The Word on the Street

The BBC had been rather banking on The Guardian for some publicity for its new drama, Fields of Gold, starring Anna Friel as a press photographer. After all, it was co-authored by Alan Rusbridger, The Guardian's editor, with Ronan Bennett, the partner of Georgina Henry, Rusbridger's deputy. But it seems that Mr Rusbridger has come over all bashful. "He won't have anything in the paper," a BBC insider confides. "He's being coy."

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH yesterday appointed a new editor for its Saturday magazine following the departure of Emma Soames. She is Michele Lavery, who started as Veronica Wadley's assistant on the Telegraph and was later a senior executive on Marie Claire. Her appointment did not make for a happy Monday for some senior Telegraph staff. A number of them had applied.

THE PROSPECT of "another pompous columnist crawling out of the woodwork" and proclaiming that they like the TV show Pop Idol is "almost too much to bear" says The Guardian's online media diary, cocking a snook at the Daily Mail's Ray Connolly. What other "pompous columnists" do they have in mind? Surely not The Guardian's own Jonathan Freedland, who wrote last month: "I'll confess it: I'm hooked on Pop Idol. Like admitting an addiction to junk food or a paid subscription to Heat, this is probably not a boast to make in polite company, but there it is."

AURIOL STEVENS, editor of the Times Higher Education Supplement, is stepping down. John O'Leary, education editor of The Times, is a favourite to succeed her. A number of former staff dotted around Fleet Street are likely to apply for the post – once they have regained their composure. Apparently, some alumni were upset that the THES neglected to invite them to its recent 30th anniversary party.