The trials I've planned for Ofcom

So this week is our visit from Lawrie Hallett who will be talking about Ofcoms roles as a media regulator. Our task is to create 10 questions to ask him. Though I came up with seven last week I've added three and this time I'm going into detail about why I'm asking them

1. How do you investigate a compliant ?- The word 'investigate' is used a lot to describe Ofcoms method of looking into a complaint however the media rarely looks into how this is done, though their may be a reason the media never cover this. Chris Frost writes on the story that 'finding stories that will delight the audience rather than inform', since the nature of the investigation could be quite tedious it may not 'delight' the audience. 
2. What powers do you actually have ?- Again my response to this questions refers back to point 1 and will cover point 3. Do these subjects 'delight' the audience ? Maybe not but these questions need to be asked as the Times editor Delane said on the subject of a journalists duty is to 'seek the truth'.
3. How do people make complaints ?
4. Currently what’s the biggest issue in community radio ?- Again covering this with point 5 as I work for Siren we've been told crude language is currently something Ofcom are looking into for community radio however I believe their should be more Ofcom would be looking into. Delane may say that journalists find 'the truth as near as he can attain it' so here's my chance to obtain it fully.
5. Is Siren obeying guidelines ?
6. Looking at how print regulatory body the PCC (Press Complaints Commission) is coming under scrutiny do you think Ofcom should take print regulation ?- With the idea of self regulation coming under scrutiny with the Hackgate scandal it may be biased to ask Ofcom this but it would be good for balance to a possible to story to ask them, this also ties in with point 8.
7. Do you believe regulation can go to far ? especially with the Stop Online Piracy Act  (SOPA) being criticised by many as given power to the wrong people ? Jim Sterling sums up the dangers of this act well (warning video contains very crude language)- http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/jimquisition/4993-Sony-Nintendo-EA-and-SOPA it goes back Platos summary on authority 'who wacthes the wacthmen ?', how do we know regulators are regulating for the public benefit ?
8. Looking at Hackgate, do you think Ofcom's form of regulation is strong enough to not to fail ?
9. Can see you see the community spirit passing through to other media platforms ?- Again covering this with point 10 SOPA is  the basic response to the Internet becoming a backbone in today technological society but has little or no  authoritative regulation and usual platforms for regulation can't cut it for such a vast and available format.
10. Do you feel the progression of technology with make regulation easier or more difficult ?

Ofcom coming

So for this week I’m going to be talking about our super special guest lecture we have next week which exclusive to all use super brilliant FDA students.

Lawrie Hallet of Ofcoms Radio and Planning and Licensing team main duties surround community radio and examining community radio stations to ensure their suitable for broadcast.

Looking into the realms of theory this is a good idea as according to Christ Frost ‘It is important that you should have an understanding of the codes of practice and guidance and how the apply in the media in which you work.’

This means that we should be aware of the codes and regulations which monitor our work.

But to fully understand the significance of Lawrie and Ofcom we should take a look at how Ofcom describes itself-

‘We regulate the TV and radio sectors, fixed line telecoms and mobiles, plus the airwaves over which wireless devices operate.
We make sure that people in the UK get the best from their communications services and are protected from scams and sharp practices, while ensuring that competition can thrive.
Ofcom operates under the Communications Act 2003. This detailed Act of Parliament spells out exactly what Ofcom should do – we can do no more or no less than is spelt out in the Act.
The Act says that Ofcom’s general duties should be to further the interests of citizens and of consumers. Meeting these two duties is at the heart of everything we do.’
As you can they can be desribded as the level below legal action and deal with what could be considered more menial areas of the media.
What the group primalriy does is again best taken from their website-
What we do
Our main legal duties are to ensure:

• the UK has a wide range of electronic communications services, including high-speed services such as broadband;
• a wide range of high-quality television and radio programmes are provided, appealing to a range of tastes and interests;
• television and radio services are provided by a range of different organisations;
• people who watch television and listen to the radio are protected from harmful or offensive material;
• people are protected from being treated unfairly in television and radio programmes, and from having their privacy invaded; and
• the radio spectrum (the airwaves used by everyone from taxi firms and boat owners, to mobile-phone companies and broadcasters) is used in the most effective way.

