Newspaper Homework

What is "Hacked off'?

The Leveson Report showed how to protect ordinary people from cruel and unethical treatment by the press while at the same time safeguarding freedom of expression. Hacked Off urged and assisted the main political parties to put its recommendations into action, and this happened with the Royal Charter on press self-regulation that was endorsed by every party in the Commons in March 2013.

How are they relevant to the regulation of newspapers?

They're trying to regulate newspapers by making sure they are accountable for their actions, in particular newspapers that are owned by the Murdochs whom are trying to avoid being made accountable about their actions, and falsehoods they make about the Levison inquiry.



What do they want?

Hacked Off is currently campaigning for full industry participation in the Charter system, which offers substantial benefits for news publishers while giving the public vastly improved access to justice and to fair and effective complaints handling.

Press Regulation Research Findings

Woodward vs The Sun
Date Received : 16/05/16
Date Concluded : 02/08/16

Details of the case : The article reported that the complainants had separated and that there was going to be a “battle” to decide how their wealth should be distributed. The complainants said that there was no such “battle” following their separation, and that they had reached a mediated, amicable and binding settlement several months before publication of the article. The complainants said that the inaccurate claims also intruded into their private and family life.The newspaper said that the article had been based on information provided by a confidential source, who was in a position to know the family’s feelings about the separation. It did not believe that the article was inaccurate, and it did not accept that the information amounted to an intrusion into the complainants’ privacy.

Clauses alleged to have been contravened : Camilla & Shaun Woodward complained to the Independent Press Standards Organisation that The Sun breached Clause 1 (Accuracy), Clause 2 (Opportunity to reply) and Clause 3 (Privacy) had been breeched.

Adjudicated by : IPSO

Outcome : The newspaper offered to write a correction article and give an apology.

InFacts vs The Sun
Date Received : 06/06/16
Date Concluded  : 14/10/16

Details of the case : The print sub-headline stated that “4 in 5 jobs go to foreign workers”. The article reported that “four in five jobs in Britain have been taken by people from outside the UK in the past year” and that of a “414,000 rise in employment, 80 per cent or 330,000 posts went to foreign-born workers”. It said that “220,000 roles […] were landed by EU nationals”. A graphic setting out the statistics in more detail said that the total number of “new jobs” in the year to March was 414,000, and that 330,000 was the number of jobs “taken by foreign-born workers”.The complainant said that it was inaccurate to state that four in five “jobs” went to foreign workers. While it was accurate to say that there was a 414,000 increase in employment – and that there was a 330,000 increase in employment of non-UK born nationals – both of these figures were net figures: they showed the number of people entering employment, minus the number of people leaving employment. In such circumstances, it was inaccurate to report that a certain proportion of jobs had been taken by foreign-born workers simply on the basis of dividing the figure for the net increase in employment of workers born outside of the UK, by the total rise in employment.

Clauses alleged to have been contravened : InFacts complained to the Independent Press Standards Organisation that The Sun breached Clause 1 (Accuracy) of the Editors’ Code of Practice.

Adjudicated by : IPSO

Outcome : Complaint was upheld.

PCC vs The Guardian 
Date Concluded : 04/09/14

Details of the case : The investigation concerned a comment piece by the former MP Chris Huhne, who was convicted of perverting the course of justice in 2013. It discussed the subsequent conviction of Constance Briscoe, a barrister and former Recorder, for attempting to pervert the course of justice during the investigation into Mr Huhne's offence, and argued that while correct, his conviction had been the culmination of a flawed process. he Commission received a complaint from a member of the public that any payment for the article would breach the Editors' Code. 

Clauses alleged to have been contravened : The Press Complaints Commission investigated whether The Guardian had breached Clause 16 (Payments to criminals) of the Editors' Code of Practice in relation to an article headlined "Yes I was guilty but I was prosecuted on the basis of Constance Briscoe's deception", published on 4 May 2014.

Adjudicated by : PCC

Outcome : Complaint not upheld. 

Harris vs Manchester Evening News

Date Received : 10/07/16

Date Concluded : 07/11/16

Details of the case : The article headline was “Embittered woman left judge in fear for safety”, published in print on 24 June 2016, and “Surrogate mum who lost legal fight to keep child made judge ‘fear for her safety’ with stalking and harassment campaign”, published online on 23 June 2016.The article reported on the complainant’s Magistrates’ Court sentencing hearing, where it said a 16-week suspended prison sentence was imposed for harassing a family court judge. It said that the complainant had agreed to be surrogate mother for a couple, but later changed her mind to keep the baby; it said that the judge had ruled that the child should stay with the couple, and had “feared for her life” when the complainant had called to her door.

