I don't know where I am going, but I'm on my way.

I don't know where I am going, but I'm on my way.

I have and have always had a strong to desire to travel the world - wanderlust I think they call it. I am planning my next venture to North America. Flying from London going to LA and giving my self a month to travel across and leave from NYC.

The places I am going to travel and blog about are: 

(Not in route order) 

* Los Angeles 

* Las Vegas 

 *Grand Canyon 

* Monument Vally 

*Arizona 

 *Texas 

*Colorado 

*San Antonio 

*Louisiana 

* New Orleans 

*Alabama 

*Mississippi 

*Virginia 

*Tennessee 

*San Francisco 

 *New York 

*Washington 

 I have been to a few places around the world; South Africa, parts of Europe, Central America but I have always felt this strong urge/pull to the USA. My mum has this idea that it may be from our ancestors going over 100's of years ago and finding it - although I'm not really sure if we were related to anyone that found it?! I am from a city called Plymouth, South West England. We have a lot of history here, especially in relation to sailing and pirates for example - Sir Francis Drake. After doing some research, I found out that the Statue of Liberty arrived in New York City on the 17th of June 1888. Of course I was neither born or even thought of then but my birthday is on the 17th of June - just a coincidence right? Well what ever the reason is I am on a mission to travel there and find out. Maybe it is the pure fact that it is just an amazing country. A country so full of different climates, traditions and people. From the vast desserts in Nevada to the stunning beaches of Hawaii. There is so much diversity and I cannot wait to experience it. 

My first experience of NYC 

 When I was 17 I went to the USA for the first time on a college trip. At the time Alicia Keys "New York" had just came out and what a brilliant description of NYC that was. When I arrived in New York - just like the song says "now that I have made it here, I can make it anywhere". That is EXACTLY how I felt when I landed. I felt a sense of belonging there. I knew at that point that I HAD to come back and that there was a lot more to America then this small but amazing city. 

My next USA experience

I am hoping to keep a diary of my journey not just on the travel aspect, but of self discovery also. I have travelled solo before but this will be the longest I would have travelled alone and on other travels parts have been guided. This will be completely solo! I want to do minimal research before I go, obviously there are things that I need to research, some for safety precautions but I want to "wing it". I don't want to have any plans as such and I suppose go with the flow. I want to gain a more intense (if that's the right word) of independence. I have had snippets before; moving to university 500 miles away from my home town and also travelling Africa last year - flying that far on my own. So I have built my self up to this massive challage and life event! This was just a draft post really, discussing what I am going to do and why I want to do it. The more exciting blogs will be of the experiences in each of the places that I visit :) Updates to follow... .

Parliamentary Democracy in the UK

Parliamentary democracy in the UK has seen many dramatic changes in the twentieth century. For many countries it has been a consolidation period, where a democratic society has been formed. As well as the global effectiveness of a democracy here in the UK there have been many questions into the power and roles of the members of parliament. Parliament took all major control of the sovereign, in the day-to-day exercise of constitutional power many years ago. It was recognised by monarchs as early as the fourteenth century that the very people they depended on to maintain their authority must, for this reason, be consulted on major issues in the country (M. James, 2009, pg 39). Thus ‘Parliament of ‘commoners’’, which has enabled them to have an active part in the converting of bills into statues (acts). In this essay I will explore, in detail, the British government that the country devotes trust and faith into. I will be looking at the roles and responsibilities that parliament has and what the various institutions of parliament do and as equally important - the effect this has on us.

The UK public elects 650 Members of parliament that represents a seat or constituency. The constituency will usually represent the interests and concerns of the local public. The concerns are raised in the House of Commons were MP’s will consider and propose new laws. MP’s will also have the opportunity to look over the government polices on current issues by asking ministers questions, this will either be in the Commons Chamber or in the Committees. The commons chamber is ranged along two sets of opposing benches with the main authority being ‘the speaker’. On the right hand side of the speaker is the government benches (government party and its allies) and on the left hand side of the speaker is ‘Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition’ (normally the second biggest party after a general election). : (M.James, 2009, pg 39/40)

There are usually between 80-100 MP’s in each constituency, the rest are known as ‘shadow ministers’ they are situated on the opposition frontbench and are known as backbenchers’. Some of the main roles and responsibilities that the MP’s discharge within their constituency is to hold weekly ‘surgeries’ in their constituencies; canvassing support among fellow MP’s for ‘early day motions’ and to introduce Private Member’s Bill – this can be a potential legislation that, if passed could make it a law of the land. Any MP’s main duty lies within their constituency with their constituents, they also have a responsibility to Parliament and the Great British Public who can get involved in the debate, question and hold accountable any decisions that the executive make. One of the main ways in which their decisions can be checked is through a committee system to ensure the transparency and accountability of government. Most backbench MP’s are usually a member of at least one committee, a committee consists of around 11-14 members and chaired by a sitting member. There are four types of committees, there are; Select committees, public Bill committees, ad hoc committees and joint committees. (M.James, 2009, pg 46-48)

Firstly, Select committees are the most publicised committee within the select committees. This committee examines the workings of each government department, at the moment there are 19 select committees covering departmental issues such as education, health services and culture. This committee holds the power to call up MP’s, senior servants and public officials as witness, this information will then be published in a report. Secondly there is the Public Bill also known as the standing committee and the most influential type. This committee has a function to: scrutinize, comment on, amend, and/or refer back to the Commons for further consideration on Bills that are currently in the process of becoming acts of Parliament (M. James, 2009, pg 49). As the Bills will be under recognition for a possible new law this process often takes a considerable amount of time, as a result of this government have tried to avoid them when rushing to pass a legislation they say is urgent. If they are agreed by the speaker in these circumstances, the Commons itself with actually take on the role of the Public Bill Committee as a ‘Committee of the Whole House’. Thirdly there are Ad hoc committees, this committee deals with more specific issues of wide public concern. The House of Lords Ad Hoc Committee was established in December of 200 and under the inter-governmental Organizations examined how cross border policy issues are being addressed (through the UK’s membership of intergovernmental bodies i.e. the EU) (M. James, 2009, pg 50). Lastly we have Joint Committees; they get the name ‘joint’ because this group is made up of MP’s and peers. They will consider a range of points of view for the work of the Upper House. The joint committee dates back to the late 18th century – the committee was established to rationalise the amount of Acts in the statue book. In turn this means that the Lords are able to bring together a range of different Acts on the same or very similar areas in an ‘all-encompassing Act’.

As mentioned above MP’s in Britain is usually associated to a political party; however Party Membership is known as a game of two halves. On the one hand if one is selected to become an official candidate for a major party they will gain a good excellent support network and financial backing in the run up to the election. On the other hand, an independent person(s) that wish to become part of a major party will have to use their own personal money to fund their campaign to gain donations. Parties in Britain are said to ‘represent people with the same ideas’, however in recent years party leaders have been criticised for disagreeing with their ranks using a whip system to force their MP’s to back the official line when voting. The whip system is a very controversial system within the political democracy. ‘Whipping’ has been frequently accused of bullying MP’s into doing their leaders bidding. (M. James, 2009, pg 52). There are three broad definitions of the term whip, there are; whips, the party whip and three line whips. Briefly, the three main whips are explained below:

WHIPS are people who persuade MP’s whose views are known to differ from those of the party’s leadership to ‘toe the party line.’

THE PARTY WHIP – An MP’s or peer’s membership of their parliamentary party. If they are found to broken the rules of the membership then they can be withdrawn.

THREE LINE WHIPS – this is an instruction given to members of parliament by the leaders of their party telling them they must vote in the way that the party wants them to on a particular subject. (The MP must always attend as this is generally the most important).

(Above definitions are from: M.James, 2009, pg 50/51)

Whipping is a way of managing their own party; a whip will tell an MP which way they should be voting. One could argue that the personal morals of each MP could be affected as if they have vowed to stand for certain issues/ideas through this system they may not always stick to it. So in turn does this mean they are compromising their previous aims and objectives? Is this fair?
Local people in Preston and the surrounding area were asked three main questions;

• What do you consider to be clear wrong doing for local MP’s?
• How willing would you be to sign a petition to oust the errant MPs?
• Would it help you to trust politicians more?

The response was interestingly similar between all those who partook in the questions. Below are two of the more general reposes of ten interviewees.

Alex Jones, a local business man said, “I think any type of sex scandal would be bad, I would lose a lot of respect for them. I don’t think we should judge them with double standards but with the power they do have, we have the right to hold them responsible for what they do. I would definitely sign a petition and if people are more involved and care about people in charge if their local area they would do what we elected them to do. I would never trust our government, democracy is flawed already”.

