GLENNERS.

NEGLECT!

2011-04-19T12:35:00.003+01:00

So, as you can see, I appear to have neglected my blog.

Well, it is dissertation time after all!

However, I have found that most of my opinions can be summed up in 140 characters. Twitter: step forward!

So, look to the right and view my latest political/music/sport-related ramblings, you might just be tickled into a debate.

Follow me on twitter @glennhutt or comment on any of my tweets via this post.

Ciao x

GLENNERS' TOP 40 TUNES OF 2010

2011-01-11T17:21:00.000Z

If you don't want to be spoonfed the same old rubbish end of year charts, get a load of these gems.

40. OceanLab vs. Gareth Emery - On A Metropolis Day (Myon & Shane 54 Mashup)
39. Ferry Corsten Pres. Pulse - Festival
38. Laidback Luke Feat. Jonathan Mendelsohn - Timebomb (Vocal Mix)
37. Swedish House Mafia vs. Tinie Tempah - Miami 2 Ibiza
36. Majai - Emotion Flash (Sunny Lax Vocal Mix)
35. BT & Andrew Bayer - The Emergency (Today Is The Day Mix)
34. TyDi Feat. Tania Zygar - Vanilla
33. Tim Berg - Bromance (Avicii's Arena Mix)
32. Edward Maya & Vika Jigulina - Stereo Love
31. Susana Feat. Omnia & The Blizzard - Closer

30. Arty - Hope
29. Nic Chagall, Rank 1 & Wippenberg - 100
28. Above & Beyond vs. Kyau & Albert - Anphonic
27. Arty - The Wonder
26. Dirty Money Feat. T.I - Hello Good Morning
25. George Acosta Feat. Fisher - True Love (Club Mix)
24. Katy Perry - True Love (Kaskade Club Mix)
23. Jon O'Bir Feat. Fisher - Found A Way (Joint Operations Centre Remix)
22. Pendulum - The Island (Tiësto Remix)
21. DJ's United - Remember Love

20. Max Graham Feat. Ana Criado - Nothing Else Matters
19. Juventa - For That Special Girl
18. Miguel Bosé - Por Ti (Above & Beyond Remix)
17. Inna - Amazing
16. Clare Maguire - Ain't Nobody (Breakage's Suck It Up Remix)
15. Skream Feat. Sam Frank - Where You Should Be
14. Kylian Mash Feat. Akon & Glasses - Club Ceritifed
13. Vast Vision Feat. Fisher - Behind Your Smile (Maor Levi Club Mix)
12. Ummet Ozcan - Vimana
11. BT - Forget Me (Michael Cassette Remix)

10. Ben Preston - New Planet

I don't know why this track is so good. Probably the reason why I love it so much.

First heard: March, Record of the Week, Trance Around the World with Above & Beyond

9. Pendulum - Watercolour

Emotional and sincere yet crazy. Rob Swire & co. keep delivering.

First heard: May, Radio 1

8. Pendulum - Witchcraft

My computer OCD kicked in when two consecutive Pendulum songs were making my top 10 look scruffy, but try as I might, I couldn't drop one of them.

First heard: July, on their album 'Immersion'

7. Kano - Spaceship

Chase & Status + Kano = big things. Also my official 2010 away day anthem!

First heard: October, Annie Mac on Radio 1

6. Dido - Everything To Lose (Armin van Buuren Remix)

Anyone who makes a 'Sex in the City' soundtrack sound amazing has to be worthy of the top 10! Armin showing us why he's the world's number one DJ.

First heard: August, Trance Around the World

5. Vinny Troia Feat. Jaidene Veda - Do For Love (Matt Lange Remix)

If you have a "thing" for someone right now, listen to this track. You'll know what I mean once you've heard it. Such a gorgeous track. "Deep and lovely" as described by Above & Beyond.

First heard: November, Trance Around the World

4. Nero - Me & You

Dubstep is clearly trying to break into the mainstream. It won't be long with songs like this. 'Me & You' is guaranteed to elevate your mood. Cool video too.

First heard: October, Annie Mac on Radio 1 (I was dancing around the aisles at work!)

3. Ronski Speed vs. Yuri Kane - Denva Right Back (Plathysma Mashup)

Mashup of the year! Ronski Speed's dirty 'Denva' beats brought 'Right Back' to purity by Yuri Kane. Truly inspirational track for me during the second half of the year.

First heard: July, Tiësto's Club Life

2. Ben Gold - Profile

The piercing, edgy side of trance has been prominent this year - and nobody does it better than Ben Gold. Never heard such an intense sound. That's before you even get to the gorgeous piano breakdown. Amazing.

First heard: July, Trance Around the World, Ben Gold Guestmix

1. Aruna & Mark Eteson - Let Go (Nic Chagall Remix)

This track truly encapsulates everything great about this chart. Emotion, deepness, gorgeous vocals, but with uplifting kicks still included. It also puts on display the closing gap between house and trance, which has characterised 2010. Simply beautiful.

First heard: October, Trance Around the World, Nic Chagall Guestmix

Hot in 2011

Arty, Nero, Clare Maguire, Michael Cassette, Wolfgang Gartner

LAW UPDATE (WEEK 11: REVISION)

2010-12-09T15:07:00.001Z

Notes from the last law lecture of the term, which will cover the main points we have learnt.

1. Legal framework in the U.K

- Criminal and civil courts
- Criminal: state vs. individual (prison sentence if found guilty)
- Civil: disputes between organisations or individuals (i.e libel cases)

- Crown courts: cover indictable offences (carry sentence of 5+ years)
- Magistrates courts: summary offences (carry sentence of 5 years or less)

- Sometimes an offence can be seen as either indictable or summary, which is known as an 'either-way' offence funnily enough!

2. Court reporting

- Stage 1: After incident - report what happened (no danger)
- Stage 2: Warrant issued/someone arrested (case is active, kind of!)
- Stage 3: Police lay charges
- Stage 4: Trial

At stage 3, here are the uncontested things that you can report

- Name and age
- Address and occupation
- Charge(s)
- Date and place of Crown Court hearing
- Bail and legal aid conditions
- Names of counsel

REMEMBER: Prejudice leads to contempt, so be careful what you report and when you report it.

- During trial: no reporting when jury is not present.

3. Libel and defamation

REMEMBER: PUBLICATION + IDENTIFICATION + DEFAMATION = LIBEL

DEFAMATION is a tendency to...

1. lower individual(s) in the estimation of right thinking people
2. cause them to be shunned/avoided
3. disparage them in their business, trade or profession
4. expose them to hatred, ridicule or contempt

Libel defences

1. JUSTIFICATION: "It's true and I can prove it"
2. FAIR COMMENT: "This is my honestly held opinion based on the facts"
3. ABSOLUTE PRIVILEGE: court reporting
4. QUALIFIED PRIVILEGE: police quote, council meetings etc

Reynold's defence

- In basic terms, a journalist can be let off if the defamatory remarks are seen to be in the public interest.

- If you come to your conclusions after practising 'responsible journalism' (i.e - kept notes, diaries, recordings), your defence will be enhanced.

4. Privilege

- Read my notes from the privilege lecture.

5. Copyright

- In simple terms, copyright laws are in place to protect intellectual property that belongs to an individual.

- News organisations (print and tv) have an agreement to use a certain proportion of each other's material, such as sport highlights. This is known as fair dealing.

"Pictures courtesy of..."

- To give another example, if a paper picks up an exclusive, rivals are allowed to publish that information

- Same applies for internet/online material.

Read my notes on copyright.

6. Privacy and confidentiality

- WIKILEAKS SAGA! Perhaps the biggest breach of confidence story ever.

Three areas of concern. Do not report...

1. state (official) secrets (e.g - matters that may hinder home security)
2. commercial secrets
3. facts about somebody that they would prefer to remain private

Matters that fall under the public interest can often excuse breaching confidence of sources.

Read my notes on privacy and confidentiality.

WINOL YEAR 3: WEEK 9

2010-12-08T15:17:00.006Z

Here's what I did in the last news week on WINOL. Next week will focus on features to co-inside in In-Style's Maria Milano visit.

Monday

- Over the weekend, Chris worked hard to make the site look better and he has done a very good job. In all his excitement, he made a few spelling mistakes with the front page banner and other text he inserted. Like a good Chief Sub, I was on it in a flash!

- General clean up of the site. Got rid of old material, changed a few headlines for practical and editorial purposes.

- A bit of code forced Joomla to mangle the whole features page. Had to sort that!

Tuesday

- Chased up a picture for Stu's story: was going on the front page so particularly important.

- Found a poll module on good old Joomla extensions. Once it was downloaded, I put it on 'Extension manager' so I could add the poll about gay marriage onto the site.

- Spoke to our Picture Editor Jase Curtis about pictures(!) I found another fancy Joomla extension that could showcase his images. Maybe too late in the term for him to bother?!

- Another scan over the published articles. Checking the usual stuff: headlines, house style, legals, spelling etc.

Wednesday

- Subbed a lot of the Journalism Now! pieces from the first years and MA students. Didn't realise it wasn't really my job, but did them anyway!

- Then Output Editor of the BBC's Politics Show Tim Burke came in and we had some great discussions. We debated about the line between gay marriage and civil partnerships and whether the poll I put up was misleading as a result.

- He then went through the stories on the front page and made some advanced points about writing style and telling it properly. I learned a lot from spending the afternoon with him.

WINOL YEAR 3 (WEEK 8 DEBRIEF)

2010-12-06T18:34:00.000Z

Notes from Laura Barton and Brian's debriefs.

- We actually hit all our deadlines!

- Great presenting from Cara (news) and Will (sport). Handover banter was good too.

- Fantastic student report about the fee demos, but voice over could've been a bit more measured to let the pictures speak for themselves.

- Particularly good shots in sport this week; especially getting the Winchester City manager covering his face after conceding a goal.

- Despite technical issues (including the handback to news), the bulletin was quite bulky and had a lot of substance.

- The features programme was also good, had a One Show feel, and was another string to our bow this week.

LAW UPDATE (WEEK 10)

2010-12-05T21:04:00.003Z

Ian Anderson's media law extravanganza canceled due to adverse weather conditions!

WINOL YEAR 3: WEEK 8

2010-11-30T15:52:00.002Z

Monday

The documentary about the tuition fee protests was on the front page, but had been replaced with our latest bulletin, so I took the YouTube embed code and put it on the sidebar of features.

The video was joined by Stu's feature interview with Chris Huhne. We're starting to get big names on the site, which is really encouraging.

Also, I generally updated the content, including news and sport articles submitted over the weekend.

Picture problems: Jase had copyrighted his (excellent) pictures, so the embed code for one of Stu's articles was not available.

Tuesday

I have been putting a lot of video content up this week. Catherine's behind the scenes video at the Echo is very good, so I put that on the front page. Veronica/Maddie etc's fee demo documentary is now on the features page as it had to be taken off the front page for the latest bulletin.

Hobbs has been securing some big names in the comment department, including Steve Brine and the Bishop of Winchester. The bishop piece had two parts to it, so me and Chris decided to keep one half back for next week. We also jazzed up his picture to more of a close up, feature style image.

Me and Jon decided it is best all-round for the site to have one column. Two columns cause far too many Joomla problems whilst one column looks good anyway. There are still drawbacks with one column, including the need to write long headlines to fill the excess space. So we went through and sorted that problem.

Wednesday

Sportsweek was getting a bit old on the front page and there wasn't a new one this week due to postponements.

Somehow the sidebars on the site started to look bare, especially on the news and sport pages. Grant put Mikey's new feature 'Hit the WINOL woodwork' onto YouTube so I could put that on sport along with links to popular and latest articles. Andy's bible bashers VT was looking old on the news sidebar, so I replaced that with two of Stu's latest pieces on the tuition fees and council housing.

Latest: Chris has been busy over the weekend to make the site look better, check it out at WINOL.

LAW UPDATE (WEEK 9)

2010-11-28T15:59:00.001Z

This week's lecture was on codes of practice.

The main point about following the codes - as they are not actual laws like defamation - is that it helps to maintain a level of trust between you and the audience.

Three main bodies

1. PCC (Press Complaints Commission)

2. Ofcom: statutory body, covers broadcasting as a whole

3. BBC: has a code of its own (mainly because it is funded by the license fee)

EXAMPLE: Queengate row - led to Peter Fincham's resignation.

Why do codes matter?

1. guides us through ethical issues

2. how far to go on a story

3. guides us to do legitimate practices

4. makes us aware that circumstances can make a difference (i.e. - is it in the public interest?)

Key areas

1. ethical behaviour

2. fair treatment (e.g. - respect for privacy)

3. accuracy and impartiality (e.g. - your political affiliations should not be explicit, especially in broadcasting)

4. protecting vulnerable groups (e.g. making sure children aren't identified via jigsaw identification etc)

CODE ONE: Press Complaints Commission (PCC)

Often seen as the weakest code as it ultimately promotes self-regulation. In effect, this gives publications the license to 'make their own rules'

- Deals with 1000s of complaints per year
- Can force publications to publish apologies off the back of complaints. Always something journalists want to avoid
- A public interest defence can often override the need for a printed/broadcasted apology
- The code is still fairly effective, despite its apparent weakness

CODE TWO: Ofcom

Seen as a lot stronger than the PCC as it actually has statutory powers. Ofcom can fine an organisation up to £5.6m

EXAMPLE: BBC Radio scandal involving Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand

Ofcom can...

- order companies not to repeat programmes
- order a correction or apology to be broadcast
- impose fines of up to 5% of revenue
- take away broadcasting licenses

Ofcom is hot on 'undue prominence' (politics). Coverage of parties has to be proportional to seats won or who has a majority. For example, WINOL covers a constituency held by the tories, so we feature that MP (Steve Brine) more than anybody. If WINOL starts to include UKIP or the Greens etc weekly on the bulletin, this would not be tolerated by Ofcom.

Impartiality is also an interesting area. It is strongly required for all broadcasters, but newspapers are allowed to subtly show their affiliation. The idea is that buying a paper is a choice, where as the tv bulletins are often there whether you like it or not.

CODE THREE: BBC Editorial Guidelines

The BBC Editorial Guidelines serve a dual purpose: to act as a manual working document to judge complaints to it and as a general guide for journalists.

It is a useful reference tool, set up lie an encyclopaedia, covering everything fincluding:
- violence in the news
- publish taste
- electoral law
- reporting of war/terrorism

WINOL YEAR 3: WEEK 7

2010-11-25T15:00:00.005Z

Monday

Me and Chris only really had time to talk about the fancy slideshow we want for the site. Besides, Jon has taken over the visual side of things to leave me to the boring legal, spelling, grammar stuff etc.

A large chunk of this day was taken up by news meetings. News conference then features conference then editorial conference. They seem to get longer every week, which isn't good.

Tuesday

Tuesday was a lot more productive. Features was looking a bit bare, so I added a sidebar on the right to improve it visually. This had a knock-on effect on the stories, which had to be sorted ('read mores' etc)

Veronica worked on a picture slideshow for the features page. Flickr wouldn't host it on an external site (ours), so she had to re-do it on Final Cut Pro for YouTube.

Me and Jon decided to change the layout of news, sport and features. Joomla was too problematic with two columns, so we changed it to one column. The stories being under each other one after the other looks pretty good anyway.

Wednesday

HEADLINE: I may have saved next week's bulletin. No one spotted that 'league' was spelt wrong on the results graphic AGAIN, until I casually walked by and told them! Surely Horrie would have pulled the plug on next week if we made that mistake again!

More features work in the morning. I worked on filling up the new features sidebar. It now includes: behind the scenes video, two landscape photoessays, mine and Veronica's fly-on-the-wall election docs and the winter fashion thing, which apparently will be replaced soon.

There was a lot of football over last weekend and early in the week, so I put all of that up on the site with video. The code to wrap it around text is so difficult.

HORRIE'S HOSTILE ENVIRONMENT TRAINING (WINOL WEEK 7)

2010-11-22T14:30:00.002Z

Millbank (Tory HQ) became a 'hostile environment' when we were covering it. Here's some tips for anybody who may be in this type of environment in the future...

1. Make sure you have an exit route.

2. Communication: Make sure the newsroom knows your location at all times.

3. Have a clear plan: Where will you be at certain times

4. Have a 'fixer' - somebody who can guide you around the dangerous area in question. For example, NUS were our fixers at Millbank.

5. If you do get in a sticky situation: immediately give in and give up your camera.

6. Don't try and fight back.

7. Don't resist if police go to arrest you.

LAW UPDATE (WEEK 8)

2010-11-19T11:11:00.001Z

More notes on Freedom of Information. This time we had the pleasure of Brian's expertise.

The essence of FOI: The public have a legal right of access to any piece of of information held by public authorities because they pay their taxes.

100,000 FOI requests are submitted every year. It costs around £34m to answer that number.

Anybody can send an FOI request. In fact, only 12% are sent by journalists.

