video cv

Journalism: the transitional innovations of print to online media.

It’s hard to deny that the biggest blow to the print industry has been the invention of the internet, with readers choosing to access up to the minute news that’s accessible on the toilet via tablets and mobiles for free, rather than traipsing down to the local shop to pick up yesterday’s news. The real shock is not that this is happening, rather, that printed journalism hasn’t died out entirely yet. Admittedly, there’s a bizarre pleasure to be had in a hard copy in your hands, but for anyone to argue that free, instantaneous news, features and multimedia via the greatest invention since sliced bread is in some way inferior to cutting down trees, smashing them into ultra-thin pieces and carefully laying ink on it is the equivalent of this hypothetical conversation:

1: “Hey, we’re off to Australia, want to hop in the teleporter with us?”

2: “No thanks, I’ll walk”

Arguably, there are still those, often the older members of society who aren’t familiar with modern means of acquiring news, who prefer having the traditional means of a physical product in their hands and can trust the publications who are having evidence continually stacked against them via phone hacking scandals etc..  Yet, this is a dying breed and within the next few decades will surely be extinct.

Therefore, the next innovation for magazine journalism is surely the progression onto the internet, which most magazines are already doing. The problems for most however, is that they are still trying to charge the reader for the privilege of reading their slant on stories and features that are continually covered by thousands of other free online publications. In the age of uber state capitalism, it is obvious that the main objective for any online publication should be to attract advertisers to fund the relatively minute costs of publication by comparison with print. This can be done in many ways, banner advertising, testimonial advertising (by which I mean those annoying faux articles proclaiming the superiority of a particular product), or getting those tedious z-list celebrities who are always plugging some horrendous proof of their lack of talent in any field.

Unfortunately, this isn’t the profiteering mentality that corporate publishers want to hear, but in a world where literally anyone, including dogs, can publish any kind of piece they wish, it is the only way to gain power. Using their print reputations to bring in the big names that people want to hear about or from, building a regular amount of traffic and using said traffic to attract advertisers.

On the bright side though, never has it been easier to advertise your publication, with social media helping every video that raised even the slightest grin being thrown into the public consciousness. This means that every publication needs to reproduce their product on every form of socially relevant application.

A great example of such a business model is Vice, formerly just a magazine that now finds homes for all of its articles, good or bad, on Facebook feeds across the globe. Vice uses both love and hate to generate views. The typical argument that occurs on the comment section of most of their articles goes something like this:

·         R--- J---- VICE UK is utterly woeful. To think their US counterparts are reporting from Ukraine, South Sudan and CAR and all we seem to get is this drivel getting churned out week on week.

Like · Reply · 27 · 7 hours ago

S--- W---- You really need to stop repping this piece of shit article every weekend

Like · Reply · 21 · 8 hours ago

A-- R-------- I think I'm starting to join the ranks of the haters. I know there's a tone to Vice that you have to roll with, but even ironic ignorance sounds like ignorance when it's so utterly convincing. And I'm pretty sure it's no longer ironic.

Like · Reply · 5 · 5 hours ago

S------- J---- D-------- Do you lot put this post on every week? I'm sick of seeing it. I don't need you lot to tell me how to have a shit weekend.

I - am - the - shit - weekend - fucking - master.

So? (would you kindly) fuck off making this and give us some pointers on how to make a shit weekend? better

As can be seen here, some of these people genuinely feel that many of the articles, even weekly regulars, are “shit”, “utterly woeful” and “fuck off”. Yet they don’t seem to recognise that they are the ones reading it every week and supplying the viewing figures necessary to keep it going. Gone are the days when quality was what brought in the money, as proven in the music industry by Simon Cowell’s ironically VICE-like grip on the Christmas No 1 spot through X Factor. Nowadays, the public seem to enjoy an opportunity to berate and create willing hate-figures to vent their inner anguish upon almost more so than the traditional, well written, intelligent and not “fuck off” pieces of literature. It’s this recognition of the fact that all publicity is good publicity, which I believe was pioneered by the artist formerly known as Jordan, that has been adopted as a philosophy by most magazines, print or otherwise, whether it be in their showbiz sections or in a publication centred entirely around celebrity based voyeurism.

This method of churning out as many pieces out as their budget will allow, fishing for what is either good enough to develop a following or bad enough to develop a devoted angry mob and repeating the best/worst of the bunch has helped Vice to become one of the most successful online publications out there, bringing in huge investment from the likes of NewsCorp and huge advertising fees for testimonials and banner advertising.

This ‘nothing is too dumb for the public’ sensationalism is a direct descendant of the Daily Mail, who in the same way, have used their ridiculous and misleading headlines to become a very successful online reinvention with such incredible revelations as:

“Kim Kardashian spends FIVE HOURS at the office with Kourtney as they finish up work ahead of her wedding”

“Having a ball! Beyonce enjoys a basketball game with Jay Z as they snack on lollipops and pop corn”

And

“Crunch time: Alex Gerrard does her daily 'little gym sesh' before heading to the hairdressers to get new hair extensions”

Needless to say, in order to show the journalism of the Mail Online in this light, I too have become part of their viewership and will help fund the continuation of such media. Through the technologically determined innovations on tablets and smartphones, online media can do away with many of the restrictions of print, no longer is a tight word count for an article because of print space an issue; and the liberty of multimedia is beyond even that of print, radio and television combined (and you can access it, for free, on the toilet!). The progression and survival of established media, as they are drawn into the black hole of the internet, depends entirely upon their ability to adapt to the requirements of a reader with an ever decreasing attention span. For now, the exploiting of internet ‘trolls’’ bad nature and desire to abuse poor stories is funding advertising, but soon there will be something else to throw the profitability of journalism right out the window again and the question is; how low can the media sink into the mire of celebrity tat and trivialities before integrity becomes fashionable again? Or transition into a form of media that people will be willing to pay for/ cannot be found at every blog, forum or Facebook page. In the land of the internet, everyone is a star, so surely the only way for big media giants to survive is to pool resources to cover genuine news stories across the world in ways that only those with big budgets can, before the budget dries up.