Now to back to Lawrie. As mentioend earlier Lawries job is to primarily to montior community radio. Currently one of the most key issues of his job is one if the key things Ofcom monitors which is  ‘people who watch television and listen to the radio are protected from harmful or offensive material.’ This of late has been a key issue for Ofcom, since there is no watershed for radio swearing is aloud on at anytime. However the controversy comes in that explicit versions of songs are being played and rude langague being used in general.

My plan for this talk is to actually interview Lawrie. So here are a few questions I’ve already thought of.
 

Curently on their website Ofcom list under their items they do not do which are-

What we do not do
We are not responsible for regulating:

• disputes between you and your telecoms provider;
• premium-rate services, including mobile-phone text services and ringtones;
• the content of television and radio adverts;
• complaints about accuracy in BBC programmes;
• the BBC TV licence fee; or
• newspapers and magazines. – With the current criticism and belief the PCC has failed to regualte the print industry due to it’s lack of power and body made up of editors and products able to opt out make it ineffective. However Ofcom has been given the powers to fine and regulate the media industry for at least TV and Radio.

1. How do you investigate a compliant ?
2. What powers do you actually have ?
3. How do people make complaints ?
4. Currently what’s the biggest issue in community radio ?
5. Is Siren obeying guidelines ?
6. Looking at how print regulatory body the PCC (Press Complaints Commission) is coming under scrutiny do you think Ofcom should take print regulation ?*
7. Do you believe regulation can go to far ? especially with the Stop Online Piracy Act  (SOPA) being criticised by many as given power to the wrong people ?

Mission statement dissection

For this weeks blog I’m going to take a closer look at the Lincolnites mission statement and add in a little theory to see how it fits in with professional journalism practices.

So to kick things off here is the Lincolnites mission statement, which acts as an explanation of the target audience for the website:

Mission statement

The Lincolnite aims to deliver timely, accurate and relevant information to everyone living, working or studying in Lincoln.

The one thing I noticed that was missing from this statement was any reference to social classification. However making an educated guess and looking again at the platforms they offer their stories upon. The website is available as an Iphone app and also has functions which allow stories to shared through social media, one which go further to identify the class of reader is the ability to share stories on career website Linkedin. According the NRS social model the readers of the website could be placed in the C1 category above. What has lead me to this conclusion is that everyone in this category and above are ‘administrative professionals’. Commonly these kind of jobs require high end technology and technical expertise like having an Iphone and using a computer. So since the website offers an Iphone app and is available only in the internet lead me to this conclusion.

Looking further in the realms of theory Chris Frost writes that ‘Most national newspapers, magazines and broadcast outlets these days have very clear ideas about exactly who their publication is aimed at. This is little more difficult on the local scene, where the temptation is to aim at everybody in the geographic area.’

Though the Lincolnite may have done this in they’re new statement they do adhere to a more specific audience through their stories in the method of a local newspaper would, again Chris Frost writes ‘Newspapers need to attract on the new-stand and so will attempt a unique selling point if possible.’, the Lincolnite achieves this by having reporters cover unique stories like local card game tournaments (http://thelincolnite.co.uk/2010/12/lincoln-teens-frenzy-card-swapping-hobby/), which may not necessarily appeal to C1 and above but serves a USP because no one else covered it at the time.

When looking at rival print product The Lincolnshire Echo which covers national news like the 9/11 terror attacks places caters to all the NRS categories.

The placement issue (what i'm doing)

So for this week it’s time to enlighten you lucky boys and girls about what I’ve been doing for my work placement.

For those of you who are just tuning into my second year story my work placement at the Lincolnite.

To help exlplain what the Lincolnite is and who the cater to I’ve obtained their about us page- http://thelincolnite.co.uk/about/

About

Founded in May 2010, The Lincolnite is the editorially independent news and events website for Lincoln, with more than 35,000 monthly readers (May 2011).

Mission statement

The Lincolnite aims to deliver timely, accurate and relevant information to everyone living, working or studying in Lincoln.

