18 Doughty Street
Encyclopedia
18 Doughty Street was a British
political internet-based broadcaster that hosted a webcast
as its chief product. It began broadcasting at 18:55 on 10 October 2006, from its studio at 18 Doughty Street
in the Bloomsbury
area of London
, and ceased broadcasting at 23:00 on Thursday 8 November 2007. It claimed to be Britain's first internet-based TV station.
and its core presenters at launch included Iain Dale
, Tim Montgomerie
, Rena Valeh, Zoe Phillips and Donal Blaney. Alex Story, a director of the company at the time of the launch, wrote the concept on which the station was based, built the studio, and initially organised the production of the channel.
Tim Montgomerie suddenly left 18 Doughty Street around March 2007 to work on other products and was replaced by Shane Greer, who became a full-time presenter at the station whilst also acting as Executive Director for Young Britons' Foundation. The station also hosted programmes produced and presented by Alan Mendoza, Peter Tatchell
, Christian Wolmar
, Christine Constable and Claire Fox
.
The station used live video streaming technology in Windows Media Format to webcast
from 19:00 until midnight from Monday to Friday, with all programmes being made available to stream again shortly after the programme had aired. Viewers could not download archived videos to their computer or portable device directly from the site, although a video podcast service of all archive videos was offered shortly before the station ceased broadcasting.
Although it called itself a "TV station", legally it was not, so did not operate under the Ofcom
Broadcasting Code, which requires "due impartiality" and prevents politicians being newsreaders, interviewers or reporters in any news programme.
At the point of launch, there were four directors of the company, Alex Story, Iain Dale
, Tim Montgomerie
and Stephan Shakespeare
, all Conservative Party
members and self-described conservatives, but did not represent the Conservative Party in an official capacity on the station. In late 2006 Alex Story left as a Director of the company, followed by the resignations of Tim Montgomerie around March 2007 and of Donal Blaney in October 2007, followed by Iain Dale later in around December 2007. The latter three were said to be leaving to focus on other projects.
On 22 January 2007 a redesign of the website
was launched to promote additional services that 18 Doughty Street wanted to produce: written news and opinion, news links, and what was billed as a series of controversial "attack" adverts that were to be released on a weekly basis. However, only four were ever produced and their cost rumoured to be disproportionate to success. The total makeover was also supposed to realise the citizen journalism
element of 18 Doughty Street and allowed contributors to submit videos for inclusion in the website publications and live productions. However, this project had no success. Tim Montgomorie bought 100 Sanyo C5 digital camcorders, but only a handful of videos were received amongst reports of technical difficulties with the externally developed platform and a lack of editing skills.
also decided to move on from the station leaving Stephan Shakespeare as the sole remaining director of the company. With the core team collapsed, including the resignations or sackings of production and back office staff, and rumours of a lack of interest from potential investors the project finally collapsed completely when the main investor, Stephan Shakespeare
, decided to instead start PoliticsHome in the same building in partnership with Freddie Sayers and also led by the return of some staff, including former Director Tim Montgomerie, who had previously resigned from 18 Doughty Street when it was a TV station following what is now revealed as a senior-level split over the direction of the TV station earlier in 2007.
's efforts to move the TV station away from the right-wing area of politics.
18 Doughty Street also launched right-wing websites CentreRight.com and BritainAndAmerica.com in early 2007, prior to Montgomerie's departure. CentreRight.com still carries 18 Doughty Street branding, whereas BritainAndAmerica has been rebranded under Conservative Home. Although it was already operational, CentreRight.com launched again in January 2008.
and founder of the Centre for Social Justice
Rt Hon
Iain Duncan-Smith MP
appeared on Issue of the Hour and One to One from the stations beginnings.