EXAMPLE: Kingsnorth Climate Protest (August 2008)
- Initial statement: 70 police injured
- After FOI request: 12 police injured, only 4 seriously

Journalists believe this is the 'golden era' of FOI.

When can they say 'no'?

If it costs more than £600 to find out the information.
(£450 for smaller organisations)

Other exemptions

ABSOLUTE: Security, intelligence, court records etc

QUALIFIED: e.g. - ministerial communication, commercial confidentiality etc.
There are 23 reasons for exemption in total.

Responding time

Body in question must acknowledge request within 20 days.

They are allowed a further 40 days to deal with the information.

Tip

Keep questions simple and to the point.

WINOL YEAR 3 (WEEK 6 DEBRIEF)

2010-11-17T15:46:00.006Z

TONY STOLLER, BBC/OFCOM

- Need to be careful of opinion.

- Sport too cliched.

- Believable bulletin.

- Production shaky.

BRIAN

- Talkback in newsroom with Lucy very useful.

- Presenters: Seb got over nervousness. Also, very good from Stu.

Hopefully production lessons learned.

Need talkback for Floor Manager and Prod Ed.

Moving to another program so that VTs run smoother...

WINOL YEAR 3: WEEK 6

2010-11-17T11:26:00.004Z

Didn't do much on Monday because I was ill!

On Tuesday, we worked on putting a slideshow module on the front page to replace the bulletin that gets old over the weekend. Picture Editor Jason Curtis took some brilliant pictures of the Millbank riots, which would look really good on the front page.

I also added 'Sportsweek' to the side of the front page to flag up our sports page.

The ticker is very hard to monitor and keep up-to-date, so we unpublished that from the front page until Wednesday when we trail the bulletin.

Wednesday was used to iron out production issues such as handovers, vision mixing and scripting.

A lot of us had the chance to present. I read the sport in one of the run-throughs when Catherine read the news. We worked on making the handover more natural, which was fairly successful.

WINOL YEAR 3 (WEEK 5 DEBRIEF)

2010-11-15T11:24:00.001Z

Sorry, nothing to tell! I was ill!

LAW UPDATE (WEEK 7)

2010-11-12T14:25:00.002Z

Week 7's lecture was on copyright.

Copyright, Design & Patents Act 1988

Copyright laws are in place because they protect an individual's intellectual property.

You are infringing copyright law if you make beneficial use or exploit material that belongs to somebody else - without their permission.

Any initial ideas you bring to the floor aren't protected. Copyright laws only come into force when they start to be put into practice.

Why should we respect the laws?

- Without this protection, journalism may never have flourished.

- Maintains the material's exclusivity and therefore its value.

- Works both ways: you can't steal intellectual property anymore than anybody can steal yours.

- Ignoring the laws will cost you money and a whole lot of stress...and perhaps your career!

Copyright Law In Practise

Ian's Aston Martin VT, in which he used...

1. Archive footage of an Aston Martin factory
2. James Bond film clips
3. James Bond theme music

On the surface, all three potentially infringe copyright laws but none actually do. Here's why...

i. Number 1 already belonged to the BBC as part of their library.
ii. Numbers 2 and 3 were covered as the VT coincided with the release of a Bond movie. During the promotion of movies, news corporations have a window of three weeks when they can legally use clips/music from the new release. Luckily the sale of Aston Martin came within this window.

It would usually cost up to £2,000 to use this sort of film clip.

BUT we should be aware that material is often lifted, though only to a point.

Rivals regularly 'steal' stories from one another. This is known as 'fair dealing'.

Conditions

1. Must be attributed (i.e. - 'x' told News of the World...)
2. Must be in the public interest to a degree
3. Must be fair and mustn't go 'bigger' than the original story. For example, don't give any more detail than what the original publication did. You can only go bigger by doing your own unique follow-up.

You are also exempt from copyright law when you use material for purposes of comment and review. For example, it is fine to run clips in obits involving the individual that has recently passed.

BUT photos are never eligible for fair dealing.

WINOL YEAR 3: WEEK 5

2010-11-09T16:57:00.009Z

First thing on Monday, I updated the ticker with breaking news as well as saturday's football results/mid-week fixtures.

We also changed the layout of the site to a degree, adding modules to make the content more dense.

There was a Basingstoke game that evening, so I had to go back on the ticker at around half 9 to change it from a fixture to a score. I want to make the ticker as fresh as possible as it's a lot quicker than subbing stories.

On Tuesday, I cleaned up the news page to try and make headlines/stories line up. The only snag is: making these changes is to the detriment of the front page. As a result, we will unfortunately have to compromise the look of news to make the front page look clean.

No such problems with features as none crossover with the front page. I asked Dom and Cara to line everything up on features. All running orders got sorted too.

On Wednesday, the newsroom was pretty stressed out, so I temporarily took over as Managing Editor to pull everything together. Headline clips, VT clips and reporter presence were needed.

During the bulletin, I stayed in the newsroom to update the ticker and preview the bulletin. At this point, the Millbank riots were in full flow so there were plenty of breaking lines to keep me busy. We were also had an exclusive line from the riots thanks to Maddie who found out protestors had got onto roofs before anyone else.

On Thursday and Friday I updated the ticker again - putting up latest news from the tuition fee protests and taking off older news that had since developed. I also put up text stories from this week's bulletin - or at least all those without potential issues. One of the problems is pictures: COULD REPORTERS PLEASE PUT A FLICKR LINK TO THEIR PICTURE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE ARTICLE THEY SUBMIT!

WINOL YEAR 3 (WEEK 4 DEBRIEF)

2010-11-08T13:22:00.002Z

Notes on the debrief of our bulletin, which was probably our best to date.

Most hits: Win with WINOL and James Knight profile
Reminiscent of the industry - competitions and 'celebs' most popular

We had a comment on the bible story, which shows that people are starting to listen to and recognise us. As a result, we need to keep a relationship with our contacts and portray them in a good as well as bad light.

Still not using our best pictures in headlines.

Too many establishing shots - looks stupid to have 4/5 in a bullletin, becomes a bit of a cliche.

Blurred out reg plates - very professional

OB presenting was fairly slick

Huge success with Chesney Hawkes interview. Proper celebrity.

Background image on green screen much improved.

Talking over talking heads in headlines. Shows the need for rehearsals.

WINOL Radio...great - another string to our bow

LAW UPDATE (WEEK 6)

2010-11-07T21:18:00.002Z

This week's lecture was on Freedom of Information.

'Freedom of Information' was introduced by Tony Blair in the form of the Freedom of Information Act (2000), which came into effect in 2005.

"Unnecessary secrecy in government leads to arrogance in government and defective policy decisions"
- Tony Blair 1995
(Hmm, looks like FOI did little to stop this!)

Any publicly funded body must publish their internal documents on request. This means they must...
- Keep a schedule and backlog this information
- Give it to you at no cost (unless the task takes over four hours)
- Give it to you in 'reasonable' time

Exempt are issues surrounding national security and intelligence etc (common sense really!)

The man with the plan when it comes to FOI is Matthew Davies who visited our studio a while back.

WINOL YEAR 3: WEEK 4

2010-11-03T15:34:00.004Z

ALSO: How to use the ticker

On Monday, I got News Editor Claire to ask for text stories straight after her news reporters finish their packages on Wednesday. Unfortunately, still only a few have done this. Apart from that, I looked over any outstanding stories that had been subbed.

On Tuedsday, me and Chris tidied/sexed up the site by writing some sharper tabloid headlines and top lines. I also gave Becky a mini-tutorial on writing summary style sport stories.

On Wednesday, me and Chris cleaned up the front page so that everything lined up and headlines didn't bust (i.e. - stayed on one line). We did the same for the sport front page.

Some of this involved changing the running order of stories, which is made very difficult by Joomla! If an article is at the top (number 1 on Joomla), it doesn't appear to give you the option to drop it down.

Then it was all about the bulletin from around 2.30! Just like last week, we replaced last week's streaming bulletin with a graphic promoting the new one.

Along with this, I updated the ticker previewing the top stories of the week. The ticker was previewing what was in the previous week's bulletin - equivalent to the day before in the industry.

The sport needed updating, so I spent two hours of thursday morning on their front page. It was very frustrating as it ignored the running order the changed it to, so it was very difficult not to mangle the whole page.

But on Friday, I finally beat Joomla! I thought there must have been a reason why Joomla kept ignoring the order I changed the articles to. In the menu item manager, it was set to custom or 'order' on news but 'default' on sport. All I had to was change the sport to 'order' on the drop down menu and this enabled me to move articles around to my heart's content.

WINOL YEAR 3 (WEEK 3 DEBRIEF)

2010-11-01T11:33:00.000Z

Mixed reaction from last week's bulletin...

ITV Senior Political Correspondent Chris Ship

- We did well to pull it together at the last minute

- looked after guests: good habit to get into

- headlines should have been recorded
- should have used GBH victim in them as well

- Andrew Giddings' GBH story was very good. Chris said it wouldn't have been out of place on a local bulletin. Even the pauses in his voiceover were timed well.

- The job losses story was a typical example of making news out of other output on a slow news day. Joey's OB was very well done, but we did see too much of the newsroom ceiling while he was on.

- Stu's story about stress in the council was picture challenged, so he did very well to bash out a VT on it. Good pay off too.

- Aimee did well with her David Gower piece. He was framed nice and tightly and she included good actuality and a classic graduate hat shot.

- Handovers were smooth, but guest could have stayed just to the side to avoid WINOL musical chairs.

- In sport, the questions to Winchester City manager Guy Butters were good. For rehearsals, get production staff to act it out.

- Black holes in news and sport: need to leave packages long.

- And finally, Chris thought the halloween teaser was a bit short if anything.

General WINOL Expert(!) Brian Thornton

- In the gallery, we were too nervy and panicy. But it looked good in the end, so it was worth the stress.

- presenters should be praised on their calmness and general performance.

- good OB from Jake and Joey.

- fashion feature: was great for adding colour to the bulletin.

WINOL Founder(!) Chris Horrie

Safe to say he was disappointed...

- Andy's story was the only piece of real journalism

- we need more options in news, to raise the bar in terms of content

- lack of direction in features

- political discussion: unbalanced, shouldn't have been edited down
- got a complaint for it: good as it shows we have an audience but bad...because it's a complaint!

- 'How to live on £20'
- good idea, but needs re-editing

- it would be good to for Hobbs to commission comment pieces from MPs, SU people etc

- sport is pretty good as always

- audience is down, need to put that right

LAW UPDATE (WEEK 5)

2010-10-31T14:34:00.004Z

This week's media law topic was privacy and confidentiality.

Section 8 of the Human Rights Act states that everybody has a right to privacy, including the right to enjoy private family life.

Civil Law

IN THE PAPERS THIS WEEK: Wayne Rooney on the front page of The Sun on holiday in Dubai. It is bigger news than it would have been because this has come just after questions over his loyalty to Manchester United.

So this is a clear breach of Section 8...

BUT...

1. The Sun would have got clearance to run these pictures from Rooney's agents.
2. It is likely money changed hands before permission was given.

Therefore, The Sun are in the clear, even though there needs to be consent from the subject of the picture in normal circumstances. The only time consent is not necessary is when the subject is on a clear public duty.

One of the most famous cases of picture rights is the HELLO! vs. OK! case

- Catherine Zeta Jones and Michael Douglas had given exclusive right to OK! for their wedding pictures, but not Hello! which also published them.
- In 2003, the judge said there was no law of privacy in which the celebs and OK! could recover damages from Hello!
- In 2005, the Court of Appeal decided the stars' confidence had been breached, so were allowed to sue Hello!
- But the decision that OK! could sue Hello was not overturned. See page 401 in McNae's.

If you breach any of the above, you can be sued, but if you breach the Official Secrets Act (1911), it could be a criminal offence.

Section 1 (see page 503) covers anything that could hinder a war effort or homeland security.
- For example, it is illegal to take pictures of army bases or power stations etc.
- You can be arrested on the spot under Section 33 of the Prevention of Terrorism Act.

Other sections cover what are known as 'silly secrets'.

Common Law

Everybody has a right to privacy (i.e. to keep secrets), so long as it is not in the public interest.

As a journalist, you have committed a crime and may have to pay compensation if you fail to uphold this right. This is known as BREACH OF CONFIDENCE.

A claimant has show all four of the following in court to prove you have breached their confidence:

1. The information has the necessary quality of confidence. This is serious information, which is not known (e.g. - your medical record). Things such as your birthplace and date of birth are regarded as 'tittle-tattle' so is not classed as breach of confidence.

2. The circumstances/place in which the information was imparted lends itself to private matters. For example, if you shout "I am gay" in the middle of town, your case will not get to court!

3. There was no permission to pass on the information.

4. Detriment to well-being has been caused as a result.

N.B. - the claimant has to prove every single one of these points to prove breach of confidence, where as in defamation, he/she only has to prove a tendency to one of the points.

Gagging clauses (in employment)

Although not part of a worker's contract of employment, they owe a common law 'duty of confidence' to their employer. This is so that any issues can be solved quietly and internally.

As a journalist, if you are interviewing anyone who is unhappy with their company (e.g. NHS?), it your duty to warn your subject that you are breaching this confidence if with what they are about to give you.

If they are still happy to carry on, fire away!

WINOL YEAR 3: WEEK 3

2010-10-27T11:04:00.005+01:00

We had a big push on features this week, partly because of the WINOL magazine that is coming next week.

On Monday, only me and Cara were in so we worked to get everything up to speed. Veronica gave me 13 features to be done by Wednesday (27th).

Chris then joined us and we looked through some stories/features with legal problems. We also worked out what HTML was needed to embed the YouTube videos so they wrap around text.

On Tuesday, we had another massive onslaught on the features and did a 'first sub' on all the outstanding news and sport.

On Wednesday, Paul took over as director, which meant I could focus on the site more - and trailing the bulletin.

Chris showed me how to use the ticker (scrolling thing on the site). We put what was coming up in the bulletin with sensationalised tabloid headlines.

Brian also gave me a masterclass on how to write top lines and the like. It'd be useful if he gave the same advice to the reporters, would be very constructive.

Then we had a debrief from ITV's Senior Political Correspondent Chris Ship.

WINOL YEAR 3 (WEEK 2 DEBRIEF)

2010-10-25T16:09:00.004+01:00

Winchester News Online Editor Catherine Hayes

General point: We still need to get in control of the script and the processes that will coe with it

1. Homeless people (Jack)

- good use of actuality
- juxtaposition libel? Was the busker actually homeless?
- weird interview
- funny jump cut

2. Spending cut chat: pretty well done

3. Court (Giddings)

- identification of reg. plate, potential danger
- excellent pull focus
- PTC slightly over-exposed
- very good scripting

4. Train fares (Julie)

- first shot quite long
- vary GVs more
- tense problems: used "this morning" when it was not possible in time

5. Last-min piece (Stu)

- Awesome to turn it around in a day
- PTC a bit close up
- Allotment thing slight overlooked in my opinion...was very good for pictures

6. Bishop (Mike)

- interview needs to be eye-level
- GVs: lack of relevance

SPORT...

- champagne thing a bit weirdly done, but great idea
- basketball: funny lighting and interview a bit echoey

BBC South Editor Lee Desty

General points: Good to get rehearsals in, gallery plugged away well, changes to stories worth the stress!

- Didn't grab our audience enough in first 30 seconds. Very important point for South Today.
- Maybe four headlines: two news, two sport?
- No actuality in headlines and we need to make sure we use our very best shots (e.g. - busker?)

1. Homeless people (Jack)

- interview a long shot. Get tighter!

2. Spending cut chat

- someone said "it's bad for us", understand the pressure of the situation, but need to remain impartial
- good initiative though

3. Court (Giddings)

- questions over paedo stories in bulletins at all, due to the family aspect...kids watching
- needed a mug shot
- good command of facts

4. Train fares (Julie)

- vox pops weak
- PTC well framed
- v/o needed more energy

5. Last-min piece (Stu)

- he really liked it!
- PTC a bit long but tried to get a lot of facts in

6. Bishop (Mike)

- Not great for an 'and finally'
- cutaway to a hedge???

SPORT...

- A big divider for a family watching, so three mins out of ten perhaps too long
- South Today has five minutes in 30

- Winchester City highlights needed a bit more colour and stats to add to the action we can see anyway

- Good graphic, lucky we can use proper logo for the league.

- Interview with Basketball coach: Basketball on desk...why?! Quite funny though.

LAW UPDATE (WEEK 4)

2010-10-21T16:12:00.006+01:00

Blog about this week's lecture on privilege.

IN THE NEWS THIS WEEK: Pre-nuptual agreements, more legal standing from now on. Read more...

Anyway, privilege allows us to write material that is defamatory and could be untrue (i.e. protection/immunity from being sued).

Two types

1. Absolute privilege - records from parliament and usually in court

2. Qualified privilege - but needs to be fast, accurate, fair and without malice.
And has to be a member of public interest.

