Monday 27 February 2012

Radio News Story Three;

An interview with Chris Pines, Winchester Councillor, about proposals for the River Park Leisure Center. Yet to be edited down for the radio bulletin.

Wednesday 22 February 2012

Radio News Story Two Audio;

This ghastly thing called technology has hit Winchesters bus services and I decided to ask a few people and a bus driver (I'm totally going to drive a bus one day) what they though of the new service and potentially use it for one of my radio bulletin stories.



That's possible audio to go along side this news story (even though I realised I forgot to edit some other vox pops in :/);

Winchesters commuters were introduced to a new way of using Blue Star bus service this week.
The key card allows customers to buy pre-paid travel passes, which allow unlimited travel for 7, 30 or 90 day periods, that can be topped up over and over.
The company have introduced the key with reduced prices as an incentive to try the new service and it is hoped, by the Go Ahead Group, that the key will reduce waiting time at stops and help lower their carbon footprint. while at the same time saving the customer money when compared to prices of regular tickets.
We asked a Blue Star driver his views on the success of the Key;

Thursday 16 February 2012

History and context of journalism lecture/reading three;

Karl Marx and the communist manifesto;

Karl Marx believed in the utopia of communism. He said that until his time ‘philosophers have only interpreted the world; the point however is to change it.’
He believed everything you could explain about society by analysing the way economic forces shape social, religious, legal and political processes and that man is a productive animal, creating the environment he inhibits, dominating because of the ability to create tools and co-operate, shaping society and culture as these abilities and technologies develop (technological determinism).
The idea of technological determinism leads onto Marx’s teleological view of history, believing that history is headed somewhere and developing forwards, which was influenced by Darwinism and the theory of evolution.
Through these beliefs, Marx is said to have created an ideal which fuses Hegelian philosophy, British empiricism, revolutionary politics and scientific method. Hegelian in terms of the process of history in the form of the dialectic; the spirit of history seeks self-understanding. History ends when the spirit achieves full self-knowledge. Marx’s is seen again to be influenced by Hegel in his ideas of class struggle being the battle between good and evil (dialectical; the bourgeois = thesis, Proletariat = antithesis and the synthesis of the process being communism). Marx’s revolutionary ideas are identifiable in his similarities with Rousseau, in that property is the cause of class struggle and is what caused us to be civilized. The fact the proletariat are unable to possess property, Marx believed they were ideal for a revolutionary class because they ‘have nothing to lose, but everything to gain.’
And highlights Marx’s concept of alienation of the proletariat; belief of a reality as it has been conditioned, not as it truly is. Class consciousness is the way for the proletariat to truly know themselves and what they are capable of and what Marx believed was the only way to begin the end of bourgeois exploitation through capitalism. 

Communist manifesto;
The first section of the manifesto 'Bourgeois and Proletarian' suggests that class struggle 'sprouted' from the 'ruins' of a feudal society.
He believed there to be a hostile divide in society, one in which the bourgeois were in possession of the proletarian; forming a new kind of oppression and struggle. These two classes were seen by Marx to be directly against each other.


The dialectic of historical materialism;
  1. Primitive communism: as in co-operative tribal societies.
  2. Slave Society: a development of tribal progression to city-state; Aristocracy is born.
  3. Feudalism: aristocrats are the ruling class; merchants evolve into capitalists.
  4. Capitalism: capitalists are the ruling class, who create and employ the proletariat.
  5. Socialism: workers gain class consciousness, and through proletariat revolution depose the capitalist dictatorship of the bourgeoisie, replacing it in turn with dictatorship of the proletariat* through which the socialization of the means of production can be realized, wealth is distributed evenly, the people work together slowly causing the state to 'wither away'.
  6. Commuism: a classless and stateless society. 

Historical materialism for Marx shows that class struggle and desire for high exchange value have given power to the bourgeoisie, gradually, over time and that he believes this to be the reason for historical and social progression to its current state of capitalim. '[The bourgeois]torn asunder the motley feudal ties that bound man to his "natural superiors", and has left no other nexus between people than naked self-interest, than callous "cash payment".
The ideal state of society is communism and would be the end of the Hegelian idea of a dialectical progression of history.

Marx says the bourgeois ' has resolved personal worth into exchange value,' and have created a false consciousness of the proletariat through politics and religion, undermining and exploiting them further.  He believed that he bourgeoisie could not exist 'without constantly revolutionizing the instruments of production, and thereby the relations of production, and with them the whole relations of society.' And in doing this, they have succeeded in gathering masses within the population, centralizing the means of production and concentrating property in few hands (of the bourgeois). Creating the Proletariat- 'a class of laborers, who live only so long as they find work, and who find work only so long as their labor increases capital.'- who are then exploited and alienated.


