I got this story in my twitter feed on Thursday and I've finally got round to blogging about it.
I am currently studying for a media law exam which deals with issues of libel, defamation and malice and I found this to be a good example of the law in action.
The Sunday Mirror was forced to pay out £30,000 after it published a story claiming model Sophie Anderton had been the victim of a 'vicious attack' in which she was so badly beaten, there were fears for her career.
Author Jose Rosengurtt 
Property development consultant Ed Buxton
Showing posts with label newspapers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label newspapers. Show all posts
Newspaper forced to pay £30,000 over printing of false Sophie Anderson story
"Revolutionary" e-reader to be launched in Jan
An article in the Independent today made me realise I needed to do a follow up to my blog about the debates around the death of the press industry with the introduction of e-readers (see it here).
What is being billed as the "ultimate" e-reader is set to make its debut in January 2010 after 10 years spent
Not tonight dear, im too tired
I read a great story in The Times this week.
A major company in Japan has told its workers to knock off early all this week. So, rather than leaving at 7pm, they left at 5.10pm.
Not too unusual, right? 
Wrong! It turns out this story has more to it than your usual story about flexi-time.
The strange part concerns what the workers were supposed to be doing with the extra time off.
Not quite the whole picture..
I was reading a story today in one of the Sunday papers under the headline "English GCSE? It's just 2EZ." The story was about a new English exam that includes a section on the grammar of mobile phone texting.
The article details plans by the Assessment Qualifications Alliance (AQA) to introduce the test that could earn up to ten percent of students overall GCSE mark.
Obviously, the plans have come under attacks from various objectors claiming that the plans reveal a "dumbing down" of the subject. A direct quote from the story reads: "Next year pupils will be tested on text messaging as part of their English GCSEs."
Like many people who read this, I thought the concept of teaching text message lingo in schools was ridiculous so I decided to research a bit more into it.
Is True Blood really sucking the innocence out of children?
'True Blood' is a new smash hit US drama series that has just unleashed itself upon UK shores.
It is set in Louisiana and is loosely based around the idea that scientists have found a way to make
Carr's Gag still causing offense
Reading Carole Malone's little rant in the News of the World today, I felt obliged to deliver my own personal response.
I was going to leave this issue, it is no longer a news story, however newspapers are determined to milk the story by continually printing opinion pieces on the matter.
For those of you who don't know, then basically the comedian Jimmy Carr got in trouble for cracking a joke about amputees who have been injured in war.
At a gig in Manchester he said to the crowd
How to write news features
In our lecture on Monday we discussed features and feature writing. These are the main feature format used in the news outside the designated 'feature' section. They shouldn't be confused with hard news stories and they are usually longer. Often they are usually located near or on the news pages of a newspaper.
Quite often they can be classed as 'wrap up' articles and a good example I found in one of today's tabloid papers was 'Ten Interesting Facts About Buttons' which was an article that used a news 'peg' of Jensen Button winning the world Formula One title.
I also managed to find 'Top Ten Tips for Writing Effective News Features from News USA which provides some interesting advice:
1. Write for your audience.
Your feature should appeal to a broad, general newspaper readership. All through the course we have been taught to avoid technical jargon and overly complicated sentences, news features are no exception.
2. Follow The Associated Press Stylebook, the universally accepted journalism standard.
Use this style and editors will be inclined to give your feature serious consideration. Break the rules and your feature may not place.
3. Make a keen statement in your first paragraph.
Features are all about grabbing the readers attention so a good idea is to lead with a question or a statistic that highlights the most important point of the feature.
4. Think in terms of “news you can use.”
Readers enjoy nothing more than to read information and tips that can help them and/or that they can apply to their daily lives. Articles along these lines could be very successful.
5. Avoid commercialism. If your feature reads like an ad or press release, editors won’t run it.
Product promotions don’t work well except around the holidays — and even then, they should be accompanied by consumer tips.
6. Remember, the shorter the better.
Editors at all publications have limited space to fill so he chances are your article will have to be trimmed down to fit the space you have been allocated.
7. Use quality photos or graphics.
We learnt that because of the lighter tone of the feature, they are often heavily reliant on photos and graphics. Include these in a feature to make it more appealing and pleasing on the eye.
8. Keep headlines and captions short and to the point.
News organisations often use standard typesetting guidelines, so headlines will need to be kept short but it is important to remember to include all the relevant information needed to lure the reader to the story.
9. End your feature with a Web site, e-mail address or phone number.
Readers need to know where they can get more information.
You can see the original top tips here: http://about.newsusa.com/corporate/Getting_Started/pdfs/top_10.pdf
Ramsay's foul mouth to blame
Dame Joan Bakewell (don't worry, I had no idea who she is either!) was reported in the Daily Express today as saying Gordon Ramsay is to blame for the increase in swearing among schoolchildren.
The journalist and broadcaster argues that children are picking up and copying obscene language used by by the popular TV chef on his shows the F-word and Kitchen Nightmares.
Even writing this now, it seems really absurd that an individual, famous or not, can be blamed for an increase in "a culture of yob-speak" by children.
Channel 4 broadcasts Ramsay's shows after the watershed and so surely the responsibility lies with the parents?
