A day at non-league football

Club memberships. Fancy food. Hospitality. All things you can associate with being a modern day football fan at a top-flight team. These days the pre-match grub has turned into a three-course meal, but what is life like at the lower end of the football spectrum? Whilst the Man United supporters are tucking into their crème brulee, the home fans at non-league Basingstoke Town are queuing at the burger van behind the away goal! The difference between Premier League and non-league football is huge, and I have decided to show my good friend, and Manchester United fan, Tom, exactly what he’s missing!

    

Picture the scene; I am trying to convince a Manchester United fan that a day watching non-league football is just as good as a day at Old Trafford, and the first thing we see when we turn up to the ground is a hand car-wash in the main car park, literally 50 yards behind the turnstiles, great start. As we get out of the car it becomes abundantly clear that the weather isn’t going to help me out today. Now I’m not saying it doesn’t rain in Manchester, but I could really have done with the sun making an appearance.

    

You know that feeling you get, just before you enter the ground on match-day, you walk through the turnstiles, find your entrance and walk out to see the magnificence of the hallowed turf, whilst your ears and soul are warmed by the songs of thousands of football fans? Well, in Basingstoke it doesn’t quite go like that, and the look on Tom’s face was one of bemusement. We walked into the ground to be greeted by a handful of fans, chatting amongst themselves, with the pitch mere metres away, with the only thing stopping you entering onto the field being a waist high advertising board. It might not seem great to the naked eye, but being a true fan of football, I could see the anticipation in his eyes.

 

     If you’re a football addict, then it doesn’t really matter where you are getting your next fix, but that wasn’t the aim of the day. The aim was to show that non-league football could be as entertaining, and special as football at the top of the game. Half an hour into the match and I managed to pluck up the courage to ask Tom how he was finding it. Now Tom is a man of many words, except during a match, and the fact that he could barely string a sentence together was a great sign! “The football is better than I thought! I thought it would have been pretty dive to be honest.” So far, so good! The first half ended 0-0, although it was a better half of football than a 0-0 portrayed, and I think Tom knew that.

    

Half time! So how are we getting on? If you took a scale and put ‘totally convinced’ at one end and ‘totally unconvinced’ at the other, it would be fair to say we were lingering somewhere around the middle, but not to worry, we were heading in the right direction, and with the half time refreshments in order, it could only get better. Now I know I have already spoken about food, and you might ask ‘why is food so important, this is football?’ Food and drink are the essence of a football match. It’s pie and Bovril, it’s burgers and chips, and it’s hotdogs and tea! What you consume whilst you take in the glory of a top-corner free kick, or a two-footed lunge is hugely important. As we stand waiting to be served at the burger van, Tom turns to me and utters the words which are so true, and stand out as the sole reason non-league football is great: “At least the queues aren’t as manic!” Yes! There is nothing worse than missing the start of the second half, because you are waiting for the bloke in front to remember his chip and pin code, or waiting for the hundreds of fans in front of you who missed the goal at the end of the first half because they wanted to avoid the queues.

   

The weather wasn’t letting up, and with that we decided to take shelter in the (only) stand. With the wind howling,  and the bitterness of the day settling in, the football began to suffer. Any hopes that the first half gave for goals galore in the second half soon began to die, along with my hopes of convincing Tom that the day could be great. I had hoped for a 5-5 thriller, but it didn’t look like being so. However, mid-way through the half, out of nowhere came a true moment of brilliance which will go down in history as the moment that changed the day from ‘mediocre’ to ‘yeah it was actually okay’; as the ball was whipped in from the left side of the pitch, the Basingstoke target man, with his back to goal, angled his body in a way Wayne Rooney angled his body on that famous day against City. He wasn’t going to try a bicycle-kick? Surely not! But he did, and not only did he try…but it was on target! Not a goal. But on target is good enough for me, and it surely brought a smile to Tom’s face!

   The full time whistle was blown, and with that brought and end to the days proceedings, but not without Tom revealing the all important information that would determine the results of my experiment. So to try and swing the balance in my favour with a last gasp attempt of persuasion, I took him to the managers dugout to hear the verdict, I wonder how many times he has sat in the dugout at Old Trafford! The words slowly left my lips as I asked Tom if I had changed his mind, he took a deep breath and smiled and said, “thoroughly enjoyed it…At least here they turn up and they have to earn their money, there’s a bit more passion and it’s nitty and gritty.”  I could barely contain my happiness and asking if he would come again he replied with a one-word answer that proved the day a success: “Definitely”.

Confessional Interview

Magazine editor interview: David Hall, FourFourTwo Magazine

A day in the life of news - RTS Documentary Project - London Clips

Week at the Croydon Guardian

This week I have been working at the Croydon Guardian. It is a weekly paper, which specialises in local news from around the South-East London borough of Croydon. During my time at university studying journalism, this is the first time I have had some real ‘hands-on’ experience in the field.


Dealing mainly in broadcast journalism on WINOL, working at a local newspaper is somewhat different. For example, instead of actually going out and about to get quotes and interviews with people, it is mainly done over the phone. The Croydon edition of the newspaper is out on a Wednesday, and I started on the Monday, so by the time I had started the majority of the news-gathering by the reporters had been done, and now it was all about organising photographs, and writing the stories in time for the deadline.

My first task helping out and gaining some insight was to ‘turn around’ press releases that the reporters are sent by local organisations. A lot of the releases were sent by press departments of these organisations in an attempt to get some publicity, and were not hard-hitting news stories. Such stories would include local businesses giving free football tickets to schools, or news on upcoming events. Nevertheless, it was quite exciting to be involved in getting some real experience in the industry.

During my first day, the Chief Reporter handed me a story of four Croydon based youngsters who had reached the final of a prestigious London based award. My job was to call the four finalists and get a profile on why they had been nominated and to get quotes from them. It was at this point that I learned that shorthand was definitely a necessity for being a news hack! The first call was very ‘plain-sailing’, but the second a bit harder – a 12-year-old school girl, who was very reluctant to answer questions, she was a lovely young girl, but, as most kids do, she got very shy with speaking to a stranger. In the end we had to settle for a quote from the child’s mother.

With the first two so easy to contact and willing to speak, surely the next two would be the same – No. I was wrong to assume that. The next two have been a nightmare to contact, with not answering phone calls and not responding to e-mails. The reality of the difficulties news reporters face was beginning to settle in.

Day two was fun – Court. I was on my way to court with a reporter to get a bit of an insight into court reporting, when it dawned on me. I wasn’t wearing a tie! As I have learned from Chris in lectures, when visiting court, it is essential to wear a tie. Luckily enough, the reporter I was with was well connected in the court and explained that I was still learning, so all was fine! The difficulties and stresses of court reporting also became apparent, when we travelled all the way to the Crown Court, only for the case to be adjourned for one reason or another! So no doubt we will be back another day! The reporter I was with is still unaware as to the ‘interest factor’ to the story, but it is always worth finding out!