Two levels of QP

1. with or 'subject to' EXPLANATION or CONTRADICTION
2. without explanation or contradiction

You have privilege...

1. legislature*
2. court*
3. public inquiry*
4. public proceedings of an international organisation or conference*
* - anywhere in the world

The following areas contain a grey area of privilege. They are subject to explanation and contradiction.

1. public meetings
2. local council meetings
3. tribunals etc
4. UK companies

N.B. - Associations (FA/GMC etc) - findings/decisions covered, conference type bit NOT the actual proceedings!

Pressers

Public meetings, officially public from only 2000 because of the Human Rights Act and the Clegg Case. Read more...
Written handouts are now covered because of the Clegg Case.

BUT consider risks for live broadcasting...put in delay if necessary!

Summary

- Must be fair
- Accurate
- Without malice
- On a matter of public interest

Privilege immediately disappears once outside the proceedings.

Interestingly, if someone shouts from the gallery you can report it to add colour - as long as it is not defamatory.
BUT it's okay if they have been a witness.

Read my (slightly late!) post on defamation/libel

WINOL YEAR 3: WEEK 2

2010-10-21T10:36:00.004+01:00

I attended the Monday conference this week to ask all reporters for text stories. Not every reporter has met their deadline though.

Apart from that, we caught up with everything that was already on Joomla for subbing. I'm perfectly aware that certain people don't think that we're doing enough, but there are so many problems with the articles in the first place that we find ourselves doing half the reporters' job before even checking for errors.

Obviously this isn't always the case, some stories have been really good, but some people aren't following simple grammatical rules and then subs don't follow the house style. We need a meeting!

On Tuesday, had a bit of a masterclass from Horrie regarding Stu's brilliant investigative report. The story was about councillor's allowances and how an anti-tax group was against the level of them. One problem was the credibility of the source IsItFair, leading to a lack of balance. The other reason why there was a lack of balance was the fact that the councillor at the heart of the story didn't comment. Stu did try several times but it was a bit dodgy, which I should have realised.

On Wednesday, there was a sport story that I had to sub before Chris kicked me out into the studio to direct the bulletin.

Amazingly, we were pretty much on time to rehearse but that soon changed when we put in two stories in place of two weaker ones. It involved changing the running order, headlines, the script etc and it was worth the effort. But frankly, it wasn't executed well enough.

As director, I hold my hands up for not dealing with the changes; I feel disappointed with fulfilling that role, but when you are still trying to direct a bulletin with a old script, it's not going to help.

After complete carnage in the studio, we managed to get the bulletin out on time and to a decent standard, which is what it's all about.

But it didn't stop there, Chris was onto me to update the content on the front page straight after the bulletin. I also had stories to approve for publishing.

Then I subbed a sports story myself after all of that. Let's just say it took me until 9pm to finish, but enough said about one for now!

WINOL YEAR 3 (WEEK 1 DEBRIEF)

2010-10-18T15:21:00.005+01:00

Debrief for our second bulletin of the term.

Jack's piece about international students ID problems probably shouldn't have been top story, but had a lot of potential. It started with a 'drop intro', which is usually synonymous with stories just before the sport or an 'and finally', so that is almost proof that is should have been dropped lower. Plus, we only saw Jack in vision for a millisecond during his PTC, which looked slightly odd.

Julie's tuition fee story started with an excellent pull focus. Content wise, the quote didn't qualify the fact that they were supposedly "demonstrating" against the fees. We needed to find somebody who was directly effected, so we could get quotes strong enough.

Gareth's housing story (OOV) had a good opening shot. Also, the sound was disappointing on the councillor - be careful!

Aimee's OOV about the Queen Elizabeth naming ceremony was very well done and just helped to fill the bulletin, which is obviously the name of the game. We don't keep enough natural sound in, but Aimee did well to add colour to the piece in this way.

And in sport, the spelling errors! I won't say anything else because this is such a serious/needless issue that others fade into obscurity.

The BJTC thing was also good and the presenters did very well when ad-libbing about it...but we could drive this even more...

LAW UPDATE (WEEK 3)

2010-10-14T18:09:00.002+01:00

Catch-up blog on our lecture about defamation and libel.

REMEMBER: PUBLICATION + IDENTIFICATION + DEFAMATION = LIBEL

Introduction

- This area of law can be a very expensive business, although there has been a lack of recent high profile cases - perhaps due to the current economic climate.

- 1998: Kieran Fallon sued the Sporting Life newspaper for accusing him of deliberately not winning a race.

- To avoid getting sued, it is always important to remember balance. If you talk to both sides, you will pretty much have your legal defence.

DEFAMATION is a tendency to...

1. lower individual(s) in the estimation of right thinking people
2. cause them to be shunned/avoided
3. disparage them in their business, trade or profession
4. expose them to hatred, ridicule or contempt

- Notice the apparent vagueness of these conditions. In statute, what you print only needs to have a tendency to do any of the above.

- Think about the individual(s) reputation at the time of printing. How much do they have to lose? And would an upstanding member of a community think less of them as a result?

Defamation via pictures (juxtaposition libel)

- A big danger in television. Voiceovers - in OOVs for example - need to match the shots on-screen. If we are too careless, we could be defaming somebody without even knowing it.

- Be careful with imprecise shots. For example, if you are asked to go and get GVs of a terrorists house that has been raided and you include the door of a neighbour in the shot, you're in hot water.

- Therefore, people/companies must not be identified in the wrong context.

Reputation and meaning

- Reputation is precious, remembering this as a journalist is just as vital.
- Meaning: how what you print is interpreted by a 'right-thinking' person.
Inference and innuendo our hazards here

Former Cabinet Minister Lord Gowrie sued over an article that created the innuendo that he was taking drugs (see page 307 in McNae or read this)

Journalists' defences

1. JUSTIFICATION: "It's true and I can prove it"
2. FAIR COMMENT: "This is my honestly held opinion based on the facts"
3. ABSOLUTE PRIVILEGE: court reporting
4. QUALIFIED PRIVILEGE: police quote, council meetings etc

Reynold's defence

- In basic terms, a journalist can be let off if the defamatory remarks are seen to be in the public interest.

- If you come to your conclusions after practising 'responsible journalism' (i.e - kept notes, diaries, recordings), your defence will be enhanced.

EXAMPLE: The Sunday Times v Albert Reynolds

Former head of the Republic of Ireland Government Albert Reynolds sued the Sunday Times after a story that hinted at the fact he was misleading his country's parliament.

The Sunday Times argued that the report was necessary as it was clearly a matter of public interest. The newspaper lost, but a year or so later on appeal, it was officially ruled that the media have a duty to perform public duties of this ilk.

See page 357 for more or read this parliament document.

Bane and antidote

Accusation of libel removed by whole context (of the article or string of articles)

- BANE = the offence, ANTIDOTE = the defence - perhaps something said later on in the article that draws on a more balanced opinion about the subject)

Antidote can be in the form of an apology or clarification, which can usually be found tucked away in the bottom corner of page 20!

However, you have no defence when you...

- haven't checked facts
- haven't referred it up
- haven't put yourself in the shoes of the party in question
- get carried away by a spicy story
- don't bother to wait for your lawyer's opinion.

Summary

- Who am I writing about? Could they sue?
- Is it potentially defamatory?
- DO I have a defence? Which one?

WINOL YEAR 3: WEEK 1

2010-10-14T14:48:00.004+01:00

Notes on what I got up to on our first proper week of WINOL.

On Monday, I went to Southampton with Showbiz Reporter(?!) Aimee to cover the naming ceremony of the Queen's new cruise ship.

We couldn't get near her at Dock Gate 4, so had to make do with filming her on a big screen! But we managed to get the shots we needed (e.g. "I name this ship..."). News Editor Kayleigh decided to make it a NIB, but it was a good piece to fill 30 seconds of the bulletin.

Meanwhile, my sub-editing team were stressing out in the newsroom over articles being published inexplicably. Hopefully this won't happen again as we are tracking it all on the whiteboard now!

On Tuesday, we spent the day pushing for pictures so that we could publish stories that had already been looked over.

On Wednesday, I turned up to find out that the bulletin was scheduled for the earlier time of 2pm. Not everybody knew that the time had been changed, which unsurprisingly hindered our prepartion for the bulletin.

We got there in the end, but had to keep delaying the start, which is the last thing we want to do.

I thought that my directing was better than last week. We have only been in our new roles for a few weeks, so communication in the gallery is poor, but I tried my best to pull things together as well as keep Presenters Tom and Claire in the loop.

WINOL YEAR 3 (DUMMY EDITION DEBRIEF)

2010-10-11T20:09:00.003+01:00

Here is my debrief for our dummy bulletin, the first of the year.

Let's get me out of the way: I was directing. Angus said I did well in the end, but I need to be unafraid of being bossy to get things done.

Joey's piece on the Tory Party Conference was excellent, one of the best ever on WINOL. Execution of the story from conference to submission was brilliant. PTC was very confident. Could've started piece with Brine, but that's about the only criticism.

Stu's piece on the St. Paul's by-election was good, but not one of his best. The "walking billboard" was a bit of a stitch-up! And contrary to Brian's comments, I loved the tie!

Julie's piece on student finance was very well scripted (that Glenn helped her with it...whoever he is!). Great range of shots and exemplary vox pops. Needed a stronger angle though, too descriptive.

Non-rape alley by Andrew. Voice over was clear, but lack of angle in story/scripting. Needed camera right then camera left for vox pops. Oh well, talented man - just an off day!

And in Sport...

As Chris put it, to get exclusive rights to from the fifth tier of English football is a fantastic achievement...so why didn't we plug it more?! After the post-mortem, sounds like it was because Grant took on too much last week. It can be sorted for sure and we will look even better!

Karen's PTC at the start of her package was a great idea, perhaps could have been executed better and went on too long. And after all, when that Clem guy does it on The Football League Show, it's bound to look better because he has the best equipment...and he's at St. Mary's or Hillsborough!!! But great highlights for a first time shot!

Dave - voice very good.

Women's Football. We flagged it up a little bit, need to keep driving it now.

General points: Don't say what you see and only include your best bits (i.e. not chances that are barely half chances etc).

Overall, bulletin was too heavy...we need to focus on light and shade more and cater for our audience. Presenters were brilliant as usual, although we could work on banter between handovers like South Today do 'n' that!

LAW UPDATE (WEEK 2)

2010-10-09T13:05:00.002+01:00

Here are my notes on this week's lecture about court reporting.

The main point: Risk of PREJUDICE leads to CONTEMPT.

As journalists, we need to know when there is risk of printing certain details and when there isn't.

Here is a simple example...

EVENT 1: (10am) Man steals £4,000 from a post office. Press release to that effect sent out by police.

At this point, we can use the information given to us to print that story. We are at the (short-lived) safe point. No one has been arrested. For example, we would take audio from Mrs Ivy Jones (the victim/owner who was supervising the shop at the time).

EVENT 2: (4pm) Man arrested in connection with alleged offence.

Case is now legally active.

Story will be similar to the morning's, still beware of accidental identification at this point and keep checking with the police as to whether an arrest is about to be made. If your next bulletin is at 4.30pm and you think there is a good chance he may be arrested before then, air on the side of caution (e.g - don't include audio from victim etc).

EVENT 3: (5pm) Man charged.

The case will now go to Crown Court as it is an indictable offence, meaning a possible sentence of five years or more. For this reason, anything that may be used as evidence, such as the audio used earlier, has to be omitted and made untracable.

A case is legally active when:

1. Police make arrest
2. An arrest warrant has been issued
3. Magistrates issue summons
4. A person is charged

- Police normally have 24 hours to question a suspect
- It can be extended by 12 hours by a senior officer
- It can be extended a further 36 hours if magistrates agree

- It cannot exceed 96 hours

The limit for terror suspects is a lot longer. The controversial 28 days.

Cases are always sexed up and ridiculously unrealistic on TV and always happen at a Crown Court. On the other hand, Magistrates Courts are the place for minor crimes/disputes - basically the non-juicy stuff!

However, Magistrates still have significant powers, which are:

1. Six months jail sentence or £5,000 fine
2. Suspended sentence
3. Conditional discharge (e.g - don't offend within 12 months)
4. Community service orders (may be worth covering if the person plays for Winchester City or Southampton, depending on what publication you work for)
5. Binding over (e.g. - sum of £500)
6. ASBOs (Anti-Social Behaviour Orders)

IMPORTANT: Here are the only things you can say when reporting to avoid avoid prejudicing potential jurors.

- Name and age
- Address and occupation
- Charge(s)
- Date and place of Crown Court hearing
- Bail and legal aid conditions
- Names of counsel

REMEMBER: Any risk of PREJUDICE leads to CONTEMPT...Contempt of Court to be exact, which is a strict liability offence.

Key Stages of trial

1. Opening
2. Prosecution opening
3. Key prosecution witness
4. Defence opening
5. Key defence witnesses
6. Judge's summary
7. Jury sent out (deliberation/verdict)
8. Sentencing

This is where you need to convince your News Editor to give you time to cover the trial. You have to cover days when the defence speak as well as the prosecution, otherwise your reporting of the trial will appear unbalanced if you decide. Therefore, your News Editor has to decide whether it is high profile enough.

Qualified privilege (QP)

Journalists have legal protection when reporting the courts. It prevents them from being accused of contempt of court and getting an action for libel. This is known as qualified privilege (QP). However, this privilege is lost if your reporting is not fast (in the next available bulletin/edition), accurate (importance of shorthand) and fair (free from malice).

Links

BBC College of Journalism - The Reynolds Defence

Chris' notes from course site

WINOL YEAR 3: DUMMY EDITION

2010-10-07T14:37:00.001+01:00

First of many posts to come informing my (extremely) small audience of what I'm up to at WINOL.

On Monday morning, Chris refreshed us on how Joomla, the content management system for WINOL. If anybody wasn't there and needs to know how to use Joomla, click here for a tutorial.

Then, as I am WINOL's No. 1 taxi service, News Editor Kayleigh James asked me to take Jack into Winchester to cover the 'controversial' opening of Primark. They were weary of our presence there to say the least.

On my return, Production Editor Josh Duffy asked me to direct for the bulletin on Wednesday.

As Chief Sub Editor, I was eager to refine WINOL's house style. On Tuesday, Brian sent me a copy of the mammoth BBC Style Guide, which I looked through and adapted the site. Don't worry, our style guide won't be hundreds of pages, but I will put one up pretty soon for the subs.

Then I went into the studio to do my first ever bit of directing! Veronica interviewed Seb Miell and Jez Davis about student issues and I had three camera angles to work with, depending on who was talking. Veronica told me the shots she wanted, we sorted them and she seemed happy with the vision mixing and how it went generally.

On Wednesday, we hit our first subbing issues (i.e. - we had our first stories in!) so I went through that - mainly with Seb. One of the main problems with reporters subbing stories on Word is it creates an annoying white border when it is copied into Joomla.

Then I went into the studio to prepare for directing the bulletin. Not enough time to prepare to be fair, but hey, it's a dummy! I left Rob to vision mix, thank goodness for him!

More on that on the debrief post.

EXISTENTIALISM: NEW NIKE ADVERT

2010-08-26T20:35:00.006+01:00

The new Nike and Foot Locker advertisement very much reminds me of Existentialist attitudes, which of course is the marketing aim of the companies.

The main slogan is: 'I Am the Rules' in an attempt to make the consumer feel in control - false consciousness.

Amongst other superstars, Arsenal midfielder Andrei Arshavin is endorsing the new 'Air Max 90 Colorway' Trainers.

Nike are famous for their 'be whoever you want to be' campaigns with their most famous slogan being 'Just Do It'. They have taken these techniques into marketing straight from the Existentialist movement.

VISUAL AUDIO MIX #002

2010-07-25T22:12:00.008+01:00

The summer break presents University students an opportunity...to do next to nothing!

But I say no! Along with my right honourable friend Chris Lovelock, we are mixing some of our favourite tunes. Together we are...Visual Audio!

Enjoy!

Tracklist

1. Gareth Emery - Harmonies (Sound of Garuda Intro Mix)
2. Dubguru - U Got 2 Know (Jupiter Ace Mix)
3. Ronski Speed - Denva (Club Mix)
4. Susana Feat. Omnia & The Blizzard - Closer
5. Arty - Hope
6. Lange Feat. Emma Hewitt - Live Forever (Mat Zo Remix)
7. Aly & Fila - Listening (Brave Remix)
8. Tiësto Feat. BT - Love Comes Again (Bart Claessen Remix)
9. Ummet Ozcan - Trinity
10. Rex Mundi Feat. Susana - Nothing At All (Funabashi Uplifting Mix)

Download Mix

GLENNERS ON ENGLAND'S WORLD CUP FLOP

2010-07-20T13:39:00.009+01:00

Where do we go from here?

That's the question on the lips of anyone with some interest in English football.

