Every now and then the issue of new media and new journalism hits these ‘pages’.

I’ve just read the text of Alan Rusbridger’s Cudlipp Lecture (25th January), ‘Does Journalism Exist?” (Hugh Cudlipp was the famous and pioneering editor of the Daily Mirror during its heyday).

This is a fascinating piece — illustrating with some interesting video graphics — which looks at the challenges faced by the print media today.

There’s been one change so big and obvious in the last decade that we may not have noticed it: the new media have disappeared. They are just media now: the means through which our world must be experienced.

The piece looks at the various business models that re being developed at the moment and talks about some of the modelling that has been done by the Guardian, which suggests that analysts here cannot see how to make paywall’s work!

Very interesting stuff; well worth the read.

Does Journalism Exist?

This is the companion DVD to Cameron MacNeish’s Sutherland Trail book that I reviewed a few weeks ago. Originally this programme was made as a special for the Adventure Show which goes out in Scotland. As far as I’m aware this has never been shown outside of Scotland. I’ve emailed the BBC about the possibility of showing it on BBC4 but I’ve never had a reply. So, I was grateful when Cameron sent me a copy after reviewing the trail book.

The DVD is the perfect compliment to the trail guide and will interest many people who are contemplating walking the new trail. Much of the content of the DVD is touched on in the book, and many of the interviews are repeated there. But on watching the programme there doesn’t seem to be any duplication of content. Even after reading the book everything seems fresh.

What we get is an hour of video which really captures the spirit of the place, of both Sutherland and its people. The interviews touch on: fishing; exploring the coast by kayak,; the geoloogy of Scotland; on crofting; on the fight by isolated communities to control their own destiny; and on the hospitality available in local hotels and so on.

The star though is undoubtedly the terrain of Sutherland itself. The photography here is stunning and both the mountains and the lower land are shown at their best. The programme was filmed in chunks deliberately to capture the different seasons and this works really well. The use of the different seasons adds real depth to the programme.

I reckon this is a must for anyone planning to walk Cameron’s new trail. In walking through Sutherland I might not have time to visit all of the places that Cameron went to — I’d probably stick to the hills and the trail. But my experience of walking through the land would ultimately be enriched by having an appreciation of its history and its communities.

The book works well but it is nice to hear the voices of those being interviewed, the young crofters and farmers, the cave explorers and the chefs. In one section Cameron talks to once of the pioneers of the Assynt Foundation which was the first organisation to take advantage of new laws to allow communities to buy their own land. You can’t help be moved by listening to one of founders as he describes what land ownership would have meant to his father and the ancestors of others who have lived in this place for generations.

There’s quite a lot of the land as well, including one section where Cameron settles down in a wild camp, shows us his tent and the contents of his pack!

All in all I enjoyed this. The DVD is not cheap if you view it as a TV special, but it is good value if you are thinking or considering walking this trail.

I hope Cameron is going to be devoting more of his time to this sort of thing. I look forward to similar treatments of other areas and other trails in Scotland.

Sutherland: the empty lands?
79 minutes
Price: £15.99

Mountain Media: buy the DVD

The Assynt Foundation