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David Moynihan, Editor of Digital Spy, along with key section editors Alex Fletcher (TV), Simon Reynolds and Senior Entertainment Editor
Lara Martin joined us for our breakfast briefing.

Digital Spy is one of the UK’s biggest entertainment news websites with more than 12m unique users. It is the ultimate destination for all things entertainment, with a news team working round the clock to publish over 200 articles and features a day from TV, celebrity and soaps to comedy, tech, games, music, movies and media.

David Moynihan and members of the Digital Spy team provided a unique insight into Digital Spy and spoke about their site’s newest sections as well as what they are looking for from PRs.

>>Watch the Digital Spy Breakfast Briefing, filmed by Visual Media

On Wednesday 02 November Gorkana celebrated ShortList’s 200th anniversary at Rich Mix Shoreditch.

When ShortList launched in 2007 as a free weekly upmarket men’s magazine it turned the traditional publishing model on its head and changed the way consumers looked at magazines. Fast forward 200 editions and ShortList has the biggest circulation of any men’s lifestyle magazine in Britain, and both the publications and its journalists are regularly nominated for awards.

Guests heard from ShortList editor Martin Robinson and Tom Cullen, editor ShortList.com, on the secrets of its success, future plans and why they want to work with PRs.
We were also joined by a number of special guests from the ShortList team.

Drinks kindly provided by Budweiser and Budweiser 66.

>>Watch the Shortlist 200th edition Anniversary webcast, filmed by Visual Media

STV is Scotland’s leading digital media business and its news service, including evening programme STV News at Six, reaches over 1.7m viewers per week. On Friday 28 October we traveled up to Scotland for a Breakfast Briefing and tour of the STV studios and gallery.

At the event, Gordon Macmillan, STV’s Head of News, News Editor and Matt Roper, Digital News Editor, gave an insight into the editorial decisions, approach and processes that determine what stories make it on to the popular news programme, STV News at Six and website stv.tv.

>>View the STV Breakfast video, filmed by Visual Media

On Thursday 27 October Gorkana were joined by Martyn Hocking, Editor of Which?, James Daley, Editor of Which? Money and Alex Ellis, Head of Communications, who provided an insight into the areas they look after and further information on how PRs can best work with Which?.

Which? has come a long way from its humble beginnings in 1957 when the first Which? magazine was published from a converted garage in Bethnal Green. Over 50 years later, they are now the largest consumer body in Europe, with over 617,000 members that subscribe to the magazine, and over 254,000 online subscribers (figures accurate as of June 2011).

Which? is a consumer champion that works to make things better for consumers. Its advice helps them make informed decisions and its campaigns make people’s lives fairer, simpler and safer. Its services and products put consumers’ needs first to bring them better value.

>>Watch the Which? webcast, filmed by Visual Media

We recently held a breakfast briefing with Sky News on Thursday 13 October, which was kindly hosted by international law firm SJ Berwin.

Sky News is the UK’s first dedicated 24-hour news channel and has built a deserved reputation for being the first to break major news, consistently out-performing the competition and winning more awards since its launch than any other news channel.

We were joined by Joel Hills, Business Presenter and Dafydd Rees, Head of Business Unit, who shared their top tips for coverage and advised how best to communicate with them and their teams.

Kindly hosted by

>>Watch the video of the Sky News Breakfast Briefing, filmed by Visual Media

On Thursday 6th October we held a briefing with CNN International.

We were joined by CNN International’s Director of Coverage for EMEA, Geoff Hill, and Senior Planning Supervisor, Krsna Harilela, who are both based in the network’s London bureau. Geoff gave an overview of the network’s newsgathering and planning process, and how he chooses which stories shape the news agenda. Krsna offered an insider insight into how she goes about securing guests for CNN International’s news and feature programming content.

CNN International is a global 24-hour news network with over 30 years experience of delivering fast, accurate, impartial news to a global audience of almost 250 million households. A team of 4,000 news professionals are based across 45 bureaux worldwide.

>>Watch the CNN International webcast, filmed by Visual Media

On 29th September we held a breakfast briefing with The Health Service Journal and Nursing Times.

Health Service Journal is the UK’s leading source of news and information on health management and policy. Targeted at healthcare professionals, it is an integrated online resource and magazine. From primary care commissioning to mental health, from policy-making to the frontline, HSJ is an unrivalled source of news, analysis and opinion.

Nursing Times is the top weekly magazine for nurses in the United Kingdom. The magazine and its website nursingtimes.net publish original nursing research and a host of clinical articles for nurses at all stages in their career. It also provides a professional and clinical news service; an extensive Opinion section with in-depth features on nursing issues and topics.

We were delighted to be joined by Rebecca Creamer, Commissioning Editor, Health Service Journal and Jenni Middleton, Editor, Nursing Times who discussed their publications and the opportunities for coverage.

>>Watch the Healthcare breakfast webcast, filmed by Visual Media

Our breakfast briefing with The Sunday Telegraph took place on 21 September and was hosted by RBS.

We were delighted to be joined by Business Editor, Kamal Ahmed and Deputy Business Editor, James Quinn. Kamal and James gave a fresh perspective on the world of business and finance and also shared their thoughts on how to maximise opportunities for coverage and how they prefer to work with PRs.

Kindly hosted by

Watch the webcast of The Sunday Telegraph briefing, filmed by Visual Media

On the 16th September we held an entertaining breakfast with ITN’s Entertainment Producers and Editors.

ITN is one of the world’s leading news and multimedia content companies and for this session we will turned our attention specifically to the development and production of Entertainment news.

The following senior producers and editors from across ITN’s divisions took part:

Matthew Cain, Culture Editor, Channel 4 News
Max Velody, Entertainment Editor, London Tonight
Jamie Scott, Executive Producer, Entertainment, ITN Productions
Jonathan Pascoe, Producer (Planning), ITN Productions

The briefing provided valuable insights into the workings of the ITN newsrooms aswell details about the production of culture, arts and entertainment news bulletins and documentaries. It was followed by an open Qamp;A with the panelists.

>>Watch the ITN Entertainment webcast, fimed by Visual Media

On 07 September we were joined by Carla Buzasi, Editor-in Chief of The Huffington Post UK for a breakfast briefing.

The Huffington Post UK was launched in July by internet entrepreneur Arianna Huffington. Since selling to AOL Arianna was able to create a UK site. Like its US counterpart The Huffington Post UK covers news, politics, entertainment, style, lifestyle, celebrity, comedy and technology.

The Huffington Post is a news website and user-generated blog that includes features from its own journalists as well as stories from other news sites and blogs. It is well-known for its contributions from guest celebrity bloggers.

Carla Buzasi, Editor-in-Chief who is no stranger to launching new sites following her time as Editor-in-Chief of Mydaily.co.uk as well as AOL’s other publications told us about her team and how it is growing to support the many new sections launching on The Huffington Post UK and how PRs can help her get some great content onto the site.

>>Watch the Huffington Post UK webcast, filmed by Visual Media

Read a full round-up of the event in more detail at www.gorkanapr.com – the leading source of PR industry news and features.