Joanna Bates, a dentist said: “If they made a promise to us then totally went against it which has already been done, I would class that as morally and ethically wrong as it is abusing our trust and it defies the whole purpose of a democracy. I wouldn’t sign a petition as I don’t think it would make any difference as they are all consumed by money. I don’t think a petition would make much difference because most MP’s have neglected their rights to us as our elected MP’s, which is a shame because it would be nice to have an MP who does the job properly but there are a lot who don’t and that it all we seem to see. I’m not sure if it is because of the media and what the media chooses to show us, however I do think it’s all a big mess”.

To conclude, the results that of the interviews show that most people simply want their local MP’s to stick with original pledges they made and to keep a professional, moral and ethical stance on what they do. Even though most people said they would sign a petition it seems that either way this would not make a difference to the mass Politian’s if just a few were taken out. Nine out of the 10 people that were asked said that this would not make change the level of trust they have for local MP’s and politicians.

Critical Discourse Analysis and Content Analysis

In this essay I am going to critically evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of two research methods used for researching the practice of journalism. The first research method I am going to focus on is content analysis. Content analysis is the method used for systematic and quantitative analysis of communication content. The second research method I will focus on is critical discourse analysis. Unlike content analysis CDA’s job is to observe the interpretative and contextual approaches to the data collection and analysis. There is one main reason why I have chosen to focus on these two methods in particular. I think these two can be used in conjunction with one another – for example, one disadvantage with content analysis is it seems to rely on what is written and how many times. It could be suggested that this does not have any meaning at all, therefore when using discourse analysis we can look at the wording used, observe and use an element of interpretation.

With most research methods there are always going to be disadvantages – nothing is 100%. However, content analysis is used in many productive ways and can conclude some interesting and vital information. Content analysis is often the method used for analysing and mapping out key characteristics of large bodies of text. For example if we took a newspaper article, for instance, the purpose of the method would be to identify and count the occurrence of the specified characteristics or dimensions of text, though this we are then able to come up with theories about the messages, images and representations of such texts and their wider social significance. We can do this by looking at some basic ‘identifiers categories’. Firstly, we can look at the language/vocabulary used. Content analysis will look at the choice of one word instead of another, the word may have more or less the same meaning and may also be used to represent the opinions, emotions or social position of a speaker. I think this is where we can use critical discourse in conjunction with CA. For example, if we look at how many times a word is used this can indicate meaning but if we look at overt and covert bias within the wording used we may come up with a different meaning. It is reasonable to argue that if a profound absence of information exists within any article, then that is just as relevant as the information that has been printed and unquestionably contributes to different degrees of bias. In regards to the details provided within the articles, it could be found that certain words or selected quotes often depict the meaning of the story, helping to contribute to the consumers’ ideas and viewpoints of what is being read.

Research previously undergone suggests that selected quotes for a newspaper article’s often reflects and often helps contribute to an idea or theme the newspaper may have already had a for a long time (agenda meeting). Newspapers may also use certain wording to express the definition of a situation they are reporting and also (something one may notice often) to signal the social or political positions of the newspaper about the events.

As mentioned before content analysis can be used to understand any recurrent themes of the newspaper. By simply looking at the types of news stories covered we can get an understanding of the type of newspaper and the types of people that read it. Usually we will use content analysis focusing on specific issues or periods of time to be analysed. We usually use this for two reasons, the first the analysis of a particular event (war). This would be used to create a better understanding of an event specified study; we would look at the coverage before and after the event. From this we are then able to get a greater understanding of the agenda they are trying to set or the ‘propaganda approach’ as stated in Hansel and Cottle’s book. The expectation of the event even before it has happened can then lead on to the main frame for the content itself. One could suggest this that the paper tries to push these expectations on to its readership.

The second way in which we can use content analysis to understand recurrent themes is through the mapping of some general aspect of coverage such as the portrayal of race or terrorism for example. As well as this particular aspect of the method being used here, what researchers may often find problematic is with this ‘reasonable representative’ approach is the fact that the seasons often have a lot to do with what’s reported. If one took a weeks’ worth of international coverage, specifically Japan and this happened to be a week where there was a natural disaster (major earthquake) it would result in some unusual conclusions.

As well as CA being beneficial in many ways there are also several shortfalls. The quantitative indicators that content analysis offers may be read and interpreted by different people – therefore different ideas will arise. If we use the example of a newspaper article on immigration published by The Sun the multi-cultural, diverse demographics will result in a range of ideas. Communications research over the last 50 years has proved that there is no simple relationship between media content and its reception and social implications. Basically content analysis can help to show distinctions and absences of key characteristics in texts but the evaluation will ultimately depend on the context and framework of interpretation meaning that the texts analysed are limited. This is a quantitative research method that wholly relies on frequency; however there is no definite proof that frequency means importance. One could suggest that the language used is tailored to the audience, i.e. colloquial language in a Tabloid newspaper. Content analysis is also often said to disregard the background that produced the text as well as the state of things after the text is produced. Some researchers have even said the method lacks any theory base and in some cases attempts to freely draw’s meaningful interpretations about the relationships and impacts applied in the study. This research method has been subject to increased error, particularly when relational analysis is used to achieve a higher level of interpretation, thus the use of critical discourse analysis.

Critical discourse analysis is often understood subconsciously based on what we know about the world. Most people have different ideologies of the world and this can be because of a range of demographic reasons. For example, different social and financial backgrounds and in many aspects where and how we access our media. Critical Discourse is the method used by looking at the study of language, taking social contexts and investigating the language used within them. What one must consider when using this research method is the ideas behind the language being used. By using the critical discourse method we can create a greater understanding of what and how language can have such a significant effect when it has been used purposefully. There are three aspects that should be expressed when analysing texts; firstly one must look at the way the world is represented in news reports – with ideologies already apparent and how they have been framed (as we will look at later on in the essay). Secondly we must look at what is being highlighted and lastly how the article/report has been written and what kind of relationship does this make with the reader (Formal/informal).

Another way in which we can use critical discourse is not just by looking at the words/language that has been used or what hasn’t but by also focusing on the selection of quotes available and interviewee’s. Discourse analysis can usually be used on most texts as there are not any specific guidelines. Like many other research techniques, CDA does not provide precise answers but aims to raise an acknowledgment of agendas and suggested motivations behind the texts being analysed.

As said previously in this essay as in regards with content analysis, no research method is 100% therefore there are weaknesses. There is no hard data that critical discourse is reliable and the strength of the research wholly depends on the logic of the argument. Also, again just like content analysis CDA does not provide distinct answers and is not “hard science”, the findings are purely interpretational so in most cases for better results this research method would need to be used in conjunction with another methodology.

Critical discourse is a good way to understand how certain words will create subconscious associations within one’s mind with little to no effort at all. The main advantage with critical discourse analysis is that it is appropriate to every subject. Certain wording can link us to representations and ideologies we may have already adopted. For example motive words like “Terrorist” and “Abuser” etc. In many forms of media, especially newspapers, it would be appropriate to presume that they will rely on covert bias to inject ideologies, keeping the audiences with a certain viewpoint, without making it so obvious. We can also use critical discourse effectively by looking at the use of overt and covert bias within texts, when using DA one must always take into consideration what has not been included within the text is just as important as what has been included within the text. A way to analyse this successfully is by taking two different newspapers (Tabloid and Broadsheet are often effective) and pick the same coverage of an event from each. When the media print an article or inject any message into the public, people will draw two inferences: the language that has been used to tell the story and our knowledge about the world. The facts which we understand about the world could continually be consumed through this one paper – therefore certain ideologies could be adopted. Some mediums have stereotypical view points of the world; consequently the paper will only include what the public would normally expect in such circumstances.

By looking at aspects like colloquialisms one can create some interesting ideas. If we take the ‘Steven Lawrence’ story that has dominated news in all its formats in recent weeks, The Sun newspaper approaches it by using words like “Stephen's estranged parents, who have fought tirelessly for justice for their son, were in court with brother Stuart to see their son's killers finally brought to justice” while The Guardian uses less motive words and approaches it reading: “The case was one of the most famous unsolved murders in Britain. An 18-year fight for justice by Lawrence's parents led to a public inquiry which uncovered blunders by the Metropolitan police, blamed on institutional racism, which allowed his killers to escape justice.” If we look at the words from The Sun newspaper “estranged”, “tirelessly” opposed to The Guardian’s use of words (meaning the same thing) “18-year fight” and “escape justice” one can suggest that The Sun may be trying to cause a reaction from its readers and sticking to typical language that most people would expect from this newspaper. From this researchers using this particular research method have been able to come up with such conclusions like ‘using different wording to what readers are used to could cause confusion’. The same opening paragraph in The Guardian uses less motive words and also includes words like “Metropolitan police”; I think this offers a sense of authority and trusted sources within the article. The main focus here is taking a look at why a certain word has been chosen instead of another word and just as importantly what effect might this have on the representation and ideas being portrayed?

