guardian.co.uk •
September 8
Australian court rules that there is no copyright in headlines
Australia's federal court has ruled that there is no copyright in newspaper headlines.
The decision has far-reaching implications for publishers who are seeking to seal off their editorial content from people who do not pay for access to their online material.
The court dismissed a copyright claim by one of the country's leading newspaper groups, Fairfax Media, over headlines in its title, the Australian Financial Review (AFR).
Judge Annabelle Bennett decided that publisher Reed International had not infringed copyright laws by reproducing the AFR's headlines as part of its news abstracts on LexisNexis.
The court's decision drives a hole through the paywall hopes of publishers seeking to protect content.
The AFR, under chief executive Michael Gill, has embraced an expensive but exclusive paid-content model.
He claimed that Reed's summaries were intended to "substitute for the article for a very significant number of readers" and that Reed had breached copyright by its verbatim reproduction of some headlines and bylines.
But the judge ruled that none of the 10 headlines selected by Fairfax for the case "are capable of being literary works in which copyright can subsist".
She noted: "Even if the article/headline combination constitutes copyright work, Reed does not take substantial part of such a work.
"Reed's conduct in reproducing and communicating the AFR headlines as part of the abstracts is a fair dealing for the purpose of reporting news such that Reed's conduct would not constitute an infringement of copyright."
The case was brought against Reed in July 2007 and has been closely watched by media executives. LexisNexis supplies abstracts to corporate clients.
Marc Peter, its director of marketing and technology, said: "The decision is a positive step in re-enforcing the long-standing view of copyright law that there is no copyright protection for de minimis works, such as words, titles and advertising slogans."
Gill described the judgment as "disappointing", adding: "It is not consistent with what is necessary to protect intellectual property in the digital media environment... We are considering our appeal opportunities."
Source: The Australian


guardian.co.uk •
September 8
Jeremy Hunt's dream comes true with Clarkson, belly dancers and Morris men
Welcome to Monkey's new favourite channel, Witney TV. Yes it's culture secretary Jeremy Hunt's local TV dream come true. Hunt fans will remember he said in his inaugural speech this year: "Paris, Lyon and Marseille have local TV. Why not Glasgow, Sheffield and Bristol?" Well Jeremy, look no further than your leader David Cameron's Oxfordshire constituency. The top stories on Witney TV this week include "Belly versus Morris dancing" and "See the Bampton Morris men dance outside of Bampton". Any comparisons with The Day Today are clearly unfair. However, a big bunch of bananas to the community channel for getting an exclusive with Jeremy Clarkson at a charity auction in aid of Chipping Norton Lido. Beat that, Sky News. Apparently there will be more from the auction next week on Witney TV. Is this the future of TV news?


guardian.co.uk •
September 8
West Midlands police take barking Twitter initiative
The fashion for all things Twitter may finally have reached its zenith. The Daily Telegraph reports that police in the West Midlands have been criticised for wasting time and manpower setting up a Twitter page for their labrador. The two-year-old pup, Smithy, has attracted "just" 115 followers. Smithy tweets several times a day with "occasional links to crime stories in the West Midlands" and has "even had a special keyboard made".


News from Journalism.co.uk •
September 6
New network aims to quickly connect newsrooms with freelancers across the world
Findstringers.com, which is based on an iPhone platform, will provide newsrooms with the geographical locations and contact details of freelancers signed up to the service
News from Journalism.co.uk •
September 8
Phone hacking: new government inquiry launched, PM expected to be quizzed today
The Home Affairs select committee has launched a new inquiry into allegations of phone hacking against the News of the World. The select committee will look at the offences related to unauthorised hacking, how such offences are dealt with and the police’s response.
This will be the second inquiry conducted by MPs following the culture, media and sport select committee’s investigation, which concluded earlier this year with a report condemning “collective amnesia” amongst senior staff at the News of the World. News International argued that the cross-party committee had pursued a political agenda.
The new inquiry has been prompted by claims of fresh evidence against the News of the World and yesterday’s appearance by assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan police John Yates in front of the home affairs committee. Yates told the committee that “all reasonable steps” had been taken during the Met’s 2006 investigation of phone hacking to warn individuals when police had reason to believe their phones had been hacked, which he said only applied in the case of 10 to 12 people.
According to the Guardian, Ross Hall, a former employee of the News of the World named in the previous government inquiry, has said he will testify in the phone hacking case. Hall, who is reported to have transcribed hacked voicemail messages for others in the newsroom, told the Guardian he would be willing to speak to Scotland Yard and the new select committee.
Prime Minister David Cameron is expected to face questions on the affair at Prime Minister’s Questions in the House of Commons today. To follow updates on the story from Journalism.co.uk, subscribe to this RSS feed.Similar Posts:


