High court says broadcasters including BBC and Sky News do not have to hand over footage of the Dale Farm eviction to police

The high court has ruled that news broadcasters including the BBC and Sky News do not have to hand over footage of the Dale Farm eviction to police.

In a ruling handed down at the high court on Thursday morning, Mr Justice Eady said broadcasters did not have to disclose unbroadcast footage of the eviction to the police.

The judge said that the police need clear evidence of criminality when applying for production orders against the media.

Broadcasters including BBC, Sky News and ITN – the producer of ITV News, Channel 4 News and 5 News – won the right to a judicial review after they were told by Chelmsford Crown court to hand hours of footage of the Dale Farm eviction in October last year over to the police.

In his judgment on Thursday, Eady said that the Chelmsford Court decision failed to give any sufficient weight to the inhibiting effect of production orders on the press.

The ruling marks a significant victory for the media, which has campaigned strongly against being forced to disclose unbroadcast footage.

Broadcasters warned they would be seen as an extra arm of the state if they passed unaired footage to the police.

Eady said in his judgment: "The interference caused by such orders cannot and should not be dismissed mainly because a small proportion of that which is filmed maybe published.

"The judge should have feared for the loss of trust in those hitherto believed to be neutral observers if such observers maybe too readily compelled to hand over their material. It is the neutrality of the press which affords them protection and augments their ability freely to obtain and disseminate visual recording of events."

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UTV Media's Radio GB arm increases its revenues by 8% year on year and expects them to rise by 20% in May and June

TalkSport owner UTV Media expects radio revenues to rise by 20% in May and June as advertisers launch campaigns around Euro 2012 and the London Olympics.

UTV said that its Radio GB division, home to 16 stations but dominated by TalkSport, increased its revenues by 8% year on year in the 12 months to the end of April. TalkSport was up 16% over the same period.

Radio GB is forecast to enjoy a 20% year-on-year surge in May and June as ad campaigns ahead of the summer's sporting events kick off.

"The major sporting events of Euro 2012 and the London Olympics are expected to generate strong revenue growth during the summer," the company said.

UTV's Northern Ireland ITV franchise saw a 6% year-on-year ad revenue decline in the four months to the end of April. Total TV revenues fell by 4%.

However, UTV is forecasting year-on-year ad growth of 2% in May and June for its ITV business.

ITV plc, which owns all the ITV franchises in England and Wales, reported a 1% year-on-year fall in TV ad revenues in the first quarter of 2012 but expects to see a bounceback in the second quarter, with May up 6% and June up between 12% and 17%.

"Continuing economic uncertainty, however, means airtime bookings remain short term and forward visibility is limited," the company said. "We therefore remain cautious about the remainder of the year but believe we will continue to deliver on market expectations."

UTV's Radio Ireland division increased revenues by 1% year on year in the first four months, with a 3% increase forecast in May and June on a local currency basis.

However, negative foreign exchange rate movements mean that the division reported a 2% year-on-year revenue fall from January to April, with a 5% drop forecast for May and June.

Digital revenue grew by 3% year in the year to 30 April, with a forecast of a 15% rise in May and June. This is mainly due to the impact of increased revenues following UTV's acquisition of social media agency Simply Zesty in March.

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News International's "Fortress Wapping", having been renamed "Wapping Village", is about to be sold.

According to NI's paper, The Times, the east London site is on the verge of being acquired by Berkeley Group, one of Britain's largest house-builders.

The 15-acre site was the headquarters of four newspapers - The Times, Sunday Times, The Sun and the now-defunct News of the World - for 1986 until editorial staff began to move three years ago to a neighbouring modern building, Thomas More Square. Printing operations were also moved away years ago.

By last year, the site was entirely vacant. It includes a grade 2 listed rum warehouse, which was home to the Times and Sunday Times for a considerable period.

I can testify that it was cramped and uncomfortable, but no worse than NI's previous newspaper offices in Gray's Inn Road and Bouverie Street.

With rising demand for residential development in London, the car park is considered to be the jewel in the crown.

But redevelopment will be a complex process because it will have to incorporate uses that generate jobs, such as shops or offices, plus affordable housing.

Berkeley, which is expected to acquire the site through St George, its luxury homes brand, is thought to have offered about £150m.

When Rupert Murdoch bought the site back in the 1970s, at the beckoning of one his senior Sun newspaper executives, the late Bert Hardy, it cost about £4.5m.

Fortress Wapping was the scene of violent clashes for 13 months from January 1986 when print union workers laid siege to the plant.

News of the Wapping deal came the day after the revelation by the FT that Express Newspapers owner Richard Desmond was planning to turn his former Westferry printworks, also in east London, into a housing development.

Sources: The Times/Financial Times

Plus Child Support Agency still broken, what Sprint likes about the iPhone, tech CEOs v you, and more

A quick burst of 8 links for you to chew over, as picked by the Technology team

Legacy computer errors dog child support payments >> UKAuthority

While tens of thousands of cases had transferred from the CSCS system to the CS2 system, the correct arrears balance did not transfer with them. This was because the information had been archived and, on transfer to CS2, these balances were not picked up by the system, the NAO [National Audit Office] said. In addition, a number of cases managed off the primary IT systems, on a separate clerical case database, did not have opening arrears balances entered onto that database. In compiling the accounts the commission has estimated that this would have led to an understatement of the overall arrears balance by £59m at 31 March 2011.

That's £59m owed to parents. Real people affected by real mistakes.

How the professor who fooled Wikipedia got caught by Reddit >> The Atlantic

A great read, but important too for understanding why some parts of the internet are weak for fact-checking:

If there's a simple lesson in all of this, it's that hoaxes tend to thrive in communities which exhibit high levels of trust. But on the Internet, where identities are malleable and uncertain, we all might be well advised to err on the side of skepticism.

