talkSPORT copies from Virgin again - but this time I’m happy
Posted on Friday, September 14th, 2007 at 6:52pm. #
One of the effects of the scary events of 2001, for the USA, was a renewed patriotism. US flags began to appear everywhere. At the same time as George Bush’s US lapel-pin appeared, I went to a souvenir shop close to work, and purchased a Union Flag pin, which is still on my coat to this day.
November of that year saw the 10th anniversary of Sir Tim Berners-Lee inventing the first website. Tim is a Brit, and I saw this as a reason to allow UK websites to feel proud of our UK web heritage, at a pretty scary time for all concerned. And we have a lot to be proud of.
So, on the bottom-right of all the websites I worked on, including Virgin Radio’s, I placed a small Union Flag. This image is the redesign of Virgin Radio’s website in 2003, showing the Union Flag quite clearly. The original plan was to link it to a website which explained the history of the web, but I didn’t quite get that far.
In any case, that Union Flag has appeared on the Virgin Radio website ever since; even making it to the current design. I’m proud to see it there; and even more proud that the excellent designer, Anthony Abbott, instinctively carried it over. I didn’t even ask him to.
Now, there’s another national radio station, talkSPORT, which has regularly borrowed heavily from Virgin Radio’s website. Eager to launch their own podcasts a few years ago, they copy/n/pasted slightly too eagerly, leaving the words “it’ll download your favourite Virgin Radio programme” untouched, which looked rather odd on a talkSPORT page. It made a good Media Guardian piece.
With talkSPORT’s new redesign, I note that they have, once again, copied another feature from the Virgin Radio website. This time, it’s not hidden away within their website, but, like Virgin Radio, it’s there, proudly displayed (if a little more blurred), on the bottom-right of their front page. And I’m over the moon.
The welcome reappearance of Techcrunch UK, under the able stewardship of Mike Butcher, should also show that the UK is one of the brightest places for digital media in the world. Whether it’s Guardian Unlimited or BBC News, Virgin Radio or Moo.com, or even, um, talkSPORT, we should be proud of what we’ve achieved in this little overcrowded island.
I’m delighted that my little Union Flag idea has (finally) made it to another website. You’ll note it re-appearing once more on Media UK, and even this site, shortly. Please consider adding it to yours, too; the US-dominated internet could do with a few pieces of “Oh, that’s from the UK, is it?”
Ben said at September 14th, 2007 at 9:28pm 
steve martin said at September 17th, 2007 at 2:38pm 