Media Law - Copyright

Most people believe tat copyright law exists as soon as you wright something down. This is partly true, but the law actually requires the subject to actually be published to be protected. There is no copyright in ideas though, so claiming you had the idea for facebook before Mark Zuckerberg, or that you 'thought of it first' wouldn't get you anywhere in a court of law.

Copyright is very important to us as journalists. We are basically selling our words. That's how we make our money. So if we publish something and someone else copies it then they will half your audience and half your money. No copyright, no journalism and no copyright means no profit.

If you work for an institute or a company then you often give up your right to have your work copyrighted in exchange for wages. However, if you are freelance, your work is your own and is protected by copyright law.

The Eiffel Tower:
During last weeks lecture on copyright, our guest lecturer Peter Hodges explained the copyright laws surrounding the Eiffel Tower - a normal photograph of the Eiffel Tower when it is NOT illuminated is fine and free from copyright protection. However, the lighting on the Eiffel Tower is STRICTLY protected by the law, so if you are a broadcaster and you take photos or footage of the illuminated Eiffel Tower, you will not be able to publish without consent. If you are on holiday and take photos, and you upload them to you Facebook account, it is extremely unlikely you will be sued though.

It is very important to journalists as broadcasters to make sure that any material they use is not affected by copyright such as music in the background - the rule is, if it can be recognised then it needs to have consent of use.

How long does copyright law last?
In most cases it is 70 years after the authors death - but in different cases it may last for less, or for more. The best rule for a journalist or anyone looking to broadcast any work which is not there own - get advice if in doubt.

Fair Dealing:
As journalists we like fair dealing. Fair dealing allows us to use snippets of someone else's work without the fear of being sued. We do this for such things as criticism or review, or for research and private study. We must make sure though that the copyright owner is acknowledged.

You must never use a photograph in fair dealing - it is not protected

Moral Rights - The copyright owner has the moral rights of their work. They have to right to say how their work is portrayed. For example, doing a spoof of a movie - the copyright owner must agree to the changes. Or if one music artist does a re-mix of the original artists' song - the original artist must agree.

Media Law - Confidentiality and privacy

The law is always changing, and in a couple of months everything I am writing today, could well be wrong.

 Article 8 of the Human Rights Act
Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence.
Article 10 of the Human Rights Act
Freedom of expression - You have the right to say and have your own opinions

Privacy is mainly an issue that is found within the lives of celebrities and people in the public eye. So we are not able, as journalists, to go around publishing photographs of people, in their everyday life, without consent; or publishing secrets about anybody, celebrity or not, unless there is a defence for doing so. The main defence of invasion of privacy would be PUBLIC INTEREST. So for example, if Wayne Rooney was photographed taking bribes before England took to the field against San Marino, then it would be well within the public interest to publish these photos without fear of being sued for invasion of privacy. On the other hand, if you were to take photos of Wayne Rooney through his living room window watching 'Brokeback Mountain', it would be deemed an invasion of his privacy, as it is up to him if he wants to watch certain films, and he has the right to do that privately.

So what defines PUBLIC INTEREST?
- Detecting or exposing crime: (Example: David Cameron selling marijuana)
- Protecting public health and safety (Example: discovering that your next door neighbour is plotting a terrorist attack)
- Preventing the public interest from being misled by an action or a statement

 *** Official Secrets Act *** These are put in place to protect National Security - There is no Public Interest defence. This is something that can come into play in the everyday life of a journalist. For example, if a journalist was doing a piece to camera with an army barracks in the background, they could be in breach of breaking the official secrets act, as it could provide necessary secret information to the enemy. So journalists have to be careful of their surroundings.

Newspapers (especially tabloids), often print stories that are against the laws of privacy and confidentiality. The most notorious and recent case of this was Max Mosley and the News of the World. Mosley was accused by the newspaper of taking part in a 'sick Nazi orgy' with prostitutes in his apartment in Chelsea. Mosley believed that he had an expectation of privacy, and he was right. You are in breach of someones confidence if you can identify all four of the following points:
1) Necessary quality of confidence - NOT TITTLE-TATTLE! So you will not be in breach of confidence if you are telling your boss that your colleague picks his nose and eats it.
2) The information is provided in circumstances imposing an obligation to privacy - So if you are in someones home and not in the park or a cafe. ***I WILL COME BACK TO THIS****
3) No permission to pass on the information
4) Detriment to be caused to the person

What News of the World thought, is that there would be no way that Mosley would want to stand up in court going through all the sordid details of his 'orgy' in front of a jury and journalists who would be publishing the findings in the next mornings papers. They were wrong. Mosley did just that and it was found that Mosley had the right to a privacy in this case - winning £60,000.

The case of Princess Caroline: I said I would come back to point 2 - in 2004 Princess Caroline was photographed eating in a public restaurant to which she sued and won, with the outcome from the European Court of Human Rights stating that this was a violation of Article 8, and that just because you are in a public place, it does not mean that you have the right to take photos of them or film them. However, there has been a more recent update to this, in February 2012 the court has now decided that papers should be allowed to publish photos and stories of well-known people. In conclusion, it is clear that the line between Article 8 and 10 is always being moved, and there is never going to be a straight ruling into this. And with the outcome of the Leveson inquiry soon approaching, it is clear that there will be possibly the biggest shift in rules ever, possibly making it even harder for journalists.

The New Journalism - HCJ Semester 2 - Lecture/Seminar 4

American Journalism - historical context

- The Penny Papers - Pamphlets- Produced to influence people by businessmen or politicians to try and influence people and their decisions.
- Creation of 'news wires' - Press Association (PA) - an impartial, or objective news provider, didn't have any political slant or bias, simply there to tell the story. The reason for this was so that it could sell to the mass, as oppose to aiming at a strictly left wing audience or a strictly right wing audience. By having a political bias, or a bias of any sort, you are restricting your selling market, and therefore losing money.
- The Yellow Press [LINK back to previous blog on 'Yellow Journalism: http://daelgornall.blogspot.com/2011/10/yellow-journalism.html]

The New Journalism

The New Journalism wanted to come away from the pre-concieved ideas of being 'told a story': 3 men were killed after a bomb explosion in Hampshire. But instead, wanted to give you the idea of seeing the story, and making your mind up for yourself, so you are not TOLD what to think, you SEE what you want. When you are able to see the news, as oppose to being told what it is, it becomes, in my opinion, very ambiguous. You can determine what it means by making up your own mind, you haven't got somebody telling you what to think, it then becomes quite subjective.

The idea of 'Status'

Status and competition is everywhere and anywhere in the World. Whether it be Sky Vs BBC, or Man Utd Vs Man City, or Gardener Vs Garden Tractor Driver; the need to be better, faster, higher than the other is constant.



