Well, I don't think anyone predicted that

Despite England having a dreadful World Cup (aside from a refereeing perspective) there was one thing that could put a smile on our faces: The German's secret weapon was an octopus named Paul, who could apparently predict the results of games.

Paul would pick a box with the right countries flag on it and get inside, and this box would be the team that would win that particular match. Seems a bit far-fetched, but shockingly, Paul predicted 100% correctly in the entire tournament. Well for Germany matches and the final, still pretty impressive!

After the World Cup it became known that Paul was in fact English born and not German, and the Germans had stolen him from us. Pretty much like they did with their entire national squad. To name a few Podolski (Polish), Klose (Polish), Ozil (Turkish) and Boateng (Ghanaian). Finally, something for us patriotic Englishmen to be proud of!

However, on October the 26th, the Weymouth born octopus was found dead in his tank in Germany. He will be remembered throughout the world for his predictions that left many stunned, and I think i speak for everyone when I say he will be sorely missed.

Journalism Now - The history of major wholesale news reporting agencies

News agencies are organisations that provide news coverage to newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations. Some examples of news agencies are Reuters, the Press Association (PA) and Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Reuters is one of the most important news agencies to be formed. It is a London based agency and was opened by a German man called Paul Julius Reuter. It began by transmitting stock market quotations between London and Paris via the new Calais-Dover telegraph cable. The organisation continued to grow, soon extending to the whole of Britain and parts of Europe. It also began transmitting economic and general news. The reputation of Reuters was rapidly increasing, and in 1865 it had it's most important scoop. The story was that of President Abraham Lincoln's assassination. It was the first agency in Europe to provide news of this development, and it is believed that this story is one of the major reasons for Reuters' success. In 1883 it began to transmit messages electronically to all London newspapers, making the distribution of news even faster. Reuters are famously known for objective reporting, but during the two World Wars it was subject to pressure from the British Government to serve national interests. This went against the objective view that it had, but in 1941 it managed to avert this pressure by making itself a private company with the new owners forming the 'Reuters Trust'. This effectively safeguarded the organisations independence and neutrality.

The Agence France-Presse is one of the most important news agencies. It was originally founded under the name Agence Havas, by Charles-Louis Havas, and was the first international news agency in the world. It provided information to many French newspapers, periodicals and magazines. It was this agency that influenced the formation of other agencies such as Reuters in Britain. It originally began distributing news via traditional methods, such as carrier pigeons and horse-drawn carriages. In 1842 France's railroad system was built, meaning distribution was made easier and quicker. Three years later the telegraph was invented meaning the AFP were able to distribute their news around Europe. It was all going very well for the organisation, until it was stripped of it's distribution service during World War Two. Just before the end of World War Two it was reborn under the new name Agence France-Presse. Journalists in the resistance seized the Paris headquarters as France was liberated from Nazi occupation. Like other news agencies, the organisation had a strong belief to be objective, and in 1957 it formed a statute that defined the independence and freedom of it's journalists. Article two from this statute reads 'Agence France-Presse may not under any circumstances take account of influences or considerations that would compromise the accuracy or objectivity of the news; it must not under any circumstances pass under legal or de facto control of an ideological, political or economic group'. It wanted the reporters to be fast, fair and accurate, and under no circumstances be influenced otherwise.

The Press Association (PA) is another example of a news agency that is committed to providing fast, fair and accurate news. It was founded in 1868 by a group of newspaper owners. The aims of the Press Association was to produce a more accurate and reliable alternative to the telegraph companies. One man who joined the Press Association, Chris Moncrieff, has written a book on the history of the organisation, 'Living on a Deadline'.

HCJ - Semester One - Lecture Two

John Locke is a very important figure when discussing empiricism. He had many ideas about the social contract, or the way in which people agreed to be ruled.

During the lecture it was put across that Locke's work and opinions are only key to his time, and that the context of his work and findings were extremely important. Others do believe that Locke would maintain the same beliefs even in todays world - personally I do not feel that the time in which Locke lived played an important role in his beliefs. Locke's 'state of nature' can be seen as an example; 'everyone enjoys a natural freedom and equality but obey natural laws' - We do live in this sort of environment today, in that we obey laws put out by the government, and everyone does have the freedom to do as they please within the laws. Even though this outlines some of Locke's ideals, he may not be happy with it all together when he sees it put into practice.

Descartes was one for thinking that we were born with set ideas imprinted onto our mind, however, Locke disagrees with this notion and I would have to agree with him. In his Essay Concerning Human Understanding he outlines that all of our knowledge comes from experience: 'All our knowledge is founded'. It was also mentioned in the lecture that there is test where by you can think of anything you know in your brain and it can be traced back to an earlier memory or experience where you learned this piece of information, I do not know about anybody else, but I certainly do not have anything in my brain by which I cannot recall how it was learned. For instance a baby is not born with the ability to talk or walk; hence it learns from parents or others around it, this is why an English baby with English parents will learn English, on the other hand a Spanish born baby with Spanish parents will not automatically talking English! The way by which Locke says we get this knowledge is through sensation, using our God given senses to take the information we are given. Locke is not a man who dismisses religion as he does believe that God has given us a brain which is capable of reasoning, but not given us ideas before we are born. 'I think, it will be granted easily, that if a child were kept in a place where he never saw any other but black and white till he were a man, he would have no more ideas of scarlet or green' - a quote from Locke outlining his belief that if you were only exposed to certain things like colours of black and white, you would not know of any other colours at all, thus backing up the point that we are not born with imprints or ideas already in our heads.

