WINOL Review 9/11/11

Once again WINOL provided university students with professional level news. The presenters this week all spoke clearly and were proudly sporting Remembrance Day poppies on their lapels. There was a variety of interviews in this week’s broadcast, a highlight was the exclusive interview with Chris Huhne, which was of national news standard, highly informative, and generally an interesting addition to the story. I also thought it was clever how they chose to film the report on primary education, as they managed to avoid any legal issues by not filming children, only teachers.  
The one real let down this week was the ‘update’ on the on-going bin collection crisis as it failed to act as a productive update, simply reiterating information from last week’s bulletin. This made it appear to be more of a time-filler, rather than news. Another small issue with the report on the planned journey for the Olympic Torch was that the map image they used for the backdrop and illustration was out of focus. From a purely aesthetic viewpoint it may have been wiser to ensure that the image was clear. However overall this week was another impressive broadcast, exceeding the standard I would have ever expected to be produced by university students.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVHTkwVhmGg&feature=player_embedded

I am thinking, of this I am sure

During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries western philosophy was divided between British Empiricists and Continental Rationalists. Both of these theories concern epistemology, which the theory of where knowledge derives from. Empiricists, such as Locke, argue that all of your knowledge is derived from sensory experience. However Rationalists, such as Descartes, argue that pure reason and the mind alone, is the source of knowledge.

Cogito Ergo Sum - I think therefore I am; a pretty standard thought. This however is one of the fundamental principles of Rene Descartes’ philosophical theories. Descartes was around during the seventeenth century and was a contemporary of Galileo. He shared similar views to those held by Galileo and Bacon, and was opposed to Aristotelians and the traditional education that was available in universities at the time. Descartes embarked on a life in action, in the hope that this would give him insight as he then went on to search for ‘true knowledge’. One of his main theories is the concept of ‘Cartesian Doubt’, which is that you can only be certain of what is in your own mind; everything else could have been put there by a demonic imp. According to Descartes you should doubt everything, except God and your own existence. Unlike Plato, who argued that there was a realm of the forms, Cartesian philosophy contains three realms: mind/soul, matter and God. Mind and matter are both created substances whereas God is an uncreated substance. Descartes argued that God is the supremely perfect being, which you gain the idea of through a conglomeration of your sensory experiences.

Investigative Journalism

Every day, ‘ordinary’, journalism is simple telling the news and is determined by the public agenda, such as court cases, or the forthcoming Olympics. Whereas investigative journalism is where the journalist goes ‘off diary’ and decides the agenda for themselves. It often concerns a topic which someone, somewhere, doesn’t want you to know or publish. The subject can either be lightweight, such as celebrity gossip, or it can be more hard-hitting such as fraud. Classic ‘investigations’ are on public interest issues. The defence of ‘public interest’ applies to: crime, public safety and hypocrisy. However the big topics, which will make newspapers fly off the shelves, are miscarriages of justice.

Miscarriages of justice are where people are framed and convicted of a crime they did not commit, for example the cases of the Birmingham Six, and the Gilford Four. The Criminal Case Review Commission (CCRC) was set up, after these two high profile miscarriages, to investigate alleged cases of miscarriages of justice, however it is unfortunately seen as ineffective. It is very difficult to prove that the judicial system isn’t fair, or isn’t drawing the correct conclusions. As well as the CCRC there is also the Innocence Project (INUK) which gives offenders the opportunity to apply for their case to be considered as a possible miscarriage of justice.

When conducting investigative journalism it is important, as always, to avoid malice and there must not be any conflicts of interest.  A famous example of investigative journalism at its very best was by Harry Evans and the Insight Team into the use of Thalidomide (intended to solve morning sickness) and the affect it had on the development of a child in the womb. This resulted in compensation being rewarded to the victims’ families.   