Subscribe

You can get the latest from The Lincolnite in several ways:

• On Facebook
• On Twitter
• Android app
• iPhone app
• Daily email roundup
• RSS (Really Simple Syndication)

Looking at the subscribe section helps to identify the target audience further. Since the product is an online newspaper the primary target requires some skill with computer. However to break it down further the use of social media hints at ABC1 category of consumers as they have the access to devices like the apps hinting they have enough disposable income to purchase high end devices.

Now my role in the product is to produce feature like pieces once a week. To check up on my adventures visit this link http://secondyearplacement.blogspot.com/. For my actual stories heres my online story portfolio-

http://thelincolnite.co.uk/author/josh/

To show off a recent example of my work heres- http://thelincolnite.co.uk/2011/11/new-bishop-of-lincoln-enthroned/

What I’m going to do with is identify the target audience with:

Language- It may seem basic but this is a key thing. The language is kept simple and even as concise as a radio cue. The style is organized in a uniformed way to entice readers to read on by using small sentences and keep attention.

Reverend Lowson also believes a woman could take his place after his time as Bishop of Lincoln.
“I could see woman bishop taking over from me. I will be voting for woman bishops in the general Synod next July.

It also links the text to relevant stories, helping the reader get a more filling news consuming experience.

Content- For the content the target audience is represented by the questions I asked during the interview.

Do you feel religion plays a big part in the lives of youths?- This straight away identifies the target audience as young adults and to teenagers.

Do you feel religion is a big thing in Lincoln ?- This helps to geo demographically identify the products target audience, which is the city of Lincoln.

Vid and pod blogging

As you obviously know I blog. Though this form of blogging and print could be replaced.

 

To look behind my first sensationalist paragraph my point is to highlight how easy it’s becoming to use the multi platform to blog. For example looking at podcast website www.podbean.com the method of uploading audio to a standard blogging format was so simplistic it was easy for anyone with computer based skill set to manage.

Again this may link up to the fact technology is forever improving and allowing for members of the public to produce more varied media content. Just looking at my laptop and mobile phone I already see various outlets to achieve this. Both my phone and laptop offer hardware which allows me to video record and audio to suitable quality.

Famed broadcast Angela Rippon has a tip for aspiring journalist. ‘Wacth, listen and read’, it seems more and more the first two are becoming a more vital and dominant media form.

Reasoning behind the increasing popularity in these forms could be the fact it’s so attention grabbing. These forms offer a more digestible form of consuming information and in more instances are quickly absorbable compared to reading text.

Though this may have not totally took domination over the blogging world it can be seen more and more through websites like Tumblr. To prove my point this link (http://tmntmaster.tumblr.com/) leads to the promotional blog for upcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon. Looking through the posts you can see that they are not text heavy and rely heavily on videos and images.

This could be down to the subject’s target audience (young boys and mature fans of the fanchise) however looking at a different website on the same subject using a different blogging tool, the content was much more text heavy thought just but stills uses a heavy media content (http://www.ninjapizza.net/).

Theirs a law 't to talk about

So this week we delved into law. Something which many of those who commentate on journalism like Professor Tim Luckhurst of Kent University who believes it to be one of the main distinctions between a professional journalist working for a conventional media outlet like BBC news as a vital skill for a journalist.

One of the key things I’ve for law whilst looking for through my law notes and something which applies heavily to contempt of court. Ethical consideration has been hardwired into the law. To demonstrate this I’ll apply this to certain instances in the law:

Section one of the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 1992 states:

• Any matter which is likely to lead members of the public to identify the person during his/her lifetime at the victim/alleged victim of that offence, including in particular:
• His/her name,
• His/her address,
• The identity of any school or other educational establishment attended by him/her,
• The identity of his/her place of work,
• Any still or moving picture of him/her.

As you can all of these points above take into consideration the victim life’s afterwards and how to reduce the shear distress we could be inflicted on them. However it could be argued the same treatment isn’t shared with the defendant whose identity can be revealed and depending on the media be exposed completely to the public.