Android Fragmentation Visualized >> OpenSignalMaps

Fragmentation matters to the entire Android community: users, developers, OEMs, brands & networks. It's a blessing and a curse.

The Blessing. Fragmentation allows users to take their pick from thousands of devices. You can choose from phones with 3D screens, projectors, CDMA, GSM, or even CDMA & GSM. You may not care that Tag Heuer has made an Android phone but at least one person does (and they use OpenSignalMaps). It's a triumph for Android that as a single OS it can target so many markets.

The Curse. The proliferation of devices with their associated screen sizes, internal hardware and custom ROMs creates some difficulties. We spend a lot of time making the app presentable (or at less functional) on exotic devices - this is the most common request we get from app users.

Amazing graphs. The number of devices, screens and resolutions is boggling.

Introducing the Knowledge Graph: things, not strings >> Official Google Blog

Take a query like [taj mahal]. For more than four decades, search has essentially been about matching keywords to queries. To a search engine the words [taj mahal] have been just that--two words.

But we all know that [taj mahal] has a much richer meaning. You might think of one of the world's most beautiful monuments, or a Grammy Award-winning musician, or possibly even a casino in Atlantic City, NJ. Or, depending on when you last ate, the nearest Indian restaurant. It's why we've been working on an intelligent model--in geek-speak, a "graph"--that understands real-world entities and their relationships to one another: things, not strings.

Google is in effect moving to the semantic web. It's a huge move. Our take here.

Why Tech CEOs seem so dumb >> Buzzfeed

Being wildly successful in tech is about anticipating change, and altering the status quo; being the 14th chief executive of a stodgy old major tech company is about extracting as much value as you can from the success it's already had. The CEOs of the Time Warners and Sonys and Yahoos and RIMs and even Microsofts of the world are experts only on their respective companies' existing businesses. They say things that sound stupid to us because they're not us, and because their goal for tech (to maximize profits at their companies) is not the same as ours (to get more awesome stuff that makes our lives better). They're not even really talking to us. They're talking to their boards.

Google could be inviting more friends to Nexus party >> Gigaom

The Wall Street Journal reports that the new strategy will accompany the launch of Android 5.0 - to be known as Jelly Bean, in keeping with Google's sweet tooth for Android code names - and involves several Android vendors. Several devices, including both tablets and unlocked smartphones, will be sold directly through Google's Web site and through some unnamed retail partners.

Retail partners could be interesting (does it just mean "Amazon"?) Selling devices through Google's own site worked so well for the original Nexus One that Google dropped it within four months. It said: "The web store.. remained a niche channel for early adopters, but it's clear that many customers like a hands-on experience before buying a phone, and they also want a wide range of service plans to chose from." Anything changed since May 2010? (Thanks @modelportfolio2003 for the link.)

Sprint defends iPhone deal >> WSJ

[Sprint CEO Dan] Hesse pointed shareholders to other benefits of the iPhone, noting that the device helped provide protection against litigation over Google Inc.'s Android operating software and allowed it to trim a costly loyalty program put in place to prevent customers from leaving for other carriers offering the device. Sprint activated 3.3m iPhones over the past two quarters, compared with 11.9m at AT&T Inc. and 7.5m at Verizon Wireless.

"If you have any doubt go look at T-Mobile's net subscriber numbers," Hesse told shareholders. T-Mobile USA is the only major carrier without a deal to carry the iPhone and has lost contract customers in 10 straight quarters.

Sprint doesn't expect its iPhone investment to pay off before 2015. Even so it seems to think it better than T-Mobile's position. (Thanks @rquick for the link.)

Thailand signs the world's largest educational tablet distribution deal >> Digital Trends

Thailand reportedly also looked at some of China's largest tablet manufacturers, such as Lenovo and Huawei, but the pricing per unit was too high for its budget. Conversely, a lower bid from another company was offered but rejected by the government, perhaps due to less specs for the value.

The select device model, priced at $81 per unit, is the Scopad SP0712: An 7-inch Android device running the 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system. It's also got 1GB of RAM, 8GB of internal memory, 1.5 GHz single core CPU, and comes in four color options: Red, blue, silver, and gold. Shenzhen Scope will also set 30 help centers around the Southeast Asian country to provide user support specifically for tablets received from the campaign. Not too shabby of specs for tablets for elementary school students.

Now consider what those childrens' reaction will be to a standard PC when they're older. (Thanks @undersinged for the link.)

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What's new on the app stores on Thursday 17 May 2012

A selection of 21 new and notable apps for you today:

London 2012: Official Join In App

The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOCOG for short) has launched its first app: an official guide to joining in this summer's sporting celebrations. That means event listings, the route of the Olympic torch relays, maps and updates during the Games. It's iPhone at the moment, but I'd suspect Android and maybe other platforms will be following shortly.
iPhone

Schemer

Google's Schemer social app has made the leap from Android to iPhone, providing a way to plan "schemes" with friends – basically "doing more awesome stuff" and telling friends about it. Naturally, it ties into the Google+ social network.
iPhone

Facebook Pages Manager

At the time of writing (8am BST) this is only available in the New Zealand App Store, but that generally means it'll roll out around the world as the day goes on. It's Facebook's new iPhone app for people who run Pages on the social network – a separate app to post, monitor activity and dig into Insights analytics.
iPhone

Roamz

Here's an app jumping from iPhone to Android. Roamz describes itself as "social goggles for the real world", identifying places, events and activities around your current location, pulling in data from Facebook, Foursquare, Instagram and Twitter.
Android