guardian.co.uk •
September 8
ESPN hires Sony's Ross Hair to oversee UK operations
British-born VP in Sony's TV operation to replace Lynne Frank as managing director for Europe, the Middle East and Africa
The global sports giant ESPN has hired a Sony executive, Ross Hair, to oversee its operations in the UK ahead of a pivotal season for the broadcaster.
Hair, currently executive vice president of international networks for Sony Pictures Television, will replace Lynne Frank as ESPN's managing director for Europe, the Middle East and Africa later this year.
Frank, who oversaw the launch of ESPN's UK channel after its opportunistic move to pick up the Premier League rights of the collapsed Setanta, announced earlier this year that she was to return to her native America for family reasons.
Before joining Sony, Hair was director of strategic planning at ESPN Star Sports, the joint venture between Disney and News Corp in Asia. Hair, who was born in Britain, has also worked for Nickelodeon, Sky and Arthur Andersen.
It is believed that Russell Wolff, who oversees ESPN's business outside the US, will oversee the strategy of the UK channel until Hair joins the company.
This season, ESPN's quota of live Premier League games has halved from 46 to 23 matches. In an effort to maintain and grow its subscriber base, it has acquired rights to FA Cup football, Premiership rugby and football leagues around the world to help plug the gap. It has also acquired the mobile rights to Premier League goal clips and launched an iPhone application.
George Bodenheimer, the ESPN president, told the Guardian last month that the reduction in live Premier League action for the next three years would not affect its ambitions to grow in the UK and hinted that it would target more matches when the rights next come up for auction.
"We're going to grow from here, we'll build on what we've already established. It's full steam ahead in the UK," he said.
An ESPN spokesman said: "We are very happy to confirm that Ross Hair will be the next managing director for ESPN in the UK, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Specific timing and details of his start at ESPN will be shared in the weeks ahead."
• To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000.
• If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".