Another example to cement who ethics have been hardwired in the law would be in the sexual offences act 2003 clause 7 headed ‘Children in sex cases’ in ‘which any press report of a case involving a sexual offence against a child:

• The child must no be identified
• The adult may be identified
• The word ‘incest’ must not be used a where a child victim might be identified;
• Care must be taken that nothing in the report implies the relation between the accused and a child. ‘

Again this is ethically sound by society’s standards however room for discretion of a reporter has been left. ‘The adult may be identified’, this again leaves room for ethical consideration by a reporter if it’s suitable for all the details to be revealed about a defendant.

During our session Alex asked us to develop some legal questions for his mid week drive time show. Here are two which stick out in my mind:

1. With some ridiculous laws still valid in today’s courts like ‘It is illegal to leave baggage unattended.’ How does one avoid prosecution for what could be considered quite silly and obtuse laws ?
2. In terms of creative writing how careful should writers be with taking inspiration from event, person(s) and organisations? And if ever threatened with legal action like libel or copyright how should they react ? An example would be- http://www.mania.com/tony-twist-todd-mcfarlane-settle-lawsuit_article_53683.html

Docu-do

Today we covered the subjects of documentary. Theirs a growing saying in news coverage that no journalist can be unbiased and will always have some kind of agenda, though this doesn’t always reflect in their work if they take facts from both sides of the story.

So after that little diversion of thought the saying about biased in journalism can be applied to documentaries. For those of you who are unsure what a documentary is, if I tried to create a specific definition below:

A documentary is a factual product with a specific subject with narrative structure and mystery.

However schools of thought have thought such a truthful medium which blends creativity to re-construct or demonstrate events to its audience (via reconstructions of or docu-dramas) can in some instance deliberately or unintentionally can obstruct the truth.

In terms of deliberate manipulation this goes back to another saying lies, damn lies and statistics. Though facts are powerful instance of the truth they can easily be manipulated to put someone’s agenda across. This also goes with the manner of footage is edited. Going back to the Boston councillor who had a blogger create a vlog for him, this could have easily been edited with biased motivations to portray the councillor in an extremely favourable fashion.

Unintentional breaches could stem from the subject. An example would be an example a documentary on a serial killer, this serial killer would clearly be portrayed as a troubled unlawful soul.

Placement update:

So it’s official I’ll be doing my placement with The Lincolnite. So every week I’ll be updating you on the goings on and what I’m doing with the Lincolnite team. I’ll be posting this in separate posts so they don’t get mixed up.

The placement issue

So after a lot of time flip flopping and some rather lazy soul searching i've finally decided for my work placement which is (go to youtube and find a drum roll)

The Lincolnite- For who I already do some work already

So to help with the paper work side of this placement I've made these following points:

My USPs:

News gathering

Sound editing

Copy writing

News photography

Ability to pick a suitable sound clip

Interviewing techniques

Some knowledge of the local area

Page layout and design

Uploading web based content

Basic video editing

Developing shorthand

Contact development

Competently operate a marantz

Reliable

Punctual

Strong research skills

Polite

Five things I want to get out of this work placement:

1. The ability to write quicker, accurate copy
2. Create stronger news photos
3. Learn how to expand on the knowledge of a press release
4. Have a better understanding of to upload online content
5. Work in news environment on a regular basis  

SWOT:

Strengths:

1. This will help with my academic writing skills and is a strong quality to have for work in a news environment.
2. This will help with my photographic understanding and will be a good chance to place a lot of practice I’ve learnt into theory.
3. A lot of news outlets are accused of chunralism and looking beyond what can be accused of bias sources can lead to strong more balanced news stories.
4.  With the print industry in decline and most news outlets moving to an online format it’s logical to be immersed in how this function works.
5.  This will help my professional news development which is lacking on my course since the pace tends to be a little more relaxed.

Weaknesses-

1. This is something which could take time and in a more professional news environment my colleagues may not have the time for me to slowly improve my skills.
2. Again this can take time, if I produce a photo which is not suitable the story is in danger of being scrapped if a decent photo cannot be produced.
3. This could be a case to case basis problem, for example if a press realise is produced by the NHS it would be difficult to find a strong enough and credible source to give balance to the story.
4. Since this is a crucial part of the entire outlet this could be quite complex and difficult to learn and would again consume the time of my colleagues.
5. Doing this for online could be a tough learning curve and could lead to stressful repercussions.