Score! Classic Goals

Developer First Touch Publishing makes very impressive football games for iOS. Its new title is a different spin though: a "soccer based puzzle game" that challenges you to recreate famous goals from the last four decades. There are 80 goals at launch.
iPhone / iPad

Sonic The Hedgehog 4 Episode II

Sega's speedy hedgehog returns to iOS in the latest retro remake for Apple devices, with Sonic and squirrelly chum Tales taking on Dr. Eggman and Metal Sonic. Sega says this game has an "all-new engine" to make the action smoother than previous titles.
iPhone / iPad

iZettle

Mobile payments startup Square has been making waves in the US, but in Europe we have our own equivalent: iZettle. It lets retailers take card payments through an app, and has just launched in private beta in the UK. A form in the app lets you request an invite.
iPhone / iPad

Thirst for Twitter

There's plenty of blog buzz around new iPad app Thirst for Twitter, which aims to suck down all the tweets from the people you follow, then highlight the most interesting and relevant ones in digest format. It promises to "tell you what you've missed and bubble up what's interesting to you".
iPad

Kids of the Ummah

This children's iPad app is all about "exploring the global Muslim community", through a range of 26 cute avatar characters who explain the alphabet, Muslim names and cities in English and Arabic.
iPad

Sky News Arabia

Arabic-language TV news channel Sky News Arabia has a new app rolling out on major smartphones, offering videos, news, photos and – soon – live streaming. It's the work of London agency Grapple.
Android / BlackBerry / iPhone / Nokia

Fotopedia Morocco

Photographic service Fotopedia has a new, lavish iOS app providing a tourist's guide to Morocco. That means full-screen images of cities, scenery and culture from photographer Jacques Bravo, plus interactive maps and a trip builder feature to plan visits.
iPhone / iPad

Cousin Jacks: Cornish Mining

If British staycations are more your thing, how about wandering around Cornwall looking at mines? Cousin Jacks: Cornish Mining is a polished tourism app focused on the Cornish Mining World Heritage Site, with audio trails, walks and maps.
iPhone

Awareness! for Etymotic Pro

Excellent audio app Awareness! is about automatically adjusting your headphone volume based on noise from the external world – for example a phone ringing, car beeping or person asking you something. Now there's a separate version optimised for the Etymotic Pro headsets.
iPhone

FlexiShareTrade

This is a new app for retail investors, helping them track and analyse shares in real-time, digging deep into stats from the major markets. Heatmaps, charts and a Twitter feed add to the appeal.
iPhone

Circus Atari

Gaming industry veteran Atari is retooling itself as a mobile publisher, with Circus Atari its latest release. This involves launching a clown from a cannon, popping balloons and grabbing coins and power-ups as he flies up into the air.
iPhone / iPad

Facade

One social networking app to rule them all? Facade pulls in all the social networks with the aim of helping people view updates and post their own from one place.
Android

The Berenstain Bears and the Big Spelling Bee

Oceanhouse Media's latest book-app for children starring the Berenstain Bears is all about spelling, and the company is offering a free teacher's guide on its website to help educators get the most out of the app if using it in their classes.
iPhone / iPad

Let's Color!

This "living, breathing coloring book" is the work of Lazoo, whose impressive Squiggles app I covered earlier this month. Here, kids get to colour in 18 digital pages, with 16 more available in-app. Once done, images start to animate, and can be saved to show family and friends.
iPad

Color Vacuum

More colours for kids here, from new developer Curious Hat. The idea is to get children looking at colours in the world around them, and capturing them using the iPhone or iPad's camera.
iPhone / iPad

Boom Bah

It's a busy day for new kid-apps. This iPad book is based on the printed Boom Bah, aimed at 2-5 year-olds. It tells the story of an animal band, with children able to tap on the screen to "play the tings, bangs, clangs, bangs, bongs" and other sounds.
iPad

Scotland Yard

Ravensburger has turned its popular Scotland Yard board game into an iOS version, as you try to find the missing Mister X in London. Inventive features include multiplayer with voice chat.
iPhone / iPad

Loan sharks and micro-finance offices have mushroomed in South Africa’s inner-city centres. The lure is attractive – borrow R10,000 and create your dream life by growing your business. But in a country where half the population lives in poverty and much more live in debt, a greater understanding of how they use money could lead to more appropriate financial services. By MANDY DE WAAL.

It was another bravado performance in The Hague from Charles Taylor, who looked gentle and unassuming as he asked for leniency. Almost tempted to believe him, SIMON ALLISON recalls that no amount of smooth talking can erase the horrors the man inflicted on Sierra Leone.

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Top stories on MediaGuardian.co.uk

Chris Evans Radio 2 show surges ahead of Chris Moyles's
Breakfast DJ has biggest-ever lead with an average weekly reach of 9.23m listeners compared to Radio 1 rival's 7.1m

Absolute Radio grooves almost 3m listeners
Group's new 60s and 70s services boost healthy figures for main station, but its noughties offering loses audience

Johnston Press takes print ad hit
Regional publisher reports ad revenue fall of 9% and announces partnership with used car sales portal

Today's featured media jobs

Guardian News & Media - International Advertising Manager
London/contract/full time

Elsevier - Executive Editor, Social Media Content
Kidlington, Oxford, UK or New York, USA/permanent/full time

Stonewall - Communications Officer
London/permanent/full time

For more jobs, career advice and workplace news visit guardianjobs.co.uk

Today's headlines

The Guardian

Jack Straw tells of cosy train chats with Rebekah Brooks. P4
Marie Colvin tribute. P13
BBC1 drops Blue Peter. P14
Facebook listing set to raise $16bn. P27

The Independent

Blue Peter taken off BBC1 after 54 years. P9
Marie Colvin honoured. P17

i

Facebook hacker jailed for a year. P3
Blue Peter dropped from BBC1. P18
Marie Colvin tribute. P21
Facebook IPO to rise by 25%. P42
Yell buys Moonfruit for £23m. P43