Editor interviews.

Interview with National Editor of News & Sport for Bauer Radio News, Jim Foulger:



Interview with the Deputy Editor for Grapevine magazine, Matt Dixon:

The Road to Ruin: A confessional interview with David Lee.

This piece is an interview with David Lee on the road safety of the village Nether Haugh, in which there has been a string of accidents including David's house itself, which has been hit by speeding cars four times in the past year, causing damage to the property both inside and out, the pictures have been sourced from Mr. Lee and the Nether Haugh Community Partnership Blog (http://b6089.blogspot.co.uk/) with their permission.

The use of Google Streetview and Google Maps fits the criteria outlined in their permissions guidelines (http://www.google.com/permissions/geoguidelines.html) and has been properly accredited.

The importance of being balanced. - law.

In this weekend's Financial Times, the Collecting supplement contained a decent story on the likely changes to laws surrounding the ivory trade. The key focus being upon the laws surrounding the trade of antique ivory, which at present is a very lucrative market.

Besides the fact that it is an interesting story in it's own right, the main interest for me was the publication of

"reports in the British press that Price William had told primatologist Jane Goodall that he wants ivory antiques in the Royal Collection destroyed".

The potential libel suit: what with ol' Willy being claimed to have ordered the destruction of a hugely valuable collection of art, which, in light of the Royal family's request for more money from public coffers last year; or the fact that he recently completed a hunting trip with his brother Harry, should greatly reduce him in the eyes of any right thinking person/anyone who doesn't watch ITV or read the Daily Mail. The Financial Times know their stuff though, legally speaking, and so obviously that isn't the end of the quote:

"...A spokesman for the prince refused to confirm or deny a private conversation."

This fantastically boring little piece of information shows that they have attempted to allow those in question to confirm or deny these claims, protecting the Financial Times on the grounds of balance. Nice.

COMMENT: Media Law: Absolute privilege and what that means for State Street.

State Street, the U.S' second oldest financial institution, has been fined £22.9m for overcharging six clients a total of $20m "deliberately" between June 2010 and September 2011. They have also released a statement saying it had refunded the clients affected.

The publishing of this information which clearly reduces their integrity as a business and would be considered liable for libel, were it not for the absolute privilege afforded to legal venues such as courts and parliament.

Absolute privilege:

Absolute privilege is the strongest defense against defamation claims. It can be applied when defending against something said in judicial hearings, parliament and client-solicitor communications; regardless of whether the comments were said in malice, was false or was said plainly to reduce the reputation of the defamed.

Whilst on the subject of privilege, it would seem appropriate to name the other form of privilege, which isn't always as clean cut as Absolute. Qualified Privilege.

Qualified Privilege:

Defends a publication against defamation claims, providing that the statement has been written without malice, can be said to have provided balance, is accurate and was published in the public interest.

So, if an animal rights activist was found by a journalist to have exotic animal taxidermy collection, it would come under the protection of Qualified Privilege to publish a statement outing said activist as it is in the public interest that someone publicly denouncing animal abuse should be found to be a hypocrite. So long as the statement was true.

COMMENT: Media law - How insulting is too insulting?

The Story in the FT Weekend.

Today in the Financial Times' "Comment & Analysis" section I found this story following the recent activities of Scarlett Johansson. The overarching theme is certainly suggesting that Johansson's career has become one of corporate greed:

"The cool indie beauty has turned corporate - something has been lost in translation all right."

This is in relation to her recently becoming a brand ambassador for Israeli fizzy drink dispenser dispenser, SodaStream, which uses land illegitimately held by Israel in Mishor Adumim to make CO2 cylinders and carbonation bottles. Then:

"Following a pointed exchange of statements between Oxfam (for whom she was previously an ambassador) and Ms Johansson, the actress said she would remain SodaStream's ambassador but was dropping her Oxfam role."

The story attacks her character, outlining her decision to choose a fat cheque over human rights.

The legality of it all:

Hypothetically speaking, if Johansson's legal team was to attempt to sue, the prosecution could argue:

The article tends to lower Johansson in the eyes of right thinking people: What with her choosing the payroll of a company that aggravates one of the most influential conflicts of the modern world by the illegitimate placement of it's industrial estate.

Causes Johansson to be shunned or avoided by society/ exposes her to hatred: enlightening more people who may join the online crusade against her immorality.

Disparages Johansson in her business, trade and profession: Employers in future may avoid employing her due to her negative associations.

Defenses:

Under new law, a statement must be proven to have caused "serious harm" as opposed to the previous "tends to cause harm" prior to the amendment. I'm sure Johansson will manage following the exposing of her actions in the FT.