Opportunities:

1. A great chance to prepare myself for my working career and overall enhance my skill as a journalist
2.  Good skills for a journalist since journalists are expected to be multi skilled.
3. This would help my establish myself as an investigative journalist and help with my research skills.
4. This would prepare me for the expected change in journalism industry from less print to more of an online setting.
5. I have experience in radio news environments and this will be a chance to experience another side of the industry.

Threats:

1. This would be the skill that required the most development. It would probably take the longest to develop and could endanger the publication of a story.
2.  A strong photo can make a story and since all Lincolnite stories have at least one photo again the publication of a story could be endangered.
3. Sometimes looking for other sources could lead to incorrect information tarnishing the quality of the story.
4. If I’m trusted with uploading web content this could lead to a lack of proofreading for my stories and could lead stories being published with inaccuracies.
5. With my timetable and work schedule this could be at threat to get one solid period of time to put this point into practice.  

Citizen journalism

So in the 21^st century we have magical little thing called the internet, heard of it?

The internet is piece of technology which has been in a long line to ending what is called fixation listening or another less obsessive term would be appointment listening which is where a consumer consumes a media form at a certain time, like someone deliberately turning on a TV to watch the news.

All of this had lead to a movement known as ‘citizen journalism’ which has been defined as a movement in which citizens with no journalistic experience participate in typical journalist activities. Since these journalists could be justly minded their lack of training can have bad ramifications. Below is the advantages and disadvantages and in a sense what not to do for podcasting and VODcasting, a common outlet of citizen journalism.

Dos and advantages:

Portability- As mentioned above for good or for worse appointment viewing and listening is dying, taking adavantage of the Ipod generations on the go technology will definitely make you more appealing to listen to.

Plug into social network use the power of viral- Social networks are like most things they suffer from the FAD problem, like Bebo and Mysapce they easily go stale, at the moment taping into Facebook and Twitter is the social network yes like blogger Movie Bob posting his latest videos on both (though it can be quite geek controversial)

Highlights- This one applies mainly more for radio shows but the benefits of the Chris Moyles show having a podcast streamlining the shows content could help draw in audience with little time or specific interest in the show.

Don’ts and disadvantages:

Vanity broadcasting- This is where your citizen journalism can easily border into P/R or just someone just telling everyone why they love their on voice. An example of this could be John Tobin the Boston councillor who has a knack for public speaking enlisted the help of a video blogger friend to video him everyday before his re-election talking about a specific subject. Admittedly Barack Obama did this when he ran for president but this is a two edged sword and bloggers should be careful of the influence the have.

Coherence- Something mainstream media has mastered is keeping a general theme throughout their work, like Bargain hunt which is about producing the most profit out of a relic. An example would be Movie Bobs blog, it may swap for serious to light subjects on a regular basis though this has made him extremely popular on the internet creating intellectual debate.

Responsibilities/legal/ethics- As a great man once said with ‘Great power comes great responsibility’, surprisingly I found the  Lancaster BNP site had took the steps to conceal it’s posts unless your invited by the blog administrator, so this shows some responsible neticate despite your views on the BNP party. Also legally the internet is as difficult to police due to it’s vastness Ofcom don’t monitor the web except for varied media outlets.

Avoid the The Hyde Park corner syndrome- Opinion is all nice and may appeal to someone but it’s not just enough to be taken seriously, finding examples to back up your point, The Plymouth EDL blog has tried to do this by finding material of likely minded people, if the content is ethical is another question.

Mentioned blogs:

http://plymouthedl.wordpress.com/

http://www.blogger.com/blogin.g?blogspotURL=http://lancaster-freespeech.blogspot.com/

http://moviebob.blogspot.com/

Community expanded

So this week we expanded on the subject of community and how we define in terms of local and smaller communities.

After our initial discussion we came to the conclusion that smaller communities our being erased by advancements in communication as we move closer to the idea of a ‘Global village’. Aside from the positives of a better linked world from here to America we found many negatives. So examples included the idea that some people could go days without social communication and could easily disappear without anyone noticing for a while like an elderly person dying in their home and not being found for a few days.