guardian.co.uk •
September 8
Mad Men: the future of American film is on television | David Hare
Mad Men's immaculate re-creation of another way of life reminds us vividly of our own
In a hilariously combative interview in the London Evening Standard last March, the best-selling author Lee Child argued the superiority of thrillers over any other kind of fiction. The problem with the literary novel was that it was too easy. He could run up a Martin Amis in three weeks. The only literary writer for whom he had any respect was Ian McEwan, because McEwan was at least trying to "put a suspense dynamic into an intelligent, intellectual novel". So-called serious writers "don't quite get it" because they're usually too fastidious to accept how simple the formula is. "You ask or imply a question at the beginning of a book and you absolutely self-consciously withhold the answer. It does feel cheap and meretricious but it absolutely works."
"Cheap and meretricious" may seem an unlikely way to describe the programme which is persuading many of us that the future of American film belongs on television, but anyone contemplating Lee Child's prescription is going to hear eight bells ringing when they settle down to the fourth series of Mad Men. Once it had been established, very early on, that the masterly advertising executive Don Draper had a past identity to which he didn't admit, then everything has followed effortlessly, both in plot and in theme. The man's a fake. But who is he? The murky and rather conventional flashback sequences which have sketched in a rural upbringing and funny business during the war are admittedly the only clumsy elements in what has otherwise been 39 hours of superbly achieved production. The Gatsby question has provided a framework which has held the series steady from beginning to end. But it has also licensed the writers to wander into the lives of at least 12 other equally dodgy characters without ever making the audience feel they are leaving home. The series's extraordinary freedom is a product of its discipline. Hanging plotlines are like brush-strokes in a picture which is all the richer by not being tidied up.
It needs courage to withhold, and withholding is what this series is all about. Feature films in the English language seem to obsess more and more on only one thing at a time – they concentrate on their given subject with a kind of furious, exhausting dullness. But in Mad Men, nothing is dwelt on very long and, as in life, lots of things happen at once. It's entirely typical of Matthew Weiner's complicating techniques that when at the climax of three series, Don Draper drives home to find that his wife Betty has finally opened his desk drawer and come upon evidence of his previous self, he meanwhile has another woman waiting for him in the car outside. Even when facing the crisis of his life, our hero's mind can't help, partly at least, being on something else.
Critics of the series have tried to suggest that what we are watching here is fancy soap – the lives and loves of a group of people in a shared milieu. (They echo the complaints made against greatly successful contemporary novels such as Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections.) But no soap I ever watched has the governing metaphor of authenticity. If Don Draper has no idea what he really thinks and feels, who does? Who exactly are these people? And is anything they say or do real – to themselves, or to us? As someone who likes never to spoil their pleasure by reading about the things they most enjoy, I have tried to avoid commentary. But whenever I have seen Mad Men described I have been doubly mystified. Why on earth do people call it a satire? And why is its real subject commonly assumed to be the 1960s?
Of course it may be hard to imagine Mad Men being written without the influence of the great novelist Richard Yates, the author of The Easter Parade and Revolutionary Road, or perhaps even more closely of Sloan Wilson, who wrote The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit. The depiction of a certain moment in professional New York is presumably accurate. But surely the reason that the alcohol, the sexism, the insecurity, the duplicity, the bare-faced lying and the status anxiety at work have taken such hold on the public imagination is because they so perfectly match our own experiences. Has anything really changed? Isn't the whole joy of Mad Men's immaculate re-creation of one way of life that it reminds us so vividly of another – namely, our own? Having recently spent eight months researching the banking business, I can't say I saw women in the City of London in 2009 treated all that differently from how the men treated Peggy, Betty or Joan in 1963. The cocktail cabinet wasn't exactly jammed shut either.
And as for satire . . . well, the triumph of the series is it doesn't waste time on the predictable business of making fun of advertising. Satire's been done before, and usually badly. No, for once, here is a group of professional people who resemble us, both in the unlikeliness of what they have to do and the seriousness with which they set about it. They use their flashes of occasional inspiration to make possible something which may or may not be worthy of them. What's being identified – and only occasionally mocked – is the mixture of fear, swagger and resignation with which so many employees in specialised businesses now swerve along assault courses designed by distant owners with whom they have no particular relationship, and who, in return, have absolutely no interest in their wellbeing. In Richard Yates's account, advertising is represented as trivial and uninvolving, an unworthy way for war veterans to pass the time, and therefore only a background to their personal crises. In Mad Men, it's the way they work their crises through.
It's obviously a splendid coincidence that Mad Men will relaunch in this country just one day before M&C's splashy Chelsea party to celebrate 40 years of the Saatchi brothers. It's not usually noted in routine hagiographies of Margaret Thatcher, supposedly a rock of purpose and integrity, that she was actually the woman who made government and advertising more or less interchangeable. Mad Men, at its most basic, plugs into the theme of class which powers so much great American art. Like Some Came Running, The Godfather, or A Place in the Sun, it features aspirational characters who think they want to move up through society, but who are then haunted by the feeling that gain is loss. The sanctuary of the suburb is a poor trade for the vitality of the street. They've wanted to advance and all they've done is retreat. When, 10 years ago, I wrote in a published diary that, "The classic American hero sits at the window of his study with a book in his hand, or in a big mansion with a cocktail in his hand, wondering whether he mightn't have been better off not making the journey," then I might have been foreseeing something resembling Mad Men. But in fact its special achievement has been to go one step further. Mad Men shows a world, not so very far from that of our coalescent prime minister "Dave" Cameron, in which everyone can get away with being who they claim to be, rather than who they are. Can anyone truly tell me if Dave is Dick or Don? Does even he know?
In all this, it scarcely needs saying, it has been the writing which has been the star. This autumn Bafta is offering a series of lectures in London by screenwriters which also seems poignantly timed. They come at a moment when the English-language publication of François Truffaut's last interview finds him regretting the dismal consequences of trying to turn regular film directors into auteurs. The intention of the nouvelle vague, he said, had been "more personal films", but the results were films which were, in fact, "more than personal: they became narcissistic". Gradually, Truffaut said, he had himself returned "to a narrative tradition based more on observation and synthesis than subjectivity and self-exploration". The lessons painfully learned by Truffaut in 20 years still haven't been absorbed by the Anglo-American cinema in 60. Mad Men has auteurs, all right. They're the boys and girls who write it.
Mad Men returns tonight at 10pm on BBC4.
David Hare is giving the first Bafta screenwriting lecture on Thursday 9 September at 18.30 at BFI Southbank, London. His 1985 film Wetherby is released on DVD on 29 September.