After an almost faultless qualifying campaign under Fabio Capello, England were rewarded with an 'easy' group. We couldn't believe our luck when Algeria, Slovenia and the USA came out of the hat in December last year

But, as the English colloquialism goes, we made a right pig's ear out of it.

Expectations were great, yet performances were so poor. A goalkeeping howler, schoolboy defending, no imagination going forward, in the end it was no wonder we finished runners-up to our friends across the pond.

Then there was Germany in the last 16. Pundits and journalists cooked up the usual storm: "we can do it". The 2010 crop certainly weren't Germany's strongest, but they had enough to kick England off the park.

It was so easy for the German's it seemed like one of their warm-up games.

And with that the 'golden generation' became the 'lacklustre lions'. Given their obscene salaries and performances put together, criticism couldn't really be hard enough.

Moving up in the FIFA rankings was as farcicle as the decision to allow vuvuzelas into the South African venues. It's simple: as a footballing nation, we are not as good as we thought.

Realistic ambitions of England fans were distorted by the perception of the Premier League. Great domestic league equals great international squad? Wrong.

The mediocrity of the England internationals is concealed by the foreign imports beside them that provide the flair for the Liverpools and Arsenals of this world.

It's scary to guess what the Premier League would look like with no foreign players. I'm sure Frank Lampard would rather cross the ball for Didier Drogba than Emile Heskey.

I reckon Steven Gerrard would rather feed Fernando 'El Niño' Torres than Jermain Defoe. The strikers featured on the bench for their respective countries. Seeing Spain winning the tournament in such style underlines the gulf in class England need to reduce.

There is no way Torres would have sat on the bench if he was English. Meanwhile, I doubt Vicente Del Bosque would have given Defoe much thought at all if he was Spanish.

Another 40 years of hurt? Most probably.

GLENNERS ON THE WORLD CUP

2010-06-20T16:12:00.003+01:00

The World Cup is a convenient distraction for what is really going on in South Africa.

It cost the South Africans $3.7 million to put on this tournament. Okay, the stadiums are impressive, it's a spectacle (at times), but what about the towns on their knees across the country? Somewhat of a kick in the teeth.

Same old story: "Let's show them how 'far' we've come...just hide the poverty while the world is here".

But not for long. The media haven't had to go far from Sun City to discover the cloudy backdrop that we shouldn't ignore.

Alan Shearer went to Guguletu, one of the wealthier townships of Cape Town, to find a black man who had lived through apartheid. He spoke of drugs and prostitution - not vuvuzelas and the 'beautiful' game.

"After the show is over, it's back to square one", he said.

Over in Nyanga, a young boy told Shearer of his excitement of the world's biggest tournament coming to his doorstep. But he will realise it won't pay for roads, it won't cut crime, it won't improve the poor conditions that he has to live with.

A BBC 5Live reporter saw how dirty water went straight from a reservoir into the stomachs of South Africans.

After all, this is what those people need. Blatter didn't want to bring the World Cup to 'ordinary' people anymore than I would want to be deafened by those ridiculous vuvuzelas.

Talking of Blatter, he couldn't even get the ball right. They might as well be playing with a balloon.

And what about the half-empty stadiums? I'm sure the kids of the South African townships would happily fill the empty seats left by FIFA's "corporate family" who are back home watching the games safe in their mansions.

$3.7 million. To think of what those hidden communities would do with a shred of that figure...

AT THE DOCTORS...

2010-06-09T13:17:00.004+01:00

I have to say, I'm liking this observational form of journalism, I seem to be doing it in my head a lot.

Here's something I wrote out on my phone while I was waiting to be called by the nurse.

Waiting for the nurse. Late as usual. Four kids make incessant noise with their toys. So aggravating. To my right, a TV with advice on skin cancer and diabetes. So grim, is this what's in store? One trip a year, then one a month, then one a week. I don't think I could handle too much medication. Certainly couldn't handle too many trips to this place. A picture of a needle. I hate needles. I always get nervous at the doctors or the dentist or some place like that. Why?

I was only waiting five minutes or so. It seems so much longer when you're in a place like that. Just think what I could have moaned about if I had half an hour there...!

JOHN MAYNARD KEYNES AND FRIEDRICH VON HAYEK

2010-05-30T12:59:00.010+01:00

The Keynesian economic theory has been praised as much as it has been refuted.

According to Keynes, the real driving force behind the economy is not money - it is the desire to keep producing goods, which in turn makes money. Keynes calls this 'the real economy'.

Therefore, he argued that spending was almost always a good thing as it encouraged businesses and their employees to contribute more to the economy.

Keynes blamed the Great Depression in America on a lack of goods production and mass unemployment as a result of high wages. His methods of pumping in money and regaining trust in the economy helped to get the country out of this era. He was acclaimed for saving capitalism as a result.

It involved the theory of the 'multiplier effect', which is triggered by extra government spending (or 'quantitative easing').

1. Employ worker
2. Worker makes widget for £1
3. Employer sells widget for £2

However, Economists like Friedrich von Hayek and Milton Friedman saw limitations in the multiplier effect...

4. Worker can't afford widget
5. Less demand for their production as it is to expensive
6. Worker loses job

Hayek identified, as shown in point 6, pumping money into creating jobs cannot last forever. He was strongly against Keynes as he felt his attitudes devalued money, which would lead to hyper-inflation and mass social unrest.

Hayek said: "The widespread emotional aversion to capitalism is closely connected with this belief that undeniable growth of wealth was purchased at the price of depressing the standard of life of the weakest elements of society*".

It seems that this unrest was evident in one of the most unstable states of the 20th century - the Weimar Republic. Weimar was relying on short-term loans from the USA until the Wall Street Crash of 1929. It was effectively spending money that it did not have, which Keynes said would work in the long-term.

"The economic position is only flourishing on the surface. Germany is in fact dancing on a volcano. If the short-term credits are called in, a large section of our economy would collapse."
- Gustav Stresemann, served as Chancellor and Foreign Minister during the Weimar Republic

Hyperinflation kept coming and going during the Weimar years, here is an anecdote from 1923.

"The price increases began to be dizzying. Menus in cafes could not be revised quickly enough. A student at Freiburg University ordered a cup of coffee at a cafe. The price on the menu was 5,000 Marks. He had two cups. When the bill came, it was for 14,000 Marks. "If you want to save money," he was told, "and you want two cups of coffee, you should order them both at the same time.""

The 1918 Treaty of Versailles ordered harsh repayment packages to the allies, which the Weimar government could not keep up with. It kept printing money to avoid raising taxes, but this Keynesian approach did not work as it did in 19th century America. The level of hyperinflation in the ensuing years was shocking, the German wholesale price index went from 2.6 (Jan 1919) to 726,000,000,000 (Nov 1923). Hence, here is an example of Keynes destroying capitalism.

READ MORE: 'A German nightmare' (usagold.com)

* - F. A. Hayek - 'Capitalism and the Historians'

HCJ 10-MIN GONZO PIECE: UKIP's RAY FINCH

2010-05-26T11:27:00.005+01:00

This video follows the UKIP candidate for Eastleigh, Ray Finch. It was part of the Election 2010 coverage from Winchester News Online.

HCJ PART 4 (REVISION NOTES)

2010-05-25T13:25:00.005+01:00

1. Was Nietzche a Nazi?

- No, he was dead 30 years before the NSDAP was formed
- Christians and Jews say he was a Nazi. Neech said Judeo-Christianity is a religion of slave mentality
- "God is dead"
- Anti-semitism was the norm in the 19th Century
- Neech's big idea was individualism, so any group, religious or otherwise, is less important in his eyes
- Zarathustra: Idea of the 'superman' (Ubermensch)
- His ideas are compatible with Charles Darwin (Social Darwinism), as in 'Space Odyssey'. Darwin's ideas were used and moulded by Hitler
- 1960s: Artistic community clear Neech's name somewhat...

2. Was Mersault a bad man?

- Use Existentialism in your answer
- Mersault is bored, murders someone for no reason
[LINK TO EXI] - Life is pointless and has no meaning
- He killed a black man in a time of extreme racism towards them, even in the CJS
- White judges desperate to clear him as long as he apologises
BUT, he doesn't care about anything - whether he is convicted or not
- Reflected in cold, matter of fact writing style
- Subject verb format. Cold. Observational journalism
- "Existence proceeds essence"

3. To what extent does the 'New Journalism' reflect cultural and intellectual trends such as psychoanalysis and politics of the 'me generation'?

- Tom Wolfe's anthology of articles is called 'The New Journalism'
- He uses 19th Century realist narrative style (Dickens/Zola)
- BIG SHIFT...
News = Digetic (telling)
Features = Mimetic (seeing) - Objective role
- Everything is strange

- REFLECTED in PSYCHOANALYSIS
Stepping back and listening to people
- 'Century of the Self' looks at Freud's theories
- Wilhelm Reich: disagreements with Freud
- Psychoanalysis: Getting behind the subject (following them) = GONZO!

- 'ME' GENERATION
- Reich: the total individual [LINK BACK TO FREUD]
- Self-fulfilment = happiness
(If it feels good, do it!)
EXAMPLE: Sex - Sexual liberation
- New agenda in Journalism - the personal aspect...surrounds the individual
EXAMPLE: Agony aunts, horoscopes

4. Why might journalists find logical positivist ideas useful or appealing? What faults have been identified in the approach of logical positivists?

- Vienna Circle rejects Existentialism
- They rejects all philosophy
- They only like SCIENCE

- 'VERIFICATION PRINCIPLE'
Their epistemology (the theory about knowledge) is based on the Verification Principle
EXAMPLE: It could be true that there are people that can run three times faster than Usain Bolt on Mars, but can't be verified scientifically)
SO...Logical positivists don't bother with it as it can't be proved in this way)

- APPEALING TO JOURNALISTS because...
We are 90% into FACTS and 10% into COMMENT
Fact [Link back to Ver. Principle] CAN be checked (verified)
- Separating fact from comment is a big thing in journalism

- FALSIFICATION PRINCIPLE (Karl Popper)
Popper destroys 'Verification Principle'
Things can only be true if their opposite exists, and can be proved that it exists

- Wittgenstein - 'Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus'
"That of which we cannot speak, we must stay silent"
- Destroyed Freud and Marx
Destroyed Id etc (asserted it is not verifiable)
- Freud = Another form of metaphysics

5. John Keynes has been hailed as both the saviour and destroyer of the capitalist system. Why?

- Adam Smith - free market
Market will go up and down continuously
Class economy is self-regulated

- Keynes: the more you cut, the more unemployment there will be
'Multiplier effect' - spend money, give money to others...then they can spend and so on

- OPPOSITION: Marx
To maintain profit, you need to pay people less than what they produce

LIMITATION OF KEYNES' 'Multiplier effect' (Marx)
1. Worker makes widget for £1
2. Sold for £2
3. Worker can't buy widget
4. Sales cut widget production
5. Worker unemployed

- Why not keep printing money?
You get inflation (Keynes)
Keynesians say: keep expanding

Click here to download Chris Horrie's HCJ Revision Webcast

WINOL (WEEK 4 DEBRIEF)

2010-05-20T13:17:00.005+01:00

Debrief from Guest Editor Andy Steggall

- Slow news day: this is where you prove your mettle as a journalist. We had some big challenges, including cutting down packages minutes before 5 o'clock.

- Sound was bad for voiceovers, but only because we didn't have the sound booth. But there were sound levels in some packages that could have been controlled better.

- Half-hearted links and stings. The writing, particularly of the links didn't draw in the viewers enough. It lets down the hard work that goes into the packages as less people will watch on.

- Clear angles...they weren't stuck to very well this week.

Stories

1. Stu - Council/Housing

- Had potential to be a great (and very relevant) story for people of Winchester
- Great to get a story from a boring council meeting
- Made FOI request about housing changes, which would have opened up amny more avenues

2. Grant - Crime Down

- One-line link, doesn't sound great or give enough colour
- Link was a 'what's on link'
- ...but PTC did sell the story a lot better (needed to be in link)
- Library pictures: needed to say it was "last month" or have a caption saying 'Library pictures'

3. James - Walk to School

- One-line link. Bad!
- Had a really good shot of busy crowd going to school, was the best shot so use it first

Sport

- Maybe should have started with World Cup story

A. Jason - Athletics

- Started VT with gun shot, caught attention brilliantly
- But link didn't sell it

B. Josh - World Cup Review

- Great PTC
- Could've done with a little stat (e.g. - "English fans will drink 'x' million gallons in pubs during the World Cup")

4. Chanin - Art Gallery (And Finally)

- Another 'what's on' link, lack of angle. But was changed to a terrific link that made the viewer think
- VT started out of focus, really good camera work and drew audience in
- Framing: could've used visual backdrop even more, in order to avoid fire exit sign etc

WINOL 3 (WEEK 4)

2010-05-18T12:17:00.005+01:00

On Monday, Chris made me focus on a few things to make the bulletin better...

- Make reporters stick to their angle rigidly
- It's my responsibility to check spelling (e.g - strap lines)
- Make script more precise/tight (S V O)
- Legal issues, as always

I also decided to specifically ask for text stories this week, as we had none last week.

Chris made a point about the importance of deadlines. Our content and then production will be better if we stick to them. It was my job to tell all reporters about their different deadlines for VTs and links.

On Tuesday, as usual, some stories grew, some began to fell down. Claire's volcanic ash story had to be killed, James' walk to school story grew with some strong interviewees but Joey's stories fell down.

We then looked at updating the site with text stories and/or making NIBs as back up for stories that may fall through. On Wednesday, Paul did a NIB on the SU Elections after his 'And Finally' didn't stand up.

It all turned out to be a nightmare this week.

I repeat: it was my job to tell reporters about their different deadlines for VTs and links. I did do this. Some did not keep to these deadlines, not at all. It made it so hard to get anything sorted properly.

Lack of communication left, right and centre...everything left to the last minute...so everything I did had to be last minute. Everything we normally do well, we didn't.

It's a real shame but I'm not going to dwell on this. We all know what's coming in the debrief!

WINOL 3 (WEEK 3 DEBRIEF)

2010-05-13T18:46:00.003+01:00

NOTE: Weeks 1 and 2 set aside for election coverage.

Stories

1. Stu/Chanin - Westminster

- Excellent footage, I was really worried that you two would be disappointed with your material after making the effort to go to Westminster on such a busy day, but brilliant!
- Very strong PTC from Stu
- A genuine/real story - you made it feel real, probably the best VT of this year on WINOL.

2. Grant - Council Election Results

- Confident PTC
- Good interviews; showed perseverance
- Noddie! Gives us all a laugh but maybe we shouldn't use it anymore!
- "Remains to be seen" in sting - NO!
- Sound issues
- "Council is in such financial trouble" - this needed to be probed into more.

3. Joey - Race Row

- Genuine news story, so was given the time he wanted
- Good shots/interviews
- I should be held to account for not checking the spelling of a name
- Very confident PTC, but: "remains to be seen"!!!!!

4. Claire - Teen Pregnancy

- Too many vox pops, not enough experts
- Clear PTC/voiceover as always

Sport

-Josh very good as presenter
- NO moving images?!
- 1 minute?!

5. Paul - Tea!

- Perfect 'And Finally'
- Good scripting, have to disagree with Chris. Funny to hear a 'Tea Council' even exists
- Did a very good job for the 'light and shade'. 'Light' in a very shady bulletin!

Overall

- We appear to be getting more confident/efficient as a team
- We are making stories happen for the most part
- More in control with editing and camera
- Thanks to Veronica for doing a NIB last minute as we expected one to fall through
- Disappointment with headline sequence
- Good job Jon!
- Reporters: Try and aim for an OB next week

- BANNED: "It remains to be seen"

Well done everyone!

GENERAL ELECTION - EASTLEIGH

2010-05-11T14:55:00.000+01:00

Last night I followed events at the Eastleigh count for Winchester News Online and Play Radio.

I had trouble all week getting permission to film at the count. The hostility I received put me off somewhat, but I was glad that I made it in the end. It was a great experience, so let's not dwell on that.

Being my first count, I didn't know what to expect and I could feel some pressure - especially as Eastleigh was a marginal Lib Dem seat.

I'm pretty sure I was the first journalist to arrive, but the likes of the BBC and the Echo soon followed.

The internet connection was poor, there were no mains that we could plug our equipment into, but we got through it.

For a lot of the night my laptop was charging in the Duty Manager's office at Fleming Park, so I could only do one OB for WINOL.

But I did manage to get onto Play Radio a couple of times, as I was covering for their reporter. It was a great experience to be live on such an important night.

Overall, the standard of our student journalism is very high and we should be proud with the all night effort we put in.

WINOL: The South Decides

ELECTION COVERAGE: 'THE SOUTH DECIDES'

2010-05-05T11:37:00.001+01:00

LOCAL ELECTION 2010

2010-05-01T15:40:00.002+01:00

After filming with Eastleigh's UKIP candidate Ray Finch, I have arranged an interview with the Tory candidate Maria Hutchings.

