AVERT YOUR EYES

New Media, it would appear, is the future of media as we know it, but how far will it replace 'old media'? Will newspapers go the way of vinyl and become kitsch and collectable? Will television take it's final bow? and more to the point, will magazines take a bullet or will they struggle on regardless, taking the internet and its New Media allies - mobile phones and ipods and the like - under their wing and soaring forth into the future?

Amanda Powell joined us last week to give her take on NewMedia in her capacity as Editor of the Welsh division of BBC online based in our fair Cardiff. She was informative and talked well from a position of clear knowledge but one thing struck me as odd...

As you will see by following the above link the BBC have on their News front page, about halfway down, a set of three bars; one entitled 'video and audio news'; the second 'TV and Radio programmes'; and the third 'most popular video and audio'. This seems fine and dandy and makes sense as an option for news hungry surfers but Amanda informed us that due to their having received complaints from 'purists' (how you can be a purist of such a new medium I don't know) they have provided the option of hiding these bars. I don't understand how that could have worked.

Dear BBC,
I am a regular surfer of your wonderful internet site spending at least three and a half minutes there every day and I FULLY enjoy the content. Imagine my shock and dismay when I saw that you have seen fit to poison my eyes with the three bars in the centre of your page offering such dispicable fayre as 'audio' and 'video'. It sickens me to see it written here by my own fair hand. I hope you will understand my grievance and see fit to remedy your so heinous of crimes.
Yours sincerely,
Richard Head

Dear Mr Head,
Our collective head (no pun intended) here at the Beeb is hung in shame. Shame that we could have let down such an avid reader in such a horrible way. Your three and a half minutes mean a lot to us. You will see that we have acted to save your sight by giving you the option of hiding the offending articles via the click of your mouse. No more will you have to spend precious seconds seeing these things that vex you so.
Good luck and God bless,
Auntie