Gurdian plus some of Sunday Times

There was a Guardian story online about the finances of UK unis but I don't think it was in print. Somehow it seem more is online than in print.

However there are stories in Sunday Times that might have been in Guardian. Mix of alarm that mobile phones are used in schools and celebration that social media supports classic media such as books and bookshops. 

News review page 21 Norway's schools get kids off phones without hang-ups. Phones locked up at the strat of the school day. But then page 3 TikTok teens flock to Edwardian bookshop - today's adolescants prefer Daunts in Marylebone to a trip to Oxford Street. 

Back to Norway, column 5 - "The pupils are also adamant that phones help them learn. Mina citesTikTok videos that jazz up "boring" science projcts,whileWesam goes to YouTube for explainers on difficult equations."

Head teacher Heidi Augestad says "It's too harsh to tell them they are wrong, but they are".

Also in Sunday Times Business section a story about UK retail , page 6. Between 2018 and 2023 there was a collapse of two thirds in value of UK shopping centres. This was during and after lockdown. Back to Norway and comment from puils-

"When we were at home the whole time we were mostlt learningon ourphones" says Mina "You expect us to stop when the coronavirus is over?"

https://youtu.be/FfrP2SO_IoU?si=2Aar-chsHHJITXla   learner voice

This video was uplodaded ahead of BETT 2024. BETT is not really a show for mobile phones though there is now a stronger section for FE and HE as well as schools.

So somehow in the near future it seems possible that learners will arrive at university able to use a mobile phone, even AI. though the phones will have been locked away during school.

The campus is then back to normal. Nothing happened to campus valuations between 2018 and 2023. That is as reported in Guardian and Sunday Times.Links /  page numbers please if this is unfair or out of date. 

Screenshot Check from Twitter

 Today another Guardian opinion knocking Twitter and social media in general. I check the author and find there is still a Twitter option - Moya Lothian-McLean . Here are a couple of screen shots, first one from her tweet.

Notice the crop so it is harder to find the original. Now my screenshot of a response to this.

My question is what evidence is there that the Guardian opinion has not been read before the tweet was sent? There are several screenshots with quotes that have been selected, probably based on some sort of judgement.

The original tweet was from Colin Hall ( @Ultra_Fox ) . He has a picture of Jeremy Corbyn so may have been influenced by the claim of Twitter influencing delusions on Corbyn chances in 2019 election. The print media were solid for #LiarJohnson and turned out to have more influence on the proper telly.

Anyway I am not going to waste much space on comparing social media and newspapers for objectivity. Today in print I bought a Guardian and a Telegraph. You can do your own research.

Main point still about print decline and how some model of hybrid might work. Checking the Press Gazette I find March 22nd numbers for print circulation. Mail is below a million and less than the Metro. 

The interesting bit is in a note below the table-

The above figures do not include the Sun, Times and Telegraph titles which have all chosen to keep their ABC circulations private since the start of 2020. The Guardian and Observer joined them in September 2021.

Then there are various charts that show a trend towards zero some would say.

What is the point of filling up newspapers with knocking copy on social media? Only 28% of UK read Twitter ( half way down second column if you are skipping, no source given ) but some rely on this for opinions and information otherwise hard to find. 

Mar 31  Replying to  @carolecadwalla

Here on Twitter, Farage isn't given a platform. He's given a grilling. Here we maintain an archive of all the things these grifters ever said. Here, where Russian wages its hybrid warfare, we see what's in plain sight. We don't just recognise hybrid warfare, we wage our own. 

Something may turn up later in print if legal constraints change. But it will continue to be the case that journalism needs a hybrid model.

Guardian editorial on shift to online learning

 The situation on UK campus has got attention from journalists. Possibility of students not being allowed to travel home for Xmas is a headline item. Guardian has reported at length and today has an editorial, lengthy quote below - 

Now universities, as well as ministers, stand accused of recruiting students on a false prospectus, because of their reliance on the income from rents.

But a shift to online learning is only at best a partial solution. Students in Manchester and elsewhere are not thought to have caught the virus in lectures, but through social contacts. This contact with peers is part of the reason most people go to university, and would not automatically cease because in-person teaching has. Besides, many art, science and other courses require specialist equipment and can’t be taught remotely. There is also the question of knock-on effects for schools and colleges, because if lecture theatres are judged too dangerous to work and study in, where does that leave teachers and schools?

Final figures on the take-up of university places are not yet known. But predictions that the recruitment of international students would collapse due to Covid have not come true. This worst-case scenario having been avoided, universities must do all they can to ensure that students get the education they deserve, as well as obeying pandemic rules put in place to protect us all. But the greatest responsibility, as ever, lies with the government, whose job it is to make the test-and-trace system work. The future, as well as the present, depends on it.

This is not yet looking at the longer term issues. If online learning is accepted then will there be the same need for so many buildings? There is not just an issue of refunds because of a "false prospectus". If course mostly or partly online could it be cheaper? I still think the Guardian has a block on this sort of issue as there is a related conversation about news and print. There is still no rethink about Futurelearn and MOOC platforms. Peter Wilby might reconsider his take on Peter Horrocks and lecture on Fortress University. see previous posts.