To conclude my essay I think it is fair to say that each of the two methodologies I have looked at within this article have clear strengths that help one to create a better understanding of texts using both frequency and some interpretation. From the research carried out to write this essay I have found an important extension of the method of content analysis by which content analysis can be closely incorporated with discourse analysis in the social scientific analysis of textual data. I think that this does not only allow interrelationships of words and content categories to be defined in a way that was only possible by manual analysis of large areas of text, but I think we have now adapted to a new stage of critical discourse were we are now able to link nouns with their attributes therefore allowing a further depth of analysis. One could suggest that with the many strength’s that come with using these two research methods there are also many shortfalls, therefore when these two methodologies are used in conjunction with each other we can then understand further key relationships within discourse. I have looked at the many strengths that one could say do help to create valuable ideas about the texts being analysed, but as mentioned previously with critical discourse analysis – interpretation is varied by each individual person – just like the main shortfall within content analysis and its quantitative approach, is this really hard facts? I think the argument here is that although these methodologies may suggest things about the texts there are no definitive answers. These integration techniques are both important and also a helpful step forward in social methodology.

What is the BBC doing to adapt to the digital era?

Media giants have all been subjected to this world wind of media communications in the last few years. But what problems has the BBC faced and how have they been overcome?

With more than 40,000 hours of television available each week mass audiences are no longer being connected through a central meeting ground. This is just one problem that broadcasters face – not forgetting the explosion of internet based interaction. Media organisations and professional journalists have worked hard to maintain certain ideologies and viewpoints – but are audiences now accessing their news elsewhere, starting to reject or question what they are being told?

Fran Unsworth the head of news gathering at the BBC says “I think people will always come back to us when they want trusted reliable sources. People should feel confident with being able to trust the BBC, the potential and need for public value broadcasting has never been greater. I think people generally think that new media is a threat and is going to be a problem for us – I think it’s a great opportunity. We are using new media, such as the internet and working them together. I would say it has been an evolution that has benefited media. We have used it in many productive ways and have had no real difficulty adapting. It’s made things a lot easier”

The BBC is the most successful public broadcasting company in the UK. Since the start of the digital switch over back in 2008, the pressure has hit hard as the BBC prepare to make some changes in order to keep up with the forever changing and fast moving digital era. That’s not the only problems that face the BBC, as well as the BBC’s competition with other commercial stations (ITV) and the constant the supply and demand for more programmes.

Making sure their programmes stay at an exceptionally high standard is just one of the ways in which the BBC has continued to keep its audience reach. The BBC’s website is one of the most popular websites in the world. With 17.2 million users a week the content including, news, current affairs and the weather is updated frequently as well as a specialised services section that includes the BBC Bite Size which is often used in schools to help with exam revision.

The British Broadcasting company is renowned for supporting its British interests and sharing them with the rest of the world. To ensure its programming and aims to; inform, educate and entertain are kept the BBC has devised many strategies to keep its audience. Back in 2005, the BBC announced thousands of jobs cuts to fund more quality programming, BBC news channel being the first of many. Because of the jobs cuts the BBC heavily relies on the work of freelance film makers and ‘private sector providers’ for its programming.

“Public broadcasting offers the best quality programmes”, said Miss Unsworth, “Yes ITV will provide programming that’s well suited for individuals but the BBC will provide its audiences with a nationally shared TV experience!”
The BBC are essentially legally obliged to commission a minimum of 25% of its programming from independent production companies, “Don’t tell the bride, Life on the Transplant List and Russell Howard’s good news” are but a few of the extremely popular experimental range from the BBC.

There are reasons to believe that the BBC will not survive the digital age, with evidence to show that audiences are turning to a more complex multi-channel environment, with so much choice that viewers would rather watch a channel that matches their individual needs, interests and personality. The result is that in 2004 for the first time, ‘multi-channel television has attracted higher overall viewing figures than either BBC1 or ITV1’.

Despite the opposition of commercial channels, research has shown that the BBC still reaches 86 per cent of the population – the highest reach of any of the other big channels. The BBC always does a great job with bringing families together at Christmas. Take Christmas day in 2008 for instance, the BBC secured a resounding ratings victory with nine of the top 10 shows, at its peak reaching 14.4million people.

The rise of the internet and online sources has spiralled over the last decade resulting in a worrying decline of trust and accuracy within news reporting. Critics are now worried that the BBC will become venerable because of the values it has worked hard to maintain throughout the years is now being questioned or rejected by viewers accessing information elsewhere.

Simon Bucks associate editor at BskyB thinks that it is possible, “As long as news organisations are prepared to embrace digital technology and digital platforms and transfer their brands then people will trust them. If you look at the most successful news brands on the web, there still the same old brands you were used to seeing on old media whether on TV or in newspapers, just converted. So people are still getting their news from conventional brands. In some cases people are getting their news from what we like to call aggregators – there new brands but there just aggregated content from old media producers. Trust is all about trusting the brand and the organisations producing the news”

“I think what people are doing is not getting their hard news from newspapers anymore or not in very large numbers, it’s something people get from either rolling news channels or they get it from some form of the internet – it might be on the web itself or through mobile apps and it might be on some radio. All journalists and news organisations must understand the principle of multi-platform journalism, so that means journalists need to learn and understand how to use new media for their newsgathering but also for distribution. They need to be able to use new media to be able to get the stories, obviously understanding how Twitter, Facebook, Google and Youtube work and in what ways you can use it. Journalists now have to produce news in a variety of different formats. I would say that this is both challenges and opportunities. Now is the most exciting time to be in the business.”

So what’s next for the BBC?

Even though there is more choice in digital channels this does not always mean that there is more diversity or better programming. Many of the digital programmes are imported in from the USA because they are usually rerun that are cheap. With this in mind it is unknown as to how long the public are going to tolerate a compulsory “television tax” particularly because many people also pay for satellite or cable subscriptions such as Virgin Media and Sky. The popular service The iPlayer is a new way that the BBC has created in an event to modernise its broadcasting service, this service is also free. Some people have even gave up there television set just to watch their programmes online for free. Research shows that since the iPlayer was established more that 220 million requests have been made for programmes online.

As it stands the BBC’s future is said to look bleak as the governments long awaited proposals on the future of the BBC will reportedly enclose the conclusion that licence fee funding for all its programmes will not survive into the age of digital-only television. It is suggested that the public will be less inclined to pay the licence fee and, with the advances of digital television; people will start to become increasingly hesitant to paying a compulsory charge for a few channels that they don’t watch or don’t watch very often. The result might be that ‘as public support for the licence fee fades, so public respect and affection for the BBC may also decline’.

Critically evaluate the extent to which key challenges and opportunities facing quality political journalism in the UK democracy are comparable across on-line, print and broadcast ...


This essay will look at the different media platforms that have access to the public enabling them to maintain information about what’s going on and more importantly how it will affect them. What one must look at within these different media platforms is with so many companies now competing with each other, what lengths will they go to get you that news? Over the last couple decades socio-economic, socio-cultural and technological advances have come together to now change a journalist’s role forcing them to be able to be qualified in all fields (i.e being able to now use a camera and online skills).

Quality news platforms are constantly losing readers and audiences because of an ongoing development in technology. Because of this, across the different media companies they will become a less controlled audience and select what they what from news, such as social networking sites – they have become very popular with the younger generation.

The World Wide Web plays a substantial role in this new change. When the internet came along there was an explosion of information available to anyone, any time. This resulted in a sudden occurrence of Citizen Journalism in recent years. One may suggest that this is because of facilities like mobiles and ‘I Phone’s’ for instance, they are everywhere and at a click of a finger, information can be shared with the rest of the world. The information now available to us is not always from a professional journalist. And because of this It has now become more of the case of ‘supplier driven’ to ‘consumer driven’.

Nowadays the concern from the public, journalists and politicians’ is how such a change can be managed – if necessary can it be managed at all?

Politics play an important and substantial part in everybody’s life, continuously. Politics determines different areas across the spectrum, from what we are allowed to earn right down to how we can treat animals. As this area is important and will have an effect on not just communities and regions but also the individual. Good journalism will of course involve exposure and investigation within democracies, as well as being the key provider to the public. With the information provided to audiences across the country it also enables a closer relationship between the politician and the individual. Media format’s now allow readers and audiences to participate in online and broadcasted debates. However, with all this information freely available, a recent claim (Franklin,1997) states that it is now being reduced to the role of entertainer. It seems Politian’s are becoming televised personalities in a way.