How to write a Feature according to Tom Wolfe:

4 things you need:

1) A scene by scene construction - So as I have touched on above, you need to let the reader see and feel the scene, not tell them what to think from what you see and feel from the scene. I will use the example that popped into my head during the lecture. The film 'Green Street' is perfect for this. An American Journalist comes to the UK, and becomes involved with a football hooligan, and begins to document his findings. What he does, and what he needs to do, is to tell the reader how he dresses, how he looks and how is he different from a 'normal person' - or is this normal? He lets the reader decide for themselves.

2) Realistic Dialogue involves the reader more completely than any other single device - You would need to spend a lot of time with the person, figure out how he interacts with other people, back to status, how he interacts with people below him, and people above him. Is he hostile? Is he different to his kids, wife, parents? This part needs to be extremely investigative.

3) Third person point of view - You would need to get inside their head; figure out his true emotions, and relay them to the reader as if you were the person, but from you, a third person's point of view. But at the same time being careful as to be subjective.

4) Recording of everyday habits, gestures etc - this helps the reader with 'seeing the person'. Helps them to interact, and lets them decide how they feel about the person, via using body language. You could say it is a way of the person and the reader to communicate.

Existentialism - HCJ - Semester 2 - Lecture/Seminar 2

Existentialism was the theme of the week two’s lecture and seminar. It is a very interesting topic and there are many different views on it. We were asked to read Albert Camus’ ‘The Outsider’ for this weeks reading, which gives us a fascinating insight into the world of existentialism.

The existentialist way of thinking is that the individual is the one who gives meaning to his or her life in spite of any obstacles. They do this through the choices they make, in the face of absurdity, guilt, angst or even boredom. For example if I wanted money because I wanted to eat, then I would need to go out and get a job to get money to pay for food. The existentialist also believes that your ‘facticity’ should not determine your life, and should not have an affect on the future of your existence. They are not interested in the past, what is in the past should stay there – it is all about the future and the decisions you make.

Facticity – is key things about yourself that you cannot choose for yourself, for example, where you come from, who your parents are, if you were born into a wealthy or poor family. To give an example, if you take David Beckham’s children, and then you take the child of somebody born into a slum in South America, an existentialist would believe that both have an equal chance of success within football, of that’s what they both want to do, there is no advantage for David Beckham’s child, as being the son of a famous footballer is merely their facticity.

Good and bad faith – Frantz Fanon believes that if you do not follow your desires and beliefs in life, and you choose to ignore them or are too lazy to follow them up then you are guilty of ‘bad faith’. So to give the example of Fanon himself, he was a doctor in Algeria who came to believe in violent protest. He was constantly treating victims of brutal torture in Algeria from the hands of the French government, and it was this that he couldn’t stand, consequently resulting in him taking a violent stand. He believed that he was doing the right thing with killing the people who were administrating this terror, in an attempt to fight back. Maybe to give a better example, putting it into the context of the present, If you were to watch the news and feel horrified or object to what is happening in Syria, where people are being subject to extreme violence, but decided you didn’t want to do anything about it, then you would be guilty of bad faith.

The Outsider

The outsider is a novel written by Albert Camus, which is set in Algeria, revolving around the main Character Mersault. It begins with him finding out that his mother has died, but he is not really phased by the news, but more concerns himself with the day on which she died, and getting the time of work to go to the funeral. He is never shown to be happy, or unhappy, but he is more indifferent to the news. It goes on to explain that Mersault thinks that his mother’s death is not part of a larger structure of human existence.

The novel then goes on to a neighbour of Mersualt’s, Raymond. He suspects his mistress of infidelity, and asks Mersault to help him in luring her to his apartment where he can have sex with her and then abuse her, Mersualt agrees. He chose what he thought was right, so he is therefore adhering to good faith here.

After his mistress goes to the police, the case goes to trial, to which it is dismissed as Raymond explains the betrayal. Later on in the novel, the brother of the assaulted mistress attacks Raymond with a knife, resulting in Raymond grabbing a gun to get his own back. Mersault stops him though, but ends up shooting the man himself.

Mersault is arrested and trialled, and when on trial, they focus on the fact that he showed no emotion at his mothers funeral. Mersualts thoughts though were that he was a free thinker who did not conform to the pressures of society, that force people to cry or show emotion at such events as family members funeral. The book makes the point that free thought cannot come with the pressures of society, and that Mersualt was found guilty, not of murder, but instead of not conforming to social stereotypes.

Manchester United 2-1 Liverpool

With all the build up revolving around Luis Suarez and Patrice Evra, this afternoon’s early kick-off between Manchester United and Liverpool lived up to the pre-match hype. Arguably the spiciest fixture in the Premier League calendar, it was given even more zest before a ball had even been kicked, when Liverpool’s Luis Suarez refused to shake Patrice Evra’s extended hand.

It was clear from the off that there was unfinished business between the two, with less than 30 seconds played, Evra attempting to get stuck right in to Suarez, but instead taking out his defensive colleague Rio Ferdinand. It did slow down from there, with both sides getting the ball down and playing some nice football, but creating little in the way of chances. Liverpool’s best chance of the first half fell to right-back Glen Johnson, cutting inside and firing just past De Gea’s far post. United probably edged the first half, with Scholes and Carrick seeing a lot of the ball in the middle of the pitch, allowing Antonio Valencia and Wayne Rooney to get forward. It was Scholes though who had the best chance, heading the ball straight at Liverpool’s Pepe Reina from three yards out.

Suarez was again at the centre of attention, infuriated that he wasn’t awarded a free kick when Rio Ferdinand brought him down as the last man; however, replays showed that Ferdinand clearly got a foot to the ball. This sparked ugly scenes at the half-time whistle with players from both camps having to be calmed down before reaching their dressing rooms.

After the break it was Wayne Rooney and Manchester United who let their football do the talking, scoring two in five minutes. The first, Rooney peeling away from Glen Johnson at the back post to volley home and then Valencia showing strength, feeding in Rooney who slotted through the legs of Pepe Reina. From here United were in cruise control, with the away side becoming more and more frustrated. However, with ten minutes to play it was that man Suarez, who got them back into it, benefiting from some poor United defending to poach his first goal since coming back from his ban.

It wasn’t to be though, United holding out for the three points, but the drama wasn’t over. Patrice Evra showing extreme emotion at the end to celebrate with the United fans, having to be led away by stewards and his teammates. The post match interviews were also extremely controversial with Sir Alex Ferguson stating that he thought Luis Suarez was a ‘disgrace’, and that he ‘shouldn’t be allowed to play for Liverpool again’.

This win now puts United top of the league, one point clear of rivals Manchester City, until they play tomorrow.

Tabloid Nation - HCJ - Semester 2 - Lecture/Seminar 1

This week’s reading was parts 2 and 3 of Chris Horrie's Tabloid Nation, which is primarily about the development of the Daily Mirror newspaper, whilst Cecil Harmsworth King (Rothermere's nephew) was one of the directors at the paper, until his demise some years later.