Daily Telegraph

British hacker jailed for US Facebook attack. P2
BBC banishes Blue Peter to a TV "ghetto". P15
Jack Straw tells of train chats with Rebekah Brooks. P16
Rebekah Brooks met PM 40 times, says Kelvin Mackenzie. P16
Facebook IPO. P21
Feature on the pensioner DJs. P24
Extra 85m Facebook shares at eleventh hour. Business, P1, 3

The Times

Facebook IPO. P31
Pearson buys Certiport for $140m. P42
News International to sell Wapping to Berkeley Group. P47
Cineworld reports 5% rise in revenue. P46

Financial Times

Facebook's early backers plan to sell extra $3bn of shares in IPO. P1, 20
BBC confirms Blue Peter digital switch. P4
Google to unveil new search facility. P20
News International to sell Wapping to Berkeley Group. P23

Wall Street Journal Europe

Facebook shareholders selling $3.8bn extra shares. P1, 22, 32

Daily Mail

Chris Evans mauls Chris Moyles in BBC breakfast radio ratings. P11
Interview with Sony radio award winners Betty and Beryl. P15
Blue Peter sent into digital exile. P33
Cineworld admissions grow 3.3% in first four months. P65
Yell in £18m deal to buy Moonfruit. P66

Daily Express

BBC1 drops Blue Peter in cutbacks. P19
Cineworld revenues increase in first four months. P51

The Sun

BBC1 drops Blue Peter after 53 years. P21
Marie Colvin tribute. P27

Daily Mirror

Blue Peter to be dropped from BBC1. P1, 7
BBC1 to launch The Paradise, a rival to ITV's Mr Selfridge. P3
Jack Straw tells of train chats with Rebekah Brooks. P9
Chris Evans remains king of breakfast radio. P11
Marie Colvin tribute. P11
Cineworld announces revenue increase. P58

Daily Star

BGT coverage. P3

And finally ...

Pudsey is getting fat. The four-legged Britain's Got Talent winner loves a ham and cheese snack, but since finding fame and fortune he is being showered in treats. Just yesterday he was fed a string of cheese balls for posing for photographs. Owner Ashleigh Butler has put aside plans to buy a spangly lead and a caravan and has put a £500 doggie treadmill at the top of the list. Apparently the pooch needs to be in shape in "body-conscious Tinseltown" when he tries to crack Los Angeles. The Sun TVbiz, P1

Also on MediaGuardian.co.uk today

Facebook Nasdaq flotation set to raise $16bn
Facebook's stock exchange debut increases by 25% as demand for shares pushes early backers to cash in

Blue Peter to be ditched from BBC1
Kids' programming to move to CBBC and CBeebies as shows struggle against TV aimed at adults

BBC halves local radio cuts
Corporation to drop plans for sharing afternoon shows as it reduces target from £15m to £8m

Mentorn Media retains Question Time contract
BBC1 current affairs programme will be made by London-based independent producer for another three years

Ocean Outdoor sold to the private equity arm of Lloyds bank for £35m
Outdoor ad firm owns sites such as London's Imax, Eat Street at Westfield and Two Towers West on Hammersmith flyover

Silk returns with a smooth 5.6m viewers
BBC1 legal drama starring Maxine Peake and Rupert Penry-Jones watched by 23.9% share of audience

Cineworld hopes films such as Prometheus will give summer boost
Cinema chain looks to compete against Euro 2012 and Olympics as box office take rises 8.6% in first four months of the year

Center Parcs' families advert banned by ASA
Firm's TV campaign featured two adults and two children despite offer being for mid-week breaks outside school holidays

Greenpeace reprimanded over 'irresponsible' ad campaign
Website campaign called for donations to support direct action protests against power station chimneys

Paddy Power's 'transgendered ladies' ad banned by ASA
Bookmaker says it has been the victim of an orchestrated campaign over the ad, which attracted more then 400 complaints

ISPs told to come clean on broadband speeds
TalkTalk and BT the worst offenders in mystery shopping exercise that showed broadband companies often fail to offer a speed quote to potential customers

Richard Peppiatt, the former Daily Star reporter who revealed the realities of life in a tabloid newsroom to the Leveson inquiry, is taking to the stage.

The self-styled "red-top renegade" will star in a one-man show - appropriately called One Rogue Reporter - at the Edinburgh festival in August. He is also hoping to give a preview performance in London.

According to Scotland on Sunday (SoS), Peppiatt "will take a wry look at how some tabloid newspapers operate" by drawing on his Leveson evidence.

Peppiatt says he expects to present "a daring mixture of live stand-up and outrageous video content" in order to "mercilessly dissect" his former trade.

He told SoS: "It's about turning the tables on some tabloid tactics and testing their proclamations about privacy.

"There's a bit of a Frankenstein narrative going on – they created the monster and now I've turned on them."

The show will also chart Peppiatt's time at the Star. In March 2011, he famously sent its owner, Richard Desmond, a a withering resignation letter in which he described the publisher as the "inventor of a handy product for lining rabbit hutches".

Since then, Peppiatt has become a media pundit. He is also a prominent campaigner for press reform.

He has also been working on several comedy projects including a sitcom called Red Top Blues, which has been optioned by Hat Trick Productions.

Festival note: One Rogue Reporter will be staged at the Pleasance Courtyard from 1-27 August. Further info: Amanda Emery amanda@emerypr.com

Sources: Scotland on Sunday/Peppiatt blog

Pudsey is getting fat. The four-legged Britain's Got Talent winner loves a ham and cheese snack, but since finding fame and fortune he is being showered in treats. Just yesterday he was fed a string of cheese balls for posing for photographs. The Sun reports that owner Ashleigh Butler has put aside plans to buy a spangly lead and a caravan and has put a £500 doggy treadmill at the top of the list. Apparently the pooch needs to be in shape in "body-conscious Tinseltown" when he tries to crack Los Angeles.