Although before World War II the UK did not have television, the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953 is said to be the landmark for television in the UK for widespread public movement. Now 73 percent of the UK population owns one or more Television sets in their house hold. We can see from this that there is still a high demand for TV news, however as there are so many different news channels currently, one problem that society face is people are no longer connected through a central meeting-ground of television. In effect this means people will be consuming different ideas from TV channels resulting in different ideologies being pushed out into the public. With the fast increasing rate of technology people are now becoming fragmented, there are now so many individual selections of programmes to choose from that people are not watching the same national schedule of home-produced television programmes (when there was only for example BBC news available). On the other hand, even though there are many different channels for the audience to get their news, broadcasters will often include the same or similar stories, especially with hard news. Hard news stories are relatively easy to recognise, anything that relates to social and economical affairs. Generally, serious crime stories will be included in most news bulletins mainly the 6 o’clock bulletin.

Public Service Broadcasters have become venerable because of the values it has worked hard to maintain throughout the years is now being questioned or rejected by viewers accessing information elsewhere. Unlike channel 3 and 5 the BBC are not commercial broadcasters their aim is to provide information to the public that will be of some advantage to the nation. In a recent review from OFCOM it states “We brought forward our second review of public service broadcasting as a result of increasing pressures in the commercial broadcasting sector. This is the final statement in which we set out our recommendations to government and Parliament.” This review was brought out partially due to concerns from the public, that there will become a time when ‘trustworthy’ and ‘un bias’ information will become unavailable. They went on to say “In this review, we have focused on how to ensure the delivery of content which fulfils the public purposes and meets the needs and interests of consumers and citizens throughout the UK. Our aim has been to make recommendations that respond to and take advantage of the huge changes brought about by the transition to the digital era.”

Even within an advanced democracy, good quality journalism is essential. Well-formed journalists should be able to help their audience interpret the world around them. With this, they will help the society make the best choices to improve their state. To some that may sound like ‘good old fashion journalism’, again with advances in recent years independence and choice often has become core to audiences. Now with the increase of fragmentation people are able to formulate alternative view points. With this new ‘choice’ and selection of ideas available, it’s argued more ‘balanced news is being produced’.

It is known historically that the British newspapers became free partly because of the consequence of a struggle against state control. Mainly as a result of increase of newspaper profits, largely down to advertising, newspapers are now able to report more freely from the state. Journalists are a vital part of the flowing news media helping to build political identities. Journalists become very powerful influences in circulating political meanings. Over the years Journalists have slowly constructed a national identity, an identity that can be recognised by the rest of the world. For example, to some people poverty, war and illness may be associated with the East of world, mainly by western countries. Print is one of the oldest forms of mass-circulation and became a kind of ‘spokesman’ for Politian’s. Newspapers were under a lot of pressure with regulations from the state insisting ‘appropriate representations’ circulated the mass media.

The last ten years hasn’t been too kind the national newspapers in the UK. Many print companies worried about decline in sales, especially when the internet became ‘all the rage’. With the same information available online – for free – people are less inclined to by a newspaper. Again this emphasises that fact the readers are only selecting the parts they want to.

Even though it’s been tough for the nationals to cope with such as fast changing audience environment and new media formats it is suggested over ten years ago: “On some measures the newspapers will continue their industrial decline. But the newspapers are likely to remain the most politically interested, most politically focused, most partisan, and most potent of the mass media (Jeremy Tunstall). From this, it could be suggested that even though there are thousands of sources out there, audiences that are interested in their public well being will still continue to get their news from papers they may have been reading all their lives. One reason for this is because this information could be seen more trustworthy then something you may find of the internet for instance. This also helps maintain the ideas and view points of the reader without causing confusion or questioning what they are being told.

One way newspapers try and continue to get sales is to keep up with customer demand. This means changing and keeping up with social, economic and cultural trends. Reporting what has a high demand everywhere else on the spectrum. Unfortunately for newspapers, unlike the internet, the newspaper only has so much space. Political news can sometimes be pushed aside for celebrity news, sports or entertainment. Political news coverage in down market newspapers often disregards serious political news. Newspapers like ‘The Sun’ for example will often use colloquial language to make a more clear and refreshing presenting style for the less educated. Down market newspapers main agenda is to provide primarily entertainment news, this will often spill over onto space were political news could be mentioned. “Our main job, about 10:1, is to entertain, rather than educate. Our policy is to ‘editorialise’ ... We are less interested in party policy – we are moving towards what readers want. This is a cut-throat business and we are in a fight for survival.” (Recent: ANON)
Many newspapers answer to the constant new media threats is being able to have the content skills – basically being able to take the good out of the information they receive. Within politics, getting the right facts is very important, information should be able to be trusted, reliable and un bias.

Just like newspapers and Television, Radio has also had its fair share of threats over the last few years. In the early 1990’s radio seen its first major rival – the CD. Radio started to see demand for ‘music only’ commercial radio. This was of course a serious threat to the wide extensive news coverage on radio, consequentially meaning a threat to the democracy itself. Peter Barnard in 1998 said about the commercial sector “... now the signs are that news is more or less an option”. So if people are not exposed to the news and democracy, how can they be expected to participate fully? This was a concern from Tony Blair worrying about the low turnout of recent local elections. 16-25 year olds play a vital role in society, making decisions that are going to affect the future. Broadcasters say that their listeners report ‘irritation’. Radio has now developed skills to pick news stories almost tailored to its listeners. Once again we come to the same result - listener preference. If, for instance a music track was interrupted by news on the death of Bin Ladden, would this have the same ‘irritating’ affect that other news would? No.

Radio technologies survival is not high on the news media’s agenda but the fact there is still demand for quality professional speech-only content is. Some may say that it is essential in preserving democracy for the news media. Here we could suggest that opportunities and threats work together. How? Well, people receiving their news from all over the world from a variety of ways are subject to new views and opinions. Public service broadcasting companies are starting to support and understand different points of view, this will help the government understand and appreciate new ideas. Now, with phone-ins audiences are able to interact with politicians there and then, getting direct answers – promoting a healthy society. The concern lays with the production of the radio show/bulletin not the delivery. The concern is somewhat cultural, how the consumer prefers to get their news. Despite the extensive growth of digital TV and ‘new media’ there is still a high demand for talk radio and as mentioned before the traditional phone-in/text in options are still available and are used regularly by hundreds of thousands every year. According to the BBC, the demand for programmes containing current affairs is still soaring, with millions of hits each week.

Currently due to popular demand, the political news that one receives will be determined by what the current ‘trend’ is at the time. There is now a lot of ‘tabloidization’ within news – whatever the format. The internet’s explosion of information is seen by some as a threat and by some as an opportunity. Threats may be, as stated before the fact that good, quality Journalism is sacrificed for constant news for citizen journalists, leaked information and information that doesn’t provide any real sources. This results in the information, firstly not being able to be completely trusted by the consumer (no sense of authority) and also the quality of the journalism. A ‘citizen journalist’ using a mobile phone verses a production team from the BBC for instance. In relation to quality there is no argument. However, a good video package, including interviews, quality sound and pictures produced 6 hours after a ‘bombing’ for example, verses footage off a mobile ‘as it happens’ and then uploaded straight to the internet. It’s suggested that it depends on the type of news it is. It depends on how the audience what get their news. Depending on the type of story to compete with ‘new media’ journalists must look at what would be most beneficial. In regards to politics, from the research that I have undergone it could be fair to propose that any democratic information is still gained through official sources. People will stick pick up their local quality newspaper. Even though this information may have a hidden agenda and have some use of covert bias, the ideologies and views of the newspaper, broadcast or radio show will help maintain their perception of the country. On the other hand, people now have the choice not to just accept what they are being told and get their information else were and with the growth of internet users this is very easily done.

Overt and Covert Bias within the media

I have analysed a week’s worth of political content in the Daily Express and I have studied both the overt and covert political biases within the newspaper. I have also undergone some research to help me understand the newspapers ideologies and the affect this has on its target audience.