It begins with Harry Guy Bartholomew taking over from Rothermere in 1934, with 'Bart' wanting to make the paper more appealing by Americanising it to include sensational stories, nude pictures and more like the the New York Daily News or the Daily Graphic.

King was the only person on the board who agreed with Bart's views on Americanising the paper, and because of the family ties to Rothermere, he was a good person to have on side. So the paper began to change the way it worked, making it appeal to a younger and wider audience. In order to help him do this, Bart hired Basil D Nicholson, as features editor. He originally went to sell Nicholson some advertising space but Nicholson began to grill him asking why his papers did not include cartoon strips like the American papers did. Bart subsequently hired him on the spot, but Nicholson’s time at the paper did not last long. Bart liked the idea of sensationalism, and he also did not want to aim at anyone over the age of 30, but when it was discovered that Nicholson did not feature a story about an old woman who had committed suicide because she had lost her best hat for church, Bart was infuriated - the next day advertising for his replacement.

Hugh Cudlipp:

Cudlipp came in as Nicholson's deputy, but was soon given his post as features editor. Cudlipp had lived in Blackpool, which is key due to the way in which the seaside resort was portrayed. It was Britain’s answer to a freak-show, it had fun, sex and was hugely Americanised. With Cudlipp living around this, he had reflected his experiences into the way he wanted the Mirror to be seen. Cudlipp was doing very well, with stories such as 'can a woman incubate a chicken's egg' and the lynching of the man who made his son hold hot coals.

The pictorial was the Mirror's sister paper, but on a Sunday. It was in poor state, and was ailing behind the Mirror. Cecil King in the mean time was running this paper, and wanted it to be as good, if not better than the Mirror, so he asked Bart if he could take one of his team to become editor to try and turn the paper's fortunes around. Bart came across happy to help, but warned anyone who was asked to take the post that he would ruin their career if they chose King over him. The job offers kept on being turned down until Cudlipp was asked to take charge - and he accepted. This infuriated Bart, but Cudlipp did what he was asked, he turned the Pictorial's fortunes around. The Pictorial was even the first paper to have a picture of a topless woman in it.

World War 2:

'The price of petrol has been increased by one penny - official' This was the caption accompanied by a cartoon of a Navy soldier hanging on to some driftwood in the Sea - It was seen by the paper and government as pessimistic and anti-propaganda, even accusing the paper of being an undercover German paper, trying to defeat morale of the British public. The paper was in danger of being shut down. It got away with a warning though, as King protested that it was quite the opposite and was there to try and build morale.



During the war the Mirror became the 'soldier's paper' - It supported the idea that the army was full of 'Lions led by Donkeys' and that the people at the top were nothing more than the 'toffs' whereas the soldiers (the lower classes) were the real heroes. Philip Zec was the cartoonist who designed the campaigns to show that the Mirror was the peoples paper and one of the more famous cartoons was of a soldier emerging from the war, with a crown saying 'victory and peace in Europe' - captioned 'here you go, don't lose it again'.


This was huge in the battle for the working class vote, in the upcoming elections, especially with the Mirror being a Labour supporting paper; it was thought that Churchill (Conservative) would remain, as the women that were left at home only had a small amount of political knowledge, so they would vote for the only name they recognised, which was his. Instead the Mirror told the predominant women population (as the men were away at war) to vote for the people their husbands would vote for, Labour. Cast their vote for 'the men who won the victory for you' - This worked and at the same time showed the Mirror's popularity, as Labour won in a landslide victory.

Bart and Cudlipp relations:

Bart still held a grudge over Cudlipp since he went to the Pictorial - and he sought to get his revenge: during the paper's Christmas party Bart plied everyone with drinks, Cudlipp especially, whilst remaining reasonably sober himself. He then set about winding up Cudlipp and provoking him into a reaction making it just a formality for Bart to sack him. He asked why Cudlipp never ran a story about a riot in Nigeria, which had led to several deaths - and Bart continued to goad Cudlipp until he erupted. This though was the beginning of the end for Bart, as King went about his business to out him, at the same time gaining the support of the other board members, which Bart thought would never betray him: Bolam (editor), Zec (graphich artist) and King himself. Bart was sacked, sparking the return to the paper of Cudlipp.

Stockpiling - key term - Papers hired good journalists even if they did not need them just so rivals could not have them instead. Something Cudlipp was subject to at the Express.

1952 - Cudlipp went back to the Mirror, and had gained some important information about their closest rivals the Express. He believed that the Express sold advertising space to the man with a car and a garage, whereas the Mirror directed theirs to the man who built the car and the garage. Cudlipp had taken the place of Bart who had been fired from the paper, and went about getting some fresh faces in. The broken man of Bolam, who had been in prison was soon to be replaced by Jack Nener as editor - and this fitted in with Cudlipp's idea to re-model the Mirror to be a younger version of the Express. Cudlipp sometimes over-ruled Nener, and in my opinion kept him on a tight leash, constantly taking over on the editorial floor when it came to the big stores such as an international crisis or political stories.

Shock Issues - these were Cudlipps own invention and were stories that were stories that would dominate that day's edition of the paper. (For example the suffering of horses shipped from Britain to butchers in France and Belgium).

Alcohol in journalism:

Something that made me laugh in the book was the way in which every single journalist drunk alcohol at a staggering rate. The way Nener was hired was finding out if he could handle his drink, with the interviewers forcing copious amounts of alcohol down his throat to see if he could cope. The way in which every paper had its own pub was also interesting, it reminded me of football hooliganism, in that if you were part of the other team's supporters you wasn't allowed in the other teams pub.

Expenses at the Mirror:

When Mike Randall was hired as the new Features Editor at the Mirror it also became apparent that the system of expenses was being abused. A lot of journalists lived on their expenses and plugged away their wages. This was a reflection on how well the paper was doing though, in that it was never questioned. Randall in his first week felt so guilty about putting in a claim for £12 (double his record at his previous post) - but when he was pulled up on it, he was told to double it or else he would be letting the team down. David English was a famous journalist who did not get away with it though - after a story he had covered about a shipwreck, he claimed for the cost of hiring a lifeboat, and only after the complaints from the lifeboat crew about the story did it emerge that English got the hire for free!

1956 and the ITV:

The introduction of the ITV brought in a rival to the Mirror for advertising. Their wartime readers were ageing; an they needed younger readers (the baby-boomers). This being said the paper's rival the Express was even older, and Beaverbrook (the owner) had died. This inevitably meant that the Mirror had no competition despite it's poor efforts at aiming at a younger audience, and in 1964 under the new editorial leadership of Lee Howard in 61 from Nener, it was selling around 5 million copies a day.

Cudlipp/King relations:

They worked generally well together, although they had their showdowns at times, one of the biggest ones coming whilst Cudlipp was away on holiday. King authorised the printing of a story that a peer and one of the Kray twins were having a gay affair, but did not print the name of the peer due to libel reasons. This being said King released the name at the dinner party, Lord Boothby, who it eventually got back to.