10,000 Words recently blogged about using infographics platform Easel.ly, which is currently in beta, to create visual stories via “drag-n-drop templates”, based around customisable themes.

For newsrooms, this site poses huge opportunity in terms of shareability of information across social media

Read the 10,000 Words post here.

Here is a video from Easel.ly demonstrating how it works:

Tipster: Rachel McAthy

If you have a tip you would like to submit to us at Journalism.co.uk email us using this link– we will pay a fiver for the best ones published.

• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – kit checklist for mobile reporting
• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – improving your video journalism skills
• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – 10 tips for building community on social media
• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – avoiding common video storytelling mistakes
• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – building user responses into stories

Regional publisher reports ad revenue fall of 9% and announces partnership with used car sales portal

Johnston Press has reported total advertising revenues down 9% in the year to 17 May, and is to launch an online used car sales service across its 223 local newspaper websites in partnership with Motors.co.uk.

Johnston Press, the second largest regional newspaper publisher with 238 titles, said that the rate of decline in total advertising had improved as the first half of 2012 has progressed.

Total advertising revenues fell 9.1% in the 18 weeks to 7 May, down 9.6% in the first quarter and 8% in the second quarter so far.

Print display advertising fell 10.3% in the first 18 weeks, although Johnston Press said that it had seen encouraging signs in the market in recent weeks.

Classified print ad revenues fell 11.5% in the 18-week period, with the first quarter down 12.4% and the second quarter to date down 8.9%.

Digital revenues grew 13.9% in the period, up 9.6% in the first quarter and 26.9% in the second quarter to date.

Circulation revenues fell 2% with net debt at £363m as at the end of April.

Johnston Press also announced a deal with used car search site Motors.co.uk – which includes sites Parkers.co.uk, Desperate Seller and Honest John – which already has partnerships with regional newspaper rivals Trinity Mirror, Northcliffe Media and Archant.

In March, Daily Mail & General Trust, the publisher of the Daily Mail and owner of Northcliffe, sold Motors.co.uk to Manheim.

Johnston Press publisher intends to integrate the service into its network of 223 websites with the online car service carrying a local brand on each site.

"Motors.co.uk is one of the most dynamic players in the online motors space and this partnership gives us an exciting new platform for our local websites and great reach for our motors advertisers," said Johnston Press chief executive Ashley Highfield.

"It forms another step in our strategy to deliver highly engaged, local website portals across all of our markets."

Motors.co.uk is owned by US company Manheim – a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cox Enterprises, which also the world's largest automotive services provider – with more than 20,000 employees and headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.

Manheim also owns Autotrader.com in the US. The business is unaffiliated with Autotrader in the UK, which is owned jointly by Guardian Media Group – publisher of the Guardian and MediaGuardian.co.uk – and Apax.

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Author isn't keen on the idea, but perhaps if she saw what some developers have been doing...

The Gruffalo deserves its status as one of the most popular children's books in the world: beautiful illustrations, but beautiful words too.

The rhythm and rhyme of the story demands to be read with monstery relish, and there's a delightful touch of gruesomeness. Owl ice cream, anyone? It's a marvellous piece of work.

How about a Gruffalo app, then? I've lost count of the number of times fellow parents, after finding out my job is to write about apps, have asked if the Gruffalo's turned-out toes have wandered onto iOS or Android. Yet the answer is no, and that's not likely to change soon.

Author Julia Donaldson explained why in a recent interview with The Guardian, expressing her concerns about digital children's books:

"The publishers showed me an ebook of Alice in Wonderland. They said, 'Look, you can press buttons and do this and that', and they showed me the page where Alice's neck gets longer. There's a button the child can press to make the neck stretch, and I thought, well, if the child's doing that, they are not going to be listening or reading, 'I wish my cat Dinah was here' or whatever it says in the text – they're just going to be fiddling with this wretched button."

Donaldson went on to suggest that she's striking a blow on behalf of printed books in general. "I think it would be good if a few people like me spiked the future, punctured it a bit, so that people could say that with all their advantages, you couldn't get every single book there is as an ebook and that would encourage people to buy proper books."

Well, she wrote The Gruffalo, so it's up to her what she does with it. And if that isn't strictly the case, as she hints in the interview, I'm glad she has a publisher that's sensitive to her wishes.

I just wish they'd showed her a different app when trying to change her mind.

Or a bunch of different apps, in fact. Because Alice for the iPad is fun and well-crafted, but I can see why Donaldson suspects the interactive whizzy bits might distract from the actual reading. And a.) that app came out back in April 2010, and b.) there's a lot of examples of book-apps that strengthen the reading experience rather than weaken it.

Such as? Well, I've picked out 10 examples of apps that hint at other ways The Gruffalo could go digital in a way that Donaldson might approve of. Here goes:

Pip and Posy: Fun and Games

Okay, this is an obvious one, since it's a book-app based on a title by Axel Scheffler, who also provided the illustrations for The Gruffalo. But that's not the only reason Nosy Crow's app might sway Julia's opinion.

Pip and Posy isn't a straight book: it's a collection of activities and mini-games, using the characters from Scheffler's Pip and Posy books. It's another way into that world, but a separate experience: rather than distracting from a story, playing with the app may encourage parents and children to seek out the books.

Also you can make faces in a virtual mirror using the iPhone or iPad's camera. I'd be bang up for pulling a few Gruffalo expressions in this way, never mind what my children think...

