Media: The Word On The Street

COULD THIS be a first? A shortlist for press awards that no journalist wants to be on. The mental health charity Mind is to award both a Journalist of the Year category and a Bigot of the Year. The Sun has no fewer than four entries for the latter: Richard Littlejohn ("You don't have to be mad to live here... but it helps"); Alastair Taylor ("Scandal of killer maniac's nights on the town"); George Pascoe Watson ("I'll sweep psychos off the streets"); and Tim Spanton ("His mum was a manic-depressive, his dad would only talk to him via a ventriloquist dummy... yet he could be the father of your child"). It will be interesting to see if the eventual winner follows the time-honoured awards tradition and has "bigot of the year" inscribed beneath his picture byline. Don't rule it out.

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ONE CAN rise and fall at Radio 3, it seems, as rapidly as a conductor's baton. Hilary Boulding, commissioning editor, music policy, was less than a year ago said in several newspapers to be hot favourite to succeed Nicholas Kenyon as controller of the station, and was said to be favoured by Sir John Birt. Last week, Roger Wright, who did succeed Kenyon, announced that three senior executives were to lose their jobs in a management overhaul: Martyn Westerman, commissioning editor, live music; Cathy Wearing, head of presentation; and Hilary Boulding. The three jobs will be replaced by a single new position: R3 head of music policy. Ms Boulding will be hoping that this time no one calls her front runner.

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ADVERTISING POSTERS in public loos, completely unknown five years ago, will this year generate nearly pounds 5m. The powder-room persuaders include such big hitters as Unilever, Vauxhall, Gillette, Boots, Nestle and a host of others. Government, social and political advertisers account for over 10 per cent. A company called Outdoor Connection, that has the delightful task of tracking this sector, puts the advantages of washroom advertising most charmingly in a new report: "It could be argued that from a pub washroom your next action might be to buy a drink, exercise your charm or drive home... And the audience is often captive and fixated on the wall directly in front."

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IN YESTERDAY'S issue of the New Yorker, Salman Rushdie wrote a passionate account of his love affair with football. The New Yorker's press release was eager to sound just as passionate and knowledgeable, though Rushdie might have been surprised that he supported "The Tottenham Hotspur".

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THE WALLS of the Council Chamber, where the BBC governors meet, are covered with impressive oil paintings of former director generals. An enormous Lord Reith glares down, representing puritanism. Opposite hangs Hugh Green, standing for liberalism. And below sit the governors with a big decision - the walls are full, and someone needs to come down for John Birt. "It's almost as difficult a decision to make as the appointment of the next director general," says a BH insider.