Honest opinion (formerly "fair comment"): With the story being in the comment section, the writers could argue, quite rightly, that it is their honest opinion that Johansson has gone from "indie beauty" to "corporate".

Public Interest (previously Reynolds defense): It could be said that to not publish this information might lead fans of Johansson to believe that she is a humanitarian of great dignity, and did not accept cheques from morally dubious employers.

And finally, the best defense of all, it's the truth: Johansson undeniably preferred a big ol' cheque from SodaStream to help sell their products, which are partly made on land acquired illegitimately by Israel in 1967, to being an ambassador for the charity Oxfam.

Moral of the story: Don't be a douche Scarlett!

Re: The media's representation of court cases. COMMENT

http://www.thepaperboy.com/uk/2014/01/15/front-pages-archive.cfm

As I'm sure we're all aware, everybody who has been on TV or radio during the 80's is probably a paedophile. At least this is the impression you would get should you have watched the news a couple of days ago, or picked up the Daily Mirror or Daily Star yesterday (which can be seen via the link above).

The reason for all this sensation is due to the prosecution's opening statement, where they outline their accusations and what they hope to charge the defendant with. Due to the absolute privilege provided by the court, this means that the media can print or broadcast any of these accusations as a quote. However, my gripe is not with illegality of the media's actions, but with the ethics of their sensationalism.

The way in which the media portrays this information intentionally implies the guilt of the defendant, defending itself legally with the use of quotation marks; which, if removed, would be outright liable or in contempt of court. Tip-toeing the line of legality has replaced the responsibility of thinking for oneself in an empathetic manner it would seem.

At this point, I feel it's important to mention that I am in no way defending the accused individuals, for all I know they could have done it. The point is; should the media really be using what is purely an allegation in as close to a declaration as they can? Especially when considering that, if acquitted, the story would move to the middle of the paper, and may not even appear in the broadcast agenda. Forever tainting them with the public knowledge that they were certainly accused of being a paedophile.

These people are becoming martyrs to media profits, which seems to be overcoming any sense of dignity that mainstream journalism once had, a sentiment that I found was refreshed by seeing Anchorman 2 of all things. In light of the Leveson inquiry, can journalists really afford to be lectured on their integrity by Will Ferrell?

Innocent until proven guilty, and, for now, the media really are proving themselves guilty of irresponsibility.

A small update on Joy Carter's pay rise.

Following my last email, the university have replied swiftly for the first time:

Dear Alex,

 

Thank you for your email. I will pass on your response and further enquiries, though it may be after Christmas before you receive a response, as the Clerk to the Governors is out of the office at the moment.

 

Kind regards

Not suprising that whilst some student are still working hard at the university, important staff are taking a holiday. I wonder if they will get a bonus for it.

Re: Joy Carter's unbelievable pay rise.

I have received a reply regarding Vice-chancellor Joy Carter's recent pay rise:

Dear Alex,

The press office have forwarded your email to us. The response from Professor Carter is below.

The Vice-Chancellor’s salary is determined by the Board of Governors – it is not subject to national negotiations. Conversely, the pay negotiations for other members of staff working in higher education does take place at a national level and not at a local level. The University remains sympathetic to the trade unions' case. The University of Winchester gives the national debate great consideration and will continue to do all it can to bring the dispute to a swift and just resolution.

Kind regards

Of course, this email has merely given their official position on the pay strikes whilst trying to pass the burden of justification to the 'Board of Governors'. As a side note, it strikes me entirely unfair that the top paid staff can easily improve their lot at a rate six times that of inflation when other staff are entirely controlled by an unresponsive national system. Such is state capitalism I suppose. Obviously this response is far from adequate, this is my reply: 

Hi again,

I understand that you wish to pass the burden of justification onto a differing layer of Winchester University's bureaucratic system (the Board of Governors). In light of this I will send my response to you, trusting that either you will be able to expand and answer my questions in the first email (which I have reformed below) or forward my email to those that can, so that I may get a satisfactory response.

Besides the fact that it seems entirely unjust that the top earners at the university can alter their wage via a local board of their friends and peers, when those lower down on the chain must go to an unresponsive  national system, these questions have still not been answered:

I will number them to make your response easier:

1) Why, in light of the current struggle for fair pay for some staff, did the Board of Governors think it an appropriate action to give an already very well paid member of staff a pay increase six times that of inflation and more than twice that of the entire wage of the lowest paid members of staff?

2) What justification can there possibly be for this open insult, which it is, to those members of staff genuinely struggling?

3) Is it possible to see a report by the Board of Governors on this matter? And if so, where?

Kind Regards,
Alex Mason.


Once again, I will be posting their response on this blog.

A letter to the university regarding Joy Carters pay rise.

This is a letter to the University of Winchester regarding the recent anger at Vice Chancellor Joy Carter's recent £28,000 pay increase in the midst of staff protests over insufficient pay. I will be posting the reply on this blog. 




Hi there,

              it has recently come to my attention that Joy Carter has been given a £28,000 per year pay increase. To the outsider, this looks like an outrageous kick in the teeth for all of the staff that have been protesting against the insufficient 1% pay increase, especially when one considers the fact that some of the staff protesting take home wages smaller than their bosses recent bonus.