Firstly I am going to look at the main strands of overt political bias within my paper. Overt bias is generally unhidden – some might say ‘obvious’ bias. The ‘Daily Express’ could be seen as a very right wing newspaper and may therefore, when writing political articles for example, include certain ideologies that their audience is familiar with. The general public often require their newspaper to report about politics in a way that is comprehensive, relatable and easy to understand. In general this is why readers stick to the same newspaper or format of receiving news, as some articles may be phrased in a way which makes it difficult to interpret, which leads to assumptions being made on the pivotal points of the said article.
On the 14th of April, the headline read ‘Tax and Pension Joy for Millions’ and in this article in particular the ratio from expert comments to hard news is reasonably balanced. An example of this ratio would be the short paragraph on the front of the paper, which continues on to the next page, then at the end of the article it emphasises an opinion page towards the back of the newspaper, showing which elements should be the readers’ priority. What is included in the article, for instance, certain wording and the use of selected quotes, often have other meanings of their own which can emphasise certain points. For example, this article mentions that Chancellor George Osborne said earlier this year that ‘his officials were studying the possibility of cancelling a 1p fuel duty rise in April’ but then goes on to say (also ending the article), ‘but he has refused to confirm his plans ahead of budget day’. How this article has ended could suggest overt bias as it seems the papers ‘wording’ suggests doubt in the chancellor’s decision.

In order to communicate, people will always come to their own conclusions about what has been presented to them. This was made more apparent because it was mentioned Mr. Osborne may cancel a 1p fuel rise, however when ending the article, stating that the chancellor would not confirm this could suggest that there is a chance that it may not happen at all. When the media print an article or inject any message into the public, people will draw two inferences: the language that has been used to tell the story and our knowledge about the world. The facts which we understand about the world could continually be consumed through this one paper – therefore certain ideologies could be adopted. Some mediums have stereotypical view points of the world; consequently the paper will only include what the public would normally expect in such circumstances.
What do we expect? Well within any political party most people will question what they are being told. With the coalition government and many officials not sticking to their word, it would be fair to make the assumption that people would reject Mr. Osborne’s ‘idea’.

Another controversial story of the week is about Health Secretary Andrew Lansley breaking his pledge. This story is situated on the fourth page of the newspaper and offers a great deal of both hard news and opinion; there are many quotes featured from health officials expressing their anger about where the money is coming from. Mr. Lansley pledged, before he came into power, to put £2 million into a new cancer drug fund. However after a letter from the NHS medical director Sir Bruce Keogh was found, explaining that £140 million of this was taken out of existing budgets within UK Primary Care Trust. Some of the ‘selected’ quotes here are quite obviously bias and completely negative towards Mr. Lansley. For example, a professor said “I feel ¬completely betrayed. This means other people will be suffering for cancer patients. This is not what we were led to believe” and another saying “So much for new money for cancer treatments when what he’s doing is ¬taking services away from other patients with long-term conditions. This is yet more evidence of David Cameron saying one thing on the NHS, and then doing another”. These are just two examples of the negative quotes throughout the story, there are no quotes included that balance the story, just quotes on the outrage of professionals and patients.

On the other hand, covert bias is bias that is less visible or less obvious. In many forms of media, especially newspapers, it would be appropriate to presume that they will rely on covert bias to inject ideologies, keeping the audiences with a certain viewpoint, without making it so obvious. However, having said that people will create different meanings from a single word, the message that arises may differ for each individual. In theory the concept of language as a tool of deciphering covert bias could be argued to be more blatant than first apparent, language is merely a tool and the meaning of the said word cannot be hidden as the meaning of the word lies alone in how it is used.
Could we say that there is such a thing as hidden meaning? Or is it the way we as an individual interpret what is there – making us assume there is a hidden meaning? Alternatively, what must be taken into consideration from this is that newspapers could find a quote and make maximum use of this in an article, which could help contribute to an idea they may have or have had for a long time. Often what they include and, equally important, what they don’t, can suggest hidden agendas resulting in covert bias. In the same week an article about students looking for work abroad, as there are ‘not enough prospects’ here in the UK. This suggests that with the other articles in the newspapers throughout the week, regarding the cutting of jobs and rises in other aspects of the economy, this could be down to the government and officials not sticking to pledges which is ‘forcing’ the public to turn to alternative means of employment. This article includes mainly hard news facts and plenty of statistics; the wording also seems quite negative and doesn’t offer unconventional opinions. For example, wording such as ‘lack’, ‘unemployment’ and ‘forcing people out’ are used throughout the article. There are no public or professional comments what so ever, unlike stated above were the newspaper emphasises an opinions page. It could be suggested that as newspapers tend to assume that the reader is somewhat aware of similar stories, they tend to exclude some information.
A trend that has developed over the course of the week shows that articles that include negative stories about the government seem to be less informative. On average the editorial piece contains 300-350 words, as stated above the story about Mr. Osborne cutting the 1p increase made the front page and was at least 600 words, including images. Sunday 20th March, ‘The Sunday Express’ paper included an article about the ‘potential’ MP’s pay freeze but at this stage it has only been planned and will be voted upon this Monday. The mere 150-200 words on this topic suggest that the newspaper is weary of making this a pivotal story as there is a chance that the validity of the article could become questionable. This could be seen as covert bias as the absence of information can be as imperative as the information that has been omitted.

To conclude, it is reasonable to argue that if a profound absence of information exists within any article, then that is just as relevant as the information that has been printed and unquestionably contributes to different degrees of bias. In regards to the details provided within the articles, it could be found that certain words or selected quotes often depict the meaning of the story, helping to contribute to the consumers’ ideas and viewpoints of what is being read.

 

CONTEMPT OF COURT - for journalists

“On the one hand, journalists are given important protection from contempt of court, providing their reports of legal proceedings are ‘fair, accurate, and contemporaneous’. On the other hand, this freedom to report fully can easily be sidestepped because courts have at their disposal the power to make various orders, the effect of which is to restrict what may be contained in journalists’ reports.”

In this essay I am going to discuss the statement above in regards to contempt of court. I will start by providing a brief outline of what contempt of court is following this I will then start to explain the law and how it can affect a professional journalist while reporting on legal proceedings.

Contempt of court is really put in place to protect the legal proceedings that happen within a court of law. The main concern of the law of contempt of court is to preserve the integrity of the legal process . Having this law in place gives the high court (as magistrates do not have the power to punish contempt of court by publication), the powers to punish any person(s) that interferes in any way with the proper functioning of the court system.
“Anyone who, for example, is disruptive or threatening in a courtroom can be punished immediately for contempt, by being sent by the magistrates or judge to the court’s cells, and in some cases subsequently to jail – because contempt is a criminal offence.”

Journalists should be both wary and educated with specific sections of the contempt of court act 1981, one section in particular is section 1 – this part is in relation to journalists and the media. Within this section it states that publishing material or information that could create a great and substantial risk of prejudice and adversely affect a fair trial within active legal proceedings is contempt of court.
Such information can be in all forms of the following material; written, spoken, broadcast and any other forms of communication that is accessible to the public. The media has the power to influence the jury through its many mediums and with online resources becoming more popular archive material is also at easy access. In some cases, were facts are for example brutal or shocking this can often lead the information to be ‘memorial facts’, in such cases as the John Venables case archive material when ever his name would be mentions would be easy to access, this is of course extreme cases.

Although there are restricting areas within this law, for example section 2 of this act there are areas the journalist can report while the case is still active. A case becomes active when the person is a) arrested b) issue of warrant or arrest c) issue of a summons, or d) a person being charged orally. The people that have been arrested can be named, however wording here is important. For example you CAN say “John Smith, from Preston was arrested yesterday in relation to a burglary”, you COULDN’T say “A burglar was arrested today...” as well as being defamatory this kind of statement is also assuming the guilt of someone. A journalist would also be in contempt if they included any names of any victims within a case. Juveniles (anyone under the age of 18) are given full anonymity at all times according to section 49 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act. There are other facts that can be reported that wouldn’t cause any prejudice towards a potential jury, this could be where the crime took place or what time. When the case in active, the defendant(s) must been seen by the court and if applicable the jury as guilty. Any one in court should been seen as a first time offender and other offences should not be taken into consideration – hence why it is important that the media do no publish such information.
In the case of a journalist having a report including any of the above and it being published there are some protection in the form of defence. Section 3 of the act basically is the defence that the journalist simply did not know that the proceedings were active when the report was published. As with all defences the journalist would have to provide evidence in court that they did not know. In addition to that, the information provided in articles must come from accurate sources and it is the journalist’s responsibility to select information from appropriate sources. Normally any source with authority would be valid.

If a journalist is accused of contempt than they must prove that “all reasonable care was taken” when the report if written up just to protect themselves from being in contempt. To allow a journalist to have full advantage of section 3 they would have to be sure that the case was definitely not active, as it states in McNae’s “a journalist reporting a crime story must check regularly, especially prior to a deadline, with the police to discover whether there has been an arrest or charge” , as said above when the case does become active this is when reporting restrictions come into place.

