JONATHAN PHANG

MY WEEK IN MEDIA

Last week I watched...

I've been loving the BBC4 series, Jews (featuring the Faith shoes entrepreneur Jonathan Faith, right) I think the programmes have been absolutely compelling and I found some of it incredibly moving as well. What I found really interesting was the displacement of the second generation. The second-generation children seemed to lack a sense of belonging and where a parent would usually provide that, they seemed to be in a state of paranoia with their history. Because it was painful for the parents I guess they didn't want to burden their offspring with their history, but what the documentaries have shown is that it has given a generation a lack of knowledge of who they are and where they're from.

Last week I read...

I don't really travel to fashion shows anymore, but it is part of my job to keep up with what's going on. If an interesting story pops up then I will follow it. A story that caught my eye was the all black Vogue edition in Italy. I could be wrong, but I think that the black edition in Italian Vogue smacks of tokenism. I think it would have more impact to put black models in every edition of Vogue for the next five years. I'm sure it will be a collector's item nonetheless. There's a cynical side to me that says July is a bad month for any magazine - it's between season and everyone's on holiday. It's not a relevant fashion month. Find a black model and give her a career by exposing her month after month, not by making this splash.

Last week I listened to...

I like to catch Nick Ferrari on LBC because he has an opinion on everything and a voice that you can't mistake. I don't always agree with what he says but he always conveys his arguments convincingly and with passion. There was a lovely row about the cricket in Zimbabwe which was quite interesting. What I like about that programme is that the people that ring in are often no match for him at all, which adds some comedy value to it. I would love to have a row with Nick even though I don't think we would agree on anything.

Last week I surfed...

I think the internet is great for general information but I don't tend to waste hours on it. I went through a stage of flicking through YouTube last week and I do make daily checks on Vogue.com.

The modelling guru Jonathan Phang presents Britain's Missing Top Model, Tuesdays on BBC3 at 9pm.

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