News Capture Mediums

I experimented with capturing news using different mediums. For this video clip, I used my mobile phone, which is a low range Samsung Smart Phone. I found that while it does do its basic job, audio is a big problem as the microphone is poor. Obviously it’s designed to be a telephone. Not having a tripod is also a massive disadvantage as you can tell from the camera movements. Regardless, a mobile phone is a key tool for citizen journalists all over the world. As it is a telephone, there’s nearly always one available, in your pocket or from someone you’re with. There have been times in the past, and there will be times in the future, when a mobile phone will be the only recording equipment available and it will have to do.

My aims as a journalist, and ten reasons why I want to be a broadcast journalist.

I have written a ten point plan for my aims as a journalist. I did this partly for myself, but also i've published it so any readers can understand what my work aspires to be.

Maybe this could inspire readers who do not work as journalists themselves to want to get more involved in citizen journalism as well.

The kind of journalist I want to be:

1.       Honest. In light of fairly recent events involving tabloid journalists and phone hacking, this one has to go at the top.

2.       Informed. This is a bit of an obvious one. A journalist should know what they’re talking about.

3.       Fresh. I’m young, so I want to bring the newest angles to public debate.

4.       Unique. I try to look where no one else has looked.

5.       Investigative. Getting to the heart of matters that matter. Not just skimming the surface.

6.       A public provider. I want to make a positive difference in society, and keep the powers that be in check.

7.       Understanding. Of issues for different groups.

8.       Objective. I aim to cut through the crap and deliver the facts.

9.       Accessible. I want to reach out for a wide range of people. I aim to deliver news to people who may not think they are interested in news or current issues or events. I want to educate and widen people’s perceptions of the world.

10.   Identifiable. I want to speak on behalf of the public, especially people who are in need.

Why I want to be a broadcast journalist:

1.       Because it is the most direct medium. It is quicker and more efficient.

2.       Because it captures the mood of any given situation or event.

3.       Because it operates across a range of mediums.

4.       Because it is practical and very hands on.

5.       Because it is more emotive.

6.       Because it is more personal.

7.       Because it tells more of a story.

8.       Because it is more accessible to consumers.

9.       Because this is where the future of journalism is.

10.   Because it is less biased, as it provides more first-hand evidence.

11.   Because broadcast journalism is a real challenge. It asks more of you, and I want to answer that call well.

Protest Britain

This year 2011 has seen lots of political and social trouble in England. A new inquiry by the Guardian and London School of Economics is due to look into the causes of the riots around the country. I’ll discuss how this differs from how the government has dealt with these troubles. In 2011 the coalition government continues to struggle against huge financial issues, itself, and waves of social unrest.

This year’s story of protest Britain is still being written. We need to understand why things like this have happened before. How has the elite class dealt with these uprisings? But the biggest question democratic society should be asking is how can we learn or progress from these and recent events in the most positive way?

The Guardian and London School of Economics’ study  aims to question participants in the rioting in London, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Nottingham. They aim to find out the reasons behind the rioting from the people doing it, rather than just looking at the damage caused. Amazingly the government have refused to launch an official inquiry. By not doing this, they risk facing these problems again and again.

Protestors peacefully blocked Westminster Bridge on the 9th of October. Organised by UK Uncut, activists and health-care workers participated in a peaceful sit down protest.

They responded to a debate over a Health and Social Care Bill which many believe will be passed by Tory peers, and lead to the end of the National Health Service. Political changes such as the ones being initiated by the Tory government, coupled with incredibly high unemployment figures, even among student graduates, explain the arrests made from a different group of protestors contained on the same day at Lambeth Bridge.

The Trade Union organised demonstration last March, also in London, witnessed a remarkable amount of damage and violence. While it is easy to condemn such shocking scenes, there was a distinct lack in the media of questioning why people would do this. The social issue was rarely raised.

I saw the violence first hand, and there was an incredibly large amount of people there to fight police, and presumably, give themselves a voice in the best way they thought they could. But this is not the most effective way of changing or saving a country; positive communication, education and citizen journalism is the answer.

The rioting across England this August came from a variety of opportunistic looters, across all classes. On Monday, the Guardian reported how Unicef criticises the jailing of children in the riots.

Rather than attempting to understand and then move on from these situations our government focussed instead on how they could punish any participants they could. At a skyrocketing cost to the British taxpayer. On top of this the metropolitan police have been asked to compensate big businesses who suffered some losses on these occasions.

What the protests and rioting have in common is the way the government deals with any trouble on these occasions. Some were given jail terms for picking up electronics in the street. The government hands out the harshest charges and sentences possible. In times of economic hardship this seems hardly rational.

The law appears to punish rather than rehabilitate now. Numerous people caught throwing missiles, even if not dangerous, and acting alone in a protest situation will be charged with violent disorder, and then be forced to fight through the courts, probably on four or five occasions, their right to defend a lower, more appropriate charge. Again, this is at a large expense to the taxpayer. 

The current Conservative led coalition government refuses to respond socially to Britain’s public problems. Instead they spend on security and deliver the harshest sentences, to the detriment of our countries youth and young graduates hoping for employment. These are the new generation of people who could be making a positive change in Britain.

Further, by refusing to look at the root cause of why people would choose to act in this way, they begin to focus instead on punishment. This leads to an attack of internet freedoms. Some received sentences for communicating about the riots on twitter. This is a dangerous road for a free society to go down.

Made in Britain.

For over 300 years, there has not been a successful revolution in England. On the whole we are a constitutional nation open to change. But we are far from being content.