The excuse given for this pay rise was one of poverty, yet, it does not surprise me that a university professing the beliefs of the Christian church should have such a skewed view of poverty, with the wages of Joy Carter, before this recent hike, hardly being one even remotely comparable to poverty of any kind.

As a student, who pays a significant fee to the university, I demand to hear what justification can be given for this abhorrent injustice.

Eagerly awaiting your reply,

Alex Mason.

WINOL 16th October 2013

Another relatively solid bulletin.

Good points:
Alex Delaney did well to link forward to next week's WINOL in his PTC

A good volleyball story although it was mentioned that the participation was perhaps excessive in the story.

Liam literally managed to get 'it's a dream come true' from his interview.

Bad points:

Exiting the title sequence is still awkward a definite point to come out of it should be decided.

The green screen background hasn't been cleaned.

The focus of the camera was off in Calum's package

between Calum and Alex's parts there was a bizarre resurgence of the title music, this occurred again heading into the sports.

Framing in interviews and PTC's for Alex, Harvey and Drew was poor the rule of thirds shouldn't be applied in a PTC go central, and avoid giving too much headroom.

A mistake in sound with the OOV which faded the presenters mic down briefly.

The right idea with the walking PTC for the graduation piece, but a better route was needed as Matt walked almost out of vision as he went through the crowd.

Sports choice to film outside was poor, it makes no sense.

WINOL 9th October 2013

Good points:

A solid bulletin overall, with Matt Spencer doing well to capitalise on the 'legs' of the C.O.M.P.A.S.S meeting story as it was hard-hitting and relevant to any audience in Winchester.

Ellen's bee story was very well put together with a great 'it's a nightmare' quote from the beekeeper and good commitment wearing the beekeeper outfit to sign off.

The UKIP OOV had some great UPSOT of Farage laughing, well done at the sound desk.

Good establishing shots by Zeena in her STOPtober story, awkward to organise but they do make the package much better.

Tom Wright's pacing in his PTC was greatly improved and made for a good court report.

Sports' introduction of 3 cameras makes for much better footage. Although, graphics would add to the overall production.

Not so good points:

The mixing up of the final part of the intro music is really quite distracting.

Emma Wright's education story was faded out a little bit too early.

STOPtober interview with nurse was poorly framed, just needed the application of rule of thirds.

On screen quotes have been criticised, however, they do appear regularly in regional and national news broadcasts.

Critical Reflection

Critical Reflection

WINOL overall:

This term, WINOL has once again improved upon its news output, most notably in terms of quantity; with stories being rejected from the bulletin, not because of a lack of quality, but, simply because of the sheer quantity of alternative stories available to the editor. Whilst this may be disappointing to those whose packages were declined, it can only be seen as a positive. The choice available to the news editors means that more care can be taken in what genres of story are to be included in the bulletin, which gives a better editorial learning experience. This increase in quantity is attributed to the ability of the news team to produce newsworthy stories from what is available in such a quiet area, and shows a great level of journalistic competence in all areas of the course.

Circulation:

This term our circulation figures have steadily increased from the drought in traffic that unavoidably occurs over the summer break, with the highest global and UK Alexa rankings being on the 8^th of December (776,668) and 30^th of October (27,807) respectively. Despite the positive trend, we are down by comparison to this time last year when we reached an Alexa rank of 373,953 globally and 12,025 in the UK. Whilst this could be seen as representative of a decrease in quality or quantity, it is important to mention that last year WINOL had easy access to interviews with top political figures such as London mayor Boris Johnson and UKIP Leader Nigel Farage etc. due to the Eastleigh by-election which generated a lot of traffic for the site. This year however, even though the quality of journalism has remained the same, if not improved, the national interest created by the Eastleigh by-election was not available for us to capitalise upon.

Features this year have been condensed into one online magazine ‘Here & Now’ in which the formerly individual categories still have a space, but now it’s easy to browse the varying categories from one place, which should serve to keep visitors on the site for longer, as the technicalities of getting from one feature to another has been simplified greatly. The content covered by features this year has been of great variety, with travel providing light-hearted features following groups as they partake in local pastimes to the serious comment on issues such as the unimportance of Tom Daley’s homosexuality. Not to mention the great media content provided by the fashion site.

My role:

This term, my role has been mainly in production, being part of the team working behind the scenes on WINOL, sports week and in-studio features.

My usual routine for Tuesday and Wednesday involves setting up the studio as I enter the building, sorting out the green screen, positioning the table and cameras properly and making sure that the camera is focused etc., before heading up to the gallery to apply the appropriate background on the green screen and making sure it is functioning properly, e.g. cleaning up the background and foreground (I have posted a tutorial on how to do this on my blog). I also provided this service for the interviews of Labour's Rowenna Davis and The governor of Winchester Prison David Rodgers as well as the COMPASS meeting for the police and crime commissioner.

Once this has been done, I enter the newsroom, aiding the news team until we are ready to begin filming in the studio. Helping out has taken many forms, such as helping to film packages down in Winchester, as I did in Harvey's package for WINOL on 4/12/13, writing the headlines on multiple occasions, phoning the courts to verify details for packages and doing odd jobs to speed up the production of packages, so as to increase the potential time for rehearsal in the studio.

