For the record: 05/01/2009

"This honour recognises the importance of radio in this country. Radio is an astonishing medium that people feel passionate about and I'm proud to have played a part in ensuring that it continues to thrive." Jenny Abramsky, the former head of BBC Audio, after being made a Dame in the New Year's honours list

Money-spinners

For those many journalists recently, or about to be, made redundant comes a bunch of ideas from Moneymagpie.com, a financial website. Top Ten Ways for Journalists to Boost their Income includes such genius suggestions as "Search the Internet", "Use your Contacts", "Get into Training" and "Write a Book" (isn't that just what everyone says they're doing when they get the bullet?). Idea number eight ("Write the blurbs for greetings cards") is aimed at "those with a clever turn of phrase" and could be a fallback position if no work is found by next Christmas. The final tip, smacking of desperation, is "Gather up all the freebies and sell them..."

Film journalism

At least the film world takes a more admiring view of the journo, with current or recent movies celebrating the work of David Frost ('Frost/Nixon', right), Hunter S Thompson ('Gonzo') and Israeli journalist Ron Ben-Yishai ('Waltz with Bashir').

Missing in action

Oh, the beauty of an online survey. When 'Prospect' magazine early last year bravely attempted to identify the 'Greatest Living Public Intellectual', its poll was hijacked by internet-based campaigners and won by a Turkish cleric by the name of Fethullah Gülen. No, me neither. So in the January 2009 edition it has revamped this year's exercise, entrusting the choice of 'Public Intellectual of 2008' to a select panel of 15. The winner was American general David Petraeus. A sidebar refers to those intellectuals who were "Disappointing: Missing in Action in 2008", among them Gülen, the "runaway winner" of the public poll.

Pax for Paxman

Meanwhile, Jeremy Paxman, having been savaged by the singer Estelle (right) in the latest 'New Statesman' (over a haughty interview Paxo conducted with rapper Dizzee Rascal), must console himself with the news that he will be honoured by the Media Society at its annual dinner in April.