Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Serial media entrepreneur Nick Jaspan to join Forum panel on May 15th

Sure Nick Jaspan got his fingers (and probably his wallet) burned last year by opening and closing the independent weekly North West Enquirer. But it'll take more than that to stop a serial entrepreneur like Jaspan.

Just this month the co-founder of Newsco Media, which he sold, and j4b (Just for Business), of which he is a non-executive director, launched his latest venture, 'How-Do', a media industry news portal for the North West of England.

On May 15th, this survivor of the (first?) dotcom bust will join the 6th Journalism Leaders Forum panel entitled, 'Editor as Entrepreneur: Lessons from the Digital Front'. Other panellists include Eamonn Carey of the mobile media start-up, Random Thoughts Media, and Robin Hamman, co-ordinator of the BBC's Blogging Network. Bob Eggington, the journalism-turned-tech whiz whose projects have included establishing BBC News Online and TV Genius, will chair the discussion.

The event, which forms part of the Winter residential week programme for participants in the Department of Journalism's Journalism Leaders Programme, is open to all - practitioners, academics, would-be journalists and others who are interested in the challenges of leading journalism in a digital age.

To attend this open programme at 6pm on Tuesday, May 15th, in Greenbank Lecture Theatre in Preston - as well as the network reception from 5:15pm - please RSVP to leaders@ukjournalism.org. There is no charge. If you can't be there in person, you can view the live Webcast online and join othes in the chat room [Log in as a guest] .

NOTE: Applications are currently being accepted for the Spring seminars, which will include sessions by Eggington and Hamman, as well as other accomplished practitioners and academics: Managing Multimedia Projects: Harnessing the Potential fo the Digital Age. Please see the Journalism Leaders Programme website or email the director François Nel for more information.