At the beginning of the term, due to technical difficulties when converting packages to the VT machine in the studio, I also had the role of converting the packages manually, once they had been completed, via the older versions of final cut in the MMC, but this was later resolved, meaning that it was no longer necessary and upped the efficiency of the process considerably (To do this, we consulted Corin the technician, who often helps in the studio when there is a more technical problem, from this experience, it would perhaps be a good idea to ask him to join WINOL one Wednesday to look over the entire process of converting packages, preparing the studio, using OOV’s and OB’s so that he might be able to help the team become more efficient in terms of the technical side of production, especially regarding OB’s, which we have yet to have complete success with).

Another improvement that has occurred in production has been the use of the radio studio to record the headlines. Whilst a simplistic change, it saves time and effort when going in to film the rest of the bulletin, as headlines often aren't completed until late on in the day. The ease of recording in the radio studio, which doesn’t require the production team, also allows time for production to chase the last of the packages and head into the final stages comfortably.

As for the production of the bulletin in the studio, I have performed every role: The most demanding of these for me has been sound, due to the sensitivity of the sliders combined with my tendency to acquire shaky hands in high pressure situations, but, I feel that I have overcome this issue quite easily and as a result I am confident in my understanding of the role. The main technicalities when in the role of sound is the multi-tasking required when bringing two sets of audio together, as is the case in the opening and closing credits as well as any UPSOT in OOV’s.

Directing, as a role, is fairly straightforward, providing adequate rehearsal time is available so as to see the OOVs, in-studio discussions and other more technical features of the bulletin prior to going 'live'. This is something I have learned from experience, with my first foray into the world of directing being subject to the issue of insufficient rehearsal time, this being said, the bulletin was still out on time without any fatal errors which I feel is an achievement on the basis that the production team managed to perform adequately with a bulletin they had never seen before. I also learned from said experience and applied a more hands on technique when making sure that those producing the packages and writing the script etc. were motivated to keep to schedule the second time round. My second experience as a director was much more successful as a result, although the issue of discrepancy between the timings given by the VT machine and the appropriate time to come out of a package in reality still causes problems when counting down for the sake of those in production roles. To fix this issue, I suggest a strict set of rules for reporters when filming their ‘outs’ for packages.

Working on the autocue is a role that produces little in the way of a challenge, requiring that the user keep in time with the presenter and only causes problems when the script has been submitted to the production team with errors, as was the case in the 4/12/13 WINOL. This issue was dealt with very professionally by the entire in-studio team, with good communication being key to the resolution. With regards to autocue, I have been able to offer grammatical changes and alternatives throughout the year that may otherwise have gone unnoticed.

Working on the VT machine is by far the easiest role in production, requiring only that play is pressed on cue so long as the running order has been accurately applied. This is a role I have performed but have chosen to avoid due the lack of a challenge it presents.

The vision mixer has been the most rewarding role in production for me, as I have enjoyed becoming fluent in the technicalities of the green screen, as well as enjoying the creative license afforded to the role during in-studio discussions as seen on the 20/11/13 WINOL (http://m.youtube.com/user/Winchesterjournalism/videos?desktop_uri=%2Fuser%2FWinchesterjournalism%2Fvideos), although, I did have the same opportunity in the discussion between Harry Parkhill and Nadine Forshaw during a bulletin that I directed, but in a more detached sense.

SUPERWINOL:

For the final WINOL I have produced a features package with Andrew and Emma, where I used my knowledge of final cut, acquired from my editing of Matt Collinge’s acoustic performance on VOLT, to edit the package, which can be seen on the final WINOL of the year.

I also played my usual part in the production process, this time being in control of the vision mixer when it came to the filming.

Besides my role in production, I have partaken in the filming of the Coffeehouse session involving Stephanie Fraser (http://youtu.be/DmkKLe6jJ1I), the filming of the aforementioned David Rodgers interview and the filming of Harvey's job losses story in the 4/12/13 Bulletin, which contained what I believe to be the most entertaining sign off for a package that I have seen on WINOL. This sign off also aided our circulation, as the members of the public in attendance questioned us on how they might be able to see the finished version of what we were filming.

Advertise:

Advertising is a key element in raising viewing figures and building the notoriety for any news brand. WINOL is restricted in this respect due to a lack of finances, but, having noticed the attention film crews receive when collecting footage out in the field, an easy way to attract viewers would be to print branded stickers, posters and business cards with all the necessary information so that we might apply them to the equipment such as camera bags, tripods, cameras etc. when venturing out to film, a point that was also raised by guest editor Paul Wood.

Another possible improvement, that has been mentioned relatively frequently by guest editors, is our lack of a defined target audience, as, whilst we are making packages of a good quality, they are somewhat vague in terms of defining our target audience. This being said, it is easy to see why this is the case, as our ‘beat’ is often lacking in enough stories to pander to just one section of Winchester’s population. It is a grave shame that WINOL cannot cover negative stories surrounding the university (of which there are a lot) and hold them to account, as this could provide a backbone to the bulletin that meant that students could be sure that they would find stories relevant to them every week on WINOL. The down side of this form of coverage would be that there would be less time to cover stories of national importance, which are often our most impressive packages.