Editors Weblog •
September 8
FT adds another niche paid site to its content stable
The Pearson-owned Financial Times will launch a subscription based news and analysis website covering the pension sector for trustees and pension managers in the United Kingdom, called schemeXpert.com, paidContent.co.uk reported yesterday.
The content on schemeXpert.com will be produced by a dedicated in-house editorial team with insights from leading consultants, lawyers, investment houses and research bodies,according to MNILive.com. Aggregated news and analysis will also be provided to subscribers.
News from Journalism.co.uk •
September 8
#Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – Twitter accounts to watch
Follow the media: Check out this list by US PhD candidate Daniel Romero of news media Twitter accounts as a great starting point for keeping track of the industry. Tipster: Rachel McAthy. To submit a tip to Journalism.co.uk, use this link - we will pay a fiver for the best ones published.

Google News •
September 8
Where's Hodgson? Reporters, readers weigh in at thewhitetowel. ca - The Province
Where's Hodgson? Reporters, readers weigh in at thewhitetowel. ca
The Province
Writes Jim Jamieson at the White Towel: "There were some notable absences at Tuesday's informal Canucks skate at Rogers Arena ... goalie Roberto Luongo and ...
and more »
guardian.co.uk •
September 8
Memorial service for Alan Ruddock next week
A memorial service is to be held on 16 September at St Bride's Church for Alan Ruddock, whose death at the age of 49 I reported in May.
Sunday Times editor John Witherow will give a reading. Ruddock started work at the paper in 1992 and two years later oversaw the launch of its Irish edition.
He had brief spells with Express Newspapers and the Mirror Group before being appointed in 1998 as editor of The Scotsman.
After departing from Edinburgh in 2000, he spent the following 10 years as an economic and political commentator for Ireland's Sunday Independent. He also wrote a well-received book about the Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary: A life in full flight.
The memorial service starts at 11.30am. More details later


