June 1's Swansea Bay Media Highlights

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For all those interested in & working in the Swansea Bay media
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Print Western Mail Click
News – The private company which operates the Severn bridges has raised nearly £226m over the past three years - but spent only £15m on essential maintenance on the original crossing's damaged cables.
Commercial – Great Waterstones hook-up with today's WM lifestyle pull-out ... 25 top summer reads listed and detailed, including Look Back in Hunger by Jo Brand, The Return Journey by Maeve Binchy and Oh, Carol! by Carol McGiffin.
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Broadcast Swansea Sound 1170mw Click
News – Dyfed-Powys Police arrested eight people in Pembrokeshire after an illegal rave in Dale.
Commercial – Typical ad break: Days Ford, Digital Radio, Splenda, Leekes, Enterprise 2000, Mercedes Benz.
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Online South Wales Evening Post Click
News – Canadian singer Celine Dion, 42, is reportedly pregnant with twins after her sixth attempt at IVF, according to the Evening Post's Daily Mail sister site. Click
Comment – Gavin Henson and Charlotte Church are said to be devastated following the break up of their five-year relationship: "I feel sorry for these youngsters who've had to deal with the weight of expectation from the Welsh public and massive press intrusion," says Mayals' Tony Buckleigh. "Yes, they may be wealthy but we all know wealth can't buy happiness. I wish them well and hope they will be able to perform on the big stage and remind us all why they became household names in the first place." Click
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Spirit lives on as the Swansea Bay media tackles bullies

They've come in for stick over the past few years, but newspapers driven by the public sector do have their place.
Take Neath Port Talbot's Community Spirit.
Since late last year, this Welsh county borough has had no local weekly newspaper it can call its own. The Neath and Port Talbot Guardians fell to the recession, the Swansea-based South Wales Evening Post keeps up a strong sales presence and then there's the Post's free weekly insert The Courier.
Ad-based periodicals such as the Community magazines, Neath Gnolledge and Valley View have also taken a foothold.
But there's no getting away from the fact that some people in the great, historic towns of Neath and Port Talbot are feeling a little short-changed by the media.
Spirit fills a small part of the hole.
It's published quarterly by a consortium led by the local council and also featuring the police, fire service, health trust, health board, Environment Agency, the Council for Voluntary Service and Neath Port Talbot College.
In that sense, it differs from Swansea's The Leader and Carmarthenshire's Community News, both wholly created by the areas' respective councils.
Of course, there's little in the way of "negative" news in Spirit, put together largely by the council's Emma Gray.
However, serious issues are tackled.
The current issue - datelined spring - has a four-page pullout titled Beat The Bullies. It carries advice and guidance from the Neath Port Talbot Anti-Bullying Partnership and points out that even big names such as Charlotte Church, Chris Needs, Nigel Owens, Sarra Elgan and Colin Jackson have suffered bullying in the past.
This is a fine use of any newspaper and Community Spirit deserves praise for using its resources in this way.
Media Master hopes that this anti-bullying initiative bears fruit.