There have been lots of periods of grass-roots protest in England this century. This means a majority of non-elite people gathering onto public streets responding to some kind of political or social trigger event, and spreading any kind of message which is carried through different kinds of media and communications. We’re a free-thinking country, with a free media, but sometimes mass action comes into conflict with the law and the elite class.

 Here are ten examples of times when trouble brewed:

1.       The Luddite Riots in Leicester and York. These occurred in the early 1800’s. With the Industrial Revolution came new machines, and lots of losses of jobs. The old handloom weavers burned and destroyed the machines, and grew to a movement so strong they eventually clashed with the British Army. Many were executed. Read about it here.

2.       Just before the turn of the century, in 1848, the idea of revolution was heavy in the air. However the Chartists, a growing organisation of people in England, always staged peaceful protests. One thing they wanted was votes for all men of all classes. A gathering in London led to the recruitment of ‘special constables’ and thousands of soldiers brought in to defend the capital, regardless. Learn more about the Chartists here.

3.       The Great Strike of 1921. This was organised by the TUC after coal miners’ wages were reduced and working conditions got worse.   A government newspaper ‘The British Gazette’ falsely reported that public transport was running better than it was during events. Clearly you can’t believe everything you read in the news. Wikipedia covers the events well.

4.       Before Thatcher’s government was able to introduce her free-market programme, closing mines and privatising industry, miners around the UK stopped working in 1984 in protest of the loss of jobs. After a year many were forced to return to work for the sake of their starving children. This great site has lots of brilliant and emotive photographs.

5.       Thatcher’s Conservative government also introduced poll tax which led to considerable violence. This political measure shifted the tax burden from the rich to the poor. In Trafalger Square on the 31^st March 1990 200,000 protestors turned up. There was widespread rioting, and police charged through the people on horses to separate crowds. The BBC reveal how they reported events at the time.

6.       The Brixton Riots of the 1980’s were a response to heavy handedness from the police, and racial tensions. The African-Caribbean community faced high unemployment and hardship. Similar rioting occurred in areas of the North in these years, e.g in Moss Side, Manchester. Lots of damage was caused in the area. The Scarman Report which proceeded the rioting concluded the police had used disproportionate use of their stop and search powers on black youths. This led to a new code for police behaviour in the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984.

7.       Many students and voters for the Liberal Democrats in England’s last general election felt betrayed by their partnership with the Conservatives.  During the winter last year a protest against tuition fees turned ugly as scenes of broken glass hit our news channels once again. After Tory Party Headquarters were stormed, 18 year old Edward Woollard remains in jail for throwing a fire extinguisher from the roof.

8.       A TUC march against proposed government cuts followed a similar path. The Olympic clock in London was attacked, banks were broken and petrol bombs and chemicals were thrown at police. Of all the people causing damage, only 11 were caught and charged. Ironically many of these were not out to cause serious harm, as those who were operated in blocks which meant they could not be isolated by police and arrested.

9.       In August 2011 police shot dead 29 year old Mark Duggan in Tottenham, London. It is not known why they were trying to arrest him. The violence that proceeded cumulated rapidly, all over the country, resulting in costs amounting to millions of pounds worth of damage and court cases. Powerful images were captured on film. Some were arrested for their use of social networking sites to organise groups to gather. This has led to further debate on internet restrictions. Learn more about this issue here.

      

10.       Most recently, Uk Uncut, the same group which occupied Fortnum and Mason’s in the TUC march against government cuts, organised the blocking of Westminster Bridge. See some great pictures here. This was a peaceful protest, however numerous individuals dressed in black were kettled after the official demonstration ended. A branch of the Metropolitan Police actually resorted to using the social networking site Twitter itself, under the name CO11MetPolice. They relayed events from their perspective, and attempted to interact with protestors. The role of social media during protests is clearly expanding and now used by both sides of the law.

Monkeys with Typewriters. Opinion.

In the digital cage most monkeys are producing absolute garbage on their typewriters and only a minority are producing Shakespeare. This is what Casey Lynn touched upon in an interesting and entertaining article about bloggers.

What he refers to is the quantity of sites/blogs/words online which are actually useful or interesting, and the rest which are forming 'an endless digital forest of mediocrity'.
(Andrew Keen, 'The Cult of the Amateur', 2007)

It was a great read for a bloginner who's determined to keep on the right path, and be a provider of information rather than a waste of web-bites. So I’d recommend a read, especially if you're just starting up writing or reporting online.

Where did I find Lynn's thought-provoking article?
I came across his article after exploring the Delicious.com website. This website, similar to Trunk.ly is a social bookmarking website, where you can explore other peoples collected links and create your own 'stacks'. This is another tip I collected from my digital class last Thursday.

Going back to the article about monkeys with typewriters, further on it discusses the differences between bloggers and journalists. Whereas the book by Andrew Keen, which motivates the article, argues the internet is killing culture because we can’t tell the good from the bad, Lynn disagrees saying bloggers are able to add to news in different ways. He says even subconsciously we are checking what we read for accuracy, and I totally agree. I guess blogging could be seen as a kind of micro-news source, making up the bigger picture of what journalism is today. This is what my blog will aim to do. The rise of blogging’s popularity reflects the failings of the mainstream media. Through blogging, we can bring news to wider audiences, and reflect variety. So not only can journalists and bloggers co-exist peacefully, as Lynn believes, but we actively need both for a more democratic society. Journalists need to get out of the cage and find the news, and the bloggers in us need to get the words and views down in print, through whatever view or filter we put on it, so we can read it back in a variety of ways from a variety of sources.  

This is what I aim to do in my blog, report news, but also offer opinion posts and a different way of reading it.