The former Daily Mirror editor discusses his failures – he’s had a few – and successes, casts a critical eye over the newspapers of today and charts his remarkable renaissance as an international celebrity and television star.

In the United States political bloggers have taken on an importance that would be unthinkable in the UK, writes top UK political blogger Dale. In Britain it’s very different. The development of the UK political blogosphere, while much heralded in almost weekly newspaper features, is way behind that of the United States. Few bloggers have any sort of media profile and even fewer make any money at all out of their online activities... Blogs here haven’t got the moneymaking ability of those in the US, or their influence, or their profile. But in three or four years, they just might.

Fifty years after Edward R Murrow, the man credited with inventing television journalism in America, made a famous speech to the annual convention of the Radio and Television National Directors Association, media professor Barnett examines the state of TV in the UK and the U.S. and writes: "American television journalism has failed; British television journalism – for the time being – has succeeded. Why? And for how long?"

A former editor of Tribune observes that the left-wing publication’s future is once again under threat and asks to what extent is the permanently cash-strapped years of Tribune’s existence and its possible closure a measure of a decline amongst the political weeklies. "There is an uncomfortable truth for the Left, and this at a time when the future for the niche market weeklies looks a good deal more promising than it does for many daily newspapers. It is that for the last 30 years, magazines of the Right, such as The Spectator, have tended to prosper, while New Statesman and Tribune, and on the Communist left, the daily Morning Star, have slowly declined."

The communities editor of Telegraph.co.uk advocates the writing of articles and headlines with search criteria as a guide. But search engines will not end up dictating our news agenda as well as the way we format our stories, he argues: "Giving readers what they want is a sensible strategy, even though the overall mix of stories within a publication has to be balanced. Different editors will make different choices, but they are editorial choices, not SEO choices. SEO is value neutral. It doesn’t require you to dumb down, to fill your stories with the names of celebrities or to write 500 articles about Viagra every month. Even if you write about badgers, thermal dynamics or parachuting you will want your article to be seen by people who care about those topics. SEO techniques will give your article a better chance of being found."

The author of The Cat’s Pyjamas: The Penguin Book of Clichés argues that clichés can be good for you: while clichés may be poor style they are efficient forms of communication. That is why they become clichés. As Terry Pratchett puts it in Guards! Guards!, "Clichés are the spanners and the screwdrivers in the toolbox of language." Take a really crude example of journalese, such as a headline, "Tiny tot in tug of love". We may deplore the style, but there is no denying that readers know exactly what they are getting, and are instantly in a position to know if they want to go on reading. And she continues: clichés are both contextual and subjective. If you put the expression "run for your life" in a television drama, it is likely to be a cliché. If you are on a beach and see a tsunami sweeping towards you it is exactly what you need to yell. It would get the legs moving without any need for thought or analysis.

The ombudsman of The Observer newspaper notes that editors of American newspapers are shedding staff at an alarming rate as the financial crisis translates into a sharp downturn in advertising and readerships melt away and that among the casualties are 12 news ombudsmen: men and women who work within newsrooms, dealing with complaints, publishing corrections and writing columns and internal memos on their papers’ journalism. He believes that this short-term thinking is wrong and those in the UK who have yet to appoint an ombudsman need to ask themselves if they can afford to be without one: "It’s all about transparency. From transparency flows trust. Show your readers that you care about accuracy, about fairness, about getting the story right and you gain their trust. If they trust you they will buy you."

Journalists turned academic Delano writes that few occupations display such a gulf between ideals and reality as journalism and journalism education is no different. Journalism graduates will learn whatever their particular university is best able to offer. Universities are far from equal. Some turn out better history or science graduates than others. Some have demanding entrance requirements; others are so desperate for funding that they will admit virtually all comers. Some will not have the equipment to teach journalism to modern requirements; administration or staff may not be up to the job... So what is the value of a journalism degree? Even though it is now being taught and studied as never before, journalism continues to elude definition.

The days of amateur computer hacking are virtually over, argues the writer. Criminal gangs have recognised that large amounts of money can be made, and while they may not have the necessary expertise, they are prepared to hire or coerce those who do. As the only way to ensure that your computer is beyond attack is to shut it down, there has to some point at which the general public consider that the financial risk of doing business through the internet is simply not worth the convenience of reduced transaction costs. If there is a general move away from internet advertising because of the risks to the vendors and their customers, the advertising industry may turn once again to the traditional, safe vehicle of the press. Where newspapers are concerned, giant web scams may be their salvation.