When Cudlipp came back to the mess he settled out of court for £40,000, a large sum then, and it was more of a statement to say 'DO NOT GET INVOLVED WITH MY PAPER AGAIN'.

The International Publishing Corporation (IPC)

King bought his uncles Rothermeres old magazines the amalgamated press, consisting of consumer magazines. They were in a bad state so wanted to turn the fortunes around like he had done so many times before. In order to do this he bought the rival magazines too 'the Oldham Press' - King was developing a monopoly. He had over 200 consumer magazines in the UK, USA and France, and also had shares in ITV, owned paper mills, various publishing companies and a record company.

Enough is Enough

This was a campaign that King put his name to pushing for current Labour Prime-minister, Harold Wilson, to leave office. Britain was in an economic crisis and was making cuts, notably in the armed forces. King never really likes Wilson, stemming back from when he was trying to get into power; this because he had promised King that Britain would enter into Europe, which he later backed out from when he got to power. It was even accused of Wilson that he was a soviet spy that had poisoned previous Labour leader, Gaitskell, as he was part of the KGB, and at the same time he was trying to weaken Britain from the inside. Three weeks later the board members of the IPC chose to dismiss King, the eventual end of his reign at the Mirror.

HCJ - Year 2 - Semester 1 - Revision notes Part 4 - Orwell & Totalitarianism

Orwell - Newspeak:
. Set in 2050 - Big Brother party ruler enforces new language on 'Oceania' in London
. Main character is Winston Smith
. New language (newspeak) is set to control people, in that it bans any rebellious talk, to prevent political rebellion
. Makes 'thoughtcrime' the worst possible offence
. Bans things such as sex, free thought and individuality
. Smith is against the regime and logs thoughts in a diary
. Believes in a rebellious group called the Brotherhood, who feel the same as he does
. Lured into a trap, where the ever watching government make him believe he is being accepted in to the brotherhood
. Captured and tortured with rats until he is forced to accept Big Brother
. They break his spirit through fear and terror (totalitarian practice)

Totalitarianism:
. Hannah Arendt - success of totalitarianism is the fault of the individual
. Totalitarian - 'everything is possible'
. Total power = destruction of human kind
. Terror & ideology - Nazism
. Terror - not mass murder, destroy individuality
. Genocide is key to totalitarianism
. Ideology - eliminate individual thought from reality and common sense
. Eichmann trial - Arendt - own mind and thoughts, crime was that he did not think
. Tries to claim Kant categorical imperative - Hitler had made it a universal law with no exceptions and Eichmann believed he was a law abiding citizen
. Arendt believes Not to obey
. Be your own jusge

*Stanley Milgram experiment*

HCJ - Year 2 - Semester 1 - Revision notes Part 3 - Freud

Part 3 of my revision notes brings me to the latest lecture, and since there has been no previous blog from myself on the subject of existentialism, I will take a little longer to try my best to explain the subject.

Phenomenology is a branch of philosophy which deals with the subjective perception of things. So in easy language, phenomenology is things we can see, a table, a chair, a television. Husserl is a philosopher who believed that you have to 'want' to see things, and things are only there because we 'want' to see them:

The Duck-Rabbit - an image which can be seen as a duck or a rabbit, but you have to CHOOSE what you want to see, they are both not there at the same time, you choose one or the other. It is all about choice with Husserl.

Perception is something that is discussed highly amongst existentialist philosophers, and Kafka & Borges 'The Trial' optimises this. In the novel the main character wakes up as a cockroach, with all human feelings and senses, he feels normal, but to everyone else he is perceived as a cockroach. Pretty disgusting, but it is something I have kind of thought about for years. Are we all perceived differently by others, and are we different to what we think?

Heidegger is a philosopher that believed 'being is time', and that angst and fear is always looking forward in the future. We can link this back to Freud and his theory of ego/superego. The fear of 'next' is controlled by the superego, and the ego is the 'character armour' that protects us from this fear.

Time in Heidegger's mind - Past = Guilt/Shame Present = Dread Past = unknown

Husserl:

Husserl was a philosopher who observed and had theories about phenomena; what it was and how it was here. In the online lectures from the course site, it is explained about the link between Husserl and previous philosophers such as Hegel. Hegel believed in the phenomenology of spirit, and how God and his 'Geist' existed and how we perceived them. In a slightly different way, Husserl examined everything: emotions, objects etc. He believed that anything that was there, that you could think, feel, see, smell, hear was all phenomena, so for example, love and hate, fear, houses, trees, colours, these were all types of phenomena.

Husserl believed that there were two essential types of, there was type 'A', and type 'B'. A would be that of intention to use something, so if you had an intention to kick a ball, and then type B, which would be it actually being there. The example that is given in the online lecture is that of a clip from an episode of 'Only Fools and Horses', where Del Boy is in a pub, and he goes to lean up against the bar, not knowing that someone has lifted the hatch, meaning he falls straight through:



What we are seeing here is that Del Boy is expecting the bar to be there, and he is intending to use it to lean on, but the second it is not the we suddenly get the feeling that something is wrong in the universe, an that it isn't as it should be. We get the same feelings when we miss a step on the stairs, or something I usually do is not turn the light on at night when going down the stairs and thinking I still have a couple of stairs left, but really I am on the floor, expecting another step, all of a sudden you feel like something is wrong.

You can link this back to previous lectures with Freud, in that intention is key. Freud believed that we have thoughts in our mind at all time and that we may not even be aware of them at times, but a 'Freud Slip' would often expose these repressed thoughts. This then means that we have these thoughts in our head for a reason, they are definitely there, and it is these thoughts that give us the ability to perceive phenomena.

The problem that people like Husserl will come across is that of solipsism, the thought that is only you the single person exists in the world, and everyone else is a figment of our imagination. That we are living in a big dream, and nothing is real. This would reject the thought that anything actually exists as phenomena.

HCJ - Year 2 - Semester 1 - Revision notes Part 2 - Keynes

The next part of this semester's revision notes brings us to the World of economics and JM Keynes. I found this topic relatively enjoyable and, not easy, but easier to understand. For my full blog on the subject visit http://daelgornall.blogspot.com/2011/11/hcj-lecture-4-economics-money-is-all.html, or for a condensed version read on.

