Does Mark Thompson have a point?

BBC Director-General Mark Thompson has made several BBC Wales journalists very cross by suggesting that the BBC Wales newsroom holds back good stories from the network.

But maybe he has a point.

Yesterday BBC Radio Wales reported in the morning that the Israeli ambassador had said that the Presiding Officer of the National Assembly had 'disgraced himself' by his email last week.

No mention of this on Wales Today. Nor on BBC Online.

If they don't report significant stories properly themselves, perhaps it's no wonder BBC network news doesn't get told?

Election Reflections (2)

Looking around the Welsh elections for some positives, obviously the Neath Port Talbot and Bridgend results were outstanding (including Ogmore). It is disappointing that BBC Wales has failed to give appropriate coverage to the recovery in Bridgend. Labour also made 5 gains on Anglesey: before we had no councillors. And I thought given the extraordinary difficulties across Wales, the overall performance in Swansea was good.

Rhondda Lives goes live!

Last September, I told the story of how the Rhondda Lives project had come about.

Today Rhondda Lives has gone live and you can see the output here on the BBC Wales website.

The project was launched at Valleys Kids who have run the project in collaboration with BBC Wales's digital story-telling team and the National Library's National Screen and Sound Archive, with support from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

I was delighted to see the wonderful films generated by the story-tellers, and also to welcome the National Librarian, Andrew Green and BBC Wales Head of Strategy Cath Allen to the Rhondda.

We also opened the refurbished vestry in the Soar Ffrwdamos complex and the writer Elaine Morgan did the honours along with Mrs Parry from the Soar Ffrwdamos congregation.

Communities Next

I was pleased with the coverage given yesterday to the launch of the Consultation on the next phase of Communities First.

BBC Wales, fair play, was particularly good.

Here is a link to the National Assembly chamber statement.

A BBC UK News?

The BBC Trust is undertaking a review of its Network News in response to complaints that it is not reflecting devolution.

What would a UK news bulletin look like? Well today, BBC Breakfast is leading on Ed Balls' Children's Plan. Now, they did manage to mention that it applied in England only. But a UK bulletin would have scoured the UK BBC newsrooms, perhaps adding in lines relevant to Wales, such as this one, or the dyslexia tests at 6 story running on Radio Wales this morning but not on BBC Online, and possibly this from BBC Scotland.

It's a question of culture - London dominates, the metropolitan mind-set dominates.

Thanks, BBC Wales

BBC Wales's AM-PM awards resulted in Chris Bryant MP and myself winning the award for 'best campaigner' for the Burberry Campaign.

As I said yesterday, it is a campaign we would rather not have had to run - but I am pleased that it resulted in better redundancy terms for the workforce and the establishment of a long-term community fund for the Rhondda.

The award really should be shared with the workforce who provided the energy for the campaign and the unions, particularly the GMB but also Amicus.

Tomorrow will see the first meeting of the shadow board for the Rhondda Trust, which was one of the results of the campaign. The Trust will provide funds for education and training for young people in the Rhondda, amongst other things. Chris Bryant has done an excelent job, with the aid of some pro bono work by the law firm Morgan Cole, in getting the Trust established.

Good luck for Children in Need

BBC Children in Need supports a number of worthwhile projects in Wales, like the Ark Project in the Rhondda, so I hope today goes well.

Charity fundraisers in Wales have also chosen to have their conference today, and I will be speaking later.

Burberry site sale

Along with many other people in the Rhondda I have been aware of the sale of the Burberry site for some time, though yesterday was the first occasion on which the developers spoke publicly about it.

I hope that the investment by the new developers will be a success in attracting new small and medium enterprises onto the site. Their investment is a vote of confidence in the Upper Rhondda Fawr. I spoke in June to the Managing Director of one company hoping to locate there. It is a successful local construction company.

There were very positive statements by the developers in the Western Mail today. The BBC also covered the story, though the tone of the interviewer on Good Evening Wales yesterday reflected the normal negativity of BBC Wales - I am coming to think that their slogan really should be 'we find the cloud in every silver lining.'

Rhondda Lives

Three years ago, I had a short debate in the Assembly on the subject of Digital Content, when I argued we needed to do more to ensure that Wales Welsh-generated cultural content was more adequately represented on the internet in the broadband world. I called this 'Wales on demand' or 'Cymru yn ol y galw'. I mentioned then the terrific work that was being undertaken by many community organisations in Wales in training people in making digital media, such as Valleys Kids in the Rhondda, and also the pioneering work being undertaken by BBC Wales in digital story-telling and at the National Library in digitising their archives, including at their National Screen and Sound Archive.