Clauses alleged to have been contravened : Lian Harris complained to the Independent Press Standards Organisation that the Manchester Evening News breached Clause 1 (Accuracy), Clause 2 (Privacy) and Clause 6 (Children) of the Editors’ Code of Practice. 

Adjudicated by : IPSO,The Editors’ Code does not deal with the enforcement of reporting restrictions, or the right to anonymity provided for by statute; however, the Code may well be engaged when a reporting restriction, or right to anonymity, is in place. The article contained no other detail which, even on the complainant’s account, might lead to the identification of her child, beyond the complainant’s name. Having regard for the full context of the case, including the effect of the proceedings on the child’s position, the Committee did not consider that publication of the complainant’s name was sufficient to identify the child. There was no breach of Clause 2 or 6.n circumstances where the complainant’s custodial sentence was suspended, the Committee did not consider that the inaccuracy in the online article on the length of the suspended sentence imposed was significant; there was no breach of Clause 1. 

Outcome : The complaint was upheld. 

2nd Draft

This essay will examine the way in which British teenagers are represented in these TV programmes The Inbetweeners (2008), Skins (2007), and This Is England 86, 88, 90 (2010-15). Representation is the description or portrayal of someone or something in a particular way. Representations as they can change a persons opinion on a certain subject due to the way the media portrays something, this shows that representations are very powerful in shaping the thoughts of people. Furthermore representations in the media allow people to gain a better understanding of the specific topic that they are looking at. The effect of the media on the general people helps them to form an opinion on various topics that they may not usually take an interest in without the input of various media outlets.

 

 

In television programmes teenagers are represented differently to how they are in real life, it could be said that TV exaggerates the behaviour of teens. Television seems to focus upon negative stereotypes of teenagers, which is shown in programmes such as Waterloo Road where it shows teens from a disadvantaged background whom misbehave within a school setting. Also TV representations deviate away from the 'norm'. The norm for teenagers in the modern age is that teens carry out rather boring, monotonous lifestyles however they change the perception in order to make them more exciting and entertaining however, as a result of this it causes teens to be reflected in a bad light.

 

 

In the television programmes that I have decided to examine two reinforce the negative stereotypes of teens and one refutes the stereotypes. Skins is a British teen comedy drama that follows the lives of a group of teenagers in Bristol, through the two years of sixth form. Its controversial storylines have explored issues such as dysfunctional families, mental illness (such as depression, eating disorders and bipolar disorder), adolescent sexuality, gender, substance abuse, death and bullying.  Each episode generally focuses on a particular character and the struggles they face in their life. The programme represents the teens in a very negative light as it suggests that all teens are like the ones in this show, they are shown to be drug abusing, alcohol consuming, anti-social teenagers. This backs up the typical representation of teens within TV. Furthermore another example of where the tv show has shown the teens in a bad way is in Series 1 Episode 2 where the group crash a party at a house and wreck the house while taking a variety of drugs. The use of this scene within the programme just exemplifies the way the media portrays groups of teens.  The programme This is  England series's also reinforce the negative stereotypes of teens. The programme focuses on a group of friends trying to make their own way in life, looking for employment, love and entertainment. It shows the group fighting with other groups and also fighting within their own group, also it shows racist behaviour, however although it shows teens negatively for the majority it does show some positive aspects. It shows the struggles that different characters go through and how they are helped by their friends, although they're shown negatively it also shows that teens have a strong sense of loyalty. In the first episode of This is England 86 there is a fight scene where the group fights a moped gang, this scene shows the loyalty between the group as Shaun was the person who the moped gang wanted to fight but the whole group stood by his side and fought with him. However it could be said that this shows the teens in a negative light aswell because they are fighting and being anti-social. On the other side of the stereotype is how teenagers are represented positively and well behaved. This is shown in The Inbetweeners which focuses  on 4 social outcasts during their time at sixth form while they try to fit in and try to find love. These teenagers don't cause any problems and aren't anti-social. In the first episode of series 1 the group go to the pub after the first day of sixth form and try to get served for alcohol while using fake IDs, this is an example of where the Inbetweeners are doing what normal teenagers are doing while not causing any problems for anyone else.