These may be shown on WINOL's 'The South Decides'.

LOCAL ELECTION LINKS

2010-04-26T17:47:00.003+01:00

Live election debate from the Eastleigh constituency - BBC Radio Solent
Start from around 45 minutes in

Eastleigh Consituency Info

Winchester Constituency Info

I HAVE MY LOCAL CANDIDATE!

2010-04-13T11:17:00.004+01:00

Eastleigh's UKIP candidate Ray Finch has agreed to let me follow him on the campaign trail.

Finch is not happy about plans to build 6,000 new homes in the area.

"We don't need them. The immigration that we have in this country is taking up the new homes", he said.

He blames this on being part of the EU.

"Once we are an independent sovereign nation, [housing] will not be an issue", he added.

He also wants to bring manufacturing jobs back to Eastleigh.

"The manufacturing industry has been sold down the river for the past sixty years by old parties".

He is up against Chris Huhne (Lib Dem), Maria Hutchings (Con) and Leo Barraclough (Labour).

Read the full article from the Daily Echo.

THE UNIVERSITY OF WINCHESTER'S QUESTION TIME IS NEXT WEEK

2010-04-13T11:08:00.003+01:00

The University of Winchester's Vice Chancellor Joy Carter will be chairing a Question Time-style debate on Monday.

The event will have greater importance now Gordon Brown has called a General Election for 6 May.

Click here for more details.

WINOL 2 (BULLETIN FROM WEEK 7)

2010-04-02T19:26:00.003+01:00

Great bulletin, but we're going to be even better next term!

EXISTENTIALISM IN MUSIC...

2010-03-29T17:13:00.002+01:00

...Trance to be exact!

In Kaskade's 'Move For Me', the lines below remind me of the kind of things that were said in 'Wings of Desire'

"Here we go, another night out
Waited all week, just to get out
Where do we come from?
Do I know your name?
Doesn't really matter
In this life we're all the same"

To an Existentialist, it is irrelevant who that person is that she is singing about. It doesn't matter whether there is a reason for being in that situation or not, they are just there (existing), making their own story.

A modern version of Damiel and Marion methinks!

HCJ PART 4 (WEEK 7)

2010-03-27T17:39:00.002Z

The New Journalism

The two main figures in 'The New Journalism', now known as 'features', are Tom Wolfe and Hunter S. Thompson.

This movement was heavily influenced by the taking of LSD. The drug (apparently) makes boring things interesting and interesting things boring.

If you wanna write features, take LSD. If you wanna write the news, take alcohol.

People like Wolfe began looking at these boring things and writing about them for hours on end - one of the triggers that brought about 'long form journalism' or 'features'.

Techniques involved included floating around in Existentialist 'Wings of Desire' stylie and observing a situation.

One of the highlights of Wolfe's career was his invention of the term 'radical chic'. The term describes somebody who is seen as collaborating with a radical group to increase their reputation and stir up politics.

The first example came when American musician Leonard Bernstein held a fundraising party for the Black Panther Party who campaigned for self-defense for black people. Wolfe wrote down everything that happened in this weird event. The feature ended up being reprinted in his books 'Radical Chic & Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers' and 'The Purple Decades'.

Hunter S. Thompson wrote a detailed commentary decadency and depravity of the Kentucky Derby called 'The Kentucky Derby Is Decadent and Depraved' (funnily enough!). Thompson focused on what was going on around him, rather than the race itself - the querky style being one of the first examples of 'gonzo journalism'.

Thompson made his name with his novel 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas', which took on a similar style. It told the story of two men and the darker side of 'The American Dream' in times of racial tension

Overall, this was a literary movement in journalism that was mimetic not diegetic in its narration. That's to say it shows rather than tells what is going on (as in news).

The mimetic style figures like these led to 'performance journalism' where the journalist/filmmaker involved in the piece is also the 'star'. Example: Morgan Spurlock in 'Super Size Me'.

FOUR TOOLS FOR STORY TELLING (IN NEW JOURNALISM)

1. Scene-by-scene construction - Raw style, jump cuts, be sure to set the scene, hand held camera etc.

2. Phonetic dialogue (if written) - Recording actual speech in the way it has been said (i.e - 'ain't' or 'hangin').

3. Third person point of view - Never use 'I' and in video form never make yourself the main subject. You are the observer.

4. Concentration on 'status life' - Try and establish, through your chosen style, who is the big dog and who are the underlings.

WINOL 2 (WEEK 7)

2010-03-26T10:15:00.004Z

Last week as Deputy News Editor of WINOL.

The last week supplied a nice surprise in the planning section. It now appears WINOL are on a media database as I received an E-Mail from BIS (The Department for Business, Innovation & Skills) without contacting them myself.

It spat up figures about the education sector (watch report above) and Editor-in-Chief Chris put me on the story.

I spent Monday getting (almost) everything in order and planning the structure of this - my first VT!

On Tuesday, I filmed an interview with a student teacher at the Uni in the morning. I then went to double check whether the Dean of the Faculty of Education etc could talk to me.

On Wednesday, I turned up at her office at the crack of dawn only for her to tell me she didn't want to go on camera. Okay, I didn't say: "I will be filming you" but I did have a PD170 in my hand when I asked for the interview the previous day.

LESSON LEARNED: Say "I will be filming you".

However...she did agree that I could turn the quotes into a statement, which is what I did. It's a shame as the piece would've been stronger if I could've had it on video. I also polished the VT off with fillers and voiceovers.

Jason put the voiceovers and stuff in the right place while I was picking up the Winchester City Manager Stuart Hussey (the studio guest). Thanks mate!

End of WINOL...for now! Looking forward to the challenge of News Editor next semester.

HCJ PART 4 (WEEK 6)

2010-03-20T14:27:00.002Z

Notes from the screening of the documentary 'Century of the Self'.

The documentary enforced a lot of points from last week's lecture.

"There is a policeman inside our heads - he must be destroyed."

Recap

- Sigmund Freud: Our subconscious thoughts should be controlled.

- WIlhelm Reich: Our subconscious thoughts should not be controlled. Our inner self should be embraced.

Screening

Edward Bernays brought in Freud's idea of the unconscious mind in advertising. These techniques involved subtly playing to the repressed desires of the masses.

It was observed that this form of consumerism kept the masses docile.

Wilhelm Reich's contrasting ideas about the mind were largely ignored at the time. Lore Reich blamed Freud's daughter Anna for this.

Former Student Activist Robert Pardun said: "advertising was manipulation, it was a way to get you to do something that didn't come out of you".

Herbert Markuse, another critic of Freud said: "People are reduced to expressing their feelings through manufactured objects".

Wilhelm Reich's contrasting ideas were largely ignored at the time. Lore Reich blamed Freud's daughter Anna for this.

Personal becomes political

The public turned to Reich from the 1960s - in advertising and politics.

"The whole system of government and economy is based on profit, on personal greed and selfishness

Politically, it was asserted that society couldn't be changed unless enough individuals changed themselves.

So, "the personal became the political".

An interviewee said that Reich's ideas could be summed up by "taking ownership of who you are".

Minority groups, designed to express marginal opinions, began to develop.

Black/white encounter groups were an example of these groups, in which intense racial arguments would take place. It was seen as healthier to air feelings publicly rather than keeping them inside or behind closed doors.

Another group, the Human Potential Movement (HPM), was designed to bring out the best in people. The idea was to transmit these human qualities to make positive changes to society.

HPM was rooted heavily in Existentialism as it encouraged individualism and having control of one's destiny.

Reich and American corporations

Reich had a massive effect on corporate America as his ideas became more prominent. (Marketing) values were now challenged more often.

Additionally, the consumer could be seen no longer as passive and one of a 'mass'. The consumer now wanted to feel like an individual, and wanted to be offered products to reflect that.

Advertisers had to monitor the habits of the consumer a lot more as a result.

However, to add a WINOL-like sting, self-expression was not unlimited. Individuals could be grouped into 'lifestyles,' which inevitably helped corporations.

WINOL 2 (WEEK 6 DEBRIEF)

2010-03-18T13:13:00.004Z

Notes from Angus and Brian's debrief...

Stu's story was about the only 'shade' in the bulletin, and a strong piece as usual. Well-framed interviews, interesting shots. He persevered to get the material in the first place. Problems with sound levels but only because he was pushed for time.

For the vending machine break-in (my OOV). Done at short notice. Never been a reporter, so first proper thing I've edited. Libel (identification) problems, but never called him a "thief" - don't know what happened there.

Jon's SU piece was up to his usual high standards. His voice/scripting continues to improve while his sign off was to the point, more so than others this week.

Claire's Doormice/Park & Ride story was well done. It left too much suspense in the scripting though. AND don't introduce interviewee unless it's Radio!

In Sport, the highlights package had a few sound issues and neede softer edits, but the team are doing really well.

CVs 'And Finally' was pretty decent. She is one of the most confident in the group, as her PTC proved. Didn't quite make enough connection with our local audience though...

WINOL 2 (WEEK 6)

2010-03-18T10:25:00.001Z

New week, same old WINOL.

On Monday, me and Tom did our usual scrapping for stories on the internet, radio and TV and in the papers.

In the afternoon, Paul gave me some sub-editing to do. We need to make the site look as good as possible and it is always better if it is done in HTML mode. It might be a good idea if me and Paul go through this with Production.

On Tuesday, I went into Winchester to help Stu with his package on the upcoming road closure. We managed to get the Agent's business card, which will be useful when the road actually closes. I was pleasantly surprised at my imagination when I was on the camera!

We were light on Wednesday, so we looked for other last minute stories. We opted for the thefts that had gone on this week and I went to do an OOV on it. It had libel issues (apparently), as I (apparently) called the matey a thief.

...Oh well, what doesn't kill you and all that...

I then put some Sport on the site as well as some Hobbs pieces.

WINOL 2 (HORRIE MASTERCLASS ON WEEK 5)

2010-03-16T17:28:00.001Z

Notes from the Horrie Masterclass (not Debrief!) on Monday...

Avoid the passive voice...

ACTIVE: "Labour slams Tory plan" (S V O)
PASSIVE: "Tory plan was slammed by Labour" (O V S)

We avoided undue prominence on our package with the Green Party as we haven't used them very much. We have given the three main parties a lot more air time to keep with fair proportionality. We have further cover as the story was about the environment - the Greens' specialist subject.

The fashion show was vital to include in the headlines as a hook and to balance up the 'light and shade' of the bulletin. It was also great for pictures, which we were short of in news.

Don't forget the concept of 'function first'. For example, not everybody knows who Mick Jardine is and we didn't give his function, which is more important than his name.

EXAMPLES: Campus Union Boss Mick Jardine
The University of Winchester's Vice Chancellor Joy Carter

Our Production Editor failed to get the captions right on Sport last week, bringing about the concept of 'pass for press'. This means everything has to be 'signed off' before publication, or in this case - transmission.

GOOD NEWS to finish! We now have concrete evidence from the Freedom of Information Act that we do not need the press officer's permission if we want to talk to somebody from the Uni.

WINOL 2 (WEEK 5 DEBRIEF)

2010-03-15T10:00:00.000Z

Notes from Angus and Brian's Debrief on Wednesday

Another professional performance for the bulletin this week.

General points

- We had some poor shots this week, not up to our best.

- Need to check spelling - "pavilion" spelt wrong.

- Editorially, we were overloaded with politics this week, although that is good in the sense we are able to get local candidates fairly easily.

- Josh gave clear direction in the gallery

Stories

1. 'Jellygate'

- Loads of legal problems!

2. Park & Ride

- Well scripted link

- Some pictures burnt out

- A lot of imagination with pictures

3. Army in Schools

- Good link

- Don't caption interviewees until they start talking.

4. Clamping

- Shame there were no soundbites/pictures with the Army

- Good example of balance for OFCOM.

- 'Hot' shots

5. E-Mail

- Good to let a last minte interview with Mick Jardine

A. Sport: AFC Totton Highlights

- Good scripting

- Too stilted

- Don't need full-time whistle, just do full-time caption on last shot

6. Fashion Show

- Used two cameras but one tape was corrupted. Quite a shame as it would have looked funkier!

- Sound issues

- Lots of good shots that could have been used for headlines

For this week

- Think about stretching our beat further from campus

HCJ PART 4 (WEEK 5)

2010-03-13T23:10:00.003Z

Wilhelm Reich & Sigmund Freud

To sum up the lecture: it's all about the orgasm!

Freud said we are governed by primitive sexual and aggressive forces and they need to be controlled. Chaos would ensue if they were not.

The Austrian philosopher believed that, under the outer surface, we are always driven by these animal instincts. However, these urges are not always on show as our 'conscious mind' serves to surpress them.

Freud claimed the key to our true desires lies in our dreams: "Dreams are the royal road to the subconscious", he said.

He separated our mind into three parts:

1. Id - our instinctive drives. Leads to chaos if not controlled, according to Freud.
2. Ego - conscious mind.
3. Super Ego - works against Id to keep it in check, thus keeping our conscious mind more prominent.

Wilhelm Reich was a close follower of Freud's work, but then he came up with his own contrasting theory.

He said the repression of the Id caused bad thoughts, rather than the existence of the Id itself. Reich believed we actually had good urges.

Reich developed his own version of the three layers of the human mind:

1. Surface - polite, compasssionate
2. Cruel, selfish
3. Deepest layer - loving, pure

Unlike Freud, Reich said we should always bring out No. 3, instead of repressing it...but we had to get past No. 2 (the worst layer) before we got to the best side of human nature (No. 3).

In 'The Mass Psychology of Fascism', Reich - from a Jewish background - said the Nazis embodied the second layer.

He also claimed the Nazis focused most on the vote of the lower-middle class as they were most suseptible to Hitler's rhetoric.

According to Reich (pictured, right), they were most vulnerable for two reasons:

1. Most likely to have strong father figure - Particularly used to authority, as in a totalitarian regime.

2. Most likely to be sexually repressed - Mainly because of the father figure. This would cause a need for rebellion, an opposite but equally important attraction of the Nazis.

As a result of the failure/fear of other parties, the Nazis encouraged voters to 'rebel' against them. Therefore, many Germans voted for them out of disillusion with the opposition, without necessarily agreeing with Nazi policy. This is known as 'negative cohesion'.

ANYWAY, BACK TO THE ORGASM.

Remember, Reich said repression was bad. Repression would mean you could not have a proper orgasm. This was really bad in the eyes of Mr. Reich!

Reich believed one's happiness could be measured by their Orgiastic Potency - their ability to surrender to the orgasm.

Later, when he was going a bit crazy, Reich took his focus from the orgasm and found a new obsession - orgone energy. The more orgone energy we gained, the freer we would become.

Reich suggested orgone energy could be collected in 'orgone accumulators' or 'cloudbusters'. These cloudbusters could supposedly alter the atmosphere so much that they could create rain. Kate Bush tells us more!

Freud and Reich in Advertising

In 1950s America, Freud's idea of the 'unconscious mind' was used in advertising. Figures like Edward Bernays would constantly play to our unconscious desires, almost always involving sex, in adverts.

In the 1960s, Reich became more prominent and advertising started to surround the individual, and their need to express themselves in a way that separates them from the crowd. Modern adverts from Apple are a classic example.

Verdict

Essentially, followers of Wilhelm Reich would want to express their feelings as openly as possible and Sigmund Freud's followers would feel they should be kept under the surface at all costs.

The most interesting debate is whether society has the right balance between Freudian and Reichian ideas...

Should we be more open? Should we be more reserved? Or is it up to each individual?

WINOL 2 (WEEK 5)

2010-03-10T12:53:00.001Z

This was a very important week as the BJTC are coming to spy on us! But they didn't come in the end!

On Monday, I gave Jon the number for a councillor who specialises in car parking issues - the kind of story he is covering this week.

I also tried to get hold of our press officer...oh yes I did! Unsurprisingly, to no avail. I wanted to find out when the Uni is releasing their budget.

The Lib-Dem Deputy Leader was in town. He must have been the most famous person to be in Winchester (that isn't usually in Winchester) on that day, but we decided not to even go and see what he was doing. He must have been doing something! A potential local story that covered national agendas? He was on South Today that night...

On Tuesday, I helped Tom with his court report. We were covering a murder trial and it was the day of the verdict.

It seemed a very interesting case to follow - and it could have gone one of a few ways.

The defendant was cleared of murder and manslaughter to the despair of the victim's family.

Unfortunately, although the case was no longer active, the story had to be dropped as the defendant was proven innocent in a court of law. Obviously this was very frustrating for me and Tom, but there were too many libel dangers in the package, given that we were reporting on a now innocent man.

On Wednesday, I started planning for next week. I found something for Jon: King Alfred's reburial procession. This is set to be a crowded event, so there may be identification issues.

