It’s complicated, being an American, having the money and the bad conscience, both at the same time. (Louis Simpson from ‘On the Lawn at the Villa,’ Selected Poems , 1965) I haven’t given up yet on Aaron Sorkin’s newest creation, The Newsroom , but I’ve come close once or twice.

I’ve got the Bieber fever. I am going to hold up a giant placard, with Justin’s name on, outside his St. Kilda hotel, with a thousand other screaming fans. I am going to shout, ‘I love you Justin’. Justin, just touch my hand. Please stand next to me in a coupling photograph. Can I kiss your cheek? Will you look fleetingly into my trembling eyes? Let me hear your Canadian (American) voice, Justin. I do love you.

The Royal Television Society may claim to be ‘Britain’s leading forum for television and related media’ but it can still look like a rather old-fashioned institution. The Prince of Wales is its Patron and John Logie Baird was made a Fellow back in 1927.

In seeking to capture and manage attention within a competitive media landscape, promotion has become a major component of broadcast output, from the exponential increase in promos, logos, idents and trailers, to new forms of branded and interactive content.  In this broadcast ecology an industry sector has emerged specializing in promotional communication and digital screen design.

On Tuesday this week I arrived back in Australia, early in the morning, from three weeks conferencing and researching in Europe. I spent the day engaged in the gently restorative process of unpacking, washing, and sorting through the accumulated notes and debris of scholarly behaviour.

As the ‘History of Television for Women in Britain’ team heave a collective sigh of relief at the completion of our main ‘impact’ activities for this project, I thought I would take advantage of the opportunity of blogging for CST to talk about our most recent impact adventure, and to reflect, on behalf of the team, on what we hope this aspect of the project might have achieved.

I must admit that, when I first thought about writing something for this month, I planned on writing about the personal impact of season finales, like Mad Men ’s or Justified ’s or* The Walking Dead*’s. Although the rational part of me knows that these breaks are deliberately created and necessary, so that the writers, actors, producers, etc., can regroup and plan out the next story arc or the next series of

As the whole world is about to discover, Britain is more than usually wet this year. As Charlie Brooker puts it, we will be trying to stage the Olympics under water. So imagine my delight at BBC One’s latest primetime miniseries *Blackout. * It’s a drama of political corruption, set in a rainsodden city dominated by Victorian buildings with a drastic shortage of lighting.

There was an eerie feeling in Mexico City’s Benito Juárez Airport on the morning of July 1 as I made my way to Guadalajara to talk about global Hollywood, greening the media, cultural citizenship, and the new right of cultural studies. Quite a mouthful.

I am currently sifting through some of the data from our 100+ interviews with television and digital media producers from the BBC, Channel 4 and the independent television and digital sector. Some of our central questions have been: what does public service broadcasting mean to those who work in the sector?

I have decided to turn over a new leaf and to stop moaning about the lack of HBO on my TV screen. It all came about last weekend when I realised that I had been carrying this bitter burden for nearly a year now.  Rather than writing about US TV (which is what I have always done) I have been writing about the lack of US TV in my life.