This ethic could also be applied to sports, as we currently cover the home fixtures of AFC Totton and Basingstoke Town, which, unfortunately only generates viewers from the small numbers of supporters and staff at those clubs. As an alternative, it would possible to create a sports site that compiles all the information for all the university sports teams in one place (much like the features site has done with its varying genres), which is currently not available anywhere. This would mean covering the university football as we do in Basingstoke and Totton, but at a much lower financial cost to the reporters (which is quite restrictive to a number of students in the WINOL team), as they would be able to join the team on the buses to their away games. University sports teams would also be much keener to take part in interviews and ‘Soccer AM’ style sports features than staff at Basingstoke Town and AFC Totton have been, allowing for more in depth content, player profiles etc. Applying this idea across the wide variety of sports teams competing in national and regional leagues would address the relatively huge potential audience as well as enhancing our presence around the university campus through social networks involving sports team members. The site itself could contain league tables and league news (which could be commissioned, as I’m sure members of the sports teams would get involved) as well as pages for more in depth coverage (features etc.) of the more popular sports e.g. football, rugby, cricket and so on.

Overall, I have been impressed by the professionalism displayed across the WINOLverse, it has fully deserved all the awards and nominations it has received and it would seem that it is set up very well for further successes in the future.

Tutorial: How to use the Panasonic Live Switcher AV HS410.

Vision mixer tutorial:

After creating a background and saving said background on the SD card of the Panasonic Live Switcher AV HS410, the first task is applying that background to the visual output.

To do this the SD card button (pictured above) must be pressed, this will bring up the necessary functions on the bottom of the mixer's monitor (pictured below)

From here, the load out menu for the backgrounds saved on the SD card can be accessed by pressing F2 and then again on 'load', this should bring up a list of possible backgrounds and providing your preference has been saved with an appropriate name, it should be easy to find by scrolling with F2 and depressing F4 on your choice.

To return to the visual feeds press the Chromakey button.

Once opened, you may find that the live visual you wish to layer on top of the background is not showing, this is often due to the 'mix' and 'key' button found by the T-bar at the bottom right of the console (pictured below) not being pressed. If the live feed still does not show, Then moving the T-bar will fix this.

Once the appropriate background has been applied and the live feed brought up to the front you may find that the background is grainy and transparent. To fix this; make sure you are on chromakey and rotate F1 until you have reached the sample menu (pictured below)

Once on the sample menu you will need to select the background colour, This can be done by clicking F3, bringing up a selection menu that should have a 'select background colour' (check).

Once you have selected this by clicking F3, you must use the positioner found at the top right of the console (pictured below) and move the on-screen box onto your green screen and click the Z button ( the Z button can also be rotated to alter the size of the positioner). This tells the mixer which colour it should isolate when applying your background.

Once your background has been applied, you may find that the live feed looks transparent:

To fix this, whilst still on the 'sample' menu, depress F2 and click on the 'matte' option, this will help you ensure that the transparency is wholly eliminated by showing objects and background as black and white respectively.

Then, depress F3 and select 'clean FG noise' from the pop-up menu, using the same functions as when choosing 'select BG colour'.

Once this has been selected, using the positioner and Z functions, click on the objects you wish to bring forward (IMPORTANT: make sure the positioner box is entirely on the object you wish to bring forward, as clicking only partially on the object will bring the background colour forward as an object to be layered over your background, should this happen start again from the BG colour selection stage), this should fix transparency issues (WARNING: clicking on a moving presenter is hard, ask them to stay still).

Once this has been done, slight inconsistencies in the lighting (often due to the material of the green screen) may cause the background to appear translucent or grainy. To fix this, access 'clean BG noise' from the same list that ' clean FG noise' and 'select BG colour' was found.

Much in the same way that the foreground was cleaned, move the positioner onto the grainy areas and click using 'Z', this can be repeated until the grain has gone.

Once these functions have been done, you're good to go!

A short thought on what gonzo sought.

Hunter S. Thompson is known as one of the pioneering Gonzo journalists, immersing himself within a scenario in order to give a first-hand expression of what it was like to be there, putting the reader in the scene. The reason this was so significant as a style was that it represented the contemporary philosophical movement away from metaphysics and toward empiricism, following Frege, Russell and the Logical Positivist movement. It represented this movement in that, rather than describe the scene as a static moment within time, trying to express the thoughts of others and cover the entirety of the event in one sweeping statement about it, yet, as it is not possible to actually experience an event as a whole all at once, there really is no empirical backing behind this method of writing and so Thompson was radical in that he, accurately describes his experience, offering what is a much better representation of what one might have experienced should they have attended the event, e.g. The Kentucky Derby.

The reason that the truthful representation of events became so important during this period, especially in the US, was down to the abhorrent actions of the state against students and minorities, which was heavily publicised by the Black Panther movement. During this period, the general consensus, that had previously backed the word of the state as morally correct, shifted toward an extremely anti-establishment feeling, seeking the truth that was hidden by a corrupt government.

This change in opinion is in no small part due to the preceding world war, in which governments had been exposed as majorly betraying human rights for their own personal gain, which again caused a great sense of distrust toward establishment. From WWII, the development of psychological experiments such as the Stanford prison experiment and those before it, showed the transience of the human mind, and its ability to switch massively causing supposedly morally impressive persons to perform acts of heinous barbarity, the results of which showed how it was possible to get the German people to commit the abhorrent crimes during WWII.

It is this mental transience that is displayed in Thompson’s work, a notable example of which being Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas where, through his description of the hallucinogenic effects of various substances, Thompson draws attention to the fragility of our perception of the world as a fixed and accurate representation of the world around us.

