Thought for the week

“The Sun’s reporting of the Hillsborough tragedy 23 years ago is without doubt the blackest day in this newspaper’s history….” The Sun, on its misreporting of Hillsborough.

Worth the paper it’s printed on?

Light news success stories in the papers this week included…
…Coldplay’s Paralympic Closing Ceremony set, as featured in 41 stories, whereas the two police officers prosecuted for causing a death whilst restraining a suspect made it into 4…
…2012’s MTV Video Music Awards, as covered by 21 headlines, far more than the 2 that focused on Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales branding the UK Government’s ‘snooper’s charter’ as ‘technologically incompetent’…
…and, finally, Jasmine Lennard’s controversial statements after leaving Celebrity Big Brother, which cased a reaction in 15 publications, in contrast the Egyptian president’s calls for Syrian leader Assad to step down made it into just 4.
(Source: Journalisted)

Weekly high

According to reports on the BBC yesterday, a Danish nursery is now offering parents two hours free childcare on a Thursday evening. The idea is to allow the adults a little time for themselves, and to help boost the country’s worryingly low birth rate- currently 185th out of all 221 nations on Earth.

Weekly low

Samsung sent brand ambassador bloggers to the IFA Conference in Berlin. The lucky lot thought they were getting an all expenses paid trip to cover a major tech expo in a great city. Samsung actually wanted them to wear company uniforms and work the branded stall, as if they were full time staff. Some refused, and were threatened with being stranded with no plane ticket home. Apparently the firm did apologise…

Three things that may happen next week…

McDonald’s USA will take the rather bold step and begin advertising calorie counts on each product served to customers, Apple’s iPhone 5- unveiled to mixed reviews this week- will finally go on sale from Friday 21st (a week after customers began queuing for the gadget), and teachers in Chicago, Illinois, should be back in lessons following a staggering four days of strike action.

Dates for your diary

Wednesday 19th September, Macclesfield- Digital Edge 7 @ Inca Cafe; Designers, developers and creatives from across East Cheshire will meet to discuss digital work and ideas.
Thursday 20th September, Manchester- Manchester Fashion Network Student & Graduate Recruitment Day @ 2022NQ; The city’s fertile clothing industry meets to source the finest up and coming talent.
Thursday 20th September, Manchester- University of Salford Innovation Hub Launch at MediaCity UK Adobe Research Hotel @ Salford University MediaCity; launch event for the brand new, multi-disciplinary facility developed in partnership with HP, Adobe, and NVIDIA.
If there is a success story, blunder, or tweeting town you’d like to see included email helloATsmokinggun.co.uk or tweet using #blaggersblog. Happy Friday!