As stated in the title above “journalists are given important protection from contempt of court, providing their reports are ‘fair, accurate, and contemporaneous’.” Section 4 of the Act provides another defence it states that a person cannot be found guilty of breaching the ‘strict liability rule’ if their report is of a court hearing that was held in public, a fair and accurate report of the public hearing, and if it was published contemporaneously . This defense does not, however, protect those journalists publishing reports on private court proceedings. If for example, the report was on a private hearing then this would not be in contempt under The Administration of Justice Act 1960, exceptions to this would be if the case involved children or the report gave details of mental health e.t.c

Section 5 of the contempt of Court Act 1981 is another defense that may be used by journalists. This simply is the defense for discussions in good faith of public affairs were the risk of prejudice is merely incidental to the discussion , basically meaning it would be considered to be in the general public’s interest.

Journalists should be well educated about both the law as a whole and also the defences in which they could use in they were found to be in contempt. As well as this they should also be aware of the orders that various courts can make that will effect certain restrictions and news reports.
Also within section 4 of the contempt of court act is an order for the report and its information to be postponed. Having said that, if there is no section 4 order made then it is very unlikely that it can be in contempt, although as it states in McNae’s “...it may incur the displeasure of the judge if the information is disclosed which the jury ought not to be made aware of before the end of the trail” . As stated before an example of this would be when the media can deliberately mention certain facts that will emphasis certain issues.
Courts can also impose a section 11 order. This gives the courts the power to allow a name or other matter to be withheld from the public, to prohibit the name of the publication of that name or matter in connections with the proceedings, as appears to the court to be necessary for the purpose of which it was withheld .
To conclude this essay, I feel I have included all judicial order that I consider most relevant and significant to journalists. I have covered what the dangers are when reporting any court case, what would be allowed and what wouldn’t. I have also illustrated what could happen if a journalist were to be in contempt and what defenses they may use. It’s also important to remember certain powers which courts have that will affect journalistic reports.

Coverage of student demonstration 10.11.10

Student protests across the country have finally made government officials think twice about the rise in tuition fees. Worry has broken out for not just for students, but for A-Level lectures.

50,000 Students in Central London

There may be many decisions the government make that we don’t agree with, but, the rise in tuition fees is something that hasn’t gone down very well with students all over country. Last month up to 50,000 students from all over the UK united to make a stand against the rise in tuition fees. The demolition on the 10.11.10 through the centre of London was set up by the National Union of Students (NUS) and the University and college union (UCU).
The government’s plan to raise tuition fees means allowing some universities to charge up to £9,000 – currently students pay £3,290 pounds a year, the major worry is that socially everyone will not be entitled to a chance of free education and making it more about the individual.



ULCAN make an appearance

Michael Palmer the University of Central Lancashire’s student president said “180 students from UCLAN have marched down the streets of London; they have done themselves proud, I’m proud to have led them. It has been a massive achievement”. He explained “The whole country had paid attention to students, their future and what we need to achieve – to fight this rise in tuition fees; to demand that every single MP that signed the pledge to stick to it.”
Hundreds of students waved banners in the heart of the capital against the 300% increase in tuition fees set to be in place by 2012. Fury has originated from Deputy Prime Minister Nick Cleg, who originally campaigned against the rise in tuition fees in the general election. Nafisah Aticha, a student attending the protest said “Nick Clegg went back on his word, he shouldn’t have done that, that’s not what we voted for” she went on to say “most of the votes he got were from students, he’s lost that now.”

Students start march’s across Britain

London is not the only place that students have protested against the rise in tuition fees. Protests have been going on in recent weeks all over the country with thousands of students making a stand in hope that the government will listen. There have been mass walk outs, sit ins, some students closed access to the Old School office which is home to the vice-chancellor's office and finance office in Cambridge last month.

Suzanne Cunning a student from the University of central Birmingham said “By students protesting across the country it is making people and more importantly the government realise just how badly we feel about it, the people really have spoken and this is something we just won’t stand for. We have been promised something completely different to what is happening”.
With this being the biggest student protest in over a decade many students are hopeful that this will make a difference Suzanne went on to say “we won’t give up, that’s for sure!”.


View Universitys that have took part in a student protest in a larger map


Putting people off University

A recent survey on popular networking site Facebook, asked people of all demographics ‘how this will affect future generations – if at all’ there was a very controversial mixed response. Louise Rebecca Crowther said: “As a student myself I think its silly paying that much for university. It's already too expensive as it is let alone putting it up to a possible 9 grand. Of course it will put people off going to university and I don't think it will necessarily mean more determined students get places, just the ones who can afford it!.”
Some people think it’s a good idea – suggesting that places becoming more competitive may be an incentive for people. Colleen Butler another student says “as for university places I think they may get more competitive. No it’s not fair but it is an incentive to maybe work harder, after all tuition fees are a loan so yes it is adding on a few years in terms of debt but it’s a vicious cycle!”

Fears for A-Level students

As the potential increase is not due to take place until 2012, it’s more a worry for A level students and also lecture’s preparing future university students. A lot of people that are currently in University won’t actually be affected but there are lots of fears for college students. With debts up to £30,000 plus, if the increase does go up to £9,000 this will hold back thousands of students that have the qualifications but primarily funding is the initial problem. The spending review announced that there could be cuts of up to 40% by the end of 2010 but it’s said that teaching funds will face bigger cuts then 40%. There are some university’s that will be able to increase there’s fees allowing them to increase their funding regardless to the budget cuts.




The problem college lectures now fear some people not going on to study at college due to the fact some students know they won’t be able to pursue any further. This is instigated fear into teachers of further education. Questions have been raised as to whether people now will not want to receive further education from A-Levels and leave school just to go straight into work.

College tutors in fear over plans

Nicola Sandano, head of media studies at Preston College is worried she won’t have any students if the government do go along with the rise. She says “A lot of the students we get are from a working class background so they will right off the idea of going to university; it scares the hell of them being in that much debt.”
She went on to say “Now students will be looking for apprenticeships or just go straight into work. It’s definitely having an impact on numbers in getting students in to do A-Levels in the first place, because what’s the point if I’m not going to university”.

Nicola has said she has many students that know what they want, have the qualification and know what course they would like to do they just have the support financially.

New government plans

New government plans mean that up to 18,000 students may be able to get their first two years of study paid for according to universities minister David Willets. Following the past few weeks it has seemed that the government would have to do something to insure there are equal opportunities to all. This is what the government have come up with. Ministers believe that this could benefit poorer children and able all classes the right to education.

Have you‘re say

With a very mixed and controversial reaction to the government’s plans and with thousands of students across the country against the plans – many education officials will have to re-think their plans, we as a nation can understand that in a recession we will understandably have to go through cuts backs, but is it right that some people will miss out on opportunities that in the long run could actually benefit our climate? Or it will ensure that the most determined and academically able students will get places meaning there will be a higher level of more qualified professionals?


Have your say at: ALDillon@uclan.ac.uk

International Reporting

Western media organisations are very much active on a global scale, with western countries being the most powerful countries in the world in many different aspects, media just being one example. As America and the UK do have the most power and influence in worldwide media they will often cater to western media values and ideologies.

Richer cliental such as Japan for instance, would be included in many media mediums and even make headlines in some newspapers – whereas a story out that same day, even of more importance but from a seconds or third world country would be ignored as they have less marginal concern.
The age-old saying goes – “Who pays the piper calls the tune!”
Power and money have the biggest influences here.

Global news agencies

Three types:
• The British – Reuters (Primarily a private company, now deriving most of its considerable wealth, income and profits from its financial services)
• The American agency – AP ( also running a strong financial service – primarily remains a media cooperative)
• The French AFP – thrived for a long time on generous government subscriptions but increasingly it is trying to shift its emphasis to media clients

This in turn means that there is not equal representation of world news. With the west of the world being more privileged in many aspects journalists will often stay in London, New York e.t.c.
Poorer countries would struggle to have foreign correspondents as this is very expensive – so in a way poorer areas of the world will rely on western countries to provide their news and also giving the more western countries the power to represent them. This does have its negative factors as western countries such as the UK or USA can be quite stereotypical with what they report, some of their reporting becomes quite predictable. Major news companies will have correspondents all across the world in about 100 different foreign countries, but for the major quality newspapers they will only have about 20-50 maximum. Correspondent’s in main cities.

Bigger scale events in less developed countries will almost always be underreported when up against anything of readership gold dust in more developed countries - simply because of money and power and again what audiences in places like the UK and USA are expecting to get out of their daily newspaper.