Other guests have included:
, Ken Livingstone
. Users of the channel's website were invited to vote between a number of alternative outlines, the winner being made into a campaign advert.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
political internet-based broadcaster that hosted a webcast
Webcast
A webcast is a media presentation distributed over the Internet using streaming media technology to distribute a single content source to many simultaneous listeners/viewers. A webcast may either be distributed live or on demand...
as its chief product. It began broadcasting at 18:55 on 10 October 2006, from its studio at 18 Doughty Street
Doughty Street
Doughty Street is a broad tree lined street in the Holborn district of the London Borough of Camden. The southern part is a continuation of the short John Street, which comes off Theobalds Road. The northern part crosses Guilford Street and ends at Mecklenburgh Square.The street contains mainly...
in the Bloomsbury
Bloomsbury
-Places:* Bloomsbury is an area in central London.* Bloomsbury , related local government unit* Bloomsbury, New Jersey, New Jersey, USA* Bloomsbury , listed on the NRHP in Maryland...
area of London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, and ceased broadcasting at 23:00 on Thursday 8 November 2007. It claimed to be Britain's first internet-based TV station.
Birth and Early Beginnings
Doughty Media Limited was founded by Stephan ShakespeareStephan Shakespeare
Stephan Shakespeare is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of the high-profile British Internet-based market research and opinion polls company YouGov...
and its core presenters at launch included Iain Dale
Iain Dale
Iain Campbell Dale is best known for his conservative-minded British political blog Iain Dale's Diary and for his frequent appearances on UK news channels as a political commentator. He is also a publisher, broadcaster and former Conservative Party politician...
, Tim Montgomerie
Tim Montgomerie
Tim Montgomerie is best known as the co-founder of the Centre for Social Justice and as Editor of the ConservativeHome website, and has been described as "one of the most important Conservative activists of the past 20 years"....
, Rena Valeh, Zoe Phillips and Donal Blaney. Alex Story, a director of the company at the time of the launch, wrote the concept on which the station was based, built the studio, and initially organised the production of the channel.
Tim Montgomerie suddenly left 18 Doughty Street around March 2007 to work on other products and was replaced by Shane Greer, who became a full-time presenter at the station whilst also acting as Executive Director for Young Britons' Foundation. The station also hosted programmes produced and presented by Alan Mendoza, Peter Tatchell
Peter Tatchell
Peter Gary Tatchell is an Australian-born British political campaigner best known for his work with LGBT social movements...
, Christian Wolmar
Christian Wolmar
Christian Wolmar is a British journalist, author, and railway historian of Swedish and Russian descent. He is best known for his books and commentary on transport, especially as a pundit on Britain's railway network, and was named Transport Journalist of the Year in the National Transport Awards in...
, Christine Constable and Claire Fox
Claire Fox
Claire Fox , also known as Claire Foster, is a British writer. She is the director and founder of the British think tank, the Institute of Ideas, and a prominent former member of the Revolutionary Communist Party....
.
The station used live video streaming technology in Windows Media Format to webcast
Webcast
A webcast is a media presentation distributed over the Internet using streaming media technology to distribute a single content source to many simultaneous listeners/viewers. A webcast may either be distributed live or on demand...
from 19:00 until midnight from Monday to Friday, with all programmes being made available to stream again shortly after the programme had aired. Viewers could not download archived videos to their computer or portable device directly from the site, although a video podcast service of all archive videos was offered shortly before the station ceased broadcasting.
Although it called itself a "TV station", legally it was not, so did not operate under the Ofcom
Ofcom
Ofcom is the government-approved regulatory authority for the broadcasting and telecommunications industries in the United Kingdom. Ofcom was initially established by the Office of Communications Act 2002. It received its full authority from the Communications Act 2003...
Broadcasting Code, which requires "due impartiality" and prevents politicians being newsreaders, interviewers or reporters in any news programme.
At the point of launch, there were four directors of the company, Alex Story, Iain Dale
Iain Dale
Iain Campbell Dale is best known for his conservative-minded British political blog Iain Dale's Diary and for his frequent appearances on UK news channels as a political commentator. He is also a publisher, broadcaster and former Conservative Party politician...
, Tim Montgomerie
Tim Montgomerie
Tim Montgomerie is best known as the co-founder of the Centre for Social Justice and as Editor of the ConservativeHome website, and has been described as "one of the most important Conservative activists of the past 20 years"....
and Stephan Shakespeare
Stephan Shakespeare
Stephan Shakespeare is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of the high-profile British Internet-based market research and opinion polls company YouGov...
, all Conservative Party
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
members and self-described conservatives, but did not represent the Conservative Party in an official capacity on the station. In late 2006 Alex Story left as a Director of the company, followed by the resignations of Tim Montgomerie around March 2007 and of Donal Blaney in October 2007, followed by Iain Dale later in around December 2007. The latter three were said to be leaving to focus on other projects.