Collins Big Cat: Playing Story Creator

This is part of a series of Big Cat apps from Collins Education, and to be honest I could have picked any of them – but this is the newest. It's a picture-book about children playing in the rain, wind, snow and mud, with language aimed at early readers in particular, and voice narration.

But the Story Creator feature is what's interesting: once they've read the story, children can then create their own versions using the characters, scenes and vocabulary from the main story.

Now think about kids making their own Gruffalo adventure. Scary for an author, perhaps, but as a way of reinforcing children's comprehension while also firing their creativity, it's a great idea.

Dr. Seuss Beginner Book Collection #1

I'd love to broker a meeting between Julia Donaldson and Michel Kripalani of apps firm Oceanhouse Media. They'd find plenty to agree on.

"We're not trying to create some crazy fancy dancing characters and puzzle games. We just don't think any of that belongs in a book," Kripalani told me in February 2012, when I interviewed him about his company's work bringing the entire Dr. Seuss catalogue (among other books) to iOS and Android.

"So in our apps, you can tap on any word that you don't know to hear the individual word spoken very clearly. Those are the tools that the child needs. They don't need to tap on the cat and have him jump up and down and spin around."

The Dr. Seuss Beginner Book Collection shows this philosophy in action, with five of the good doctor's most famous books.

Doodle Tales

This one's a bit scary, again, because it hints at letting children make up their own Gruffalo stories, which might not be up Donaldson's street. Then again, it might be – I'm optimistic, because Doodle Tales is fab.

The idea: children use brushes, shapes, stamps and backgrounds to create their own stories, while recording their own voice narration to go with them. And then they can be shared with other Doodle Tales users. The developer has signed deals to include branded 'content packs' from kids' TV shows LazyTown and Numberjacks.

Now think about thousands of children using a Gruffalo Tales app to come up with their own woodland stories, and sharing them. It's a different skill to reading: it's more imagination and creativity. It would be a wonderful thing.

Peppa Me Books

If reading and listening is what Donaldson likes to see, then it'd be great if she could sit down with Peppa Me Books and a couple of children for an hour or so. It's the work of Penguin Books and developer Made In Me, building on their work on a previous app called Ladybird Classic Me Books.

Here, you pay £1.99 for the app, which includes one Peppa Pig Story, and you can buy more in-app. They're digital picture-books, with set zones on each page that you can tap on to hear Peppa, George, Daddy or Mummy Pig talk. You can also tap on the text to hear that read out.

But here's the fun part: you and your children can also re-record all these bits yourself – my Daddy Pig impersonation is the stuff of legend. This would work perfectly for The Gruffalo. Even if my Gruffalo will probably sound a lot like my Daddy Pig...

Cinderella – Nosy Crow Animated Picture Book

Another Nosy Crow app here, but this is more of a story than a collection of activities and mini-games. It tells the familiar tale of Cinderella with superbly-crafted animation, interactivity and a dash of humour – the Bollywood ballroom scene in particular. And there's camera-fuelled innovation too, when you see your own face looking out at you from a mirror on-screen.

It's a beautiful piece of work, but one where the interactivity is geared entirely towards supporting the reading experience rather than distracting from it. That's what Nosy Crow boss Kate Wilson told me in September 2011, anyway, stressing that interactivity can help children follow a story, rather than hinder.

"It's the building blocks of reading, and at least as important as phonic knowledge," she said. "They are understanding how stories work and internalising that."

Transformers: Ruckus Reader

If the mouse in The Gruffalo was able to turn into an enormous laser-toting robot, the story would be quite different, obviously. It's a helluva thought. But Transformers: Ruckus Reader could spark ideas for Gruffalo apps in a different way.

It's the work of US company Ruckus Media Group, which launched its Ruckus Reader platform with the aim of putting interactivity to work to help children with word recognition, vocabulary learning and reading comprehension, rather than distract from it.

So, there's a word hunt section, a make-your-own-story bit, mini-games and a central story about big robots doing Big Robot Stuff. But it's all geared towards enhancing reading rather than replacing it.

If all this is too roboty, there are also Ruckus Reader apps for My Little Pony, Crayola and other US brands.

Oh Say Can You Say Di-No-Saur?

This is another Oceanhouse / Dr. Seuss app, but it's more than a straight story. It's more of an educational app, where The Cat In The Hat goes back in time to find dinosaur fossils, and explain the prehistoric era to young app users.

It's part of a series called The Cat In The Hat's Learning Library, which uses the familiar Seuss characters (and rhymes!) to present more educational content.

Now think about how this might work for The Gruffalo: a guide to woods and woodland creatures, say, or something about the weather and seasons, or... well, maybe not about the food chain, since fitting a fictional Gruffalo in might be tricky. But Gruffalo plus educational content could be really exciting in the apps world.

Grimm's Hansel and Gretel

Is there a pop-up Gruffalo book already? Surely there is. Well, Irish company Ideal Binary – which recently rebranded as StoryToys – is all about making digital pop-up books. So far, it's been focusing on Grimm Brothers fairy tales like Hansel and Gretel.

That means a mixture of text (with a musical soundtrack) and interactive pop-up scenes, where you get to tap on the characters and scenery to make things happen. And the two are separated, so you do a bit of reading, then a bit of interacting – rather than the latter competing directly with the former.

It's an interesting and innovative spin on bringing picture-books to smartphones and tablets, anyway. The company's background is in games, and the idea of applying a game engine to Julia Donaldson's storytelling skills is very intriguing.

DK Dinosaur Stickers

Children love stickers. And that's not just because they can stick them all over things they shouldn't around the house. Mainly, but not just. The idea of creating your own scenes using familiar locations and characters is powerful, and it works just as well in the digital world as in printed sticker books.

