A terrible start to the week for me made things more difficult than was necessary, an over indulgent night in London led to me missing my coach back to Winchester, meaning I was unable to film at Winchester City FC. Fortunately Mikey was on hand to replace me. This meant however that I had to find a sports news story, easier said than done.
I settled for a story concerning the 2012 London Olympics, Winchester Sports Stadium is a potential training ground for athletes before the games. I managed to get an interview with the Sports Development Officer at the university who was very excited about the whole situation, and gained permission to film at the stadium. Gareth told me to experiment with some shots to try and make the piece interesting, however the stadium was completely empty so getting interesting shots was not easy. I feel as though I managed to make the piece look reasonably professional, using tools on Final Cut Pro to slow some parts down, and using shots to cut away from the interview, which was not framed as well as I would have liked it to have been.
I got the piece in on time, and it was an appropriate length, it would have been good to have found another angle to the story, but I feel as though I was on to a slight non story in the first place. It may be worth following it up if there is interest from an Olympic team.
My role this year, as part of Winchester News Online, is correspondent for Winchester City FC. I see this as almost an ideal role. I know each week in advance what I have to do, I can get there by foot, and I love football. Perfect. But that doesn't mean that my role is by any means easy, for a start my camera skills are not great (yet), and climbing wobbly ladders is rarely an enjoyable experience. Winchester City FC are, fortunately, very accommodating to the WINOL cameras so I am able to film from the top of their main stand, which will hopefully result in some good coverage.. Eventually.
The main problem I had this week was simple technique, the white balance was not perfect, due to the harsh October heatwave that left the sun sitting annoyingly behind one goal. I also found it difficult to keep track of the action when zoomed in, which left me filming most of the match from what looks like a considerable distance. There were 6 goals and a penalty in the match, so the laws of averages meant that I did catch some of the goals quite well. The high scoring game also allowed me to get away with leaving out one of the particularly poorly shot goals from the final edit.
Editing was, what I can only describe as, a nightmare. Final Cut Pro did everything it possibly could to stop me being able to edit, tapes wouldn't work, computers froze and electricity was turned off, and apart from the remembering the basics of editing, I learnt very little except for how much I hate technology at times. Eventually, things worked out, but I'm far from content with my final piece, there is so much to be worked on, much of which I'm sure I'll be able to put right this week.
The football package for Sportsweek was not my only contribution to WINOL this week. I was also asked to present the sports for the main bulletin. Unfortunately we had some technical issues that we were unprepared for, making the bulletin 15 minutes late to air. This is something that can not happen again. I feel as though my piece went reasonably well for a first time presenting. One tip that Angus gave was to work on the handover between the two presenters. This is something that we hadn't put much work into, but is something that will hopefully come with time and practice.
Winchester City FC 6 - 0 Blackfield and Langley FC
Winchester got off to a difficult start when Mike Byrne was judged to have fouled Beng 'Yela Ngwa in the penalty box within 15 minutes. Thankfully for the home side, Ryan Gosney was on hand to pull off a sublime save to his right from 12 yards.
City looked vulnerable and the away side nearly took the lead again but were stopped by the reactions of goalkeeper Ryan Gosney once again as he pushed a powerful volley around the post.
On 31 minutes, Winchester got off the mark through Jamie White. A Tom Dunford cross was headed down by Charlie Smeeton, into the path of white, who scored with ease.
White got his second goal 10 minutes later, again thanks to a Charlie Smeeton assist, Smeeton battled to keep the ball in a crowded penalty box, before putting cleverly slotting the ball across to White, who skilfully chipped the ball into the open goal.
Winchester City showed no sign of slowing down after half time, Chris Mason making it 3-0 just 2 minutes after the break, Charlie Smeeton picking up his third assist of the game.
Mason was able to get his second of the game with a skilfully placed shot from just inside the penalty area, gifted to him by a great piece of teamwork between White and Substitute Alex Easton.
Jamie White completed a man of the match performance on 75 minutes after capitalising on a misplaced pass in the middle of the Langley half, he carried the ball forwards before unleashing a fierce strike at the goalkeepers near post, which could only be parried into the goal.
Dom Allen made it 6 in stoppage time, after latching on to a pass from Jamie White, the goal was allowed to stand despite white appearing to be in an offside position.
As an aspiring Journalist, it seems wrong that I haven't even attempted to blog about the News International 'hacking scandal'. Well basically, shit has seriously hit the fan. After reading a great article in The Independent today (13 July) written by Martin Hickman and Cahal Milmo, I feel prepared to accurately summarise what is going on.
Hacking
Hacking is the word being banded around the most at the moment, this is the process of listening to people's answerphone messages after obtaining their pin code (often simply using the default 4444 number or finding the number through mobile phone companies) Glenn Mulcaire is the phone hacking expert, previously contracted to The News of the World, who is allegedly responsible for much of the phone hacking. He was imprisoned for 6 months in 2007 after pleading guilty to intercepting royal voicemail messages. Computer hacking is also believed to have taken place as a method of retrieving information. Unfortunately, the questionable practices allegedly used by the press are not limited to just hacking.
