My presentation contribution

I began the presentation ideas and set a structural layout to help the group to plan and prepare the rest of the module:

This was pasted on basecamp in a Writeboard I created;

Presentation for Client practice

My roles and responsibilities

Section: Mainstream News

Contributors: Jason, Owen

Pagination: 4-6

Layout:

·         Front Page; Main headline, something local that will affect a lot of people and has a strong public interest.

·         This should take up the majority of the first page, and have a picture to go with it

·         A section at the bottom on a second story, again, strong public interest and should continue inside the publication.

·         Second and third pages – Spread continuing main story.

·         Another short but strong story in a section inside the spread, or interviews about the Main story depending what the story is.

·         Fourth page;  Continuation of second story from Front page

·         Another strong story, something environmental, political, council orientated?

 

Section: Sports

Contributors: Mike W, Jason

Pagination: 4-6

Layout:

·         Back Page; Main Sports story and headline.

·         Full page of story, with side column of another story.

·         Back two pages inside; Continuation of main story from back page if big enough. Possible interviews or alternative perspectives.

·         Other sports news, second big story.

·         Opinion piece column

·         Next pages, light-hearted stories, grassroots, ( Jason has possible story for this)

 

 

Inside stuff – No particular order yet, but keep main and sports at the top as they are biggest parts.

Article: Hull’s Diversity

Contributors: Jason

Pagination: ½ - 1

Layout:

• Headline of Hull’s Diversity
• Sits inside publication
• Features student culture making Hull a more diverse place – List events, German market, International student nights etc.
• Support/Advice for foreign students
• Interviews

 

Article: Travel

Contributors: Jason

Pagination: 1

Layout:

• Travel story/recommendation/advice
• Possible TEFL plug
• Short student focused
• Picture
• Run as alternative piece (not every issue)

These are the other sections, if you know which one’s you’re doing, then do something along these lines maybe, but bring examples/ideas/web links with it.

 

Article: Positive HCUK news

Contributors:

Pagination:

Layout:

ETC>

 

Quirky columns

 

Page on us guys?

 

History section

 

Night time social

 

Daytime what’s on

 

Advertisements?

 

Reviews (we could all do some of these for different things)

 

And that’s it, just refer to the contents for publication and select yourself as responsible, just don’t tick it off as complete yet.

 

 

 

Content thoughts

For the content in my travel publication, I would like there to be an element of realism and feeling being there when reading. This is what I would expect and want to feel when reading a travel publication.

My first steps in doing the content have been to concentrate on the St. Lucia Article, as this will be one of the larger ones in the publication.

I have found when writing this, that I have tried to create something that is more what you would expect to see, rather than what I would like to deliver.

The writing is concise and informative, but after seeking advice, the feedback was that it didn't give much depth into the place itself or the experience. In effect, it was more like a review and analysis rather than a description based upon experience.

That is what I want to create within my publication, something that you can read as an audience and believe what you are reading, and something that makes you want to visit that place and experience that for yourself.

I have found that to do this, I have to recreate the scene based upon my own experience and put myself into the wiring on occasion to give the article life and realism. This is difficult to produce, as I want the writing to remain objective and none opinionated, but still formed upon my experience mixed with the place, the main features, and the adventure and excitement created within the style of writing.

This is something I will work on throughout this process, to create a style that is adventurous, and informative, but still gives the reader a sense of being there and experiencing the place for themselves.

In effect, I have to make the writing more personalised, rather than trying to create a description based up phrases or words that you expect to see associated with a travel publication.

Design and research

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are some of the examples I have looked at for the type of publication I want to create. I am concentrating at this stage on aspects such as; layouts, fonts, sizes of text, design aspects such as picture definition, I.E. is it bold and clear, or watermarked into the background.

 

 

My initial thoughts for these aspects based on this and other research are that the text needs to be bold, and clear, without any fonts that are flirty or italicised, as this hinders the appearance of the publication. Noticing, in all of the publications I have looked at, there is no evidence of text being like this, as they stick to clear bold and legible text.