Me and Tom also noticed that people are getting waxed for Sport Relief next week. Tom: "Get Lucy on it!"

Paul also employed me to do some subbing on sport results and reports.

HCJ PART 4 (WEEK 4)

2010-03-08T19:55:00.001Z

My take on 'Wings of Desire' (1987) with Existentialist theory (Part 2)

At the Coffee Bar I

Der Filmstar tells Damiel (still an angel) at a Coffee Bar how great it is to be, to exist, to feel - the simple things in life.

Damiel is dying to feel the things that humans do - particularly love - the love he has developed from watching Marion.

At the bridge

Damiel and Cassiel seem to show the more optimistic side on Existentialism when they talk at a bridge by a river.

Existentialists believe you create your own tale in a never ending story; they long to make their own story: "I want to conquer a history for myself".

"We learned to speak"
Link to Jean-Paul Satre: Why write? It is "the act of freedom".

- DAMIEL TURNS INTO A HUMAN...

As the films nears its end, Damiel truly appears to be at peace when he says: "I'll take her in my arms...she'll take me in her arms".

This is the one passionate commitment that Damiel makes when he becomes human

At the Coffee Bar II

Damiel feels the bliss that Der Filmstar spoke of. He gulps a piping hot coffee but doesn't care - he is so jubilant to feel what humans can.

Circus II

As Marion, the Trapeze Artist, is on the verge of the big time, she still feels full of angst as she constantly thinks to herself. She is superstitious as there is a full moon - the same as when her dreams were last crushed.

Then, in an impossible alignment with Damiel, Marion suddenly seizes life for herself: "It doesn't matter".

She goes on to put up an excellent performance.

Meeting at bar at concert

And finally, in amongst all the suffering on the streets of Berlin, Damiel and Marion eventually meet (see video, above).

In keeping with the whole film, Damiel slowly turns to Marion, it is as if there is nobody else in the world: "there's no better story than ours".

Marion talks of her lack of purpose and confusion in life: "When I was with someone I was often happy, but at the same time it all seemed a coincidence".

"The taxi driver's daughter was my friend, but I might as well have put my arm round a horses neck", she adds.

She feels no doubt for the first time with Damiel. To an Existentialist, what had gone before and what is yet to come is irrelevant, they are in the moment, they are in love.

"From tonight there are no more coincidences".

"We are our destiny".

"Now or never"...

WINOL 2 (WEEK 4 DEBRIEF)

2010-03-08T11:38:00.003Z

Notes from Chris' Monday morning debrief...

The bulletin was the best and most watched of the semester so far.

It was a lot more professional and slick than previous weeks and the mistakes, as explained below, are becoming smaller and smaller.

Story 1: Council

Joey more or less repeated Stu on the first line of his package, which is good to reiterate the story. He went to the opposition, which enabled us to use the verb 'slammed' for a hard news angle. The interviews were well framed. The second interviewee said some facts that we should have said. Overall, we need better quotes.

Story 2: Stock Exchange Simulator

Again some facts were in the quotes, so we needed more striking soundbites. However, it was technically brilliant with one interviewee looking left and the other looking right. Overall, OFCOM would have said the story was too positive as it didn't introduce any element of doubt (i.e. - it might be a flop).

Story 3: Big Tidy Up (NIB)

There was balance in this one, as it gave the general impression that it was a good UoW initiative but it was a flop. In terms of variety of shots, the best I've seen on WINOL.

Story 4: Fairtrade Week

Sadly, all the good things from the NIB weren't transferred to this package. It seemed like one big advert so there was an absence of balance.

Sport 1: Winchester RFC Finals Day

Grant really showed off his personality with his piece to camera; as an introduction to the highlights, it reminded me of something you would see on the Football League Show. It was called a 'crowded' venue, but the shot didn't empasize this as the shot wasn't tight enough. Although it is difficult with the means at our disposal, we need to try and get tighter in on the action - and get some emotional cutaways.

Sport 2: Graphic

Results well scripted and read.

Story 5: Web Archiving (And Finally)

A real disappointment editorially but needed a bit of balance. As one of the week's main stories surrounded council job cuts, we really could have made more of this (i.e. - crazy web archivists a waste of time and money). Technically very sound though!

OFCOM CODE: 10-MIN TUTORIAL

2010-03-07T22:55:00.003Z

Chris Horrie's tutorial on the OFCOM code. We will be refreshed and tested on the code this week.

HCJ PART 4 (WEEK 4)

2010-03-06T15:38:00.003Z

'Wings of Desire' Screening

My take on 'Wings of Desire' (1987) with Existentialist theory (Part 1).

The whole film is spontaneous and enigmatic - two very appealing features to Existentialists.

The film follows two angels, one of whom becomes human and meets his true love, Marion - she is also followed all the way through. The message: passionate love can overcome the constant angst and oppression that plagues your life.

It is filmed from the point of view of an angel, which is reflected in the Existentialist style of slow, floating camera movement.

In an early scene, a man says of his dead parents: "my father was my father, my mother was my mother...no tears, no grief." To him, they were nothing more. This is reminiscent of Meursault in Albert Camus' 'The Outsider' who barely remembers when his mother died. Although this appears unusual, it draws upon the the theory of 'so-called existence' in that we are supposed to love our parents and be devastated at their death. An Existentialist wouldn't see it as abnormal if one didn't mourn over their parents.

We are introduced to the angels Damiel and Cassiel when they are conversating in a car. One of them says: "I wish people could say 'now' 'now'...and salvage all their demons and let them loose." Existentialists say we should let our demons loose, otherwise we will oppress ourselves.

These 'demons' are shown best in the subway scene (see video, above) as the camera pans from person to person exposing what they're thinking about themselves and others.

Circus

We are then introduced to Marion in the early stages of her career as a trapeze artist. She suddenly learns that they can't pay their rent to keep the circus going, so her dream of being a famous trapeze artist is shattered.

She says to herself: "it's the end and I feel nothing...it happens, that's the way it goes." Although it appears strange to talk of disappointment in this way, it epitomises Existentialist's attitude to life.

"Maybe time is the disease."

She also thinks constantly about finding love and appears trapped without it: "[I'm] longing for a wave of love...I need to love."

Homer, the aged poet

The angels occassionally hone in on a disillusioned old man called Homer. He appears reflective of the Existentialist view that people are worn down by their history.

Homer: "What makes the aspiration of peace so unendurable? Shall I give up? Where are my kids? The original, the natural"; children are very important to Existentialists as they are innocent and have no history.

As he journeys through Berlin, Homer (I might be wrong, might be someone else) says: "Today, only the German soul can be conquered". He believes that power is in the hands of "whoever has the right password". In Existentialism, authority is largely rejected as they believe you should be your own authority - it appears these quotes reflect this.

Film set

We are introduced to 'Der Filmstar' on the set of a film that appears to be about the Nazis/concentration camps. He is portrayed as an Existentialist as he is successful and seems to be in control of his own destiny.

He looks over at the extras on set and thinks to himself: "they're just extras, extra humans." This is a bit of a "hell is other people" moment!

Crowd of Children

One of the angels is sat in a crowd of kids and thinks to himself: "He [the child] had a clear picture of paradise...now he can only guess".

In 'Wings of Desire', the loss of the exuberance of youth is a constant theme.

Angels at the River

One angel says to another: "I want to conquer a history for myself...away with the world behind the world".

...And then, like magic, things start to get better...

WINOL 2 (WEEK 4 DEBRIEF)

2010-03-06T14:25:00.003Z

Great bulletin this week, mainly because of great organisation.

We knew we were on the right track when we were on time with the headlines, leaving time to rehearse for the bulletin.

The council cuts story was put at the top as it was a local view of a national story. It had great structural qualities and was technically decent but it just needed to be rounded off with some facts. How many cuts? Percentage compared to other councils?

The story about the Stock Exchange Simulator was exactly what we want for the gallery. The package was eased in from Stu's link after Jon left a few seconds before his voice-over began. Again, it lacked a bit of flavour as it was a bit saturated with interviews, but a good piece.

Lucy's NIB of 'The Big Tidy Up' was really good. A great variety of shots and generally filmed and edited really well. However, the story about Fairtrade week wasn't quite as strong technically while there was little grasp on the story.

GREAT HANDOVER! FINALLY!!!

The Sports team did equally well this week. Their main Football fixtures were off this week, so they decided to cover a Rugby final between King Edward's and Peter Symonds College. Grant's piece to camera was very professional (slightly too long though) and set the scene before the highlights well. There was also great audio mixing during the highlights.

The Football results were then read out well by Lucy and scripted very well by the Sports team.

The 'And finally' about web page archiving had a lot of potential but we didn't really get to the heart of the story.

Overall, the packages were great and the mistakes are becoming a lot less significant. The professionalism and organisation in the gallery enabled these packages to be shown off while it was presented brilliantly by Stu and Lucy.

WINOL 2 (WEEK 4)

2010-03-03T13:53:00.001Z

I walked in Monday morning to see that somebody had searched for 'Hampshire County Council meetings' on Google.

"What's the problem?" I hear you cry! Well, it's very annoying seen as I already have a list of council meetings for Hampshire and Winchester.

It was refreshing to see somebody taking notice of my 'forward planning board'. Thanks Claire!

I also got Claire onto a story this week after hers fell through. The story was about the Hampshire County Council's Archiving Department who are recording how the web has developed over time.

It was a good story as news broke this week that 25,000 council jobs could be lost - are these the kind of departments we can do without?

I also spent a long time going through all members of Winchester City Council and writing what department(s) they specialise in. Their contact numbers are all there too so this will hopefully help the news team in getting the right person.

WINOL 2 (WEEK 3 DEBRIEF)

2010-03-01T11:16:00.003Z

Notes from Chris Horrie's debrief on Monday morning...

The intro and headlines were a lot better this week and Stu read them well to reel in the audience. We just need to match up the headline shots with the corresponding top lines that the presenter reads out.

We have to jazz up our stories as much as possible. For example, "lashed out" in the intro to the first story is the kind of verb we want.

We need to avoid comment in our scripting. We should constantly use the conventinal 'subject, verb, object'. The subject should be the most important person on whatever story it is. In addition, we need to front the story with phrases like: "leading councillor" and not "Joe Bloggs"; if we give their function before their name, it makes more people stay to find out exactly who this story surrounds (better audience reach).

In the top story on the Trinity Centre, we got a good quote from the councillor, but we need to work on hardening them up - get the interviewee to say the most extreme thing as possible.

Hobbs churned out another bread and butter crime story. He protected one of the victims identities and made a point about it in the VT, which was to his credit. I went with Hobbs to film and we got some strong and emotional quotes from her.

The next story was about the ongoing parking problem in Winchester. We drifted into comment, which undermined the newsy element that was so tight in the first two stories. Tommy Geddes was there and we didn't interview; we needed to make more of this.

The scripting in Jon's norovirus story was very strong at the beginning of his package; he used a small amount of 'expo' but it was necessary in explaining what the virus is. However (sorry Chris!) there were too many facts told by the interviewee, such as "we're closing wards" - the WINOL reporters should say things like this.

Hand over from Stu to Lucy was very good - Hooray!

The sport was light again, so the team did well to get what they got. Jason's Rugby highlights were brilliant.

The Mike Marchant interview about upcoming fixtures was a good cover up for the lack of matches. Problems with the sound as the interview spot was very open to the wind. We need to be just as careful with our camera (framing) as choosing a quiet place for sound.

We then had our usual graphic for the local non-league; I thought this was scripted very professionally by the sports team and well read out by Lucy.

We had a strong 'and finally' story this week, which was very well put together by Veronica. She made a lot of the musicians nature as an extrovert while there were noddies and a good variety of shots. I think this package should be used as an example for our news packages in the coming weeks.

Events to look out for

19th April - Studio Discussion chaired by Joy Carter.

May (Date TBA) - WINOL Election Coverage

HCJ PART 4 (WEEK 3)

2010-02-27T15:45:00.002Z

Existentialism

To Existentialists, there are no reasons, there is no particular purpose - existence is the only thing there is. But it's not as simple as that.

They say nothing has any point, so when people say "I don't care" or "whatever", it is an existentialist trait.

But (using instead of 'however' just to please Chris - 'bad faith'), in Jean-Paul Sartre's 'Existentialism is Humanism',

It may appear grim for somebody to have these views, but some of their philosophy is definitly valuable.

Albert Camus - 'The Outsider'

This book involves a white man who decides to murder a black man for no reason. This draws upon the Existentialist attitude that there should be no limit to action and self-expressionism - even if it involves killing another human being.

"Might as well, it's as pointless as anything else."

Another interesting aspect of the philosophy comes when the man is told to apologise in court, but he refuses as he simply isn't sorry. It enforces the strong belief in Existentialism that avoids conforming. For example, to conform would be to apologise, just to get a shorter sentence.

Jean-Paul Sartre - 'Nausea'

'Nausea' tells a story of a man who is trapped after getting a woman pregnant. He doesn't know whether to leave her or ask her to get an abortion etc.

As a result, he constantly suffers with nausea as he is reliant upon her decision. This brings about Sartre's famous quote: "hell is other people".

The moral of this story is to act make your own choices before somebody else decides for you. More importantly, once you have decided, you should make a passionate commitment to fulfilling it.

Generally, Existentialists think one of the main purposes of life is to make a passionate commitment to something (e.g. - Me following Saints FC until I die!)

Non-teleological thinkers

Existentialists believe that Western philosophers have made a mistake in looking for being.

Instead, they think that life is one big void of nothingness. There is no reason for anything.

This contradicts teleological thinkers such as Hegel and Marx who say everything has a purpose (e.g. - we live a good life to get back to the Garden of Eden).

Positive elements of Existentialism

Existentialists very much endorse 'personal liberation' and reject the idea that one should conform to what ever stereotype they may be attached with.

They believe you are born with a story (thrownness), and it is up to you to re-tell this story. The past has gone, the future is yet to come, so live for the 'eternal now.'

Always act in good faith, in that you should be honest rather than fake in what you do. Existentialists hated the Nazis as their policies were largely based on lies (bad faith towards Germans).

'So-called existence'

'So-called existence' is the theory that people should go through certain rites of passage in life at specific times (e.g. - going to school at 5, getting married in your 20s).

Existentialists strongly disagree with this idea and say you should hit these milestones at any point you want - or not as the case may be.

Existential Oppression

Existentialists believe that nobody can and/or should be summed up.

For example, they hate any assertion that women shouldn't play sport. This is called 'Existential Oppression'.

Criticisms

Some believe Existentialism is just Marxism minus teleology (i.e - change/revolution, but for no reason).

After the epic failure in Communist Russia, some say that it was an example of neo-Marxism - an attempt to reinvigorate the class struggle between the bourgeoisie (now called determinists) and the proletariat (non-determinists).

This resembles Nietzsche's idea: "determine your own destiny or somebody will determine it for you."

WINOL 2 (WEEK 3)

2010-02-24T14:02:00.001Z

Planning planning planning!

On Monday, I was a planning like crazy, making the most of the little there is to plan for. I was given the run around by Hampshire County Council when I enquired about their budget, but we'll be back!

Unfortunately, the friendliest press officer appears to be from the Environment Agency - one of the least newsworthy sources for Winchester at the moment.

On Tuesday, I went out filming with Tom on his 'paedo story'. The interview of one of the victims, that came just after sentencing, was quite emotional so it was beneficial to have experienced it. In journalism, one can't make a living interviewing politicians all the time, you have to be in more difficult situations at times. This is my first experience of a true crime story and it was valuable that I was able to go through it.

During Wednesday's morning meeting, it became clear that we were light on material. It enforced the need for 'stock' stories, packages that are almost timeless, in the event of these slow weeks.

Sports Editor Grant Payne did well to cover up for the light material by using his contacts; he managed to get a last minute interview with Winchester's Rugby Coach Mike Marchant. Yours truly was also good at playing the Sports team's taxi to make it happen!

WINOL SPORT: MAJOR EDITORIAL ISSUE!

2010-02-22T22:43:00.003Z

SPORT TEXT STORIES

Me and Grant noticed that the latest Bournemouth Match Report was called...'Bournemouth Match Report'!

This is so bad. Why?

REASON 1: We do not know what report it is! Is it on their last game? The Rochdale game? The Torquay game? For example, a Saints fan will go looking for a report on a specific game (i.e - last game, Norwich) not any old 'Saints Match Report.'

REASON 2: It just looks awful. If I was Sports Editor of the BBC, I would want to sack the person who wrote 'Saints/Bournemouth/Winchester City Match Report' as their title/headline/thing you click on to get full story!

If we can't do a clever play on words as our headline (e.g - Guy Butters Winchester Up) then just use the score as the headline (e.g - Norwich 0-2 Southampton).

You might call me barking mad, but that report was on the front page today (which is bad enough) and if I hadn't heard of WINOL and saw that, I would probably move on to another site!