Marx believes that drive for the bourgeois to create capital through the exploitation of the proletariat means that the proletariat lose personality and character; they are seen as machines to produce profitable commodities, even though they could be considered commodities themselves. 
'Masses of laborers, crowded into the factory, are organized like soldiers.....Not only are they slaves of the bourgeois class, and of the bourgeois state'

Proletariat - a revolutionary class:
Marx believed that the development of industry and the growing need for capital would lead the proletariat into becoming class conscious and, in doing so, will go through many changes during the progression to revolution and gaining the means of production through the overthrowing of bourgeois. 'the proletariat not only increases in number; it becomes concentrated in greater masses, its strength grows, and it feels that strength more.'
Though, for Marx, capitalism was inevitably doomed to collapse because it held flaws within it that would ultimately destroy itself; the proletariat will only speed up the process. Here is a summary of his ideas of the process (drummed into my head at A-level);

- Capitalism becomes highly productive and the surplus produced would be reinvested into strengthening capitalism and making it even more productive. 
- The working class grows and polarisation between the bourgeois and proletarian occurs. 
- Capitalism gradually leads to overproduction and slumps in need for products happens regularly meaning lower wages and mass unemployment. 
- Thus leading to inequality and alienation; class consciousness grows among the working class. 
- Because capitalism is a world wide ideal, countries will being to compete resulting in wars and imperial competition. 
- The class conscious will then begin to revolt because of class consciousness and will eventually bring down the mechanisms of capitalism from within.

Radio Column;

Soo, this is my first attempt at time using the sound booth. It was an experience - three of us spending 15 minutes or so wondering why the microphone and mixer weren't working, to then discover the plug socket was switched on....brains. Then realising there is an echo and I'm sniffling the whole way through; damn having a cold.



Radio; News Story One


Winchester Liberal Democrat MP's reject the new NHS reform bill, believing the changes will have no immediate effect or no effect at all because of recent budget cuts.

A ConservativeHome reporter suggests that going through with the bill is the 'most dangerous path' for Cameron to take, dividing the coalition and pushing away the party's supporters.

The Prime Ministers efforts to change parts of the bill have settled some disagreements in parliament, but are causing conflict elsewhere, with e-petitions appearing and MP’s urging those against the reforms to sign it through social networking sites.

The bill is currently awaiting scrutiny of the House of Lords and will determine Cameron’s

Friday 10 February 2012

Radio News Writing - short, sharp and straight to the point;

We were told how to write a coherent news story suitable for radio
Grab attention immediately;
- Use a headline.
- identify the main point of the story.

Cut the waffle;
- Don't use ten words where two will do fine.
- Avoid repetition.
- Avoid long words and complicated sentence structure.

Avoid cliches, melodrama and emotive language;

Express yourself clearly;
- complex sentence structure and/or complicated sentence structure can alter the meaning of your story.

Remember your target audience;
- younger- more informal choice of language and structure.
- Older - less conversational; more informative.

Say it out loud;
- Must be fit for purpose -  to be carried by voice alone.

Mechanics;
- Scripts shouldn't be handwritten.
- Should be one and a half line spacing.
- Written on only one side of paper.

When using audio cuts in scripts, they should be written as follows;
NAME:
IN WORDS:
OUT WORDS:
DURATION:

The audio file must have the same name as audio insert name on script.

Friday 3 February 2012

How to achieve a successful interview and using the sound booth;

The key features to an interview are;
- Good operation of the equipment; with some sound capturing devices small sounds are picked up incredibly easily, something like the swinging of cable or fumbling with buttons, and will ruin the recording, leaving you in a bit of a pickle.
- Reasonable questioning; too many questions will sometimes mean you miss key/important information because you're not listening properly.

Interviews need to sound like unscripted chats and the best way to achieve this is to limit the number of questions you have written and instead use what the interviewee has to said in answer to those as a starting point for others.
You need to listen to what is being said so that answers can prompt unscripted questions. All questions should be simple and straight forwards, but allow discussions as using closed questions are a bit of a pain; 'yes'' and 'no's' aren't what listeners want to hear.
Questions should be asked one at a time, as more than one can cause a commotion.
Finally, do your research so interviewees aren't always presented with the same questions in different interviews. They will get bored.

How to use a sound booth;
1. Gotta turn the thing called the mixer on. The switch is usually on the back panel.
2. Make sure the two master faders are all the way up.
3. The far left hand fader controls the mic, and the mic should be plugged into the fader.
4. Turn on the PC and open Adobe Audition.
5. Start recording, quite obviously by pressing record which is usually a little red dot icon. (Make sure the speakers are turned off!)You have to select 44100 as the sample rate, then stereo format, then 16-bit resolution.
6. Once recorded play back recording, by turning down the mic fader on mixer.

Public Affairs Lecture one: County and district councils

The difference between local MP's and Councillors;
Local MP's have no direct influence over a constituency. Instead they act as a messenger between the people and parliament. They're independent of councils and courts. Members of the constituency are able to arrange appointments to see the MP during their 'clinic' hours, where they are then able to ask q's and make requests of topics they wish to be discussed back in Westminster.
Councillors, on the other hand, have a more direct influence on the ward of which they are a member of the council to; they are responsible for make decisions on behalf of the local community.