While on repeating previous claims, just to explain some of my concern is from living in Exeter where the centre is now taken over by student accommodation . I cannot find any research on future numbers expected to be near campus most of the year. There are many other UK urban spaces with a similar situation. Guardian will report on UK. Meanwhile i will try to find out more about Exeter. Some of the buildings look solid enough to still be there 20 year time. How much HE will then be mostly online? The question is more or less allowed now in a newspaper.

Unlimited talk continues

In the Guardian today Nesrine Malik writes about the "cancel culture" and the dangers faced by Guardian columnists. I am most concered about the Fox #planetFOX attack on Jo Biden. Seems urgent to opposet this at every chance. Retweet #CNN for example.

But the Guardian concerns seem to prolong their struggle with the readers as they realise the web is read / write. Jeff Jarvis pointed this out a while ago but there is no longer a Media page so no reason to include his words in Guardian scope. Malik observes a wall between "discourse makers and discourse consumers" that dates from the model of print. She claims the public space has been digitised in the last decade but I think it was well advanced before then.

Guardian Unlimited Talk closed down in 2011, one Friday lunchtime. Guardian readers had ben able to start a topic and add comments. Staff never joined in.

Reporting on the MOOC /  social learning has been limited and hostile when in print. Peter Horrocks interview around Futurelearn contributed to pressure forcing him to resign. Guardian now moving online with format of star speaker and lecture. Not sure how this will work. They will probably go back to celeb events whenever normal is normal.

Before he worked for OU Peter Horrocks worked for BBC World Service. In his lecture at Durham on the Fortress University he also spoke about Fortress Journalism . I sort of remember discussions 5 -10 years ago when BBC and other news organisations claimed to consider models of citizen journalism or something similar. Maybe before that, OhmyNews in English not sure when

Will find out more dates. Meanwhile print journalism seems even more shut down than ever seemed possible.

Jack Schofield dates

Still thinking about when the Guardian began to think of the web and tech as negative. Current take very anti online. Went back to news story when Jack Schofield died earlier this year. Found dates

First column  1983

Computer Guardian   1985

Online  1994


Ask Jack  2000


Not sure when Online supplement closed . Media in 2011 but cannot find much else online.

Without a strong tech presence the drift of journalism back to print culture is a strong trend.

Roy Greenslade on print news, will it survive current crisis? probably not.

Have now found a blog from Roy Greenslade. Not in print by the way. At least I checked a print version of the Guardian. So this is the only newspaper I get, delivered every day. The news is online only though. Greenslade confirms what seems a reasonable guess.

Newsprint, the transmission of news by ink on paper, might not recover from the contagion in what could eventually be seen as a transformational moment for the 380-year British newspaper history.

Links to Press Gazette with interesting stats on online growth but not much about print. FT doing well for online subs, they do have valuable content.

Just to repeat some previous questions

If accepted that news moves online, why not report similar developments in education? Interview with Peter Horrocks and general take on the MOOC could be updated.

Citizen Journalism as in OhMynews also could be reconsidered. If there is no budget for reporting then trusting the audience could be an option. By the way , what happened with Guardian Unlimited Talk? Trashed one Friday lunchtime with no option for reader writers to backup their copy. What was that about? Jeff Jarvis, is he very expensive to continue a column?

more later

Continues on Hello Spiders

blog about unis and Guardian reporting will be on Hello Spiders blog

More on Guardian / intro on UK unis

Another Monday without anything on Media in the print version of Guardian. Long ago there were always several pages. Recently more or less a blog so one person on holiday blows it out. My conclusion -  the value offer is getting worse. Straight line projection of OFCOM numbers on newspaper decline suggests print could vanish within five years. Or it could be quicker. the product is not funded to get any better. Readers may notice. There could be a collapse.

The Reader's Editor is concerned about Trump and welcomes thinkers outside the news cycle and the "Twitter stormfronts".  They offer hope if journalists give them voice. My take is this implies that twitter offers no hope at all. There are only proper journalists to be considered. As far as I can make out the numbers on Guardian Media Group the UK print is in decline including the advertising. If the Guardian becomes mostly online and depends on sponsors for support will they eventually reconsider the model of journalism based on the restrictions of print. The web is read / write. See previous posts and links. ( Bring back Jeff Jarvis, there must be a budget somewhere. )

Then there is a briefing on university degrees. UK about to have a few weeks of clearing, recruit students for new year. Similar content in pullout on Saturday. Thing is, not much on of online degrees, or mixing MOOC with employment. Here is the paragraph ( almost the last one )

The academic route isn’t for everyone. There are plenty of alternatives, including distance learning and online courses, which can be done remotely and part-time. Further education colleges offer higher apprenticeships and foundation degrees, which combine academic and vocational study.

The Saturday version had lots of page ads from UK unis so the emphasis on campus is easy to understand. But this is part of the "Journal" middle bit of the print Guardian. It could have a bit more reporting. Continues in next post.

If the Guardian had a good look at what is happening with EdTech they may have to rethink what is happening with news.