. Money = a bartering tool
. Humans have wants and desires in life which compete with their needs
. Link to Frege and his theories on sense and reference: the word 'need' has no reference point and can therefore not be seen as a correct term. 'I need a car' - does not make sense.
. Ricardo theory of value - biro vs piano, who decides worth? £5000 for piano as it takes 5000 times more effort to make a £1 biro.
. Malthus' iron law of population - we would drain the land as the population was growing at an uncontrollable rate. Wanted 2 children to take place of the 2 parents, but on average there were 4 children households. Theory did not materialise as unforeseeable circumstances such as contraception/technology (abortion) started to reduce the number of children in the household. Also, at the time the poor law stated the price of bread against the number of children in the household was the factor considered when relief was administered.
. Ricardo + Malthus = Marx law od wages - demand for a job = high means low wages, and low demand for a job = high wages.
. Price of an apple = £3, producers need £1 profit and £2 for productions costs. Worker can only afford £2 for apple, apple price lowered, means wages of the worker are reduced, now the worker can only afford £1.
. Bonds/IOU's - Public sector jobs paid via bonds not taxes. Government gets bond from the bank, pays the lecturer who then bus a sandwich from a cafe, the cafe worker is then paid, meaning they can produce more, open new branches, and hire new staff.
. Taxation pays for the interest on the bonds.
. Keynes formula - C + I + G = Y, C household spending, I private investment, G government spending, Y money needed to give everyone a wage. If one goes, the other factor will need to pick up slack!

HCJ - Year 2 - Semester 1 - Revision notes Part 1 - Freud

Welcome to the first part of my very own revision notes for this semester's HCJ examination. I am posting them to show my personal understanding of this semester's lectures and seminars, and also as a help tool to fellow students. I would also welcome comments from anyone else who feels I have missed anything important or who have any questions. I am sure there will be bits I am still struggling with, that some aren't and vice versa.

We begin with Freud and the theory of psychoanalysis:



The brain or the mind is separated into 3 parts according to Freud: the ID, EGO & SUPEREGO.

ID - Dominant part of our personalities, basic instinct and desires are found here. The ID is against the social world we live in and does not want to obey by the social and moral rules we have been placed with. It is more of an instinctual part of the brain, and is key to our basic drives. A new born baby is said to be 'ID-ridden' in that it has a mass of instinctive drives.

EGO - Conscious part of our mind, it is the least powerful in Freud's eye's and it provides us with common sense. It often weighs up the balance between good and bad, and takes into account the results of our actions.

SUPEREGO - We gain a moral standing via the superego, and this is from society as a whole. There is a perfection that we are striving for via the superego and when we can not reach this state of perfection, the superego causes guilt in our minds. So if in the past we have not done something socially correct (maybe when the ID has taken over), the superego will feel guilt for it's actions.

In a basic scenario, you may want to buy a car, the car costs £1000, but you only have £500. So do you go into debt? Or do you not buy the car? Or do you save until you have enough money to buy the car comfortably without going into debt? The ID would buy the car as it is a natural desire or a want. The Ego would act as the middle ground and save, as it would take in to consideration the results of putting yourself into debt, and also not having a car, so it will come up with a solution. Whereas, the superego would feel instant guilt and anxiety meaning it would try and force you not to buy at all.

Dreaming - when you asleep it is said that the Ego and Superego are also asleep. So it is now the ID's true desires are brought to the surface in the form of a dream. It puts across the basic instincts of the human mind.


These are just brief notes, but they could help! I also found this website which gives some quite amusing examples:

http://psychology.about.com/od/theoriesofpersonality/a/consciousuncon.htm

HCJ - Seminar Paper

HCJ – Hannah Arendt – The Origins of Totalitarianism

Totalitarianism – An imposing government exercises absolute control over all aspects of life in a State, with an aim to eventually dominate the World. There will be zero opposition to a totalitarian ruler. (Hitler, Stalin etc.)

Arendt begins by explaining how she feels totalitarianism differs from other forms of political expression such as tyranny or dictatorship. However the totalitarian state rises to power it will immediately destroy all social, legal and political traditions. It will have its own ideology and it will use the means of terror to pursue this ideology. The way I can understand this is with the example of Hitler in Nazi Germany, with his ideology to get rid of all Jews and make the Germans a superior race, and by doing this he would kill the Jews and take away their citizenship, or even that Hitler’s ‘ideal’ German, would be a blonde haired, blue eyed strong male (much unlike himself).

Arendt goes on to question what totalitarianism is in comparison to these other form of political oppression. ‘We are tempted at once to interpret totalitarianism as some modern form of tyranny, that is a lawless government where power is wielded by one man’. She explains that ‘fear’ of the ruler by the people, is a sort of hallmark of tyranny throughout the years. Is then totalitarianism a legal form of political ruling, or is it an arbitrary power? A totalitarian rule doesn’t claim to be arbitrary, but it rather claims to be living in the laws of ‘nature’ – They will go back to how the World was originally supposed to be run, this is the only law they have to abide by, and by abiding by these laws it makes it impossible for the totalitarian state in question to become arbitrary, as they are going against what they describe as ‘petty legality’. So 2000 years ago, it would not have been illegal to kill another human, whereas in the present day it obviously is. In order to achieve it’s ideology, the totalitarian state will go back to the natural law, which therefore makes what they do legal. It is their state, and they can enforce which rules they choose.

Consensus iuris – A totalitarian state does not establish its own consensus iuris. So it promises to remove the ‘law’ itself from the will of any man, but rather make mankind the ‘embodiment of the law’ – What I believe this means is that Arendt thinks a totalitarian state wants away with any sort of international or common law, and instead bring the law into the beholder. This will force the ideology of a strong, competitive state, and eventually lead to national satisfaction, and ultimately World domination for the totalitarian state.


A totalitarian government will strive for excellence and will have their set ideology to destroy or eliminate everything that is weak or harmful. Arendt believes that if you take part in this ‘elimination’, then it is in fact destroying nature itself. During a class struggle the lower classes would ‘wither away’, meaning that the higher classes would then become subject to the legality of killing, ‘even if they succeeded in making all of humanity subject to their rule.’ I think this ties in with what certain philosophers believe about the weaker people in life. If someone is in a wheel-chair, or is disabled in some way, it is in the eyes of certain people, that in fact this person in question has in fact ‘tricked’ everyone in to caring for them, and that they are in fact ruling us for this reason. What these people then believe is that we should in fact leave the person to die without any help. If this is done however, nature will begin to die out, the weakest will die, the strongest of the weak will die, then the weakest of the strongest, and so on until there is nobody left for the totalitarian state to kill.

‘Terror becomes total when it becomes independent of all opposition; it rules supreme when nobody any longer stands in its way. If lawfulness is the essence of non-tyrannical government and lawlessness is the essence of tyranny, then terror is the essence of totalitarian domination.’ Here Ardent clearly expresses her feelings of what a totalitarian government is, and how they go about their ideologies. There are no questions asked, it is a straightforward statement, presenting how terror is nothing less than imperative.