WINOL 2 (WEEK 2 DEBRIEF)

2010-02-22T22:16:00.005Z

I'll start by saying: we need to get this bulletin out there more!

Only 90 unique users came for the 'Live at 5' on Wednesday, very disappointing having reached around 600 last year.

The headlines were better this week, but the shots still could have been better; this sequence is meant to excite the viewer! There was also a rhetorical question in one of the headlines - this is bad as it implies we don't know the answers. We're journalists who are meant to find them out.

I thought Chris was slightly harsh with his comments about Stu's story on the local road closures. Stu tackled a fairly mild story with a fresh approach, talking to people at the heart of the issue. He managed to get somebody saying they were "frustrated" and had "lost half of all trade" - great effort! Subject and verb agreement wasn't always there in the scripting of the package though.

Catherine's managed to get a 'WINOL Exclusive'! It was not only exclusive, but a story about a well-known UoW graduate. She got it on record, a 'no denial denial' from Orange and used somebody watching a video with him in it to avoid copyright issues - fantastic stuff! It should have been top story.

Jon's diction in his student voting story was excellent, but he sadly fell into the trap of including comment. The comment can only come from interviewees (quotes).

Hobbs' sex stalker story was decent, it had so many legal landmines but he avoided them all.

The material for the sport was pretty good considering the main game was called off! Not sure about mentioning the Saints/Pompey score four days after it happened though.

Claire's 'And Finally' story was very well told, the camera's 'grammar' was excellent as it got closer and closer to the subjects/issue as the package progressed. Need better quotes though.

Good luck to Lucy and Stu for 'Live at 5' on Wednesday.

HCJ PART 4 (WEEK 2)

2010-02-20T15:00:00.001Z

'A Space Odyssey' Screening

'A Space Odyssey' by the magnificent Stanley Kubrick was made up of two main stages: monkeys evolving into homosapians and humans evolving into superhumans.

The opening shows the monkeys co-existing with other species; this is at the point when their brains are very small, they are not aware that they need protein for their bones, brain, development etc.

The monkey's lack of knowledge is emphasized by their encounter with the obelisk. Later, the human's lack of knowledge (relative to superhumans) is exposed.

The obelisk would only be a phenomena to humans. The strange place on the moon would only be a phenomena to the Übermensch. These things are a phenomena when we can perceive them. Meanwhile, they are 'noumenal' if we cannot perceive them (e.g - music) according to philosopher's such as Immanuel Kant and Arthur Schopenhauer.

Then comes the chief ape Moon-Watcher's discovery/theory, the blissful moment when he hits another animal with his bone accompanied by joyous classical music. This enables him to have a higher social ranking and be the leader - he has essentially discovered war.

We see Moon-Watcher's dominance over the other monkeys in a 'speech.' His troop then go to war with another. The noises made in the speech and the battle are the first ever examples of speech. The noises frighten, warn off and encourage/discourage etc; George Orwell said this was the primary purpose of language rather than to merely communicate.

Now its the turn of the humans. They're living in space trying to get to Jupiter, they can't do it as they are not adapted to it (e.g. - no gravity, unable to eat, deficate etc).

All human thought is stored on the space craft in the form of computer 'Hal' as they try to get to Jupiter. 'Hal' was actually holding them back as human thought was not adapted for this mission in space.

Dave (human version of Moon-Watcher) realised 'Hal' had to be defeated, in order to bring about the next stage of development - the Übermensch. 'Hal' is representative of the human race and the fact that they are limited to life on Earth; Nietzsche said: "humanity must be overcome."

Moon-Watcher's discovery of war and protein to develop the brain (the bone scene) and Dave's dismantlement of 'Hal' were parallel and both necessary for the evolution of their respective species (the final scene). This was highlighted by the use of the same music, Strauss's 'Also Sprack Zarathustra', in both scenes.

Key Points

- We don't know what superhumans will be like any more than the apes knew what humans would be like.

- The obelisk was as noumenal to the apes as strange place on the moon was to the humans.

- The monkey's evolved into homo sapiens, enabling human activity (more or less) as we know it.

- Dave was 'the last man,' making way for the 'superhuman'.

- Moon-Watcher's discovery of the concept of war (that brought hierarchy/domination) was just as momentus as Dave's shutting down of the human race to make way for the Übermensch.

- Kubrick's use of (scaled down) real-time in the film shows how things have evolved/developed quicker and quicker as time passes.

WINOL 2 (WEEK 2)

2010-02-17T16:42:00.005Z

This week's bulletin was editorially stronger and was done in one take.

For whatever reason, we had techical difficulties with the VTs/graphics but we got through it; the apology and the whole 'get on with it' attitude was well done by Joey.

Stu and Catherine's packages stood out this week as they showed initiative to get the most out of their stories. The bulletin would have been a bit flat if it wasn't for them; definitly this week's golden reporters!

The sport was very well written by Jason, particularly the story about the footballer's heart attack. I was also praised by Brian for the way I handled this part on the actual bulletin.

On a personal note, I was happy with my presentation of the sport, but the little mistakes still happen, which is frustrating.

The change-over between news and sport is still an issue, although everyone on the floor and in the gallery has a difficult job. Like Brian said, we will get used to the these news days and the pressures that come with it.

I thought Veronica communicated with me well from the gallery; I know there were problems up there, but down on the floor it seemed okay!

Overall, a step in the right direction.

WINOL 2 (WEEK 1 DEBRIEF)

2010-02-16T15:56:00.000Z

Notes from Monday's WINOL debrief...

Firstly, I'll mention an editorial point as it is not evident from the actual output of the bulletin.

Most of the team were disappointed that mine and Stu's interview with a PCSO didn't get included in the bulletin. The thefts in the library were a security risk and the information he gave was relevant to all on the campus.

We also took close-ups of security packs that the police were circulating, which included a lanyard (pictured, right). It would have been something of a public service to have made people aware of this.

We were also reminded how important our choice of clip is for the headlines. When the top stories are being read out, the best shot from each package should be in vision; if that shot is not striking in any way, it doesn't look promising for the rest of the bulletin in the eyes of our audience.

Another editorial point - We may have ran away with the fact that Stu's story was about student housing, so just put it at the top of the bulletin on that basis. As the story wasn't contemporaneous (the script said "next year"), it may have needed to be dropped down the order.

There was too much 'expo' (stats) in most of the packages. We need to focus more on what people are going to actually do. But, in light of this, we need to remember to maintain balance; Claire's story involved a Tory-led council but only Labour and the Lib Dems got to voice their opinion.

There was a glaring spelling mistake in a text graphic included in Tom's package. 'I' before 'e' except after 'c,' as in 'received.' It would really put me off a news channel/bulletin to see something like that, but Stu is including a statement in his package this week, a chance for the team to immediately make amends! Sorry Tom!

Finally, in Sport, we don't have to describe the action as such, we can add extra (but related) information while the pictures speak for themselves.

Circulation figures for the bulletin were nowhere near our target, we need to spread the word and then get it right on Wednesday.

HCJ PART 4 (WEEK 1)

2010-02-11T18:21:00.004Z

Friedrich Nietzsche

Nietzsche hates Christianity, which is hinted at in his book, the core reading, 'Thus Spoke Zarathustra.'

He calls their teachings in Christianity "preaches of death," and thinks Christians reject the natural course of life and look forward to dying.

Christians embrace death as they say you will go to a 'better place' and be with God. God is seen as their leader and the driving force behind decisions of those who believe. Nietzsche despises and rejects anybody who act in this way and sees them as'sheep' - weak individuals.

Instead, the German philosopher asserts that one should either determine others into being or others will enforce this upon yourself. He famously said: "to my goal I will go my own way."

In the same way, he praises the individual who strives to be and do their best - the 'shepherds.' Therefore, people who are teachers, priests or artists, for example, are seen as superior in the eyes of Nietzsche. He refers to them as the Übermensch.

Conversely, fellow German philosopher Immanuel Kant believes that all human beings are equal and share the same morality. He asserts that we all, in equal measure, have an in-built idea of what is wrong and what is right - this is our moral compass.

Nietzsche contests this by saying: "the best of us will make our own rules" - the 'will to power'

Personally, I can relate more with Nietzsche's point of view than Kant's. There is no way that we all have the same morals. For instance, if two people committed separate fraud and BOTH cheated the Inland Revenue to £1 million, one would most certainly have a clearer/more troubled conscience than the other.

Additionally, Nietzsche rejected Kant's idea that all humans are equal and instead advocated the 'will to power,' in that an individual will always find his/her level. He said there will always be natural-born leaders and the 'superhuman' will emerge from that ilk. This is very Darwinian - "the survival of the fittest."

I strongly agree with this theory and, if played out in the correct manner, think it is a healthy quality to have. I have been accused of having Fascist views as a result as the Nazi's believed in Darwinism, but there is a huge difference between striving to be the best you can and killing people because you think you are better than them!

I like this short and sweet blog post about Nietzsche...

WINOL 2 (WEEK 1)

2010-02-11T12:25:00.001Z

In my busiest and hardest week at WINOL, I have ended up very disappointed.

I volunteered to be presenter for the Wednesday bulletin but it was very frustrating when it came to transmission.

Poor script (including the same story written twice), too many takes, black holes. Not fun.

I was praised for my presenting, but was still disappointed about the final product.

I was happier with my progress earlier in the week...

On Monday I had plenty of potential stories ready for the news team, at least if anything fell through. I had signed up to mailing lists from many local press releases from local councils, governments, charities etc.

On Tuesday I continued with forward planning before going out to film with Claire and Tom. We had a certain degree of success on Claire’s pothole story. We managed to find a team at work filling in potholes through our lines of enquiry (news is about people doing things).

I helped out with two more packages on Wednesday with Stu. One of which included getting vox pops on a housing story. The other involved thefts in the library and we interviewed the PCSO who was patrolling the campus; although it was filmed hours before the bulletin, it really should have been included in it.

Needless to say, the feedback was less than positive in the debrief, which was disheartening after I worked hard for WINOL this week.

WINOL NEWS: PLANNING

2010-02-03T12:13:00.004Z

In my role as Deputy News Editor of WINOL, forward planning is extremely important when it comes to getting stories.

I have already subscribed to the mailing lists of Winchester City Council, Hampshire County Council, Southampton City Council and Test Valley Borough Council. The press releases that come from them will open up more avenues for potential stories and follow-ups.

I will focus on contacting specific departments tomorrow by using the (ridiculously useful) white book that lives in TAB 9. This will help me to assign certain beats to members of the news team.

I will also work on ENPS with Brian, which will hopefully help us to save time and be even more organised!

ORWELL VIDEO BLOG

2010-02-01T13:12:00.009Z

[Bad sound quality - turn it up!]

My examples of newspeak in today's society are the energy drink Powerade and the PlayStation/XBox game Pro Evolution Soccer.

Orwell explained the premise of "if you control language, you control thought" in the film '1984'. The lexical choice in the names of both products appears to follow this in the way that they give a false sense of empowerment, as if you can perform above and beyond your peak with the help of them.

Powerade

- Clever word play using the words 'power' and 'raid' although it gives no implication as to what the product actually is/does.

- Creates what is known lexically as a 'blend' with a non-standard spelling of 'raid' to create extra confusion to somebody who has never heard of the drink.

- So misleading that I started thinking that the drink may cause you to create football's version of the Russian Revolution! As a result, I bought Lucozade instead...just to be on the safe side!

Pro Evolution Soccer

- In the way that Powerade suggests you will physically play sport above your capabilities, the title of this game suggests you will achieve the equivalent in virtual terms.

- The confusing use of the word 'evolution' suggests you will morph into a superhuman foootballer (in the virtual world).

Just like the NewSpeak dictionary in '1984', these words and phrases are not closely associated to what they actually are/do.

Language has definitly been corrupted/manipulated in some shape or form.

'THE GRAPES OF WRATH' IS A WORK OF JOURNALISM

2010-01-25T11:47:00.003Z

It is irrelevant that 'Grapes of Wrath' was fictional, it was solely based on journalistic research and articles.

The plight of the Joads that he told in the book was a means of raising awareness of the hardship that families faced during their migration to California.

Although it was clearly an innovative work of journalism, Steinbeck's literary genius was recognised when it won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1962.

'The Grapes of Wrath' shows that journalism can sometimes reach a point when it becomes art, (I now know why we are based in the Faculty of Arts!)

The book is one of the first examples of 'campaigns' in journalism that can be seen frequently in today's papers. The most recent high-profile campaign is for the people of Haiti who suffered a devastating earthquake a few weeks ago.

They are often given catch names, such as 'Helping Haiti' in The Sun.

'The Grapes of Wrath' did have its critics. It was believed by many that it was a work of propaganda, but later research found that conditions were in fact worse than those portrayed in the book.

YEAR TWO TUTORIALS

2010-01-24T12:21:00.001Z

Tutorials: Tuesday 26 January...

CLICK HERE TO SEE YOUR TUTORIAL TIME.

MY PAGE RANK UPDATE

2010-01-20T13:53:00.002Z

I have decided to clean up my blog as part of my mission to get this site "on the map" so I have made a separate blog for my music called 'The Trance Hutt!'

Over the last few days I've been moving my posts on all things trance to that site and my Alexa Rank has suffered as a result.

The reason for this decline isn't that it was a bad idea to make this choice, it is just the spiders/bots getting used to this dramatic change I have made to my content and its tags.

Once the spiders see that I have 'purified' my content, I hope that my page and Alexa rank will start going up again, but at a quicker rate than before.

In the meantime, this blog still remains in the top 200,000 in the U.K and user's 'time on site' has risen by 162% to 9.25 minutes on average.

Analyse your site on Alexa.

Analyse your site on mypagerank.net.

WINOL: NEW JOB ROLES

2010-01-18T17:14:00.004Z

CLICK HERE to check the new jobs that were assigned today.

WINOL embarks on a new journey with the second years taking over News and Sport from the third years.

Will the 'What's On' guide die? Is it the last of the famous Stu Appleby hand gestures? Will the autocue ever work?...

...All will be revealed!

TWO POINTS DROPPED RATHER THAN ONE POINT GAINED

2010-01-18T11:39:00.001Z

Millwall 1-1 SAINTS

I HAVE had a bad feeling for a while that Saints will just miss out on the play-offs, Saturday's draw at Millwall intensified it.

Saints broke the deadlock in injury time and were minutes from a vital win at The New Den - only to conceed 30 seconds later.

They may have taken at the New Den having been on the back foot for much of the game.

If Saints held on for the win, it would have put them nine points off the play-offs. Now Pardew's side may be worrying that they may have too much ground to make up, especially as their involvement in the FA Cup and Johnstone's Paint Trophy will make for a hectic fixture schedule.

The scalp of Millwall would have been huge psychologically and acted as a catalyst for their play-off push.

Too many more draws will leave Saints running out of the points needed for that elusive sixth place.

MY PAGE RANK

2010-01-16T17:13:00.006Z

The traffic ranking site Alexa has raised this site to 189,888th in the U.K. Mypagerank.net also shows it has a Google page rank of 2.

This site is now being viewed for 1.5 minutes longer than 3 months ago...I must be doing something right!

My next aim will be to improve its traffic and page rank.

I will keep track of this site's progress over the next few months.

REALISM IN ÉMILE ZOLA'S 'GERMINAL'

2010-01-11T17:30:00.001Z

Émile Zola made it very clear that one of the main themes of his book was to expose the woes of the French miners faced. This idea of exposure is so vital in the birth of Investigative Journalism - and the reason why Émile Zola is tremendously respected in the industry.

The title, 'Germinal,' gives away so much when it comes to understanding this book. The idea is that the crushing of the miners eventually results in them backlashing and germinating into a new world, thus the oppression is a blessing in disguise.

His realist style in 'Germinal' is not only effective in a literary sense, but in the way it is that much more provocative as a result, making the reader want to do something about this disaster. This is extremely similar to the effect of John Steinbeck's 'Grapes of Wrath.'

Here are some quotes that are typical of 'Germinal'.

"On a pitch-black, starless night, a solitary man was trudging along the main road from Marchiennes to Montsou, ten kilometres of cobblestones running straight as a die across the bare plain between fields of beet." (p. 17)

- One of the best, certainly the most striking of openings I have ever read.
- Immediately picks up on the theme of loneliness, reflected in the high frequency of negative, uninspiring adjectives.

"Nothing left, not a penny, not even a crust; what was he to do now, on the road with nowhere to go and no idea even where to find shelter from the wind?" (p. 19)

- This sentence could be used to talk about anyone who has nothing, regardless of era or walk of life.
- Extremely depressing, thus extremely effective considering Zola's agenda.
- Plays on humans basic needs: food, money, shelter. Universal themes. Reminiscent of 'Grapes of Wrath' with the timeless theme of migration.

"...he picked the child [Estelle] out of her cradle and flung her on to her mother's bed, shouting in a frenzy of rage: 'Here, you take her; I could bash her head in...The brat has got everything bloody thing she wants...and yet she grouses louder than anybody else!'" (p. 32)

- An example of the violent/hostile imagery that courses through the book.
- Deep frustration. Cursing at three month old child.

