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As this journal reaches its tenth year of publication it is irresistible to look back at the decade of our existence and to ask: exactly what has changed since we launched in the autumn of 1989?
Contents - Vol 10, No. 1, 1999Editorial - Ten years is not a long time... |
The temptation is to be cynical and, gloomily, to claim that very little has changed in those years. Indeed the pessimists among us - and they are a substantial force - would be inclined to argue that "things" have grown worse. That is a counsel of despair and in any event it would not be strictly true. Not everything is worse. But almost everything has changed; for good and ill. When we started British Journalism Review in 1989 there was already immense turbulence throughout the trade of journalism. Extraordinary events had become commonplace. Rupert Murdoch launched Sky Television and then began the process of taking over and reshaping his competitors into BskyB. A new national newspaper, the Independent, was born, pioneered by three visionary working journalists - the first quality national daily newspaper to be launched for 130 years. The Thatcher Government was still in power, albeit with the Iron Lady somewhat on the ropes. Her government had just produced a White Paper on broadcasting which opened up the future of commercial television franchises to the market place of the highest bidders. And Robert Maxwell was still alive as an undiscovered...
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