On 22 January 2007 a redesign of the website
Website
A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...
was launched to promote additional services that 18 Doughty Street wanted to produce: written news and opinion, news links, and what was billed as a series of controversial "attack" adverts that were to be released on a weekly basis. However, only four were ever produced and their cost rumoured to be disproportionate to success. The total makeover was also supposed to realise the citizen journalism
Citizen journalism
Citizen journalism is the concept of members of the public "playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing and disseminating news and information," according to the seminal 2003 report We Media: How Audiences are Shaping the Future of News and Information...
element of 18 Doughty Street and allowed contributors to submit videos for inclusion in the website publications and live productions. However, this project had no success. Tim Montgomorie bought 100 Sanyo C5 digital camcorders, but only a handful of videos were received amongst reports of technical difficulties with the externally developed platform and a lack of editing skills.
Collapse & Shutdown
18 Doughty Street stopped broadcasting on 19 November 2007 claiming that it was being taken off-air to make a range of improvements. Around the same time Donal Blaney and Iain DaleIain Dale
Iain Campbell Dale is best known for his conservative-minded British political blog Iain Dale's Diary and for his frequent appearances on UK news channels as a political commentator. He is also a publisher, broadcaster and former Conservative Party politician...
also decided to move on from the station leaving Stephan Shakespeare as the sole remaining director of the company. With the core team collapsed, including the resignations or sackings of production and back office staff, and rumours of a lack of interest from potential investors the project finally collapsed completely when the main investor, Stephan Shakespeare
Stephan Shakespeare
Stephan Shakespeare is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of the high-profile British Internet-based market research and opinion polls company YouGov...
, decided to instead start PoliticsHome in the same building in partnership with Freddie Sayers and also led by the return of some staff, including former Director Tim Montgomerie, who had previously resigned from 18 Doughty Street when it was a TV station following what is now revealed as a senior-level split over the direction of the TV station earlier in 2007.
Other websites
18 Doughty Street displayed its brand on a website called The Fisk that featured a variety of contributors critiquing left-leaning commentary and opinion pieces. Following the resignation of Tim Montgomerie from 18 Doughty Street, the website has been re-branded under Conservative Home as part of Stephan ShakespeareStephan Shakespeare
Stephan Shakespeare is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of the high-profile British Internet-based market research and opinion polls company YouGov...
's efforts to move the TV station away from the right-wing area of politics.
18 Doughty Street also launched right-wing websites CentreRight.com and BritainAndAmerica.com in early 2007, prior to Montgomerie's departure. CentreRight.com still carries 18 Doughty Street branding, whereas BritainAndAmerica has been rebranded under Conservative Home. Although it was already operational, CentreRight.com launched again in January 2008.
Contributors and Appearances
Former leader of the Conservative PartyConservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
and founder of the Centre for Social Justice
Centre for Social Justice
The Centre for Social Justice is an independent, not-for-profit thinktank set up by the Rt. Hon Iain Duncan Smith MP, to advance the education of the public in the subject of social justice and to promote the role of the voluntary sector...
Rt Hon
Privy Council of the United Kingdom
Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, usually known simply as the Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the Sovereign in the United Kingdom...
Iain Duncan-Smith MP
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
appeared on Issue of the Hour and One to One from the stations beginnings.
Other guests have included:
- Shadow Home SecretaryShadow Home SecretaryIn British politics, the Shadow Home Secretary is the person within the shadow cabinet who 'shadows' the Home Secretary; this effectively means scrutinising government policy on home affairs including policing, national security, immigration, the criminal justice system, the prison service, and...
the Rt Hon David DavisDavid Davis (British politician)David Michael Davis is a British Conservative Party politician who is the Member of Parliament for the constituency of Haltemprice and Howden...
MP (2006-11-09) - Lord Pearson of Rannoch (2006-11-20)
- Michael Ashcroft, Baron Ashcroft (2006-11-21)
- Conservative Peer Gillian ShephardGillian ShephardGillian Patricia Shephard, Baroness Shephard of Northwold, PC , née Watts, is an English Conservative politician; she was the Member of Parliament for South West Norfolk, and a former Cabinet Minister and is now Chairman of the Association of Conservative Peers.-Early life and career:The daughter...