Frege and a mention of Russell on Logic and Mathematics

Frege’s intent when he set out writing Begriffschrift, which was published in 1879, was to address the inefficiencies in mathematical notation, which he felt were insufficiently precise as well as mathematical proofs not being rigorous enough. Thus, Begriffschrift was a new method of mathematical notation that aimed to show more precisely what it was that a mathematical statement aimed to show, making it obvious how one step in a mathematical proof succeeded another.

Frege thought that mathematical statements, as with any other statement, relied upon logical premises, which can often cause problems. To address this problem Frege sought to show that all mathematics was derived from pure principles of logic. In order to prove this, Frege did two things, the first of which was to show that all mathematical concepts (numbers) can be derived from pure principles of logic:

To define the concept of numbers in purely logical terms, Frege stated that all numbers (not including 0 or infinity) could be summarised as follows: The number 2 for example is representative of a pair of things, which, when replicated, is identical to all other pairs of things.

The next step for Frege was to apply Aristotelian logic to mathematics in a general sense, however, this method was later proven to not be applicable by Gödel, although he created premises from which most arithmetic was deducible.

One of Frege’s most important theories was his rejection of Husserl and the German Idealist logic, which suggested that logic was a theory of judgment that was effected by human psychology. Frege, as an empiricist refuted this notion, stating that in order to be valid, mathematical proofs cannot rely upon the human psychology but must be objective in order to be considered valid. This theory can easily be seen as influencing the later theories of the logical positivist movement which considers all metaphysics as unnecessary absent of empirical proof.

Frege also sought to differentiate between sense meaning and empirical referential meaning outside of mathematics, stating that an objects referential meaning was the object itself so in the example of the evening and morning star, which is actually Venus, the referential meaning would be that which refers to the specific star as an empirical value so saying that the evening star and morning star are one and the same in a referential sense means that Venus is Venus, which is uninteresting, whereas the sense meaning denotes the its contribution to the sense of the sentence, so saying that the evening and morning star are one and the same in this sense denotes the mathematical discovery that whilst appearing as different stars they are in fact the same planet, which is of interest.

This study of logic and meaning has heavily influenced modern philosophers such as Michael Dummett and indeed philosophy itself, as with the rise of science, philosophy lost its ability to compete in terms of the discovery of knowledge and instead concerns itself with the definition of logic and the meaning behind concepts.

Russell’s early work saw him unknowingly repeat what a fairly anonymous Frege had already discovered. However, it wasn’t entirely in vain, as through his research, Russell found a paradox within Frege’s theories discovering self-defeating propositions following Frege’s logic. This had a profound impact on Frege, who believed the entirety of his work to be abolished; he never completed the 3^rd volume of Begriffschrift. Russell, whilst repeating Frege’s work in what some believe to be a less impressive manner, not expressing proofs in as rigorous a way as Frege, Russell and Whitehead’s Pricipia Mathematica popularised these theories, which has meant that an increased uptake in the subject has caused it advance in leaps and bounds since then.

Hannah Arendt on totalitarianism.

Arendt’s interest in the development of totalitarian regimes stems from its morbid originality, differing essentially from all other forms of political oppression, such as despotism, tyranny and dictatorship. Whenever a totalitarian regime has arisen, its success has relied heavily on the dismantling of the nation’s traditional and spiritual ideology, taking advantage of the ability to unite the masses once these divides have been removed. Once a nation has been united under one ideology, often following the failure of traditional political values (such as the German hyper-inflation pre WWII), the totalitarian government can then act in any way they see fit, as it’s no longer restricted by the regulations of long standing tradition, justifying itself as a new ideology that is superior to all aspects of the former powers. This begs the question, can a totalitarian regime last? As with the development and stabilising of the new regime, laws must be passed in order to maintain the ideology in the long term, however, it is at this point that the darker aspects of said ideology come to light (a good example being the Nazi regime’s anti-Semitic tendencies), creating divides once again between those within the regime.

Looking at the birth of totalitarian regime within its historical context seems to offer a justification for a regime which in its final form seems unjustifiable. Following the development of the British Empire, Darwin’s theories on the origin of species, Nietzsche’s declaration of the death of God and the industrial revolution, European civilisation went through a relatively peaceful 100 years, which lead to a general sense of humanities progression and superiority over those who had come before, meaning that European perspective was one of evolutionary success, overcoming the more animalistic aspects of the species. With this in mind, it seems far more appropriate that national cultures, such as Russia and Germany should be swept up by the fervour of a new system supposedly aiming to progress society into more advanced and unchartered territory. Totalitarian regimes offered the final steps toward the end product of human evolution explored by the philosophers of the time, with the Nazi regime adapting the theories of Friedrich Nietzsche and his Ubermensch and Stalin twisting Marxist Communist ideals to fit his own ends in the same way.

Through this contortion of these philosophies, the totalitarian regime is able to lift itself from the restraints of even its own law, under the pretence that the state’s decision is the perfect one, as it claims to be progressing towards the final point, where mankind becomes the embodiment of natural law, without deteriorating into lawlessness. In this sense, totalitarian government lends itself towards the philosophies of John Locke as opposed to Hobbes, with regard to natural law, suggesting that the state can engineer this final stage, as long as it is not opposed, justifying the tendencies of such regimes to world domination.