guardian.co.uk •
September 8
Today's media stories from the papers
If you are viewing this on the web and would prefer to get it as an email every morning, please click here
Key witness will testify on News of the World phone hacking
Ross Hall, named in inquiry as a transcriber of hacked voicemail messages for News of the World journalists, says he's willing to talk to police
BBC World Service broadcasts in Burma face axe
BBC has been warned by Foreign Office that cuts could force pullout from several countries
Google TV to launch this year
The new Google service will bring the web to TV screens – the announcement comes a week after a new version of Apple TV was unveiled
This week's featured media jobs
Haymarket - Project Editor
London/permanent/full time
Medaxial - Medical/Economic Writer
London/permanent/full time
For more jobs, career advice and workplace news visit guardianjobs.co.uk
Today's headlines
The Guardian
BBC World Service broadcasts to Burma face axe. P1
New witness emerges in phone hack investigation. P1
MPs to question Andy Coulson and Scotland Yard over hacking claims. P4
Ann Widdecombe in line up for Strictly Come Dancing. P5
Ex-Channel 4 boss Andy Duncan takes wheel at supercar firm. P24
Google takes on Apple with plans to launch TV service. P26
BskyB chief earns £2.7m after 15% pay rise. P26
Feature on Mad Men. G2
The Independent
Misleading Stansted Express ad banned. P15
Porn boss Paul Dunthorne to oversee children's TV at Channel 5. P17
ESPN is to appoint Ross Hair of Sony Pictures TV to replace Lynne Frank. P37
Andy Duncan to join HR Owen. P37
Daily Telegraph
Ann Widdecombe in line up for Strictly Come Dancing. P3
Misleading Stansted Express ad banned. P9
BskyB chief earns £2.7m after 15% pay rise. Business, P3
Andy Duncan to join HR Owen. Business, P3
The Times
Ann Widdecombe in line up for Strictly Come Dancing. P4
Andy Duncan to join HR Owen. P45
Financial Times
Vodafone in £4.3bn sell-off. P1
Wall Street Journal Europe
Google TV widens scope. P20
Daily Mail
Ann Widdecombe in line up for Strictly Come Dancing. P3
X Factor coverage. P33
BskyB chief Jeremy Darroch earns £2.7m after 15% pay rise. P73
Andy Duncan to join HR Owen. P73
Daily Express
Ann Widdecombe in line up for Strictly Come Dancing. P3
MPs to question Andy Coulson and Scotland Yard over hacking claims. P5
The Sun
Ann Widdecombe in line up for Strictly Come Dancing. P13
Doctor Who star Karen Gillan may model for Ultimo. Tvbiz, P1
Daily Mirror
Ann Widdecombe in line up for Strictly Come Dancing. P3
ITV has secretly been looking for shows to replace X Factor. P9
MPs to question Andy Coulson and Scotland Yard over hacking claims. P16
Daily Star
Eamonn Holmes criticises Christine Bleakley. P9
Ann Widdecombe in line up for Strictly Come Dancing. P11
And finally ...
The fashion for all things Twitter may finally have reached its szenith. Police in the West Midlands have been criticised for wasting time and manpower setting up a Twitter page for their labrador. The two-year old pup, Smithy, has attracted "just" 115 followers. Smithy tweets several times a day with "occasional links to crime stories in the West Midlands" and has "even had a special keyboard made". Daily Telegraph, P5
Jeremy Darroch takes home £2.7m
The BSkyB chief executive got a 15% pay rise in 2009 and his total remuneration package included a £1.7m bonus
BBC to offer concessions on pensions row
Mark Thompson is expected to contact staff in the next couple of days, though details of the new package remain under wraps
London gets another free magazine - In-Debate
The free monthly magazine will be handed out at tube stations and is targeted at wealthy City workers
Strictly Come Dancing to see Ann Widdecombe's ballroom moves
BBC pulls out all the stops with series lineup that includes former Tory MP and ex-Destiny's Child member Michelle Williams
ASA bans Stansted Express advert
The ad claimed the trip to central London would take '35 minutes', which the advertising watchdog ruled was misleading
James Murdoch invites David Miliband to dinner
Move indicates Labour leadership candidate has been given the seal of approval by the Murdoch empire but he has yet to accept
Former C4 boss Andy Duncan goes to luxury car dealership
Marketing specialist swaps digital strategy for post as chief executive of luxury dealer selling Maserati, Ferrari and Rolls-Royce cars
Palestinian TV satire Watan ala Watar unites political rivals – in anger
Palestinian TV viewers drop everything to watch local politicians sent up in nightly sketch show
Publicis scrambles to meet ad spending commitments on Microsoft
Ad giant made promise as part of its $530m acquisition of the digital agency Razorfish last year