Don't get me wrong, I'm not implying that its the parents fault that children might be watching TV shows with obscenities in them. Trying to stop children from being exposed to swear words is as ridiculous as blaming a TV chef for all the swearing in the playground.
My second point is only a minor one but still relevant. How does this woman know there has been an increase in swearing among schoolchildren?! How is this possible to prove? It seems to me as this is nothing more than a sweeping generalised statement in an attempt to prove her silly attempt to pass blame.
However, the funniest part of the article lies further down as Bakewell then moves to defend the use of bad language in "certain circumstances". These are loosely categorised as "tense, gritty dramas".
What a ludicrous double standard! Whether swearing in a seemingly 'appropriate' scenario or casual swearing to blow off steam in a kitchen, the words are the same and children can still mimic them.
I'm not too sure this woman really knows what she is trying to say in this article. Maybe its time people stopped trying to push the blame and faced up to the fact that children are always going to be exposed to swear words and the focus needs to be on getting them to stop repeating them, rather than blaming individuals who use them.
The midst of an apocalyptic end?
Reading the news, it appears Amazon will unleash its Kindle upon the UK market next week and in good time for Christmas. Now, for those of you who don't know, the Kindle is a wireless book reader device on to which you can download books and get them delivered to you in under 60 seconds. Check it out here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0015T963C/ref=ms_sbrspot_0?pf_rd_p=494263771&pf_rd_s=center-1&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_i=507846&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1VGQ09T29YA80KJVWHK4
The e-book market is potentially hugely lucrative and it is currently dominated by Amazon. However sensing the huge potential in this and not want miss out on a piece, Google is set to launch its Google Editions in early 2010. Now rather than simply provide competition to Amazon, Sony and Plastic Logic for the way e-books are read, the eggheads at Google have been very clever indeed.
Google Editions will be a full online library meaning that Google can get a say in not only how e-books are read, but also how they are bought and sold. What is sure to have Amazon quaking in its boots is that Google Editions will support a variety of e-reading formats, something that its online Kindle e-book store cannot do.
I know what you're thinking. Why should I care?
The blogging world is currently buzzing with the topic of e-books and the impending doom of the written form. While it is far too early to tell the extent of damage e-books could have on the publishing industry, the fact is e-readers have proved to be increasingly popular over recent months. If Google Editions really takes off and it fulfills its claims of being able to make available 500,000 titles from day one, it will certainly have a huge impact instantly.
This will not just effect the publishing trade but also the Journalism industry. If a huge number of e-readers are sold then people could ultimately decide that 80p a day spent on a newspaper is an unneccessary expenditure as the proper "paper" version of the newspaper is available on their fancy new toy anyway. Print Journalism has certainly taken a huge hit with the unprecendented expansion of the Internet and this could change the way the whole industry operates.
Could this prove to be the final nail in the coffin for the print Journalist?
If it is, remember that you read it here first!
High Court reinstates nurse whistleblower
The papers today are reporting the story of the reinstatement of Margaret Haywood, a nurse with over 20 years of experience who was struck off the register for bringing to light cases of unacceptably low standards of care for elderly patients.
Haywood secretly filmed patients at the Royal Sussex Hospital in Brighton to show they were being neglected. Her findings were broadcast on the TV documentary series Panorama .
The cases exposed included a patient who was left to die alone and another who was forced to wait hours before being allowed to go to the toilet.
There was a public outcry when the nurse was struck off in April for breaching confidentiality, however the penalty imposed by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) was overturned yesterday by the High Court in London.
Not good enough I'm afraid.
Those individuals who have the courage, honesty and bravery to expose genuine cases of neglect and wrongdoings should be rewarded rather than cast off as troublemakers.
Whistleblowers risk being condemned by friends and co-workers and also face disciplinary action and in some extreme cases, dismissal. Dismissal is exactly what happened in the case of Margaret Haywood and while the decision may have been overturned, the accusations by the NMC of what she was doing was wrong still stands.
The fact that the case has been overturned because of public outcry will have little effect on people in the future who are considering exposing unacceptable practices as they could be (understandably) discouraged because of fear for their careers.
I am certainly more inclined to trust a whistleblower who saved suffering and even lives over someone who goes to work every day, saw this happening and does nothing about it.
New mums shun NHS
The Independent on Sunday today covered a story that an increasing number of new mums are choosing to ignore motherhood advice given by the NHS in favour of turning to the Internet.
A survey found that "information overload and conflicting guidance" mean that only a shocking 3% of new mothers put any faith in anything the Government or the Department of Health has to tell them.
It is easy to see why.
The NHS is constantly in the news for the wrong reasons. An institution that is criticised for its lack of funding, staff shortages and long waiting lists is never going to have the public confidence. Plus the rapid growth and ease of access of the Internet means useful information is never more than a click away and sites such as Netmums and Newmothers means advice and guidance can be sought from individuals battling with the same problems.
More than a third of the women surveyed admitted that "confusing" advice on certain issues such as feeding and sleeping routines has marred their experience of being a parent.
Former Midwife Vicky Scott says that now "midwives don't have the time to understand problems before dispensing advice" and so the scepticism of the state will continue to grow as the problems with the NHS mount up. Whomever is in power after the next election will have to plug this trust gap between the Government and the public in order to regain their confidence.
