Story of two halves

IT must have been very late breaking on Tuesday night, the sudden death of actor, Heath Ledger, in his New York apartment.

For, while The Herald managed to get the tale on to its front page yesterday, it wasn’t able to properly clear up the story that was forced to make way.

Hence, the remaining half, continued on page two, was still there on page two.

Fortunately, there was also the whole story – ie the two halves together, and about a row over a road by-pass – to be found on page six.

You have days like that.

Meanwhile, The Guardian newspaper’s Emily Bell is the latest speaker to be appearing as part of a series of lectures on the topic, ‘Citizenship and the Role of the Media’.

The series – being run by The Stevenson and Adam Smith Research Foundation, at the University of Glasgow, in association with The Herald – sees Bell, editor-in-chief at Guardian Unlimited, this evening talk about ‘The On-Line Citizen’.

Already Channel Four’s director Nations and Regions, Stuart Cosgrove, and former Herald editor, Harry Reid, have spoken as part of the series.

Still to come are Professor John Curtice, on ‘The Media and Academia: a Dangerous Mix’; Professor Philip Schlesinger, on ‘Can Scotland have a Communications Policy?’; and the Rt Hon Charles Kennedy MP, on the relationship between politicians and the media.