MediaGuardian briefing

Media briefing Wednesday 14 Jan 2015 g Top stories on MediaGuardian More » First Charlie Hebdo issue since Paris attacks goes on sale People queued before dawn at kiosks across France for the first edition of the weekly to go on sale since last week’s attacks  ‘Freedom of expression’ anti-snooping campaign launched over Ripa changes Campaigners fear draft code of Ripa legislation in UK will allow police sweeping powers to access phone and email records of journalists, lawyers and doctors  Cameron under growing pressure over TV debates Ed Miliband, Nick Clegg and Nigel Farage write to PM, who is refusing to take part unless Greens are included alongside Ukip  Woody Allen to make first TV series for Amazon Prime ‘I’m not sure where to begin,’ says 79-year-old Oscar-winner about his small screen debut, as streaming TV service seeks to gain march on rivals with exclusive content  Ben Clissitt stays and Jane Bruton arrives in latest Telegraph moves Telegraph Media Group confirms Clissitt will not be joining Bloomberg as Grazia editor-in-chief lands deputy editor job with focus on lifestyle content  BuzzFeed hires Heidi Blake to head UK investigative journalism team Sunday Times assistant editor won awards for Qatar World Cup bid scoop and was also involved in Telegraph’s Vince Cable ‘I’ve declared war on Murdoch’ sting  Express Newspapers pushes ahead with 25 compulsory redundancies Richard Desmond’s newspaper group brings in former Trinity Mirror executive Eugene Duffy to help meet £14m cost savings target  Broadchurch dips to ratings low of 6.1 million after big return last week ITV drama starring David Tennant and Olivia Colman down 1.5 million on second series opener last week Fungus the Bogeyman resurfaces for Sky1 adaptation Raymond Briggs’ children’s book to be remade as four-part series featuring mix of animation and live action that will be centrepiece of channel’s Christmas 2015 schedule  Fox News man is 'idiot' for Birmingham Muslim comments – David Cameron ‘I choked on my porridge,’ British prime minister says in response to Steven Emerson’s claim that Birmingham is a ‘totally Muslim city’  Today's newspaper headlines More » Today's media stories from the papers Our roundup of the day's media stories, including Charlie Hebdo's new edition 'made with joy as well as pain' and editors demand action as snooping fears escalate  Media Monkey's pick of the day More » Broadchurch courting disaster, say lawyers | Media Monkey All is not well on the good ship Broadchurch it would seem. Aside from shedding 1.5 million viewers from the opening episode of the second series, the ITV drama is now getting a cross examination from the legal profession. The Times reports that lawyers have taken to Twitter to raise objections about things such as improbable gaps between not guilty pleas and trials starting (should be months, not weeks, they reckon), free parking outside courts and unrealistic courtroom scenes where legal arguments take place in front of the jury and whatnot. A QC tweeted: “Broadchurch ruined for me by totally unrealistic courtroom scenes. Very annoying for lawyers watching such twaddle.” Another questioned the demographics, saying it was unlikely there would be two female barristers as well as a female judge. Sad, but probably true. ITV, however, is pleading not guilty. A spokeswoman said: “The scripts for Broadchurch are thoroughly researched and we take legal advice. However, as happens with television drama, creative decisions are taken to heighten the dramatic effect.” The defence rests, M’lud.

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