Bribery
It is looking increasingly likely that the News of the World bribed the police for information. News International emails show that Andy Coulson authorised these payments. Andy Coulson was employed by David Cameron as the government's director of communications in may 2010 after 3 years as a Conservative Party communications director. This has brought the Prime Minister criticism in the recent weeks. Coulson resigned in January this year amid an earlier scandal regarding the hacking of Celebrities phones. There is also evidence suggesting that phone companies may have been bribed for information.
"Now that the News of the World is gone, everything will be fine!"
Not entirely true, for a start it is worth remembering that not all employees of The News of the World were evil criminals. Many were good, honest journalists who didn't hack phones, bribe the police or urinate on the elderly. The closure of NOTW is an example of Rupert Murdoch's sheer bastardy ruthlessness. At the time of the hacking of murdered teenager Milly Dowler's mobile phone, the editor of the NOTW was Rebekah Brooks, now a senior figure within News International (the company that owns The Sun and previously The News of the World.) Calls for her to step down fell on deaf ears. One tweeter summed up the situation nicely 'Last time so many were sacrificed to one ego at least we got a pyramid out of it!'
Don't be surprised to see more newspapers get pulled in to the scandal. Gordon Brown got the ball rolling today by accusing The Sun of hacking his son's medical records (which they denied) and The Times for illegally obtaining his bank details. Private investigator Johnathan Rees, who is believed to have used techniques such as burglary is known to have worked for the Mirror Group and not just The News of the World. The allegations will now probably pick up speed.
Now What?
An inquiry is being held, the verdict to which will probably be something along the lines of "The press shouldn't do phone hacking". The key body that needs to change is the Press Complaints Commission. This is the press's own regulator, however their sanctions are seen to be soft and they do not have the necessary power to investigate wrongdoings. What we don't want is to lose the level of free press that we currently have, this would be a step in the wrong direction but action does need to be taken and standards need to be raised.
bSKYb
Rupert Murdoch was attempting a complete takeover of bSKYb (Sky TV). After pressure from the public and the house of commons he has now dropped this bid.
Twitter
Twitter has gone absolutely mental in the last week, this is what people have had to say about the 'hacking scandal'
Charlie Brooker: "Judging by the trajectory so far, today's the day we discover they hacked Anne Frank."
George Michael: "For many, many years. Like I said, today is a FANTASTIC day for Britain. XXX"
John Prescott: "The News of the World is closing. It's Twitter Wot Won It! But this won't stop us Murdoch."
Piers Morgan: "Shocked and saddened by closure of the News of the World. Scandals of past week indefensible, but has been a great British newspaper"
Billy Bragg: "Dear @WHSmith.co.uk Do you consider it ethical to stock a newspaper prepared to hack a murdered girl's phone?"
Alfred Dreyfus grew up in Paris in the mid - late 1800s, following the France's defeat and subsequent humiliation in the Franco-Prussian war of 1870. During this period anti-Semitism was rife throughout Europe, and during the years of French recovery, it became evident that Jewish people were being scapegoated for the embarrassing defeat. Dreyfus was an intelligent French Jew and at a young age was a promising figure high up in the ranks of the French army. In October 1894, he was arrested and charged with passing military secrets to the German embassy. He was convicted of treason and sent to Devil's island where he was left in solitary confinement. Devil's Island: Drinks prices are extortionate
THE END
Until Emile Zola, a French Journalist, writer and novelist published an open letter to the French President, on the front page of liberal newspaper L'aurore entitled J'accuse. Zola had been at the trial of Dreyfus and was appalled at what he believed was blatant corruption from within the French army. Dreyfus was being framed because he was a Jew and the army needed a scapegoat to keep the French people on their side. Unbelievably, most were aware that another army officer, Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy, was in fact the traitor, eventually undeniable proof was exposed showing Dreyfus to be innocent. Dreyfus was subsequently handed a pardon, but Esterhazy was never proven guilty in court, it seemed as though the French government were trying to protect him and keep the blame on Dreyfus. It would be far more convenient for those in power to be able to blame a Jew.
The Dreyfus affair highlights the effect that Journalism can have on a society both in a positive and a negative sense. A contributing factor to the anti-Semitism that led to the arrest of Dreyfus was the radical far right press scare-mongering and scapegoating. This is not something completely unfamiliar in Britain, with right publications occasionally running stories with anti Islamic undertones. In J'accuse, Zola completely defames many members of the French army but does so with confidence that what he is saying is correct and a belief that what he is doing is entirely in the public interest. He is also not acting with malice, as he states:
"As for the people I accuse, I do not know them, I never saw them, I have against them neither resentment nor hatred. They are for me only entities, spirits of social evil. And the act I accomplished here is only a revolutionary mean for hastening the explosion of truth and justice."
In February 1997, The Daily Mail published a front page, identifying and accusing five men of the Murder of young black student Stephen Lawrence in a racist attack. The Mail invited the men to sue them if this was incorrect but no action was ever taken against the paper. This is widely regarded as a j'accuse moment and seems as though it is largely influenced by Zola's letter. It has led to the archaic double jeopardy law being changed and there is now a chance that these men may be found guilty.
An interesting video questioning the controversial practice of waterboarding, allegedly used to gain information regarding the whereabouts of Osama Bin Laden.
The Saudi born super-villain Osama Bin Laden has been killed by American forces according to U.S President Barack Obama. The 'mastermind' of the 9/11 attacks has been the subject of a manhunt since 2001 and sat proudly at the top of the FBI's most wanted list. The body has been recovered.