 

The first main pages are layed out as a double spread that captivates the audience. My example of this as a first though is below.

 

 

I would like something that is simple but effective. The image is clear and the text bodes well against the background.

I will experiment with more text sizes, fonts and alternative pictures throughout the process of creating the publication.

 

The main design features will not be decided until after the content is produced.

 

Aspects that I will need to consider when thinking about the layouts and designs are the pagination of the publictaion, and how much this will cost to have produced in print.

 



 



Proposal for Dissertation

Dissertation Proposal

Investigation:

For the Independent study, my main focus will be to investigate ethics within journalism. I will focus on the key aspects that have been projected within the media, focusing on The Leveson Enquiry into Media Ethics, and consider how this has changed the media sector going forward from this.

Rationale:

My main reasoning for investigating this is to assess the current state of media and ethics within the industry, and also to delve into the fundamental practises that took place in the full Leveson Enquiry, considering the approaches, and the media as a sector, commenting on itself. Key questions I will consider are:

• How has the industry changed its common day practises towards ethics throughout the years
• Do the media as a sector continually practise ‘unethical’ procedures
• Was the Enquiry into media ethics, a technicality, a smokescreen to satisfy the public and politicians
• How does politics play a role within the media, are the media constrained/required to process particulars
• Have occurrences like this have happened in the past, if so, why has it not been in the public domain until now – is this political correctness forcing the issue, or a series of condemned media practises that have collated to require an investigation
• How has the media commented on itself
• Will/has anything change from the investigation, or is this a historical debacle that will satisfy this generations critics, and will continue be practised in future times

Sources so far:

Heinz Duthel, 2011. Rupert Murdoch: The Politico Media Complex Mogul. Edition. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.

House of Commons, 2010-2012. Home affairs committee: Effectiveness of the committee 2010-2012. First report of session

House of Commons, Home affairs Committee: Private investigators, Forth report of session 2012-2013

House of Commons, Culture Media and Sport Committee, News International and phone hacking. Eleventh report of session; Volume one.

Malcolm Dean, 2011. Democracy under attack: How the media distort policy and politics. Edition. Policy Press.

The Guardian. 2012. Leveson Inquiry. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/leveson-inquiry. [Accessed 14 October 12].

The House of Lords, Select committee on Communications: 3^rd report of session 2010-2012; The Future of Investigative Journalism. Report

The Leveson Inquiry. 2012. The Leveson Inquiry. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.levesoninquiry.org.uk/. [Accessed 14 October 2012].

The Telegraph. 2012. Leveson Inquiry recommendations likely to be adopted - Cameron. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/conservative/9592592/Leveson-Inquiry-recommendations-likely-to-be-adopted-Cameron.html. [Accessed 14 October 12].

Areas that need attention:

The key aspect of my investigation needs more clarity and direction, although I have some key concepts and ideas, and have identified some sources. I have a grasp of what areas I would like to investigate and also, how I may link these together, but I need to identify a major source that can thread the argument together.

This will become more apparent as I begin the process of writing the paper, and my main focus may be altered and the argument may take different directions because of this.

Key concepts:

The key aspect of my argument will be aimed at the media commenting on itself, and the practises that have been employed, what this actually means for the media sector. Has anything changed, how does the media portray itself?

A key aspect I have chosen not to cover is Rupert Murdoch as a media personality, and his personal reign in the industry. This is because I feel that the investigation I want to lead is more associated with the sector as a whole, and practises that are employed, rather than one distinctive person or their empire.

I may however, refer to his company, and aspects associated with this to highlight key points, or as examples.

My main arguments will be constructed through analysing the process of the Enquiry through evidence that will suggest that it was/wasn’t motivated through necessity against the process of it being a formality or an appeasing solution to a much wider problem within the industry.  