Shortly afterwards, I discussed with my old friend and former BBC colleague Aled Eirug how we could take this work forward. Aled was then looking at getting a national project funded, but I said what about a pilot based on a real community like the Rhondda. I spoke to Valleys Kids and set up a meeting with BBC Wales and the National Library in early 2005. Later that year after a series of meetings we had our first meeting with the Heritage Lottery Fund as the possible funders.

On Saturday, we launched the project, Rhondda Lives. The idea will be to encourage people to engage with some of the materials about the Rhondda available in the BBC wales archive and the National Library archive, and use these to create new materials. A project coordinator has been appointed and the project is now underway.

Sometimes you throw project ideas out and wonder if they will ever come to fruition. I am delighted that this one has now started. Special thanks are due to Aled Eirug, formerly of the BBC, Gareth Morris, Karen Lewis, Gareth Morlais and Tim Neale of BBC Wales, Dafydd Pritchard of the National Library, and Margaret Jervis, Richard Morgan and Denise Lord of Valleys Kids. Thanks also to Jennifer Stewart of the Heritage Lottery Fund, the funders, who also spoke on Saturday. The picture shows Margaret Jervis introducing the event with Jennifer Stewart in the background.

Many local people attended at Valleys' Kids Soar Centre and saw compilations of video clips put together by the BBC and the National Library. These included a short clip with the voice of the Rhondda novelist Gwyn Thomas, and a clip of the 1926 Ferndale Carnival. (I left the event later to go to the 2007 Ferndale Festival, where the Blaenllechau and Ferndale Archive project told me they had given the footage to the National Library!).

The Assembly's Communities@One project is also supporting many local community projects in recording the stories of their community, as part of its remit to combat digital exclusion.

BBC Wales holidays....

Replies from BBC journalists on their holiday plans have been pouring in. At least they were till Ashok told them not to reply!

If I was Rhodri, I would want to know why so many are heading for Mwnt....

Arwyn Jones:
‘Pounding the streets of Cardiff looking for a house. ‘I might also spoil myself to a few days climbing / camping in Snowdonia. The hills of South Wales don't really compare with the mountains of my beloved North Wales.’

Rhuanedd Richards:
‘I'm going to Italy and Mwnt.’

Phil Parry:
‘Taking the kids to Nain and Taid in Penlline for a start and then a campsite somewhere - maybe Brittany.’

Adrian Masters:
‘I will be spending the summer at home in Newport. The carbon emissions I save from staying in one place may be enough to offset a flight to Anglesey for a friend's wedding.’

Betsan Powys:
‘I go to Tenby with the family on Saturday, then to the Eisteddfod in Mold and we're also fitting in a week in Criccieth in late August. How pc is that?!’

Vaughan Roderick
‘In my garden! I'm saving up my carbon for a trip to Malaysia in October to celebrate Eid.’

Ciaran Jenkins:
‘I'll be lucky to get one - though I might find a spare weekend to hook up with my old choir chums in a cottage in the Cotswolds.’

Mark Palmer:
‘Penparc (Cardigan) - very close to Mwnt...will be taking the kids dolphin and Rhodri spotting....’

Toby Mason is already away:
'I'm on leave until Monday, July 16.'

As for me - no flights this year. Tidying our garden in Llwynypia. Driving through France to the South again. I normally go to the Eisteddfod and may manage that again but that will be for work reasons.

BBC Wales holidays

I will be replying to the BBC Wales email below later with the details, but meanwhile I have emailed several BBC Wales journalists asking them where they are holidaying. Replies are arriving in a fast trickle.

My colleague, Alun Davies AM, thinks that working for BBC Wales is one big holiday in any case....

Where do BBC Wales journalists holiday?

If BBC Wales can ask us where we holiday, I have decided I can ask them where they are going.

More later....

Retired Blogger

Glad to see this retired blogger is being given the big jobs in BBC Wales:

Hello there,
Tempting though it must be to work straight through the summer recess, it appears a number of AMs will end up taking some form of holiday - if only to give us here at the BBC free reign to report on schizophrenic sheep and farting cows.
Actually, I think we do that already.
Anyway, we did an item on Good Morning Wales this morning on Gordon Brown's summer holiday plans - just a bit of fun - and were wondering if you'd be so kind as to hit reply and let us know where you are planning to escape this summer?

Many thanks and kind regards,
Ciaran Jenkins
BBC Radio Wales

Just a bit of fun :-)

Now it's free doughnuts on Plaid

Plaid Cymru leader Ieuan Wyn Jones launches his party's new healthy eating policy.