(2006-11-21) - Matthew Elliot, founder of the Taxpayers Alliance (2006-11-01)
- Dr Don BrashDon BrashDonald "Don" Thomas Brash , a New Zealand politician, was Leader of the Opposition, parliamentary leader of the National Party from 28 October 2003 to 27 November 2006 and the leader of the ACT Party for 28th April 2011 - 26 November 2011...
, leader of the Conservative opposition in New Zealand (2006-11-16) - Rt Hon Ann WiddecombeAnn WiddecombeAnn Noreen Widdecombe is a former British Conservative Party politician and has been a novelist since 2000. She is a Privy Councillor and was the Member of Parliament for Maidstone from 1987 to 1997 and for Maidstone and The Weald from 1997 to 2010. She was a social conservative and a member of...
MP (2006-10-12) - Chris MullinChris Mullin (politician)Christopher John Mullin is a British Labour Party politician and diarist who was the Member of Parliament for Sunderland South from 1987 to 2010...
MP (2006-12-13) - Chairman of the Conservative Party Rt Hon Francis MaudeFrancis MaudeFrancis Anthony Aylmer Maude is a British politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he currently serves as the Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General, and as a Member of Parliament representing the constituency of Horsham...
MP (2006-12-20) - Australian Prime Minister John HowardJohn HowardJohn Winston Howard AC, SSI, was the 25th Prime Minister of Australia, from 11 March 1996 to 3 December 2007. He was the second-longest serving Australian Prime Minister after Sir Robert Menzies....
- Stephen TwiggStephen TwiggStephen Twigg is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Labour Co-operative Member of Parliament for Liverpool West Derby since 2010. He previously served as the Member of Parliament for Enfield Southgate from 1997 to 2005, when he lost his seat. He came to national prominence in 1997...
(2006-10-18) - UKIPUnited Kingdom Independence PartyThe United Kingdom Independence Party is a eurosceptic and right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. Whilst its primary goal is the UK's withdrawal from the European Union, the party has expanded beyond its single-issue image to develop a more comprehensive party platform.UKIP...
leader Nigel FarageNigel FarageNigel Paul Farage MEP , a position he previously held from September 2006 to November 2009. He is a current Member of the European Parliament for South East England and co-chairs the Eurosceptic Europe of Freedom and Democracy group....
MEPMember of the European ParliamentA Member of the European Parliament is a person who has been elected to the European Parliament. The name of MEPs differ in different languages, with terms such as europarliamentarian or eurodeputy being common in Romance language-speaking areas.When the European Parliament was first established,...
(2006-11-13) - Rt Hon John RedwoodJohn RedwoodJohn Alan Redwood is a British Conservative Party politician and Member of Parliament for Wokingham. He was formerly Secretary of State for Wales in Prime Minister John Major's Cabinet and was an unsuccessful challenger for the leadership of the Conservative Party in 1995...
MP - Andrew MacInlay MP (2006-12-14)
- Dr Graham BarnfieldGraham BarnfieldGraham Barnfield is a British academic and pundit associated with the hard left Revolutionary Communist Party .In 1993 he began writing on cultural politics in the United States under President Franklin D. Roosevelt...
- Dr Sean GabbSean GabbDr Sean Gabb is the director of the Libertarian Alliance, a British free market and civil liberties think-tank..-Career:...
, Director of the Libertarian AllianceLibertarian AllianceThe Libertarian Alliance comprises two libertarian think tanks in Great Britain that promote free-market economics and civil liberties...
Ad campaigns
The channel created a series of adverts intended to raise public awareness on selected issues. Topics included taxation, state funding of political parties, and the Labour politician and then Mayor of LondonMayor of London
The Mayor of London is an elected politician who, along with the London Assembly of 25 members, is accountable for the strategic government of Greater London. Conservative Boris Johnson has held the position since 4 May 2008...
, Ken Livingstone
Ken Livingstone
Kenneth Robert "Ken" Livingstone is an English politician who is currently a member of the centrist to centre-left Labour Party...
. Users of the channel's website were invited to vote between a number of alternative outlines, the winner being made into a campaign advert.