Hypothesis:

The aim of the paper would be to determine the outcome of achievement the enquiry had within the industry of the media, how this could change future practises if at all, and would the investigation stop occurrences such as these happening in the future. Ultimately, what is held for the future of investigative journalism as a practise? Can the media hold on to its distinctive roots of objective investigators seeking the truth in the public interest?

Brief for Independent Practice

Interactive Media      Year 3             Professional Practise Brief

 

For Independent Practise I intend to create a Travel writing supplement/brochure, that has a range of informative pieces of writing on various locations.

The publication will have a wide selection of alternative travelling articles for the reader.

 

The guide will be primarily aimed at students looking at travelling through summer, or in gap years, and also people looking for a career break, career change, or a genuine lifetime experience.

The contents of the brochure will range from working abroad, using a TEFL qualification, and all associated information with this, expensive holidays and experiences in the Caribbean, and cheap local breaks in the UK that has a unique and niche ambience.

 

The overall intention of the publication is to create something that can appeal to cultural people looking to learn, or experience something new and different.

 

The brochure will be designed to a high professional standard. With writing that is informative, cultural, humorous, and relatable to the reader.

To create this, I intend to improve my writing skills and develop a style that will suit my publication by reading and researching various other supplements from broadsheets, travel brochures, and magazines.

Areas that I may need to do specialist work to improve my skills may be design and publication layout.

 

Timescales.

 

Research: Continuous, all primary research including possible interviews completed by 20/11/2012

Design Prototype: Primary ideas and First draft by 01/12/2012

Content and Features first set: A first batch by 15/01/2013

Design finalised by 25/01/2013

All content and picture selections, layout and features: Collated by 15/02/2013

Final publication together by 25/02/2013

Pressed/online publication completed by 04/03/2013

 

 

Initial ideas

Independent Practice is a self led module that allows me to explore an area of my own particular interest within the industry.
I have interests in both writing and broadcast journalism. The areas within these that I would like to work within are; sports, travel writing, economics, and mainstream news.
These are the areas that I am looking into investigating so that I can develop a more concise and professional portfolio consisting of a high standard of work for publication in either print, online, or both.

One idea that I have had is to create a students guide to travelling, exploring working abroad, TEFL, and all associated information with this, travelling to places such as France, Germany, Cape Verde, St Lucia, and more.
The places I would write about would all be places that I had visited/worked within. It would be created in such a way that it was appealing to not just students but people looking for a career change, a break, or a gap year, or possibly just a bundle of different experiences.
The guide would aim to be cultural, informative, and have a mixture of self opinion pieces and experience writing.
The aim would be to have a publication that would be suitable for people of all backgrounds, students, older people, couples, and families.

Initial ideas and first meeting

The project guidelines and objectives were outlined within the first seminar. This will be a group project of which we will have to create a piece of interactive journalism. The group as a whole identified two distinct possibilities of what we will research and investigate as a group.

One would be to create a local based news publication in print format, that would concentrate on delivering local news with an objective, but a more positive outlook. For this each of us would possibly want a specific area or section within the publication.
The aim of this would be to create something substantial enough that it could be sustained as a publication to continue for the future.

The second idea is to create a student magazine for our institution Hull College. This would be something that as students we could all contribute to effectively. The concerns with this are that it may not be something that we could continue, as once we have graduated, then we will no longer be students. This would make it less viable to write for a student magazine.
This would however be something that we will create and leave for future students to build upon.

First lecture

The first lecture about the dissertation outlined the format and expectations of the module. From the previous year, I had some ideas of what I wanted to explore within my essay, although I had not decided on a final topic. Over the coming weeks I will select a specific topic and work towards finding sources and creating a question or point to explore.
My initial ideas are to explore ethics within journalism, or media representations to the public.

Client Orientated Practice

Where the group based project items will appear, including my personal ideas and contributions

Independent Practice

Where my individual project that I will produce will appear

Independent Study

Where all of my dissertation research, ideas, notes and work pieces will appear