Guest Speaker Report: Sandra Laville

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phone hacking

I cannot count the times which i have been greeted with an eye- roll or sarcastic comment when I’ve voice that I’m on a journalism degree. There is no doubt that people have a low opinion of the profession. Sandra Laville, a crime correspondent from  The Guardian and this weeks guest speaker is determined that we need to defend the profession and here is why…

“Some people might think my job is the scum of the earth” she explains, “but it is essential for democracy.” The phone hacking scandal and the ongoing Leveson Inquiry (which Laville has also been a part of) is a lot of the reason why people have such a low opinion of the profession. The line between the journalists and the criminals have been blurred. Suddenly all journalist are criminals who are out to get people and frame the general public whereas in reality it is the minority.

“The behaviour of the minority of journalists has been appalling” Laville has no sympathy for those who were involved in the phone hacking scandal as it has forced her to stand up in court to defend her profession which she describes as being, ‘incredibly nerve racking.’

As a crime correspondant Sandra is fearful for the impact that the inquiry will have on her job. Naturally in her line of work she will be speaking to many police officers, and not always through an official source, so contacts are a vital part of her work. Now, with Leveson suggesting that he may make police officers make record of every time they speak to a journalist these contacts are at threat.

Sandra’s come back to this is that, “nothing should be put in the way of me doing my job” and as they eyes and the ears of the public it really is in our interest as a democratic society to stop this happening.

Journalism in Cornwall

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journalism, journalism in cornwall, magazine, wed magazine, wedding, weddings in cornwall

Journalism and Cornwall. These are not too words that are usually associated together and when i started my journalism degree this year i just presumed that you would have to live in the city to have any kind of job in the industry. But over the past few months with various talks from people working in the media I’m starting to realise that journalism in somewhere rural like Cornwall is a lot more possible that it ever was.

On Monday I met Rebecca Matthews and Brendan Sleeman from ‘Wed’ magazine: a wedding magazine that i am surprisingly familiar with as a nineteen year old student due to my sister planning her wedding for the last year and a half i have seen more wedding magazines than i should ever admit to. I know the importance of flowers, seating arrangements, the lot therefore I’m aware of what an expensive business the wedding industry is and there are always going to be guaranteed consumers. And i defiantly know how fussy a bride can be; i think the term is bridezilla.

‘Wed’ magazine was started in Cornwall by Rebecca and Bredan Sleeman in 2007 and is marketed at both Cornish brides and grooms with a ‘revolutionary design’ ‘Wed’ has been designed and marketed as a ‘alternative wedding magazine.’ Everything about the magazine is Cornish from the models to where it is produced and in design looks just as glossy and fabulous as any of the other wedding magazines, if not better.

‘Wed’ magazine also has an internet page which runs alongside it, they work hand in hand to help promote each other and broaden their audience, especially as many people start-up their subscriptions through the website. But Rebecca reassures that ‘print is not dead, we probably would have died a death if we didn’t set up a magazine’ What surprises me most about this magazine that besides freelancers it is only run by two people- this really does show the determination and effort they put into the magazine.

What this magazine proves that if you have a passion about something such as writing and the skill and knowledge to market it correctly you can produce a successful magazine in a place like Cornwall. Especially with the rise of the internet anything is possible whether you live in London or in the sticks.

Blog to do List….

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blog, facebook, social media, twitter

Today I went to a talk held by Sam Lynas about how to use the social media more effectively and it got me thinking about how i personally use the internet.

“Content is King” were the first words i heard him say as i arrived five minutes late after prowling the car park for about 10 minutes in an attempt to find a space on Open Day (not fun). Do i really think about the random status uploads i post or the photos that i add? No i do not. And this is something that could determine whether you get a job over someone else now many companies have taken to snooping through your Facebook profile befire hiring you so they know what you are really like; in my opinion ever so slightly creepy, but at the end of the day if you are posting something publicly you have to be able to accept the criticism. Maybe this is something i really need to think more about: especially now with the ever intrusive ‘timeline’ profile which makes sure that you will never for get those cringey or outrageous things you posted while drunk.

Although i have only had my blog up and running a month in all honesty i do not give an awful amount of thought to what i upload; instead  i just upload whatever is on my mind or pops into my head. Apparently this is not good for the audience. Audience like structure and knowing what to expect. And in all fairness, yes, i probably would get a lot more page views or ‘traffic’ as Lynas described it if my blog did have more of a sense of direction but right now i am experimenting with what i like writing about and hopefully this blog will then take a direction on its own.