guardian.co.uk •
September 8
Radio head: Jamie Cullum
Jamie Cullum is a jazz show you can multi-task to, rather than listen in reverential bliss
When Jamie Cullum (Radio 2) took over the 7-8pm slot on Tuesdays in April, relocating Desmond Carrington to Friday evenings, there were grumbles. Fans of Carrington's were still adjusting to him losing a longer Sunday show a few years earlier – they are not a group to embrace change – and fans of Humphrey Lyttelton's Best of Jazz show felt things were moving in a celeb-driven, jazz-lite direction. "Give us a real jazz programme by a real expert," one listener pleaded on the station's messageboard.
Several months in, however, and Cullum's show has largely seen off the complaints. It's not ever going to feature esoteric musical selections so if, like my husband, you prefer your jazz at the wife-frightening end of the spectrum, it won't be for you. It's also never going to be the sort of in-depth programme Russell Davies or Alyn Shipton would present: this is squarely in the user-friendly, entertaining remit of Radio 2.
This is a jazz show you can multi-task to, rather than listening in reverential bliss, and it has a friendly blend of old and new, trad jazz and music more loosely connected with the genre. Last week's edition ended with Tom Waits's Warm Beer, Cold Women, with Cullum describing Waits as being "as influenced by jazz as he is by Jack Kerouac and Charles Bukowski".
Last night's show featured an interview with Clint Eastwood which, once you got beyond the showbizzy wrapping ("I'm happy to say he's a friend of mine now," said Cullum) was fascinating. Eastwood knows his jazz, so his chat was a likeable mix of informed anecdotes about key performers and venues, and some starry name-dropping. The first time he met Miles Davis, he recalled, Davis suggested he and Eastwood "go out and get some bitches tonight". More appealingly, he remembered seeing Charlie Parker playing on a stage laden with jazz greats and yet outshining them all: "This guy was playing something else."


Google News •
September 8
Pressmen's OK moves newspapers' sale closer: Teamsters, machinists only ... - Philadelphia Daily News
Pressmen's OK moves newspapers' sale closer: Teamsters, machinists only ...
Philadelphia Daily News
The formal sale of the Daily News and Inquirer to new owners moved a step closer yesterday when another of the company's unions agreed ...
Google News •
September 8
Press operators approve contract with newspapers - Philadelphia Inquirer
Press operators approve contract with newspapers
Philadelphia Inquirer
The workers who operate the presses for The Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News voted Tuesday to accept a contract negotiated ...
Holdout unions at Philly newspapers to voteForbes
2 of 3 holdout unions at Philly newspapers to voteSify
all 159 news articles »
Media: Greenslade | guardian.co.uk •
September 8
50,000 users sign up for online business news service
An online business news outlet, TheBusinessDesk.com, has reached a readership milestone by securing more than 50,000 registered subscribers.
The free-to-use service has three regional hubs: Yorkshire, the North West and the West Midlands
It was founded in 2007 by the former Yorkshire Post business editor David Parkin, and backed by private entrepreneurs. It added the North West hub in 2008, which is run by former Manchester Evening News business editor Chris Barry. The West Midlands hub came on line early this year with former Birmingham Post editor Marc Reeves at the helm.
TheBusinessDesk has a staff of 18, including 12 journalists across the three offices.
On September 1, it recorded users 33,690 users in Yorkshire, 23,583 in the North West, and 7,740 in the West Midlands. It claims its sites are visited by more than 250,000 business people every month.
Parkin says: "This is a phenomenal rate of growth that clearly demonstrates that the future of regional media is digital... we now have a proven business model that is working in multiple locations."
sans serif » We don’t just threaten. We sue. Here’s proof. •
September 8
We don’t just threaten. We sue. Here’s proof.