This sense of the totalitarian government’s superiority over “inferior races” distorts those within the regime’s sense of “guilt and innocence”/right and wrong/good and evil as those who would stand in defence of the “inferior races” are “guilty” of standing in the way of the natural law that requires inferior beings to “wither away”, thus actively defining themself as an inferior being. This allows the regime to redefine justice and law as their own will, requiring a mass movement to oppose it.

Therefore, the intent of a totalitarian regime is to bring those within it together as one, removing their individuality and restricting their ability to break away from the purpose of the regime and thus the regime itself. This purpose, as mentioned before is the self-proclaimed acceleration of the natural law of movement, which seeks to eliminate all weakness from the species, giving them the right to eliminate all opposed to their ideal. The way in which totalitarian regimes enforce this “oneness” of its people is through strict bureaucracy at every level, ensuring that all members are directly underneath another member of the society all the way through to the founders of the ideology. This means that no individual is capable of counteracting the progress of the regime without being singled out and thus, punished, as for the person above them in the hierarchy to ignore it, they would have to out themselves as against the system.

Arendt’s redefines the word terror for The Origin of Totalitarianism: Terror, as Arendt uses it, defines the essence of the natural law of movement, which totalitarian governments profess to accelerate. Terror is the warped view of evolution or natural law, which totalitarian governments use to justify the extermination of others.

 

 “Total terror, the essence of totalitarian government, exists neither for nor against men. It is supposed to provide the forces of nature or history with an incomparable instrument to accelerate their movement.”

“By pressing men against each other, total terror destroys the space between them.”

 

By this, Arendt is suggesting that this terror is the essence of a world even more anti-social than that of Hobbes, as whilst one might be part of a “superior” collective to begin with, total terror’s requirement for the superiority of the fittest would lead to terror, that which bound the society together, becoming the reason for its collapse into smaller factions of those who believe themselves superior within the original regime once all other “inferior” classes/races had been extinguished. Thus, terror, though never called terror by any regime, is the scapegoat for the heinous acts of these regimes, as it is the terror that passes judgement over who should live and who should “wither away”. This removes the responsibilities of choice that is so emphasised by post-war philosophers; and is indeed one of the main features of Jean Paul Sartre’s philosophy.

From this, Arendt believes it is therefore not a case of those within the regime being evil or inherently bad people, rather a people stripped of the ability to take the responsibility of choice upon them; it is this that Arendt considers their crime. Basically a system constructed by Sartre’s “bad faith”. This usually goes against one’s view of humanity and the irrational belief that people of one’s nation or class could not act in such a way. Yet, taking into account psychological tests such as the Milgram experiment and the Stanford Prison experiment it becomes clearer that it is possible for people, who to most would be considered good, can act in ways that we would consider evil once we remove their individuality and employ them as a cog within a regimented system. The Stanford Prison experiment is particularly interesting on the basis that it shows the way in which even the prosecuted assume a role within this system, meaning that for the most part they accept their conditions, regardless of the depravity of such a situation due to the continual reaffirmation from peers and others around you to fulfil a role within the systems of the regime.

 

From these experiments it seems that most of us are heavily influenced by our social restrictions, such as those who were under totalitarian regimes that suggest we should chase the will of nature or history to the detriment of those who are deemed inferior peoples by the regime, OR capitalist economics, that suggest we should chase profit at the detriment of millions who die in lesser economically developed countries every day, after being convinced by a system/regime that places value only upon its own concept, money, and that it isn’t profitable to help those oppressed by the system, at least not in the same way that war and the development of military technology is within the monetary regime. If we accept that we are, as a whole, easily influenced by the restrictions of any social system we find ourselves within, then it becomes paramount that we should retain as much individual freedom as possible if we are to avoid the destructive nature of bureaucracy and social programming.

 

“If the essence of government is defined as lawfulness, and if it is understood that laws are the stabilising forces in the public affairs of men (as indeed it always has been since Plato invoked Zeus, the god of boundaries , in his Laws), then the problem of movement of the body politic and the actions of its citizens arises. Lawfulness sets limitations to actions, but does not inspire them…”

 

Whilst, for the most part Arendt’s philosophies on the nature of totalitarianism and the methods of its success seem quite sane, there is an ironic lack of perception regarding Plato’s Republic when Arendt makes reference to Plato’s laws as representative of lawfulness, which Arendt attributes to non-totalitarian society, yet Plato’s Republic shares many similarities with that of totalitarian regimes such as Nazi Germany, with the philosopher king basing his unquestioned rule on the principle of basic axioms of their ideology, yet, was this not the exact role of Hitler or Stalin within a bureaucratised system that split its populous into singular pluralities based on function, much like the warrior and labour classes of Plato’s republic, thus Plato’s republic, chose the executioners of terror’s rule based upon their abilities performing a function, forming the warrior and labour classes in the same way that Himmler used race to choose who should become part of their elite force of SS troops and other classes within the Nazi regime. With these similarities considered, I would disagree with Arendt’s view that the Nazi and Stalin regimes were the pioneers of totalitarian politics on the basis of one of the very examples she uses as an alternative to totalitarianism.

Having said this, Arendt’s study of the totalitarian political system offers a very interesting and perhaps frightening perspective regarding the vulnerability of human morality when under the influence of  socio-political programmes, as well as a deeper understanding of human psychology and the influences of historical events on the general mind-set of a culture. Also, how the only way to prevent the recurrence of totalitarian regimes is through constant vigilance and awareness of our susceptibility to contemporary systems.