Publisher DK knows what it's doing on this score: its dinosaur stickers app is very impressive. Children can make their own scenes, then save and share them with family and friends.

The Gruffalo, as something with strong characters and locations, would make a great subject for this kind of app. Admittedly, I'm a bit hazier on how this supports reading skills specifically. But if you buy the idea that apps can draw children deeper into an author's world, and thus encourage them to read the books, then it makes more sense.

I’m spending a bit of time in Christchurch at the moment, and every time I go I ask people what they have in their ‘get through‘ (survival) kit now that they’ve lived through a series of earthquakes – including that devastating one in February 2011.

Here are a few things people have said they now do:

1. Keep shoes/slippers by the bed – in case you have to get up and walk over broken glass in the night

2. Wear pajamas to bed or keep clothes nearby – in case you have to run out into the street at night time and don’t fancy being naked in public.

3. Have a whole lot of water stashed – for drinking, yes, but also for flushing the toilet, washing your hair, washing your clothes, washing the dishes, cleaning up the mess made by an earthquake splattering the contents of your fridge all over the floor and walls.

4. Have a couple of little LED lights at strategic points between the bedroom and the door to outside, so you can find your way in the dark.

5. Have a ‘run and go’ bag by the door with snacks, water, torch, something warm, pain killers and basic first aid kit – so you can be okay for a few hours or overnight.

7. Have a ‘last a few days’ kit in the garage with clothes for everyone, candles, matches, food, water, rubbish bags, torches, camping stove and cooking utensils, painkillers, prescription medicines, first aid kit and so on in case you get stranded and can’t get food/water/electricity for a few days.

There’s a national ‘earthquake drill‘ on September 26 2012, by the way.

Outdoor ad firm owns sites such as London's Imax, Eat Street at Westfield and Two Towers West on Hammersmith flyover

Ocean Outdoor, the outdoor advertising company that owns sites including London's Imax, has been sold to the private equity arm of Lloyds bank for £35m.

The company operates 28 sites across the UK, although London is the company's main market, and specialises in eye-catching digital advertising sites including Eat Street at Westfield shopping centre and Two Towers West on the Hammersmith flyover.

Ocean has been acquired by private equity company LDC, which bought the business internet arm of BSkyB's Easynet for £100m in 2010 and Learndirect for £40m last year. LDC a subsidiary of Lloyds Banking Group.

Daniel Sasaki, managing director of LDC London, said the plan is to immediately strengthen the small-scale Ocean Outdoor against its much bigger international rivals in London and across the UK's 10 biggest cities.

"[Plans include] further expansion of the company's premium iconic locations, pioneering new digital technology and engaging with a wider client base as digital out of home converges with mobile audiences," said Sasaki.

Ocean is being sold by Smedvig Capital, which acquired the business in 2008 and invested £5.7m.

Smedvig has investments including PPC, which makes film trailers for Hollywood studios and is chaired by former UK Film Council head Stewart Till, and Zipcar.

Ocean Outdoor claims it generates more revenue and profit per location than its larger rivals such as JC Decaux, Clear Channel and CBS Outdoor.

Tom Goddard, chairman of Ocean, said that key management including chief executive Tim Bleakley will remain with the business following completion of the deal.

"Securing the backing of a partner of the calibre of LDC is a strong endorsement of the Ocean Brand and management team," he said. "They will be remaining with the business and guiding Ocean in its continuing role as the leader of this exciting market sector. I believe this news, which helps secure Ocean's independence, will be welcomed across the whole media industry."

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BBC1 current affairs programme will be made by London-based independent producer for another three years

Question Time producer Mentorn Media has retained the contract to make flagship BBC1 current affairs programme for another three years.

London-based independent producer Mentorn, a subsidiary of Tinopolis, has made Question Time since 1998.

David Dimbleby will continue to host the show from venues around the country when the new production contract begins in September.

Question Time last year switched production from London to Glasgow, with Mentorn Scotland picking up the contract.

Nicolai Gentchev continues as Question Time editor, with Hayley Valentine as executive editor for BBC Scotland.

The Mentorn Media chief executive, John Willis, said: "We're absolutely delighted to secure the contract for a further three years. It's well deserved recognition of the brilliant work of David Dimbleby and the Question Time team led by editor Nicolai Gentchev and executive producer Steve Anderson."

Anderson said: "Mentorn has helped to make Question Time one of the most important programmes on British television. In the lifetime of the current contract, we produced the memorable editions on the MPs' expenses row, Hugh Grant appearing on the night of the closure of the News of the World plus, of course, the appearance of BNP leader Nick Griffin, watched by almost 10 million people.

"But politics has never been more fascinating and with a terrific new team in place, we are excited about how Question Time can enhance its reputation as the place where the public hold the decision makers to account."

• 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".

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Top media buyers, CBS talent and execs packed into Carnegie Hall, one of NYC’s most glamorous (and expensive) venues for their annual upfront. Both CBS President and CEO Les Moonves and President of Entertainment Nina Tassler discussed the importance of social TV through their presentations. Here are a few highlights.

If you haven’t read our exclusive coverage of the new CBS Connect platform, check out our in-depth analysis on how they’re selling social to their advertisers. Tassler proudly showed off Connect to the audience while describing their 167,000,000 plus social media fans.

Moonves, who kicked off the night, even went as far to incorporate a comedy bit where he showed off his Pinterest board. Social was an important part of the upfront, but the execs made sure to remind everyone that TV, “the main screen” is what’s most important, proven by the fact that they are the highest-rated network.