Different animals react differently when mauled by the “feral beast“.
Outlook Business* did a cover story on Sahara India, the controversial chit fund company which now builds malls and homes, sponsors the Indian cricket team and owns an IPL franchise, and has a strange relationship with Amitabh Bachchan and Anil Ambani, in its August 21 issue.
The story, by John Samuel Raja D and Sudipto Dey, found holes in Sahara’s draft red herring prospectus (DHRP) that is a precursor for a company’s initial public offering (IPO).
Sahara’s reaction? It has not only sued Outlook Business* for Rs 200 crore, but taken out expensive ads in many newspapers saying it has done so.
* Disclosures apply
Read the full story: Stuck in sand
Read the editor’s note: Wait and watch
guardian.co.uk •
September 8
Stansted posters banned for misleading train journey times
Images of tourist landmarks wrongly implied passengers could get to central London in 35 minutes
Posters for the Stansted Express were banned for wrongly implying that the train would take passengers to central London in 35 minutes, a watchdog said today.
Posters at Stansted Airport used the text "Train to London 35 minutes" with images of landmarks including Big Ben, the London Eye and Nelson's Column.
One person complained that the ad was misleading as he understood passengers would only get as far as Tottenham Hale in north London in 35 minutes.
National Express, which runs the service, said international passengers arriving at the airport made up 58% of the train's business, with many not speaking or understanding fluent English.
The company therefore used used an internationally recognisable train symbol to communicate that an express train service was available from the airport to London, together with a 35-minute symbol which indicated the journey time to Tottenham Hale.
From there, passengers could connect with the Victoria line on the London Underground and travel on to central London destinations.
The company did not believe the ads made any reference to the train getting to central London in 35 minutes, adding that all trains from the airport continued on to Liverpool Street station in the heart of the city.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) noted that the journey to central London took 45 minutes and that the train stopped at Tottenham Hale after 35 minutes.
It said the images on the posters "strongly implied" that the train would take passengers to the city centre directly from the airport.
It added: "We understood that many travellers would not necessarily speak English and that the use of tourist landmarks was intended to communicate a simple message. However, we considered that the simplicity of the message could potentially confuse visitors about where in the city they would get to in 35 minutes."
It ruled that the ad was likely to mislead passengers and should not appear again in its current form.
A National Express East Anglia spokesman said: "The use of tourist landmarks was intended to communicate a simple message of train services to London but we note the ruling and apologise if it did cause any misunderstanding. We have already started to change the ads."


sans serif •
September 8
We don’t just threaten. We sue. Here’s proof.

Different animals react differently when mauled by the “feral beast“.
Outlook Business* did a cover story on Sahara India, the controversial chit fund company which now builds malls and homes, sponsors the Indian cricket team and owns an IPL franchise, and has a strange relationship with Amitabh Bachchan and Anil Ambani, in its August 21 issue.
The story, by John Samuel Raja D and Sudipto Dey, found holes in Sahara’s draft red herring prospectus (DHRP) that is a precursor for a company’s initial public offering (IPO).
Sahara’s reaction? It has not only sued Outlook Business* for Rs 200 crore, but taken out expensive ads in many newspapers saying it has done so.
* Disclosures apply
Read the full story: Stuck in sand
Read the editor’s note: Wait and watch
Filed under:
A bit of fun,
Art,
Issues and Ideas,
Magazines Tagged:
Churumuri,
Outlook Business,
Sahara,
Sans Serif

guardian.co.uk •
September 8
ASA bans Stansted Express advert
The ad claimed the trip to central London would take '35 minutes', which the advertising watchdog ruled was misleading
The advertising watchdog has banned a campaign by Stansted Express promising customers they could get from the airport to central London in 35 minutes, on the grounds that it takes more than 25% longer to do so.
National Express Group's ad campaign for the train service between Stansted airport and Liverpool Street station featured various images of central London landmarks including Big Ben, the London Eye and Nelson's Column. The ads also featured the image of a train and the text "35 minutes" or "train to London 35 minutes".
The Advertising Standards Authority received a complaint that the ad was misleading because passengers could only get as far as Tottenham Hale, a tube stop in zone 3 on the Victoria line, in 35 minutes. A trip all the way to Liverpool Street in central London takes 45 minutes.
National Express said that from Tottenham Hale passengers could get on the London Underground and travel on to central London destinations.
However, the ASA said that the imagery of central London, using landmarks such as Big Ben, implied that the train would take passengers to the city centre. The ASA said that Tottenham Hale was "unlikely to be considered central".
"We considered that the combination of the text '35 minutes' alongside the images of iconic central London landmarks, implied that travellers would reach central London within that time and that because this was not the case, we concluded that the ad was likely to mislead," said the ASA.
• To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000.
• If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".