Not even a hundred words on a bomb that killed to Afghanis including three children.
However as we would expect to see from tabloid newspaper, X factor makes the front page followed by lots of follow up articles about the people that are in x factor in the following pages.
Here is an example showing that even though the people killed in Afghanistan maybe be of more importance it is very much underreported by western countries for two main reasons – we expect this kind of thing to happen in these countries and also when buying our tabloid newspaper we expect and want to see x factor or I’m a celebrity splashed across the front page.

Quite often (tabloid newspapers mainly), will leave out background information about the country and just include a few basic facts about one particular story – again just leaving people with a very stereotypical view of the outside world.


This results in less/few journalists being around the rest of the world to report what’s going on, therefore a lot of news goes unreported.

Rule of thumb

• Less than a third of USA correspondents are stationed in North America
• More than a third in western Europe
• Roughly a third covering the entire rest of the world (Eastern Europe, Africa Latin America e.t.c)


A more recent example of predictability would be the newly married couple in South Africa. The women was murdered – again this is a predictable story for South Africa as it’s known for having some of the largest crime rates in the world. This will also reinforce the stereotypical views from western parts of the world, as this is what western audiences would “expect to see”.

26 people die of aids in New Zealand – this would be a massive story worldwide maybe even making some front page news – however the exact same story happening in Africa – would probably, well most likely not even get reported at all because as bad as it may sound people expect to hear this coming from this country.

Many places get mentioned frequently in the media just because of its historical values, we could also say its predictability value as well. Japan is a good example here; Japan is often in the news because of their developed technology.

Oliver Boyd- Barretts’s study of the international news agencies (1980: 152-3) identified a number of interrelated factors which help explain differences in the strength of agency representation in different countries:
• Historical referencing (Influence of old agency cartel practices)
• Logistical (referring to the differences between countries in their importance as possible strategic or communication centres for coverage of wider geographic regions)
• Political factors (arising from controls or restrictions imposed by given countries on visiting correspondents)
• Commercial or cost revenue – seen as one of the more important factors – (differences in market pull within different areas of the world & differences in responsiveness of the agencies to the news requirements of different markets)


Historical places often follow a certain agenda. This means that some news will be over reported leaving others under reported. For example a new touch screen device gets brought out in Japan would make big headlines in the more western, more developed countries (mainly because we would probably be next to get the devices), compared to 1000 African students get new I phones.

News will always cater primarily to the home nation of one audience. News values are often a big issue here. For example the UK and the USA are very culturally similar – both English speaking countries, therefore this will mean that there will be more reporters in countries like these to allow maximum news coverage. This also applies to countries such as New Zealand and Australia. Proximity is a major news value here – having a high geographical connection.
The balance will vary from country to country but all media will have a range of potential sources of income. This may be in forms of government contribution, sales to audiences and obviously advertising. With government contributions this can cause some problems, as they expect there ideologies put in the medium this is however slowly changing as many mediums are starting to focus on getting their income strictly just through says as to contributions.
Certain adverting can say a lot about the media it is representing and more importantly the audience that it attracts. For example an advert for ASDA in The Mirror would represent a working class audience – for cheap meals, toys for Christmas e.t.c whereas The Guardian will have adverts for a classical CD, were most middle-upper class people would be interested in this product.

To conclude I have found whilst researching for this presentation that poorer countries do seem to miss out and in a lot of ways go unnoticed/unreported. It also seems that if you are not in a good financial place within world media not only will you countries be underreported but the countries will also find themselves with very stereotypical stories in western media as when they are reported – as said about Mexico in the news – it will often be about the same issues therefore consumers in first world countries will developed a certain option about that particular countries. It is very unfair – however journalists will tend to stick to a certain agenda Oliver Boyd examines. With journalist’s sticking to particular agendas – this may vary depending on what news corporation they work for – this often leads to very predictable news. Consumers will get use to and in some cases expect to see certain stories coming from any particular country. As said before Mexico for example we would relate through no fault of our – to drugs and crime, Asian countries for their conflict over religion. As this is what is constantly injected into our media.

Gangster's

The importance of ‘identity’ as a primary concept of gang culture. Using theory to support arguments.

I think that the increase in the media’s interpretation of ‘gangsters’ and ‘gangs’ and what they should look like highly influences the identity in which gang members feel/think they should act, dress and even criminal activities that they participate in. For example movies like 50 cents’ ‘Get rich or die tryin’ had a massive effect on how young black boys (especially in America) act and ‘think’ they should be acting. They learn illegitimate ways to receive goods and services. They are exposed to what a “hit” is for example or a drive by shooting. I think that it could be argued that these films even educate these young people on how to get away with it. Economic deprivation plays a big part in the forms of gangs – witnessing because of the media all the money, nice clothes, women and big houses e.t.c and thinking ‘This is what gangster are – this is what I want to be’.








Before the age of eighteen, the average American teen will have witnessed eighteen thousand simulated murders on TV this it without films and all other types of media i.e music, newspapers and radio. Willis & Presdee observes that:

“Crime should be viewed as everyday responses to lives out within deprived, brutalised and often lonely social locations. In a society based on consumption to ‘have’ is to exist: to have nothing is to be nothing. Presdee asks rhetorically how – in the latter case- can we emotionally live life that is laden with such a shame and observes that is it through crime we can ‘have’, and therefore ‘be.’
It is the nothingness and loss of social status that is often the wellspring of social or personal harm, the trigger for violence as self expression, weather it is directed inwardly (self mutilation) or outward (the mutilation of others).”

There is, in many areas of the world, ‘dominance for identity’. For example in a lot of gangs even if its small gangs or large organized gangs its seems the more deviant you are, the more anti-social the more you are respected and looked upon – the more other members of the gang want to be like you. Gangs will often commit crimes to become this like this ‘respected ’gang member. Injecting this criminal identity were they are deviant, ruthless, scared of nothing – no one. Some areas such as Rio De Janerio (Brazil) the gang member will often have to kill to become part of the gang.



Studies from Chicago university have showed that people living in these socially disorganised areas with adopt different moral standards to people living in for example at the top end of Rio De Janerio as it is a town split into two worlds. For people that live in the ‘slummy’ areas this will contribute to their willingness to become more involved in criminal behaviour. As this is all they have know – this is who they are – their identity. Some of these patterns of behaviour however have been adopted and passed on from one generation to the next. (Parents were heavily involved in crime).

However, Thrasher (1947) argues that:

“The adolescent gang emerged out of spontaneous street play groups of young children in relatively permissive and socially disorganised slum areas were neither ‘disturbed’ or ‘psychopathic’ nor ‘driven’ by socio-economic forces beyond their control, they were simply looking for excitement, adventure and fun. This can be found on the streets but not at home”.

So the gang members or ‘deviant’ individuals may not have been brought up around criminal activities and may be completely unaware of crime and what in entails however some of what they see outside of what they know (school, home life e.t.c ) interreges them, these new identities that they are being exposed to excites them.

For many young gang member’s or young males and now even females thinking about becoming gang members much of this is due to their home life and financial situation. They join to find out their identity. Who they are, what they are or more what they should be, what they should look like.



For many young males joining gangs or getting involved in criminal activities a lot of it starts from their roots - their family situation. Talcott Parsons (1937) studies argue that women are more at home looking after children the house chores e.t.c while the male goes out to provide for the family therefore being absent a lot of the time – resulting in them being unable to function as a role model for his children. Males do have strong cultural expectations of how they should be, what makes a good father, a good friend, a good home provider and good ‘identity’ to aspire to. Whether the father is absent due to work commitments or the mother is a single mum this proves problematic as the young males have to adopt this masculine role with ‘no real concept of what it involves’. Talcott says that:

“He has, during his childhood, discovered that stealing, violence and destruction provoke the disapproval of his mother and hence identifies these as non-feminine and therefore masculine characteristics. Offending behaviour satisfies these criteria of masculinity”.

We could argue from this, also in relation to the media, that being in a surveillance society forces some ‘gang members’ to adopt identities that they are shaped and told to look like. In some circumstances for example the area in which they live in or the colour of their skin often contributes to this factor. For example young black men living in a council estate in London, may well want to better themselves and work they way up the social ladder but they are already stereotyped by society as ‘young black thugs – that wont/cant amount to anything’. I think this is very unfair though it could be suggested why these males keep the identities they all ready have and live up to what society and the media label them as. Studies of Gerland suggest that:

“contemporary life is characterised by a ‘culture of control’ where we are policed at home, at work, at pleasure and in a surveillance society were we cannot escape the dominate gaze (gaze of the dominate) , as we are watched and tracked, trailed, filmed, photographed as our ‘life trial’ is picked up by electronic panoptical society”.