Their new shows for the fall look pretty compelling overall. The Shield’s Michael Chiklis is back on screen as a villain in Vegas in Dennis Quaid and Sophia Bush, from One Tree Hill will be in a new bromantic comedy called Partners. Both Chiklis and Bush are big on Twitter. Networked Insights (NI) also recommends both of these shows. NI advised against Friend Me, Golden Boy and Made in New Jersey.

paidContent’s annual conference is next week in NYC and a must-attend event. CyberJournalist.net readers can get a 15% discount. Register here and use the code CYBER15.

Featuring interviews, research findings, and fast-paced panels, the program is jam-packed with hot topics, such as:

• The New Publishers—The huge transformations in publishing require leaders who excel at making things happen, and the ability to regroup and change direction mid-stream. What are the most innovative leaders doing to map out the future of publishing? Featuring Jim Bankoff, Vox Media; John Paton, Digital First Media; and Larry Kramer, Founder of MarketWatch.

• The New Publishing Landscape—The battle for digital readers is transforming the publishing landscape. As newspapers and magazines increasingly morph into the digital space, and the cloud becomes an ever-more viable content outlet, who will win the battle for readers? Featuring Liz Schimel, Meredith National Media Group; Nick Bogaty, Adobe Systems Incorporated; and Jonathan Shar, Barnes & Noble.
• Paying the Way—Once a question of “will they/won’t they,” consumer online content payments appear to have a rosier future. How do you effectively price your content when there are few comparisons and free alternatives elsewhere? Featuring Tomas Bella, Piano Media and Rob Grimshaw, FT.com.

Eric Newton, senior adviser to the president of the Knight Foundation, really laid into journalism educators last week.

J-schools are too slow in change, he said. They risk losing private sector funding. They are too academic, too siloed.

In many ways, I very much agree that there needs to be more collaboration, that top professionals need to be given the same respect for their talents, that there probably need to be some new professional-level master's and PhD degrees that recognize the changing culture and digital reality. I agree that accreditation needs to change so that journalism students take more hours in their major - but no more than half so we preserve the important liberal arts component (in most cases, this would still be 60 semester hours in liberal arts and general education, about 20 courses since most are three hours of credit).

He worries, as I have, about the great middle - many of them state schools gamely trying to serve their state populations with shrinking resources and students whose skills are also "middle of the bell curve."

There is so much to like, and Newton certainly can speak with the force that comes from a senior position at what has been one of the most consistent sources of funding (thank god) for journalism schools and innovation.

I was indirectly a beneficiary of one of those grants through J-lab to start the Hartsville Today community news site. I also had 30+ years as a reporter and editor in broadcast, print and wire service before moving over to academia. So I am one of those "professionals" Newton waxes on about, though whether I fall even close to his "top" tier I'll let others decide. (And, in case it matters, I don't have and have not sought tenure.)

Thus, it pains me to suggest that Newton also needs to inject a dose of reality, for he - as have many others - conveniently ignores the role the journalism industry has played in getting j-schools to the where they are now.

Newton hangs quite a bit on creating j-school models akin to teaching hospitals. Great. So just a few observations:

• The doctors who go through those teaching hospitals you so revere have more, and more rigorous, education by the time they reach that level. So are you willing to make hopeful journalists pass the equivalent of biochem and then take graduate-level education? (Bully, if you do; when I talk to news people and ask that, they generally recoil in horror and just say "teach 'em how to write.")
• You also hold engineering and similar professions up as potential role models. Those all generally have a licensing test at the end of the educational rainbow. How are you going to equal that?
• Wander down to most engineering, medical or business schools and you will find all sorts of artifacts that indicate how much these professions' industries support their schools. Go down to most j-schools (I'm not talking about the elite dozen or so, but about that great middle that has you so agitated) and try to find the same artifacts. I'll bet you'll find a lot fewer.

A few weeks ago it looked as though AOL was winning its proxy fight whereas Yahoo’s efforts were floundering. While Yahoo seems to have lost its battle with activist investor Third Point with the departure of Scott Thompson and the appointment of Third Point’s Daniel Loeb and two other nominees to Yahoo’s board, AOL’s is only just heating up.

Late Wednesday the company’s chairman and CEO Tim Armstrong took the gloves off in responding to Starboard. “We do not believe [Starboard Value CEO and chief investment officer] Jeffrey Smith and his Starboard nominees have demonstrated an understanding of AOL’s basic business model,” he wrote in a letter to shareholders that was filed with the SEC.

“They have put forth a series of what we believe to be misleading claims about our supposed standalone ‘display’ business,” Armstrong continued. “We believe they do not appreciate the interrelatedness of our content, advertising and access operations. We believe they have demonstrated no understanding of the local advertising opportunity, ignoring the impressive revenue growth that Patch has experienced over the last two quarters and its potential for future growth as we continue to implement our strategy in this high-growth area.”

Armstrong's missive comes just after Starboard Value had offered AOL an ultimatum. The firm would withdraw its nominees to AOL’s board provided the company return to shareholders all of the proceeds from its $1 billion patent sale to Microsoft—something AOL said a couple days later it would do—and “commit to specific, mutually-agreeable operating metric targets that would demonstrate meaningful improvement in profitability.”

Starboard didn’t outline what those targets would be, but according to a presentation filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, it’s focused on returning AOL’s display business to profitability by examining the full costs of each AOL property and cutting the unprofitable ones, such as Patch, which Starboard calls “the largest single contributor to losses in display.”

While it's true that AOL’s domestic display business has suffered—the segment recorded $118.9 million in Q1 revenue, a 1 percent year-over-year dip—its global advertising business has been growing for four straight quarters, hitting $330.1 million in the most recent period on 5 percent year-over-year growth. The company didn’t break out numbers for Patch, but Armstrong said during last week’s earnings call that the business had already “booked 115 percent of revenue recorded in the entirety of 2011” and was expected to hit run-rate profitability by the end of 2013.