Another theory presented was that smaller knit communities could encourage more socially acceptable behaviour since everybody knows everyone. This also relates to the ethical conduct of journalists, with smaller communities a journalist would have to be much more respectful to the community if they wanted to maintain a healthy amount of stories.

Something quite vital I learnt about the industry this week was the tier system, a set of categories which separated the types of media:

Tier 1: Public services, so for this country the BBC is the main example and possibly council based publications. In America the example would be PBS (Public Broadcasting Service).

Tier 2: Commercial radio- Examples of this would be Capital and Smooth FM. Media outlets which generate revenue from advertising.

Tier 3: Access/community radios- Smaller radio stations which are designed to be hyper local and serve a small specific area. Like Siren FM which broadcasts to the area of Lincoln.

Vital websites which are crucial to community or Tier 3 radio stations producing online content and general communication:

www.commedia.org.uk- Original called Community radio this website serves as a Google/Wikia site for community radio stations providing information about community radio stations in the UK.

www.podbean.com and www.podcast.com – These are podcast hosting websites which can used by practically anyone to create short podcasts on subjects like Sesame Street and Middlesbrough united. An interesting note on this would be that uploading podcasts should always be done in the mp3 format as wav. Files are to big from uploading. These website also include vodcasts (Video casts, essentially pod casts with moving images).

www.spreaker.com – Essentially Youtube but for sound, here you can create your own radio station online for free and broadcast online.

On another note I was surprised to find that they’re was another community radio station with links to Siren FM called Radio Hartlepool. It came into debate that this station was not technically a community radio station, despite Ofcom licensing it as one. What bought it’s classification in disrepute was the fact it’s broadcasted adverts and also didn’t feature any content related to it’s community area.

In my opinion this station could be seen as hybrid, as it features a hyper local target audience but attempts to behave in a more professional national serving manner but using Tier 2 conventions like themed hours, an example would be Numbers one at one.

Also I had a first eye account at a Tier 3 radio station which was Siren FM. Like most community radio stations it was small but busy with middle aged presenters to school children, an example of a community coming together.

First lecture to a second year

Hey their true reader welcome to my second year blog of university life.

So for our first lecture with our new lecturer Alex Lewczuk we discussed the initial plan for this year and how it will expand on our work from last year. The essential points I took from this lecture started with a more specific definition on what exactly community media entails.

After a brainstorming session we concluded it could be called hyper-local, a term which means a media outlet with a specific focus on a small area like a local radio station (a community based one of course).

Though after a while we found one of the key characteristics of a community based media outlet was the inclusion of volunteers to help run the outlet. Though this subject lead onto the drawbacks of community media in the form of the question: How do you manage volunteers effectively? Theirs no doubt volunteers do an amazing job, though since many may have no necessary experience in the media world they may not be completely aware of their strengths and weaknesses.

Also another difficulty is commitment, the question is how do you keep a volunteer to keep volunteering? I suppose this is something I’m going to have explore as I assume everyone has different reasons.

Other issues faced by community media also include:

Finance- Since this tends to be a small operation that relies on volunteers you could except serious problems with money. This then leads to other problems like-

Advertising- With a lack of finance this could be tricky. Though most community outlets excel using word of mouth. An example of how this could be used is by a volunteer encouraging their friends and families to tune in when they’re on air. In theory this works really well, if somebody’s friend tells another friend etc..

Politics- Covering the general election has been described by many journalists as a nightmare. The laws covering political coverage are centred on equal coverage of political parties. Alex told us most radio stations tend to stay clear of election coverage due to it’s shear complex nature.

Right of reply- An essential part of journalism is balance. An good example of this would be when a gardener complains about this use of pesticides. To give the story balance you could go to a farmer to see why they use pesticides in the first place.

In the third act of the lecture we discussed the key point of this year, a placement at a community media outlet. Despite the lecture finishing over an hour and a half ago I’ve already got some ideas at local outlets:

Siren FM- Since it’s right on my doorstep and I’m taking radio for a subject this year I think this will help consolidate my learning.

The Lincolnite- I’d watch this space because I’m currently debating my options with this one. Because I still need to look into other community outlets around the city as well like Lincoln city radio.