Library. In 200 years time this would show a slice of real life for ordinary people. The project had been many years in the making and was a partnership between the BBC, the British Library and local Community radio stations across Britain. Trailers would soon be going out advertising how to record your conversation as there are not a spare 1000 BBC producers to do it!!

Anyone can take part in this project, details can be found here:  (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01cqx3b/faq) Sounds fascinating!

The whole weekend at Bristol University was exciting. Music played and the atmosphere was relaxed. Learning conditions were ideal. I came away inspired with ideas for my show and further knowledge about compliance and impartiality.

Paulette North

Thursday “Outlook” show