I have to admit after hearing him list the benefits of socail media websites such as Twitter i do feel slightly guilty about neglecting my account which has about three tweets and five followers….he made me think about using the platform to benefit myself through self promotion. This is also something that i hadn’t given much thought to. A blog is a bit like an online CV for a budding journalist.

So from this talk my resolution is to shape up my blog and think more about how i can use the internet more usefully (and no more winey Facebook statuses)

Is the Social Media a Blessing or a Curse for the Newspaper Industry?

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ipad, media, new york times, newspapers, page one inside new york times, rupert murdoch, social media

I have just finished watching the documentary, ‘Page one: Inside the New York Times’. Although on the whole i found this documentary quite dry it did address a lot of issues and questions. It was one of those documentaries that left me thinking that although it did not do this in the most engaging manner. What I found distracting about this documentary was the amount of people who were being filmed; it was all a bit busy and a bit too much to take in within 90 minutes.

One of the issues  that was raised in this documentary was, is the social media a blessing or a curse? The film showed footage of people being cut from their jobs as the way people are getting their news has changed completely. Newspaper sales are declining. I can’t think of many people who I know under the age of 25 who regularly purchase a newspaper and that’s coming from someone on a journalism course. It would therefore look like journalism is a dying industry but with the rise of the social media things are changing. ‘The iPad may be the saving of the industry’ claimed Murdoch which in my eyes does reflect the truth. Although smartphones and iPad’s have ultimately taken the audiences from the traditional newspapers if people are still reading news articles on the internet there is still a market for advertising as long as news companies are willing to change where they publish their stories. As well as a tool of publishing news rooms can use the social media to actually find stories. This was something that you saw ‘The New York Times’ do in the documentary so it’s clearly an affective way of using the social media.

The documentary was dry and talked through by dreary voices so I was surprised to hear that it made 1.1 million in the US box office alone, but at the end of the day it did illustrate some interesting points; especially about the impact of the social media. In my opinion there is always going to be a need for the news, even if people have changed the way that they choose to digest it.

Edit

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Editing, Image, Manipulation, Photography

I found this image whilst researching for an essay that I’m writing on how images can be a beneficial tool for a journalist. The argument that I am making at the minute is that can you ever really trust a photograph. Who’s to say that it hasn’t been heavily edited or set up? Not that I’m against any of these things; as you can see from the picture I’ve found editing can quite simply be amazing. But when it comes to photographs in the newspaper it’s not in the readers interest for an image to be so heavily edited- newspapers are about publishing the truth to the world and if an image is extremely edited it is not portraying the truth.

I found this picture on this website:  http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2009/06/40-examples-of-incredible-photo-manipulation/ It’s really worth checking out for some amazing images and examples of editing.

Save the Internet

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PIPA, regulation of the internet, SOPA

I think today that it’s well worth a mention the campaigns that have been happening all over the web recently.Wikipedia is the main website that has ‘gone black’ in campaign against SOPA & PIPA - America organisations who are trying to control piracy through monitoring the internet. They turned their home screen black and in effect shut down for a day to show the implications come from the higher regulation of the internet.  I can obviously understand that music artists who work hard at something don’t want to give their music away for free and recognise that music piracy especially is a real problem. If PIPA (the Protect IP act) comes into place it will allow governments to take legal action against things that are published online. SOPA is the ‘Stop piracy Act’ so the explanation of that is in its name. I can’t help but think though that once a line has been drawn on something like this there will always be the temptation to move that line. This could go from the monitoring of illegal downloads to what we are or not allowed to publish on the internet. Freedom of speech is a vital aspect of democracy. The internet is a unbeliavbly massive source of freedom of speech. Things that are too biased or opinionated to be printed in newspapers can appear on blogs and nobody would batter an eyelid. Therefore this makes me against the American Government changing the way the internet works. With regulations we wouldn’t get a variety and only be hearing things from official sources and as we all know variety is the spice of life.

 

18 Going on 80…

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Baking, Come dine with me, Detox, Friends, Socialising

Okay, so it’s the first Friday back after the Christmas break and here i am sat here in my journalism class with the girls and instead of talking about parties and the weekend ahead we are talking about tea and cake. What has happened to us over the summer? We are all acting more like eighty year olds rather than young students trying to grab every moment as it comes.

 After a week of deadlines most students would want to go straight into down and town everything in sight. Uh no. Not us.

We are currently planning our ‘Come Bake With Me’ event. Yes, ‘Come Bake With me’.

A rip off of ‘Come Dine with Me’ , where we plan to bake cakes, drink tea and undoubtably sitting around for hours chatting and watching the world go by.

My only excuse for this un-student like behaviour is that it is January.

 January is time for detox.

And yes, we are all slightly more grandma-like than we would like to admit.