Types of council;
The most powerful type of council is the County council, these types of council are in charge of all of the district councils within the county, for example, Hampshire county council is the big boss of Winchester City council.
The least powerful type of council is the parish council, who in theory highlight areas of concern to the district council, who then pass this on to the county council if they feel it is necessary. The Winchester forum could be considered a parish council.
Unitary authority is a combination of the county, district and parish councils; this type of council is typical of big towns like Southampton, Portsmouth and Bournemouth.
All councils have elected members, like parliament. The constituency's MP usually has an effect on which political leaning the council has. Councils also have their own form of cabinet.

Reporting on council meetings;
We are able to report council meetings under qualified privilege (fast, accurate and fair), using the defamation act 1996.

Local government funding;
Local governments were, during thatchers time in parliament (1990), funded by poll tax. This later changed after uproar, in 1993 to council tax. But this tax only pays for 1 quarter of what is needed to fun this from of authority. Other funding comes from central government which is ultimately gathered through income tax.
Councillors of both forms of council receive allowances for the expenses they may come across during their time as a councillor. Though members of the county council have an a lot higher allowance and will receive more if members of committees. They also have to publish what their expenses so the members of the community can keep a watchful eye over where their money is going. Council members can also become civil servants who advise MP's.

County council vs District councils;
Winchester city council have control of a budget of £2 million, and have responsibility of Leisure facilities, health provisions, parking and bin collection.
 Hampshire county council have control of a budget of £1.8billion. They are responsible for half a million homes, education (120,000 children, 10,000 teachers), libraries and country parks. They also attempt to control negate press in articles to a minimum and aim for 89% positive or neutral feedback.

Thursday 2 February 2012

History and context of journalism lecture/reading two:

A paradigm of change; German Idealism 

Kant:
Believes we have an intrinsic knowledge of whats right and what is wrong - a moral law. His ideas are contemporary with romanticism and can be seen through Keats idea that 'beauty is truth'. Ideas of Kant conflict with those of Hume; he believes that Hume dismisses the existence of science when he disregards metaphysics.
Kant aimed to safe guard knowledge from previous doctrines; he emphasised the importance of mind over matter which lead to his belief that the mind only truly exists; everything else is questionable.
His most important book is 'The Critique of Pure Reason' which aims to prove knowledge to be partly a priori and not entirely from experience.  
He separates analytic and synthetic propositions  then distinguished between empirical and a priori propositions.
Analytical propositions: is a predicate (conclusion of the proposition) which is part of a subject.
Synthetic propositions: knowledge through experience only; influences categorical imperatives.
Empirical knowledge: things aren't known without sense perception and comes from observational data; are true.
A priori knowledge: established through experience but has a basis other than our experiences.

His ideas of knowledge lead him to the conclusion that the following proofs of God aren't true.
Ontological - 'god is the most real thing therefore subject of all predicate that belong to absolute, and God is absolute.'
Cosmological - 'If anything exists then an absolute necessary being must exist.'
Physio-theological - 'the universe exhibits an order which is evidence of purpose and proves someone designed it.'

For Kant existence is most important; the existence of the universe is simply a necessary precondition of space and time. Existence just is, it is not a result of anything and is why he disregards the existence of god being absolute.
Kant is agnostic and believes in synthetic a priori knowledge, which is reasoning; we dont know for a fact but strongly believe it to be true and relies on intuition. He believes everyone to have the intuition of what is right and what is wrong, despite not stopping us doing the wring thing. This is the idea of de-ontological moral system, one which is rule based. 
Synthetic a priori relies on nuomenal; the object in itself and cannot be know by definition, and phenomena; the object as it is perceived.

Hegel:
Hegel believes in the unreality of separateness; that the world is not a collection of hard units, each self subsistent. Instead he believes this to be an illusion and that nothing is completely real unless it is part of a whole. Though his idea of the whole being reality differs from Parmenides and Spinoza in conceiving the whole, not as a simple substance, but a complex system.
For Hegel separate things are of less or greater degrees of reality and its reality consists in an aspect of a whole which is seen when it is viewed truly.
He says 'real is rational, and the rational is real', but real is this sense is not what an empiricist would could consider. Instead he means that after the apparent character has been transformed by viewing them as aspects of a whole are they rational.
DIALECTIC;
Hegel takes a teleological approach to history, believing that history has a set goal and is headed somewhere. Everything happens for a reason and so history must be understood as a thing in itself. This is said to be influenced by Darwin in his theory of evolution with the idea that things will keep improving to suit the environment.
The idea of the dialect is to decipher what is absolute by finding the thesis, antithesis (both can be described as conflicting forces), and synthesis (a new 'whole' produced from the thesis and antithesis). Any suggested predicate of the absolute to the final conclusion of the dialectic, which is the absolute idea, and the dialectical process is based on the assumption that nothing can be true unless it is about reality as a whole. There is a universal soul, Hegel describes as the 'Geist' (the nature if the thing in itself)  but alienation stops something from truly knowing itself, hence the dialectic.