Dominic Ponsford comments on Guardian writer Nick Davies 'searing indictment'  on what he calls "churnalism" in this week's Press Gazette.

Davies reports on the lasted findings from Cardiff University's journalism department, which indicate 80 percent of news stories in UK nationals are partially made up of recycled material from the PR industry and / or other news sources.

Phil gives his own opinion here.

Breaking news

In Charles Arthur's blog, and please note that he is one of the most influential tech journalists ever, he has written a note to PR people using Midnight's approach to position Vividas for an interview as an example of good PR.

We cannot stress how amazing this is - Charles is incredibly knowledgeable and invokes pride in the heart of every tech PR. This particular interview came about when Midnight spotted a story in The Guardian showing the new Apple notebook without a DVD drive.

Midnight's savvy digital media team saw Apple's move as a signal to the end of DVDs and opening the future of streaming. Midnight created an opportunity to position Vividas, the leading video streaming company, to The Guardian blogger.  Following a canny pitch from, Georgina Firth, the Guardian podcast was arranged, and the rest is history...!

Please visit Charles' blog here, or read the excerpt below:

Boss spasming in your office?

No it isn't some epidemic to rival the norovirus. It is in fact one of the many buzz words set to do the rounds in offices across the country this year.

Boss spasming is the act of frantically trying to look busy when the boss walks in and you're lost in a world of Facebook or nose deep in the latest copy of Heat.

Blamestorming. Not the latest extreme sport but the name given to a heated debate amongst colleagues as to who 'really dropped the ball on this one'. While you're at it, you may want to toss in a 'thought grenade'.

Recruitment firm Office Angels, which conducted the research, maintain that the key to successful business is to abandon unnecessary jargon and concentrate on clear communication.

Moving forward, it's almost time for my inter-departmental liaison facilitation… Lunch, to those not 'in the know'.

James Knott, Lifestyle and Events

The story of the Tower Colliery pit, which closed this week, is one of the most inspirational stories of our times.

Despite being told that the pit had "run out" and that there was no coal left, the miners bandied together and bought the pit with their redundancy money for £2m.  In their first year they made a £4m profit and the miners each took 37 days holiday.

The story reached deep into my soul as it was the miners strike and Thatcher's response - which I beleive has created the world we live in today.

I am very proud to have played a role in that strike.  I marched, went round the pubs of west London in the evening with a bucket, marched, visited mines with presents for children – even gave up a proportion of my wages in solidarity – and then marched again. 

It is hard to imagine that in those days there was no internet, no mobiles, no facebook groups.  All political leaflets we created on a "roneo".  But I digress.

Thatcher took away the hope that collective action could have an effect on government.  Under Thatcher we learned that whatever you did, however, you voted, the government would do what they thought was best for us.  So much for democracy.  (A million people walking to London to protest against the Iraqi war can't be wrong, can they?)

The government changed their energy policy and coal had to go.  Simple.  Thatcher set out to defeat the Unions, those who dug the coal and those who transported it.  It was revealed years later that, what Thatcher had called "the enemy within", had been spied on and infiltrated by the MI5 throughout the strike. 

So the pits had to shut as they were "exhausted" and gradually, one by one, the mining industry was systemically eradicated.  Whole communities withered and died and entire generations of kids turned to the cheap heroin that they allowed to swamp the country.  The Iranians converted their wealth to heroin as it was easier to get out of the country at the time.

Graff appeared on walls: "Cheap heroin - Thatcher's cure for unemployment."

Today, as Tower Colliery closes, there must be many ex-miners around the country who are wondering whether their pit really was exhausted and, if the circumstances had been different, maybe they too could have worked to keep their pit going another thirteen years.

Until now my residing memory of the miners strike was of the Scottish miners walking back to work linked arm in arm – glorious and noble in defeat.

That memory is now replaced with the image of miners putting their feet up and smoking fat cigars as they watch jobs being created and building work start on the 480 acre site they plan to turn into a leisure park with starter homes.

Victory to the workers!

Sarah Ogden, managing director of Midnight Communications, reminds us that in a brave new world of social media, public relations professionals should remember the power of good old-fashioned face-to-face interaction.

If you can't beat 'em, join them

So I have joined the ranks of Twitterers around the world.  I will now be sharing the general happenings of my life on a daily basis.

Twitter says it connects people by frequent and straightforward responses to the following question: What are you doing?  Succinctness is key as there is a 140 character limit.

I first heard about Twitter last March at a Brighton Girl Geek dinner and thought: what's the point? Surely it's quicker to just call friends to find out what they are up to, no?

Then the media hype began and truth be told, I secretly hoped Twitter would get a deadly virus and shut down.  I couldn't think of something more mundane and slightly narcissistic then sending global updates about doing laundry or reading a book.

It's amazing how opinions can change. 

After discussing the purposes of Twitter with Midnight colleague Louise 'Greevsie' Greeves I had a sudden change of heart. 

Louise points out to make the most of Twitter; it is not necessarily about you but the people you request to follow.  It is about thinking outwardly, making connections and sharing knowledge. 

Louise sees Twitter as an opportunity to network with influential people and gain access to news before it becomes general knowledge.  For example she stays on top of Web 2.0 advances by following fellow Twitterer Pete Cashmore a new media expert and leading social networking blogger. 

Louise highlighted the value of micro-media sites like Twitter and Facebook, as providing insight into other peoples' lives and as being a great source for information sharing.  You can make connections with top journalists or leading industry figures to build up your network of contacts.  It is also the answer to the modern gossips' prayers helping you to catch insightful snippets of conversations and can watch emerging cultural trends as they occur.

Twitter will grow and grow this year as users explore its potential.  Besides customising your Twitter page with personal photos and details you can send video blogs from a mobile to your Twitter account.  This is something Midnight has started to investigate as ways to use for our clients.   So come follow me and I'll see you there! 

Caroline Puttock, Business Intelligence Unit, Midnight Communications

News that Microsoft is developing Big Brother style software that watches your every move - from monitoring your productivity to your physical well being - has caused some debate around the office.

With the software, managers will be able to rate an employee's performance through their heart rate, metabolism, body temperature and blood pressure via a number of wireless sensors. While technology of this sort has previously been used to monitor pilots, astronauts and fire-fighters, it has never before been used to observe the average office employee.

Where do you stand on it? Is it a useful tool that can be used to positively improve someone's work-life balance or are we watching another layer of our independence and personality being eroded?   

While I appreciate a manager's interest in my well being, I can't help but feel this may be a   step too far. I like to think that I am big enough and ugly enough to know if I am stressed or unhappy at work, and able to take the necessary steps in communicating that to my superiors. This seems to me to be another step towards a thoughtless, disempowered work force that has its voice and ability to make choices taken away. I wonder what Orwell would make of it? 

Nina Howse, Digital Media Consultant with Midnight Communications