 

 

 

Newspaper articles also represent teenagers and some focus upon the positive things that teenagers do rather than the negative things. An example of this is a article from the Telegraph from 16th February which was wrote by Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett and has the headline ‘’From hoodies to goodies: today's teenagers have the makings of model citizens’’. This shows that stereotypes of teens need to be updated as although teens may have deserved their bad reputation past, it now needs to be changed as they have changed themselves.  Another newspaper article which shows the change in teens is also from the Telegraph and has been written by Richard Garner on 13th March 2009, ‘’Hoodies, louts, scum': how media demonises teenagers". This article discusses how teenagers have been made to out by the media to be a bad group of people and how every teenager is grouped to have the same characteristics of the minority of teenagers who misbehave. Although the headlines shown here are positive it could also be said that the newspapers are only exploring the life's of a small group of teenagers. The newspapers aren't looking at the life's carried out by the rest of the teenager population so as a result of this a fair perception of teenagers cannot be given by this particular media outlet.

 

 

Overall, I believe that the way teenagers are represented in TV programmes is very different to how teenagers actually are in really live. Every teenager is different and it is unfair to group all of them into one group with the same characteristic. TV does exaggerate the behaviour of teenagers and only does this in order to make their programmes more exciting and appealing.

Christmas Homework

Explore the narrative structure of your three main texts (30) 

 

This answer will explore the different narrative structures used in the films Creed (2015), Skyfall (2012) and Trainspotting (1996). A narrative structure is the way a story is told and how it unfolds in a film.  

 

The film Creed follows a simple 3 part narrative structure (start, middle, end), at the beginning of the film we see the main character Adonis as a child in a children's prison. Then in the middle of the film it shows the struggles Adonis faces he has when he starts boxing such as people wanting him to change his name to Creed to follow in his fathers footsteps. Tzvtan Todorovs theory is applied in the film with the equilibrium being when Adonis is training to become a boxer and tracks down Rocky Balboa to become his trainer, this is then followed by the disruption when Rocky finds out he is ill with cancer. The recognition of disruption is when Adonis is told by Rocky that he is ill, so Adonis asks him to move in with him and his girlfriend . The attempt to repair disruption is when Adonis tries to persuade Rocky to get treatment for his cancer but he refuses and focuses on training Adonis for his fight against Pretty Ricky Conlon. The restoration of equilibrium is when Adonis fights Ricky Conlon and is then shown respect by the boxer. Also it shows the struggles he goes through when his trainer Rocky becomes ill however, Creed secures his biggest fight during his struggles. The film has  a bittersweet ending as Creed loses his fight again Ricky Collon however, he puts up a good fight and nearly wins. The whole film is linear as it follows the structure of start, middle and end, this structure is typical of films of the drama genre apart from films that have been directed by Quentin Tarantino as he tends to mix up the narrative. In this film there is the use of binary opposites with the good being Adonis as he is the one who is training to better himself whereas, the evil in this film is Pretty Ricky Conlon who is bad mouthing other fighters and being disrespectful towards Adonis.  

 

Similarly to Creed the film Trainspotting also follows the 3 part narrative structure, although this film shows stories from various characters they all come together and doesn't mix up the narrative structure. At the start of the film we're introduced to Mark Renton who gives his life speech while he is being chased with Spud and Sickboy, then in the middle of the film Renton overdoses and at the end of the film Renton gets clean and leaves Edinburgh. There is one part of the film which isn't linear as a scene in the middle overlaps with the chase scene at the beginning.  Todorovs 5 part narrative is also applied with the recognition of disruption of the equilibrium being when Renton is caught shoplifting with Spud and is sent to court, the attempt to restore equilibrium is  when Renton avoids jail and is put on to a drug rehabilitation programme. Renton then relapses and overdoses which messes up the theory of Todorov being applied to this film.   

 

In Skyfall follows Robert McKee's 5 part narrative structure, the inciting incident in this film is when Bond walks into the apartment to try and find the hard drive however, he finds out that it has been stolen and an agent has been killed. The progressive complications is when Bond is searching for Patrice and once he finds him he is then shot by Moneypenny and falls to his death before he has the chance to get the name of Patrice's employer. The crisis is when things become worse as Silva escapes from MI6 and proceeds to attack M at her public enquiry however, Bond and M getaway. The climax is when the forces of Bond and Silva come head to head at Bonds childhood home ‘Skyfall’, Bond kills Silva while M dies in Bonds arms. Finally the resolution come after M’s funeral when Eve Moneypenny is introduced Mallory’s (the new M) secretary.