Some handy and interesting links for you:
http://www.ccrc.gov.uk/
http://www.innocencenetwork.org.uk/

Journalism Now! Winol Review 02/11/11

Well we have officially entered the ‘Journalism Now’ module, which basically reinforces the importance of reading a newspaper every day. I am not going to deny that trekking up to the Hospital, for my copy of ‘The Guardian’ in the pouring rain, was not exactly what I wanted to be doing at nine on Thursday morning. However I do want to succeed on this course, so I grabbed my brolly and prepared for a soaking.
Much to my dismay we were once again asked to review this week’s WINOL. Reviews are not my strong point, but here it goes:

This week’s WINOL was a vast improvement from last weeks, returning to the standard which we usually see and expect.
 The section of the news bulletin this week which stood out for me was the interview with MP Steve Brine, as it was of the standard I would usually expect from national or regional news, far beyond what I would expect to result from a student interview. There was also focus on local news with the bin collection story, which contained an apology to residents from George Beckett; the leader of Winchester City Council.
The sport section was clearly presented and highly informative, however it did seem to be too long in comparison to the other stories as it took up nearly five minutes of the bulletin. Although this could be a slightly biased opinion as I have no interest in sport myself.
Despite a few pauses in sound, and instances where the background noise overpowered the presenter, this week’s WINOL was interesting and of good quality.

Copyright .. don't copy, right?

The main point about copyright for a journalist is that anything you write belongs to you; this means that no one can publish or edit your work without your permission. This right is protected by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1998, which protects any literary, dramatic, artistic or musical work, sound recording, film broadcast, or typographical arrangement.

Intellectual property is a residual right which every citizen has, not to get their work stolen or exploited by others. However there is no copyright in facts, news, ideas, or information. It only exists in the form information is expressed.

Fair deal enables you to take and reuse facts within a story e.g. results of a football match. You are also allowed to use someone else’s work if it is for the purpose of comment, criticism, or review.  However it must be packaged as a review and it must be brief. It is also essential that you credit the source, and make the commercial availability of the work known.

There is one point which should get you through all of this though, keeping it short and sweet, simply don’t pinch anyone else’s work. Do it all for yourself, and it should be plain sailing from here on out.

Defamation in action - Christopher Jefferies Libel Case

Eight newspapers published public apologies to Christopher Jefferies today, having previously printed defaming and libellous allegations towards him earlier in the year. The newspapers have also agreed to pay a significant amount in libel damages.

The false accusations towards Mr Jefferies were in reference to the Murder of Joanna Yeates, which he had been arrested and questioned by the police for, in December 2010 (Christopher Jefferies was found to be entirely innocent and had no part in the murder. Vincent Tabak has now been charged with the murder of Joanna Yeates. Tabak admits to manslaughter and is currently on trial for murder.) . Newspapers then embarked upon a “witch hunt” against Mr Jefferies, drawing concerns over his character, and causing significant damage to his reputation.

In an interview on the Today programme on Radio 4 with Sarah Montague Mr Jefferies reveals how he could not even leave his home to go to the shop, having to be sheltered by his friends from the allegations being published in the media.

This case also bring up the topic of the on-going questioning surrounding “no win – no fee” legal representation, as this was the system Mr Jefferies used for his libel case. The Ministry of Justice released a statement stating that the government is willing to support “deserving” cases using the no win no fee system.

Here is the link to the interview with Christopher Jefferies on the Today programme:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9629000/9629799.stm

Here is the link to an article in the Telegraph about the libel pay out:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/8670114/Joanna-Yeatess-landlord-Chris-Jefferies-wins-libel-payout.html

WINOL

Unfortunately this week’s WINOL was a bit lacklustre in comparison to some of their previous broadcasts. Although the content of the broadcast was of high quality, filled to the brim with factual information, it was the technological side which let WINOL down. The camera panning often seemed rushed, and pictures rarely stayed in focus for long enough that I could truly understand what was being shown. Editing was also slightly abrupt in some instances. However as the broadcast went on into the sports section the quality did improve. The WINOL games section was the clearest part of the broadcast when it came to the presentation. Despite not quite being of the same high quality usually presented in a WINOL broadcast, this weeks was still an impressive show, all of the presenters acting professionally and reporting accurate and interesting content.

Check the link for yourselves : http://www.winol.co.uk/