Personal social decline plays a big part on deviant behaviour and identity. This is when we learn that we are ugly; we are different, apart and even excluded. In effect this can result in a silence and often being left isolated and lonely. However in some instances it can go the other way and in a culture were distraction is a part of everyday life – in Presdee’s theory the central question becomes: ‘Social survival or social destruction?’.

In conclusion, identity is hugely important factor in the gang lifestyle. Not looking a certain way, wearing a certain colour of clothing or even your hairstyle in different gangs across the globe could even get you killed in extreme cases. I think one of the most influential aspects that contribute to this at the moment is the media. In all its mediums, it is very stereotypical – young gang member’s pick up on this and begin to adopt this ideology that this is the norm to be included, accepted and part of a new criminal family. There are two areas in which gang members don’t understand the vital difference – ‘fantasy’ and ‘reality’. Suggesting that ‘identity’ in gangs is very much glamorised as said previously, they are not aware of the many negative realities that their activities will outcome. These people can often end up in prison (their sentence also increased if they are part of a gang), addicted to drugs or alcohol or even worse – dead.

However on this point, I would argue that every person has their own mind – and should have a good sense of right or wrong no matter where you live, how you were brought up or how much money you have. Identity and finding about your individual identity and who you are is part of growing up – I think that people in these gangs have so many different cultural influences that they may struggle to lose the identity or be stopped from gaining it when it’s what’s been programmed into them or the area in which they live produces this identity as the norm.

South African Reporting

Government/Political influences (Including reporting before and after the Apartheid)

Even though the government doesn’t actually own media bodies in South Africa, they have a great influence on what is printed and in many ways regulate what is printed. During the Apartheid era, newspapers that were published more than eleven times a year had to apply for registration through the government. There were also heavy restrictions on what could and could not be printed – especially anything that was against the Apartheid for example, how prisoners were treated and more importantly the activities of the security forces. The 1980’s proved to be a very tough year for the media on anything that was anti-apartheid or questioning any of the government’s laws. The South African broadcasting corporation (SABC) through an act of parliament was brought into action in 1936. Originally controlled by the White Party this resulted in the SABC being accused of bias reporting. They were said to be “more for the National Party” however, more recently since the end of the Apartheid era in 1994. During 1996 there was a revolution for South African media as the SABC became a service that reflected the new democratic society. It has now in more recent years been accused of favouring political party ANC mainly in the broadcast medium.

Here we can see many similarities in thedc

English media – in both countries political influence is seen to be a very controversial area. The BBC is seen to be a broadcaster ‘for the government’. Influences such as William Beverage in 1947 started to criticize the British Broadcasting Corporation for some of the same reasons as the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA). The Beverage report claims that ‘the ideal society would be run by neither Parliament nor dictators, but by professional administrators – ‘social doctors’ – who would organize society ‘to adapt the social and economic relations of clients so as to produce the maximum economic health’.’ In the first half of the eighteenth century, English newspapers would receive a clandestine government grant (the last English newspaper to do this being the Observer in 1840); however by dismissing these grants the papers could then gain more independence and would not rely on ‘prior intelligence’ from the government. With the rise of commercial advertising and channels such as ITV and channel 4, government input decreased. Referring back to MISA, this was a new era for reporting in Southern Africa – MISA is a non-governmental organization launched in 1992, MISA focuses mainly on promoting free independent media. MISA’s vision wants to maintain that the media ‘enjoys freedom of expression, independence from political, economic and commercial interests and pluralism of views and opinions’.

Types of media in South Africa

SABC is the biggest broadcast corporation in South Africa providing 18 radio station and 3 television broadcasts one of the more popular channels being E T.V.
Caxton, Avusa and Media24 are three of South Africa’s largest publication corporations. Together with foreign-owned Independent Newspapers they own a massive 95% of SA newspapers.

Caxton is probably the biggest out of the three owning South Africa’s leading daily newspaper, ‘The Citizen’. Caxton owns or co-owns 88 newspapers (some being free) and 15 magazine titles ranging from family magazines to lifestyle. The Citizen a Tabloid newspaper and the only main English newspaper in South Africa, is said to be favorable to the ruling National Party under apartheid, it would be fair to say that over half of Caxton’s ‘The Citizen’ is based around government or politics, this continues most days.

The Citizen does cover worldwide news such as celebrities, there is also good coverage on sport, again as well as South African sport there is also coverage from Asia, Europe and America. Similar to English tabloid newspapers such as ‘The Sun’ and ‘The Mirror’ for example, all aspects of news covered in the Citizen generally reflects the interests of the South American audience. For example, event’s happening in South Africa will be covered in much more depth than a similar event in the UK. The stories are of general importance to South Africans, also lack of coverage on more Western Countries may be due to the fact that foreign correspondents is costly with few media organisations being able to support independent newsgathering abroad. With America and the UK being the major media giants their coverage of foreign news may be more in depth and in some cases more accessible then South Africa. The BBC may have correspondents all over the world in all seven continents whereas South Africa may have one or two correspondents covering the entire world.

In respect to news values it could be argued that the most important and more relevant would be reference to Elite Nations and reference to elite persons, as mentioned previously government and political parties have a huge influence on south African media – therefore a lot of what is published in all media formats often reflect upon these two news values. For example elections are an area covered by almost all media formats on a daily basis – even though there are other areas covered such as world news, sport and celebrities e.t.c. The government still use some media as a way of protecting their own messages and ideologies, “The press was seen as a cultural and political weapon for the promotion of the Afrikaans language and political independence, as well as for drumming up support against the perceived threat of Black Nationalism.” – South African Consulate General.

Recent media changes, not just in South Africa, but on a global basis, are trying to survive on purely the income from sales and not rely on government contributions as much – as this does prove to be problematic not just for the media companies but for the consumers as well. For example, when the government contribute to print products, as they often do in parts of Africa because it is poor and can’t simply survive off advertising, Elite persons or groups would expect some of their values and opinions to be injected into the mainstream media in return. This in turn will block out certain concepts while emphasising others.

News24 is an online news source that offers around the clock news coverage worldwide. This website offers an extensive range of media coverage with more in depth and accessible media. At the top of the webpage you will find a ‘hot topic’ subheading were the most talked about and priority subjects are highlighted. Many journalists have certain ideological subject areas to emphasis on. For example one if the ‘hot topics’ on any particular day is ‘Aids’. Obviously this is an issue affecting people worldwide – however Africa being the country some may say is more ‘affected’. Journalists will have certain news values to stick to one of the most important news values for this particular subject being negativity and threshold. This subject area is of huge importance so African people as this is something they need to know about and something that will/could affect them or those close to them. This is another example of how certain things must be reported – regardless to what medium it is presented in.

Degrees of Bias

There are degrees of bias in many countries or mediums when, it would seem that with journalism comes bias. It could be argued that much of the bias media in South Africa is government related – as even though there are certain acts and agencies in place to help provide freedom of information, power of these elite persons over powers of journalists resulting in many South Africans receiving very underreported news – if they receive it at all. Ideologies will vary from country to country – with more western countries such as the UK and USA reporting very stereotypical stories to western audiences were as south African news seems to be very much the opposite to what we would expect to see. For example, even though there are many stories to do with crime especially, there are also a lot of light-hearted stories, stories about positive community work, sports and positive business stories. Referring back to what we, as a western audience, would expect to see. It would be rare to associate South Africa with any type of wealth as this is much underreported here and within the G8.

What we can expect to see from any one particular newspaper

Similar to here in England, South Africa has an equal proportion of tabloid and broadsheet newspapers. It has its own version of The Star; again this is tabloid, attracting the same type of audience – working class. There are not that many celebrity stories however, like we would find in our version of ‘The Star’ for instance, sadly a lot of the stories in this newspaper are of feuds between government officials, crime including rape and GBH offences. Through the whole of this newspaper there was only about 20% light hearted stories compared to The Citizen were it is quite the opposite. The Star is though, however a newspaper for the whole of the country so they will have less space to cover less important, light hearted stories and only those that have real importance and high news values. As we are aware even in this country – “bad news is good news”.

So, overall the typical balance of content within all major newspapers in South Africa is mainly focused on politics, economy and crime. A factor we must remember here is that journalists (where ever they are in the world) ideology and cultural framework, sticking with a particular gender just like here in the UK. One may argue that a lot of the news may become quite predictable as consumers will get used to the particular products agenda, this in turn could cause confusion if their typical everyday issues are not mentioned or go underreported.