WINOL REVIEW 2009

2010-01-08T12:09:00.002Z

Watch live streaming video from winol2009 at livestream.com

WHY EVERYBODY LOVES THE FA CUP...

2010-01-03T20:21:00.005Z

League One Leeds United reignited the magic of the FA Cup in an historic 1-0 win over rivals Manchester United today.

Jermaine Beckford's 19th-minute clincher was the highlight of the third round weekend, which was starved of giantkillings.

Following the League One side's recent demise, watching Leeds and their 9,000 travelling supporters get one over on the Premier League Champions was especially inspirational - and captured the romance of the FA Cup.

Manchester United were last knocked out at the third round stage in 1984 by Bournemouth.

There has been much talk in recent years about the growing gulf in quality of the Premiership over the Championship, let alone League One, but the third tier of English football is arguably stronger than it has been in years.

Despite fielding a weakened side, Manchester United are still hard to beat at Old Trafford - even by top flight sides.

The Whites have earned a trip to Tottenham in the fourth round. Here are all the other fourth round ties:

SAINTS v Ipswich
Reading/Liverpool v Burnley
Millwall/Derby v Brentford/Doncaster
Bristol City/Cardiff v Leicester
Stoke v Arsenal
Notts County/Forest Green v Wigan
Scunthorpe v Man City
West Brom v Plymouth/Newcastle
Everton v Nottm Forest/Birmingham
Accrington/Gillingham v Fulham
Bolton v Sheff Utd/QPR
Portsmouth/Coventry v Sunderland
Preston v Chelsea
Aston Villa v Brighton
Wolves v Crystal Palace
Tottenham v Leeds

Ties to be played 23 January

"FATAL ERROR"

2009-12-27T15:25:00.016Z

A spelling mistake by an Education correspondent is as bad as a Driving Instructor failing a driving test, an actor fluffing their lines or Wayne Rooney missing an open goal.

Okay, you get the idea, but I did indeed manage to spot a glaring spelling mistake by BBC News' Education correspondent, Gary Eason. In the third paragraph, Eason spells the word 'announced' as 'annmounced' - embarrassing for any journalist, especially a journalist working for the BBC with Education being his specialist field. The mistake (pictured, left) has since been amended.

The print screen (above) was taken shortly after 0:11 on 23/12/2009 when the mistake was yet to be spotted. At this point, I also e-mailed Ofcom to notify them of the error. I did not receive a reply.

But later the same day, not only was the word 'announced' omitted from the article, but it was changed dramatically. The print screen below shows the updated version, which includes a different headline to that of the previous version (pictured, above).

All print screens come from the same article (and URL).

"It's true...and I can prove it!"

WINOL (WEEK 4)

2009-12-14T12:14:00.001Z

Another frustrating week at WINOL.

On Monday, I used the morning to try and get on the guest list for live music at the Railway and Joiners. It proved quite difficult as it seemed the relevant people only arrived at the venues in the afternoon.

In the features conference, we discussed the disappointment of not putting what’s on guide up on the site. I realised I should have pushed production to do this. But the usual procedure of producing the script and getting hold of accompanying creative commons pictures was still good practice. I've been in contact with a lot of local bands on their MySpace to get permission to use their pictures.

On Tuesday I came in with my script but problems in the studio continued. After countless takes, Paul’s ‘Date with Fate’ was done perfectly but had no sound when it came to editing. Therefore, that and my what's on guide was left until the following day.

On Wednesday, by the time that the studio was sorted, it was time to film the bulletin so ‘Date with Fate’ and what’s on had to be scrapped.

On a positive note, I watched the bulletin and Cara presented very well. Rob Kirk from Sky News was very impressed with our efforts and it was fair to say it was the best bulletin yet.

PREVIEW: YOUR DEMISE AT SOUTHAMPTON JOINERS - 14/12/2009

2009-12-08T15:11:00.004Z

No holds barred Your Demise come to The Joiners on Monday (14th December).

The St. Alban's quintet are in Southampton as part of their 'Santa Slaughter' UK tour in December. They are looking to equal the dizzy heights of success of Enter Shikari.

From having their equipment stolen to line-up changes to breaking down on the M1, Your Demise's six year journey has been a rough ride. The guys eventually reaped their reward in April when their debut album, 'Ignorance Never Dies' was released.

On the stage and in the studio, they are highly energetic and utterly unrepentant; Kerrang! described their unrelenting music as "the shape of punk to come." Their debut single 'Burnt Tongues' is

just revving of the engine that is 'Ignorance Never Dies.'

Your Demise will hit you as hard as any metal band you have seen this year.

Check out Jon Hopley's review of Your Demise next week here on WINOL.

WINOL (WEEK 3)

2009-12-07T10:37:00.001Z

Week 3 of WINOL was full of 'technical difficulties.'

I arrived to hear, as expected, that my latest listings post had been mangled in the conveyor belt system that is Joomla. For the second week running, I had to spend Monday morning sorting out the spacing and web links in the what's on guide temporarily signed in as an administrator.

As time consuming as it is, I am the listings man and have to tell the good people of Winchester what's going on at all costs!

We hit more 'technical difficulties' on Tuesday when my what's on video guide was meant to happen. I read out the featured listings in one take, only to get back on Final Cut Pro and find there was no sound! It emerged that there were problems with the tape decks in the studio. We had to wait until Wednesday for it to be fixed, so the listings and 'Date with Fate' feature had to be put on hold.

On Wednesday, a new sense of optimism filled TAB 9 as the studio was fixed and we could go and film!

'Date with Fate' proved a huge success amongst ravenous WINOL 'employees,' especially when put up against the what's on guide. I'm only assuming this, as nobody bothered to post it up on the site this week.

Oh, I do enjoy 30-mile round trips for nothing!

It wasn't all doom and gloom on Wednesday though; while 'Date with Fate' was marvelled in, I managed to compile the week's text version of the listings tucked away in the opposite corner of TAB 9!

Newsflash! Today, on the 7th December, my review of Vagina Monologues (that I worked so hard to get a press pass for) has finally been approved and posted on WINOL!

This comes exactly THREE WEEKS after I went to see the show.

So, as you can see, everything is going well...

WINOL (WEEK 2)

2009-11-29T14:37:00.003Z

WINOL is well and truly up and running. The same could be said for me.

On Monday, I had two weeks worth of listings that hadn't been put on the site, so I used the morning to push them onto the site. The what's on section is slightly unique in the way that it does not need to be checked for grammar or whether it is decent or not. It was just my job to push it onto the site.

I missed the features conference in the afternoon with permission from Chris to help out Grant on the sports team. The Winchester City manager Stuart Hussey happened to live very close to my house in Southampton, so I took him to his house to help him film an interview with him. At the start of WINOL, Chris said the sports team was small in number, so I was glad to be able to help out.

As per usual, I had my what's on feature filmed on Tuesday. The piece as a whole is coming together well week-by-week. I am getting used to the style of script needed for what's on, and how it should be delivered in a lighter way than the bulletin, for example.

For the first time, the what's on piece was put after the main bulletin, instead of a stand alone item. Chris must have thought that it was worthy of being associated with WINOL's 'flagship,' so I'll take it as a compliment.

Overall, the WINOL site is a bit rough round the edges but is getting tidier thanks to discussions in the debriefing. The new 'flannel panel' has also improved the front page aesthetically.

WINOL: WHAT'S ON GUIDE

2009-11-24T17:56:00.003Z

WINOL (WEEK 1)

2009-11-22T18:49:00.007Z

The features team seem to be getting into a rhythm on WINOL now after the two dummy editions.

As the weeks go on, I feel a lot more comfortable that I am able to deliver what is expected of me when it comes to Monday afternoon's conference.

On Monday evening, me and Kayleigh went to watch Vagina Monologues at the Mayflower in Southampton. Not only was it an enjoyable show to watch, but something of a luxury to have got access to the press area with the 'proper' journalists. It was pleasing to meet the press officer in person after making myself known via the phone; being given the password to their press centre was also an achievement.

The free drink wasn't too bad either!

Chris asserted that he wanted my what's on video piece to be permanent feature. After last week's 'debut,' I was more comfortable in front of the camera and matters improved on the technical side as well. Inevitably I could be more natural when recording and the editing could be better, but things are progressing well.

As Tuesday is now used for the planning and execution of the video feature, I now use most of Wednesday to do my main job, the full local listings. I am now in the habit of knowing where to look to compile the listings - I even know a lot of the web addresses for local venues off by heart! In many ways this is the easiest part of my job, but it's also the most fiddly.

In terms of WINOL as a whole, the website is coming together well. The bulletin actually gets recorded now and the ticker actually has news on it (only joking guys)!

Oh, almost forgot: it might help if the listings go on the site some time before the event takes place!

VAGINA MONOLOGUES REVIEW

2009-11-20T12:19:00.001Z

Walking to my seat. Uninspiring set. Surrounded by women. I thought the worst of my Monday night.

Four stools, a few tables, I expected a knock off episode of Loose Women talking about vaginas.

Talk about vaginas they did, disappoint they DID NOT. Eve Ensler's Vagina Monologues at the Mayflower in Southampton will have you laughing from start to finish.

The blend of youth and experience between the four ladies was faultless, and their varying characters complimented each other on the stage.

Ex-EastEnders Anita Dobson's attitude and hilarious accents were truly side-splitting while South Today's Sally Taylor subtly was equally effective.

Louisa Lytton, also Ex-EastEnders, added sexy and sassy while Waterloo Road's Zaraah Abrahams came out of character the most, delivering the story of the devastating rape of women during the Bosnian war. This was the most poignant moment of the night, but there were quite a few, bringing such credit to the tales that Eve Ensler put together.

The comic timing often brought the show from the sublime to the ridiculous, which was the sheer class of the Monologues. Its ability to jump from suffering, to true love, to downright hilarious was extremely impressive.

Anita Dobson was undoubtedly pick of the bunch. She portrayed her characters with such authenticity, making each of her monologues all the more powerful. If that wasn't enough, her wild 10-minute orgasm (that seemed to go on for an eternity) gave the crowd by far the biggest laugh.

Aside from the set-up of the show, the script was simply an exhibition in English. The richness of the language was there for all to see, and only contributed to the amusing idea of women talking about their vaginas.

The show has been branded the "ultimate girls' night out," but as hard to believe as it may seem, it is funny and entertaining on many levels - whether you own a vagina or not.

WINOL: WHAT'S ON GUIDE

2009-11-17T20:45:00.002Z

CHRIS HORRIE ON BBC RADIO 5 LIVE!

2009-11-17T10:54:00.006Z

Here's the link to Horrie on Five Live last night.

Hear him talking about The Sun with Richard Bacon. Drag the time bar to 1:21.00 to find his interview.

WINOL (DUMMY EDITION 2)

2009-11-15T15:15:00.001Z

This week at WINOL was more hectic, but a lot more productive.

On Monday, the features news conference was more brisk and it appeared the team had better material to bring to the table. I worked closely with Jon and he was more than happy to preview and review the events I found for him.

I also asked Chris about the possibility of getting press passes at local venues, and we agreed that there would be no harm in asking. So when I went home, I rang the Mayflower Theatre's press office and was pleasantly surprised at my success. I managed to get two press passes for 'Vagina Monologues' on Monday 16th.

This week had a high focus on the ongoing battle between journalists and press officers (especially our own), so I was extremely pleased to win one over.

I was happiest with the what's on video piece that was recorded on Tuesday. It was practically my first time in the studio not including training sessions, and I enjoyed the session with Leanne, Rich and Matt. We faced the usual technical difficulties with the sound, lighting and the auto-cue, but once these issues were resolved, it took a relatively low amount of takes to get it right. A bit disappointing that I haven't been able to see the result of my efforts, but a learning experience nonetheless.

Joomla was up to its usual mischief again. Once I had done this week's listings and submitted the article, it came up with a message saying 'session expired!' So there's a time limit to produce an article is there?! Anyway, less said about Joomla, the better.

Roll on next week.

WILLIAM RANDOLPH HEARST & LORD NORTHCLIFFE (NOTES FROM HCJ WEEK 5)

2009-11-10T22:10:00.008Z

The lecture about American expansion and Europe helped me understand why the individuals I am learning about are relevant to Journalism.

The first evidence of photojournalism as we know it today came from the American Civil War in the 1860s. Chris said that we could see those iconic images from that war were in our minds, in some way or another, I certainly could. He couldn't have emphasized his point any clearer.

William Randolph Hearst's methods appear to be the reason why News City was taught to us in the way it was last year.

First rule: 'Tell' the news (although Hearst made a fortune with the San Francisco Chronicle by exaggerating what he told of where the gold was in 1849!)

Second rule: Be aware of your audience. Much of his readership were semi-illiterate migrants whose first language varied massively, so simplified English was employed to reach out to them. This became known as the 'yellow press.'

Back in this country, Lord Northcliffe was adding his part to Journalism history, and it is still relevant today. He had a lot of success with what could be described as the early 20th century's version of 'reader response.' We have comments and blogs. They had letters.

In his paper Answers, readers would send letters with questions...and yes, you guessed it, they would be answered. This is a clear example of what is now known as a feature.

Louise Owen, Northcliffe's Private Secretary 1902-1922 said: "...his gift of acquiring information startled me; his knowledge of affairs was uncanny. He had a curious instinct for asking questions, and seemed to know each subject as thoroughly as the specialists themselves."

I am being trained to be something resembling this description.

More comparisons between Reporting Skills and Northcliffe: The 250-word rule. When churning out stories to fill a newspaper, this is the guideline. However, if you're doing September 11 - the morning after, it would probably be wise to temporarily ignore this!

In the words of Chris and Brian: "Give it what it's worth!"

(P.S - I originally thought it would be clever to make this post exactly 250 words, but I'm trying to get marks for my degree, so gave it a tad more depth!)

WINOL (DUMMY EDITION 1)

2009-11-08T13:30:00.013Z

As expected, this year's Winchester News Online started with a few issues to deal with.

Chris, in his typical style, piled the pressure on the whole team on Monday. He made it clear from the outset that we would all have to pull our weight to make it work. He also emphasized the importance of always bringing relevant ideas to the table in news conferences.

There was some confusion at the features news conference on Monday afternoon. As it was the first one, most of the team weren't aware of the preparation that was needed. It may have been beneficial if the first conference was used to as an opportunity to explain what would happen in them every week, and to share contact details. However, being thrown in at the deep end usually helps in the long run, and the requirement of delivering material at set deadlines was made clear.

As Features Listings Editor, my main task for most of Tuesday was to fill the 'What's On' section of WINOL. I was pleased with the listings I created and submitted the article hours before the deadline, but there were problems with it, as pointed on by Production Editor, Rich Taylor.

He pointed out that, although I put the events in chronological order, the reader-friendly element was lost and it would have perhaps been better categorised by type of event. So I went away and revised the listings accordingly, which Features Editor Alice Rimes was pleased with.

'CITIZEN KANE' NOTES (HCJ WEEK 6)

2009-11-06T14:12:00.011Z

When Samantha Alexander asked Charles Foster Kane of their affair: "what would people think?" he replied, "I tell people what to think." Power of this magnitude became the success and ultimate downfall of one man's life.

His popularity gained from the New York Inquirer was such that he ran for Governor of New York and married Emily Monroe Norton, President Monroe's niece. However, Kane's extensive involvement with the Inquirer and criticisms of the President in it saw the gradual breakdown of their nine-year marriage.

His affair with Samantha Alexander ended any hope of salvaging the marriage and winning his political campaign in New York. His image of an honest journalist was dented after every paper - apart from his own - ran the story of their 'love nest' on the front page.

His second marriage mirrored his first, in that Kane wanted to make Samantha Alexander happy, but he seemed only capable of doing what he thought made her happy, and not what truly did.

Kane took a high interest in Alexander's singing from the first time they met, and with the power of his headlines, elevated her mediocre ability to high profile opera shows. Their marriage was plagued by Kane's brainchild to make Alexander a famous opera star, even though she had little aspiration to carry it out.

Kane eventually realised the limitation of his newspaper. All the propaganda-like headlines in the world couldn't disguise the fact Alexander was in a false position on centre stage. This was epitomised by one scene at El Rancho; the camera cut back and forth between Alexander and one man in the crowd, and each time his restlessness became more and more evident.

Kane's over-exaggerated applause at the end of the show was quite significant. It may have been the point when he realised it was a mistake for his wife to be on the stage, yet another example of him pushing her - or even both.

Overall, it appeared that Charles Foster Kane thought the power and wealth acquired from his work life would be enough to give him a happy private life, but by the end of 'Citizen Kane,' it was clear it had the reverse effect. He told New York what to think every day, then found it difficult to accept that he couldn't do the same with Emily Monroe Norton or Susan Alexander.