#jsc UK media must provide more information on Welsh issues, says Welsh Assembly minister

The UK press needs to provide more information on Welsh issues and cultural differences, Leighton Andrews said at the Journalism Skills Conference in Cardiff yesterday.

The former head of public affairs for the BBC and now Minister for Children, Education and Lifelong Learning in the Welsh Assembly has been at the centre of UK media attention in the past few days following a speech in the Welsh Assembly about not raising student tuition fees in Wales.

Opening the NCTJ Journalism Skills conference yesterday, Andrews said that when reading the London press "you could have got the impression, until this week, that devolution hadn't happened."

"What we would ask of the UK media is some reflection and recognition that governance is changing in the UK," he said, according to a report by the NCTJ.

"We need recognition in national reports that if something happens in England it doesn't necessarily happen in Wales."

"There are big challenges facing Wales. Not all is perfect but we ask for a fair hearing for the diversity of cultures in different parts of the UK."

Later in the day delegates heard more on reporting devolution from Mike Gilson, editor of the Belfast Telegraph and Betsan Powys, political editor at BBC Wales.

More coverage of the conference will be available on the Journalism Diversity Fund website from two journalism students at Cardiff University, Ben Bostock and Katey Pigden, who have been covering the debate with reports, video and photos.

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