Talk:Ashley Highfield

Adding a Link
I would like to add a link from this page to Ashley's posts on the BBC Internet Blog.

Are people/the wikieditor happy with this?

I am the editor of the BBC Internet Blog where Ashley's posts appear. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Nick Reynolds (BBC) (talk • contribs) 12:30, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Update - my apologies - there already is a link. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Nick Reynolds (BBC) (talk • contribs) 12:32, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Recent Dispute

 * First, where I put, somebody please provide evidence.


 * Second, let's clear out some vague areas.
 * "reform its media structure": how?
 * "who worked in one of the areas now being centralised": where is "areas"? in BBC? where did he publish his article?


 * And it all comes down to the criticism of Tom Coates & Ian Burrel's praise. We need to know how he criticized. Also why Ian Burrel likes the move. And it's okay to put two viewpoints because we are supposed to be NPOV, which means that we have to present arguments from both sides.

(Wikimachine 16:46, 2 October 2006 (UTC))

Responses to above
Hi, I'm the Tom Coates mentioned in the article, and as such I'm not prepared to edit the article itself, and have not contributed anything to this article through its creation. I have however been watching it as I've been referenced in it. I'd have no problem with this reference being removed, but I'm unprepared to do it myself.

The quoted section - should you wish to add it to the article - is from The Guardian article referenced here:

The BBC restructure is elaborated upon here:

The response to the restructure by myself is no more than a relatively well-discussed weblog entry and I'd personally have no problem with it being removed. The entry is here:

The reason the criticism is not well-elaborated upon and why there is little or no decent supporting material around any of the article is because it has been heavily pruned by a user HenryJames52. This user has edited only pages concerned with Ashley Highfield, except for two edits to pages on the BBC and bbc.co.uk where he added two links about Ashley Highfield.

The full list of diffs this user across Wikipedia as a whole can be seen below and should ring the alarm bells of anyone who reads them: diff one diff two diff three diff four diff five diff six


 * I've checked on the IP of BBC.


 * 132.185.240.122
 * 132.185.132.12
 * 132.185.240.121
 * 132.185.240.120

These users are from BBC, who evidently don't like Ashley Highfield. Now. I don't know who the HenryJames52 is. But I don't think that whatever his intention is or who he is doesn't really matter. Now, let's turn the table to you, Mr. Tom Coates. You contributed to this article through the IP address 86.140.118.136. Remember that you contacted me under that IP address. You seem to not like Ashley Highfield. And you also denied your participation in the article & said that you were only watching. But then, your activities show no interest in this article & your stay has been for more than half a year. So I guess I am solving a detective mystery here. I really don't know, but I don't think having one less criticism or more does matter. The article looks fine right now -along with criticisms that others have preserved. If HenryJames52 deletes those criticisms, I'll return them back. Plus, nobody has ever heard of Ashley Highfield. If one is willing enough to write intensively, revert, change, etc. about a guy who nobody knows about, then I have to question his or her intentions. (Wikimachine 01:49, 3 October 2006 (UTC))


 * I have not added any material to the article, I reverted a change made by that user. I wasn't logged in at the time. Ashley Highfield is - as the article indicates - named as one of the 100 most powerful people in UK media and as such deserves a page.

Article needs improvement
I have followed up on some of User:Tecoates work, converting external links to references & adding a little additional information. I have my concerns with the hagiographic tone of the Independent article but it is only being used here to cite points of fact, not subjective statements or anything controversial, so I think it's OK. I do have my worries about a separate "Controversies" section (this goes for all articles, not this one) - ideally this should be merged into the career section, summarising Highfield's time at the BBC (seven years in new media is a long time). Qwghlm 12:06, 11 October 2007 (UTC)

The article in recent months has been rather pruned of anything negative, and it's been replaced with direct quotes from the BBC's PR department biography and hagiographic articles like the one you cite above. Rebalancing it is going to be quite hard—particularly if you want to present a balanced viewpoint—but one would assume that maybe filling out the list of awards and citations would balance out any of the contraversial stuff? Bluntly, I think there's been some whitewashing going on and my belief is that—with the goal of a balanced piece—perhaps the only solution is to represent separately the good things and bad things that are associated with Highfield. It would make it harder to remove anything negative (or positive) without it being any obvious attempt to shunt the piece in one direction or the other. I would suggest that we fill out the various references in the article and then people can make statements to include in the article along with a reference in the discussion to be incorporated into the body of the text? 217.12.15.52 12:34, 11 October 2007 (UTC)

Could I add that I think the addition of the reference to the Guardian Top 100 in the top section is misleading. The Guardian publishes one of these every year, with associated comments and criticism. Highfield's rank moves around in this list. It would be better to cite his position in all the years to date (2001-2006) and pull out any comments that were relevant. His latest placing was #31—as seen here: http://media.guardian.co.uk/top100_2007/story/0,,2118621,00.html—which includes information on his budget, staffing, salary and further information. It also has information on his previous employers which could be usefully incorporated: "A computer programmer turned management consultant, he has also worked for PriceWaterhouse Coopers and was head of IT at NBC Europe. He also spent a year working for the African National Congress" and commentary on the iPlayer, "So why has Highfield, director of future media and technology and a member of the BBC's executive board, fallen nine places in this year's MediaGuardian 100? Answer: the iPlayer." Otherwise I should add that the article as it stands at the moment is far superior, more factually based and much more balanced than it has been in a very long time. Tom Coates 12:39, 11 October 2007 (UTC)


 * Thanks for that Guardian link, I have updated. I know one year is not as good as all of them, but my moving it to the top of the article was to replace the difficult-to-substantiate "He is generally considered to be one of the most powerful people in British media". The more I read the Independent article the more I dislike it as a source - perhaps paradoxically I prefer the BBC official biography as a source, as at least then any reader checking the references is able to come to a more immediate conclusion about the likely point of view it's going to take. Qwghlm 12:55, 11 October 2007 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just added archive links to 4 one external links on Ashley Highfield. Please take a moment to review my edit. If necessary, add after the link to keep me from modifying it. Alternatively, you can add to keep me off the page altogether. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive http://web.archive.org/web/20140215034947/http://www.pressgazette.co.uk:80/johnston-press-announces-deal-defer-%C2%A3300-million-debt-repayment to http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/johnston-press-announces-deal-defer-£300-million-debt-repayment
 * Added archive http://web.archive.org/web/20071217175247/http://www.silicon.com:80/research/specialreports/as2004/thelist/no01.htm to http://www.silicon.com/research/specialreports/as2004/thelist/no01.htm
 * Added archive http://web.archive.org/web/20080227084211/http://www.rsa.org.uk/acrobat/council_biographies.pdf to http://www.rsa.org.uk/acrobat/council_biographies.pdf
 * Added archive http://web.archive.org/web/20071128114416/http://www.rts.org.uk:80/Information_page_+_3_pic_det.asp?id=24376&sec_id=174 to http://www.rts.org.uk/Information_page_+_3_pic_det.asp?id=24376&sec_id=174

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External links modified
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I have just modified 1 one external link on Ashley Highfield. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20080220204253/http://backstage.bbc.co.uk:80/news/archives/2008/02/ashley_highfiel.html to http://backstage.bbc.co.uk/news/archives/2008/02/ashley_highfiel.html

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