Isolation is described as the breeding ground for terror, and that isolation of a man makes him powerless. Power always seems to come from men acting together as a force (‘acting in concert’ – Burke). Within a tyrannical government, their first aim is to bring this isolation about, so it then begs the question, is a tyrannical government the same as a totalitarian one, when it comes to terror, and how they achieve their goals? A totalitarian state thrives on terror, as a major weapon to achieve its ideologies, as does a tyrannical one, therefore you would have to say yes, they are very similar. This being said it is apparent that in a tyrannical government, the private life of men does not get isolated, and that although all public forms of uprising and human capacities are severed, the private sphere is left. In a totalitarian state, this is not the case. All walks of life and ALL forms of human capacity for action are destroyed. It can be said that this is then the true exertion of full terror, and is in this case more than what can be experienced under a tyrannical rule.

Throughout the book ‘the origins of totalitarianism’ Arendt expresses how she believes that the success of the movements are predominantly the cause of the individuals involvement. So she did not see it as Hitler, hypnotising people, but more that mass submission to the rulers, was the reason behind the rulers’ ‘success’. She believes that people should think before they obey, and that everyone has a mind of their own. This can be linked back to the original lecture and the Stanley Milgram experiment.

HCJ - Lecture 4 - Economics - Money is ALL powerful

This weeks HCJ lecture was based on economics and some important figures who held theories about the economy and money. Money is probably the most powerful thing in the world, and it is for this reason that we as humans still exist. I see money as a bartering tool, something to give in exchange for services, products or luxuries. It has been said that we as humans have 'wants' or 'desires'. These desires, in the opinion of many including economist Thomas Malthus outstrip the ability to produce which is a major problem. This is where we can link economics back to previous lectures and my previous posts. In logical terms the word 'need' has no reference point. Humans do not necessarily NEED homes, or clothes, or any kind of luxury, even though we are led to believe that we do in this day in age. Philosophers such as previously discussed Frege will reject 'need' as you can have an emotional feeling towards this word. This being said, the word 'want' on the other hand, has a reference point, I may not need the a pair of shoes, as realistically I could walk around bare-foot, but I do want shoes, as sooner or later my feet will begin to hurt!

Ricardo and the theory of value:
The example given in the lecture was that of a biro against a piano. Now a piano may be worth £5000, whereas a biro is only worth £1. Who decides why the piano is worth 5000x more than the biro? Why should it? In Ricardo's theory he believed that if two things were valued differently it was because the more expensive item, would have taken X amount more labour than the cheaper item. So in the case of the piano and the biro, the piano would have had 5000x more labour gone in to making it than the biro. Once the biro factory is opened, all it takes is a push of a button, whereas the piano has lots of different materials, and takes a lot longer to make.

Thomas Malthus and the 'iron law of population':
At the time of Malthus' theory, it was the age of the Poor Law Reformation in England, and the need for relief was high, with major parts of the UK suffering from famine and poverty. Malthus predicted that the ever-growing population would soon drain the land of all it's resources. He said that if the population grew steady it would need a family to consist of two children. One to take the place of the mother and one the father. At the time however people were having on average four children. This was in my opinion die to the non-existence of contraception and things such as abortion, but also that relief was given in the form of number of children times the price of bread; meaning the more children, the more the relief. Although the draining of resources did not occur, Malthus did have good evidence behind his theories, and could not for-see the invention of contraception and/or abortion.

Ricardo + Malthus = Marx and the 'iron law of wages:
There is a what I believe to be a vicious circle when it comes to wages and employment in certain industries. Being on a journalism course, and wanting to become a sports journalist, I see it fitting to use this example. So a sports journalist pays very well, so suddenly everyone wants to become one. Now the employer has their pick of who they want to employ and who will do it for the right price. This will then give the employer the ability to negotiate and lower the wages. Lots of people then lose interest, meaning a drop in interest. The employer then has no option but to increase the wages once more to meet their need for a worker.

An example of simple economy according to Marx - If you take one apple and give it a value of £3, that is a real value that people are prepared to pay. The company manufacturing the apple need to make a profit for expansion; so new factories, more production and so on. The company spends £2 on the production of the apple, and everything involved, including wages. Someone who works in the factory making the apples, can't afford the £3 for the apple, they can only afford £2. So this get's back to the big bosses at the factory who then decide to reduce the cost of the apple to £2, but in order to make a profit, they now need to cut costs of production to £1. To do this, the have to enforce pay-cuts, so the worker can only afford £1, meaning he still can not afford the apple, even though it is at the price he could previously afford.

Printing money - a confidence trick:
When the government pay a public sector worker, such as a University lecturer or a fireman, they get the wages, not from tax money, but from printing money. They produce these I.O.U type lettes which are given to the bank in exchange for money, which they then distribute around. This is again another kind of economic circle:

Adding to government debt, they take out I.O.U > Lecturer is paid their salary > Lecturer spends their salary on a train ticket, sandwich, coffee > Cafe that produce food/drink have income, as well as train drivers kept in work. So by adding to government spending, it is actually benefiting the economy, in that people are spending money, and employment levels are maintained. The government debt therefore will rise along with the economy. So this does beg the question, why the need for taxation? The taxation goes somewhat towards paying off the interest towards these bonds, or I.O.U's the government is taking out to improve the economy.


Keynes formula
Household spending (C) + Private Investment (I) + Government Spending (G) = Total demand in economy (Y) - or the money needed to give everyone a salary


If one of the factors goes down, then the other two will need to pick up the slack. So if household spending is reduced, government spending will have to increase, so in the area affected (lets say Croydon) will have a shopping centre built or expanded. So there will be more shops, so more jobs to run the shops, more production at the factories, meaning household spending should rise due to these once unemployed people can now afford to spend.

HCJ - Seminar 3 - Frege and language

After the lecture and the reading it was becoming very apparent that the weeks topic was one of the more confusion ones. This being said, after the seminar I felt a bit better and that I understood it a little bit more than what I did going in. Frege made many discoveries when it came to language, a lot of which undermined the ideas of philosophers before him such as Aristotle.

Discovery number 1:

Frege discovered that the meaning of the word is not contained in the word itself, so the word is not a characteristic or property of the object it is named after. So for instance to say a tree has leaves, or a tree is tall is to describe the properties of the tree, but what Frege believed was that the word 'tree' in no way related to a tree. This was totally against the Aristotelean way of thinking, as he would have believed that the meaning of a tree is contained in the word itself. Aristotle's logic was that of syllogistic, whereas Frege's was sentential.

Discovery number 2:

Frege's next theory or discovery about language was that in a proposition or a sentence the words that make them up mean nothing, but the sentence as a whole holds all the meaning. Chris gave an example of a brick wall in the seminar, that each brick represents a word, with the wall representing a sentence. The brick's are meaningless or pointless by themselves and are unable to hold anything up alone, but put together they have a point or a meaning. Along with this theory on sentences Frege also believed that a proposition is made up of two characteristics, a sense and a reference. The reference is an agreed meaning of what the word represents. So to say that 'scorpions are evil', would not have sat well with Frege in that nobody can prove that scorpions are evil, there is no way of proving this with any form of confidence, but likewise you can not dis-prove it. So this brings us back to the old argument of 'the present King of France is bald'. True, False or meaningless?




