News & Events

News archive: A B4RN-storming Media Week

April 27th, 2012
Author: Chris Conder
Tags: b4rn BBC media
Posted In: Archive News

It has been, what you might call, a busy week for B4RN with the publication of several B4RN articles, (or B4RN-icles as was suggested the other day. Not sure if that will stick). Most have been posted on our Facebook page but it would be good to consolidate them all into one post. So here they are, or the ones we know about anyway. Let us know if we have missed any.

The first one of the latest run was an excellent article in the Mail on Sunday which was a full page spread. Here is the digital version. This article prompted calls from the Daily Telegraph, Sky News, the BBC, Farmers Weekly and others. Some would make it to articles, some would not.

The first follow on from the Mail on Sunday article was a piece on BBC Northwest Tonight. It can be seen here.

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And so followed many blogs and web articles. Too many to mention here, (just Google B4RN and set the time at about a week), but one particularly good one was by Farmers Weekly. It gives a straightforward report of what B4RN is.

Next up, Barry Forde was called into the BBC Studio at White Cross in Lancaster for an interview on BBC Radio 5 Live with Peter Allen. Peter is well known for his slightly “glass half empty” approach, and that’s how the interview started, with comments from Peter along the lines of “this is just a publicity stunt isn’t it?”. Barry soon turned the interview around though ending with Peter saying that he “could not find anything negative to say about it”, which for those who are regular listeners, is quite rare.

Then came the next newspaper article, this time a broadsheet and another full page spread. Again a very positive article even if the headline was a little cheesy! The Villagers Digging for Victory.

Finally, well I think it is, unless I missed any, was an interview given by Christine Conder on BBC Radio Wales. Wales is a rural area much like ours and could easily implement the B4RN model given the right community engagement.

In addition to this media interest, one of the management team is currently in the US on a self funded Broadband Road Trip. She has given a presentation about B4RN at the Broadband Communities Summit 2012 in Dallas which was received extremely well. The first instalment is on her blog here.

So that ended the week. A week that has seen huge media interest in B4RN, increased community awareness, increased support by our MPs. A fantastic week for B4RN and the community. The eyes of the world are now truly upon us. Many communities are watching and poised to follow when we prove what we are doing is possible.

Is that the end of the media interest? Definitely not. Phone calls were received by the team yesterday about something very good. If it goes ahead it will be great for us. Watch this space.

To end this article it’s worth mentioning that the one thing that all of the reports have concentrated on as much if not more than the broadband subject, is the community aspect. The fact that a group of people with a common goal can pull together to make it happen. It’s something that is becoming rarer these days and the fact it exists in our community is something we should be very proud of.

Keep spreading the B4RN word!

Update: Apparently we have a mention in the good news section of the latest edition of The Week. Couldn’t agree more, it certainly is good news!