Discovery number 3:

This was a sentence that was discussed in one my previous blogs: 'there was nobody on the road'. This was a discovery that Frege made, by addressing this problem correctly, and making it make sense, something that Aristotle couldn't do. What Frege said was that 'for all possible roads (argument), no object is on the orad (function). This is true'. This was expressing a negative as a positive.

Winol - Week 6 - Basingstoke Vs Staines - critical feedback and match report

This week I went to the FA Cup clash between Basingstoke and Staines, we only took one camera due to last minute change of plans, sending our second camera to AFC Totton. There were some good and bad points to take from this week, where I also went to Eastleigh's home ground to film Mikey's feature 'WINOL Woodwork'.

Negatives:

The main problem I had with this weeks package was the scripting and voice-over. I feel that from previous weeks, I have taken a massive step back, and that the quality was quite poor. I thought the levels went up and down, and the tone ranges from high to low, and general feedback received tells me that i sounded a little bit bored/not excited or happy by the prospect of describing the action.

I would have liked to have got some better shots of the crowd reaction at the end of the game, but the shots I got were quite poor, so the end of the game celebrations were restricted to that of the players, which were not bad, but as Chris and Brian have explained the so called 'money shots' are that of the crowd and getting their reaction.

Lastly it would have been better to get a longer interview with Frank Gray, as the excitement of Basingstoke getting into the 1st Round of the FA Cup was not shown in the interview, and it may have been an idea to even get into the dressing room and film some celebrations in there (we could hear them from where we were).

WINOL Woodwork:

My role here was to film the players coming up to the camera, recording what they say and then their attempt at hitting the cross-bar. Although it was salvaged to a degree, I made a technical error by having both microphone inputs plugged in resulting in the sound levels being low, and making it sound as if the players were mumbling slightly. In future it is imperative this doesn't happen, and especially with interviews.

Positives:

My pride and joy from the Basingstoke match was the shot I got of the second goal celebrations. This was greatly received by peers and lecturers alike. I think more shots of the crowd and cutaways to them celebrating is key to producing a well put-together package.

WINOL Woodwork was greatly received at Eastleigh and when I went there this weekend, they were all very complimentary of our work, I see this as a great thing, as it is showing we are reaching our target audience successfully.

Match report:
Basingstoke booked their place in the first round proper of the FA Cup this weekend with a 2-1 win over fellow Blue Square South strugglers Staines Town.

The home side enjoyed the early stages of the game, with half chances from Shaun McAuley and Wes Daly threatening to break the deadlock.

The pressure paid off eight minutes before half time, with Basingstoke defender Jay Gasson latching on to a long free-kick to put the home side 1-0 up.

Staines defender Danny Gordon suffered a serious injury in the build up to the opening goal, seemingly falling awkwardly, resulting in over eight minutes of on-the-field treatment, which saw the player being stretchered off.

Basingstoke went 2-0 up shortly after the re-start, this time McAuley finding the ball at his feet two yards from an empty net to knock in the goal.

After the break the momentum seemed to switch as Marc Charles-Smith stole clear to round the keeper and score, halving the home sides advantage to make it 2-1.

With the game on a knife-edge, Basingstoke were made to dig deep to hold on to their lead with Staines having a number of chances, but they managed to hold on to confirm their place in the next round.

After the game, manager Frank Gray expressed his joy at the triumph, "It's good for the club and good for the people who work around the club."

Basingstoke face an away trip to Brentford in the first round proper.

Winol - Week 5 - Eastleigh Vs Welling United - critical feedback and match report

Week five saw me back at Eastleigh, to film Eastleigh Vs Welling United. Eastleigh put an end to their poor run of form with a 3-0 win, and we had two cameras their to capture the action. I also got an interview with Ian Baird (manager) at the end of the game to add to my package.


Match Report

Eastleigh picked up a valuable win on Saturday against a high flying Welling United, in a bid to revive their so far poor season.

It took a while for the game to get going, but after thirty minutes the home side were given a free-kick on the edge of the box after Sam Wilson was brought down. Jamie Slabber struck the ball into the wall, but on-loan Port Vale defender Michael Green fired home the follow up to score on his return to the Silverlake.

The away side were probing for an equaliser, but the Eastleigh defence remained resilient. And after fifty-seven minutes Joe Healy went down in the box slightly too easily for the referee's liking, picking up his second yellow card in the process, and reducing Welling to ten men.

Jordace Holder-Spooner was brought on by Ian Baird for Eastleigh after the hour, and made an instant impact with a great run into the box, laying off a deft back-heeled pass for Richard Gillespie to fire home to make it 2-0.

It didn't take long for the home side to make it three, with confidence flowing, Graeme Montgomery weaved his way into the box before lashing home a left footed strike to put the game beyond no doubt.

Eastleigh had a chance to extend the lead further but Danny Smith saw his shot hit the bar. After the game Ian Baird praised his team's attitude and performance, "I knew I would get a reaction."

This result took Eastleigh up to seventeenth in the league, with Welling remaining second

Negatives:

My package was not used in the bulletin this week, but this was mainly due to sports news stories taking the advantage, and also the Ice Hockey. This being said it did make the bulletin as a 25 second OOV. Overall, problems from previous weeks were addressed with the as-live commentary, but I still feel it could have been a bit tighter, with the commentary seeming a little too rehearsed. We did have the commentary under my voice-over and then turning the volume up for when the voice-over had finished. It would have made it look a little better if the timing of the script for the voice-over fitted in a bit better with the as-live commentary, resulting in parts of my voice-over to be cut out.

This week I missed my first part of action due to technical problems, with me missing a sending-off due to the camera battery popping out moments before the red card, and it being at the opposite end of the ground to where the second camera was, so it was not caught on either. I think it was bound to happen at one point, and fortunately enough it wasn't a goal, and I managed to let the audience know of the sending off in the script for the voice-over. For future reference it will be a priority to make sure that everything is connected properly.

Finally, the last technical issue I had was that the camera was set to the wrong settings, which meant that the tape time was cut from 60 mins to 40 mins, with the halves of football lasting 45+ mins, I was in a little bit of trouble. I managed to switch over the tapes without missing anymore real action, but it was still risky. I had not come across this issue before, and luckily enough I told Mikey about it at half-time who had experienced the issue before, and he managed to rectify the problem before the start of the second half. Just for future reference it would be a good idea (like i've said in previous posts) to check ALL equipment before I leave for the game.

Positives:

Sprtsweek is getting on average 1000 views a week on youtube, and the plugging is going very well, with support from the club forums we use and the clubs promoting on twitter and facebook.

The quality of the packages are getting better by the week, with me experimenting with different techniques, such as different camera angles, replays and slow-motion action replays. My scripting has been praised, and the addition of more chances is the only thing needed to make it that extra bit better.