Locke: 'To ask, at what time a man has first any ideas, is to ask, when he begins to perceive' - you can only have ideas once you can perceive, you can only begin to perceive once you are born - you are born with no ideas. 'foetus in the mother's womb differs not much from the state of a vegetable' - This is a quote from the reading which I found quite amusing but at the same time quite important. He likens the baby in the womb as a vegetable, something that cannot perceive or think, therefore it will have no thoughts or impressions, how can it be then that we are born with ideas in our heads?

Locke begins to question the soul and the body and if they are two separate things. He asks himself if the soul is still thinking whilst the man is sleeping; and if so doe this mean that the soul is experiencing joy, happiness, sorrow and pain whilst the man is non the wiser. 'For to be happy or miserable without being conscious of it, seems to me utterly inconsistent and impossible' - this could back up his claims that the soul and body are two persons in that he believes that the soul does think whilst you sleep and therefore does experience feelings but the person is not conscious of it. Locke then goes on to discuss even further possibilities of the soul leaving the body whilst we sleep and taking up someone else's body to do its thinking. He even goes on to suggest that two people could share a soul - At this point in the essay I find it hard to grasp the concept that Locke is getting at although I can see why he may think that. Personally, I believe that any thought made whilst asleep is conveyed as a dream and is a reflection on previous days events and this is the reason as to why we may not remember the dreams, because we have already lived them. The reason why Locke believes we do not remember the souls thoughts when we wake is that the soul does not have organs or body for the thoughts to leave an impression on.

Locke seems to like playing with the idea of dreaming and is it the soul that makes us dream. He describes dreaming as irrational and frivolous, therefore making it insignificant, so he concludes that this is the reason why the brain may forget to remember it.' And I say, it is as possible that the soul may not always think; and much more probable that it should sometimes not think, than that it should often think, and that a long while together, and not be conscious to itself, the next moment after, that it had thought.' What I think Locke is trying to say here is that he believes the soul to be thinking on some occasions but not on others, even though he does argue that it is impossible to prove. What I also get from this is that he believes the soul to not be aware of its thoughts.

WINOL

So in todays 'briefing' for Journalism Now we were shown the latest WINOL bulletin, to which we were asked an opinion of; what was good? What was bad? Could anything be changed to make it better?

Firstly I will start off with a good point, to which there are many. The presentation as a whole I thought was done to a very high standard. The presenters of the show were both confident, well spoken and their voices kept the listener intrigued. Sure there was one or two stutters between them, but such things are seen on proffesional news stations, so it cannot be faulted greatly. The presenters were at all times very proffesional in the way they spoke, but also gave the feeling that they were your friend and that they were extremely relaxed, especially when it came to the presentation of the BJTC Award.

I thought both Jack and Julie were extremely professional and well spoken in their pieces, if I could criticise anything it would be that the first interview that Jack had, seemed to be drowned out a little by background noise, and perhaps he could have selected a better place. Also when the camera was on Jack in the MMC the quality of the recording was incredibly inferior to that of the rest of the prodcution.

It was mentioned in the lecture that perhaps one of the sports commentators was slightly monotone and did not seem enthused by reporting what he was seeing - after listening again, I think they were referring to David and the Winchester City Vs Hayling United match. The commentary does seem to be a bit lacking and even seems a bit rushed in places, but personally I think it is a good effort overall.

One of the main issues I had with the bulletin was the order of the news stories. During the lecture everyone identified the tuition fees as the most important story, this has me asking then, why was it not first? The story of foreigners not being able to use their ID's seems an insignificance when compared to this story, and in my personal opinion has no right to be first up.

When all said and done, I think it was an extremely good effort from everyone, and look forward to seeing more in the future! I hope this helps!

HCJ - Semester One - Lecture One

Having missed my first lecture back I have not got the notes, however from my own knowledge and reading, I have typed up some notes that will hopefully help!

The move away from the authority of the Church to the increasing belief of science is a key factor when discussing the periods of 'medieval' history and 'modern' history. Churches were the dominant force in medieval history, however the States began to replace them. Even though this is the case, it was mainly the Church and religion that had an influence on philosophers during the middle ages. The rejection of the Church was seen as a negative move, whereas the acceptance and move towards science was seen as a positive one. There was a huge difference between the authority of the Church and that of science in that the Church, or religion, set aside certain rules concerning morality, human hopes, and the past and future of the World. On the contrary, science was based on probability and was open to change. The move away from the Church meant a growth in individualism, this was seen as a bad thing in some cases as too much individualism led to anarchy. Even though those of the Church did not want to relinquish control, it seemed as though they were fighting a losing battle, as it was the result of practical science that led to certain advancements including that of machinery.

Bertrand Russell seemed to have a strong liking for Niccolo Machiavelli and goes as far as to describe him as a 'man of supreme eminence in political philosophy'. Machiavelli's philosophy is that of a scientific one and claims based on his own experience and evidence, thus making him an empiricist. At the time when Machiavelli's interest in politics was growing Girolamo Savonarola was in charge, and he obviously had a great impact on Machiavelli as they shared some of the same views. Both were very hostile towards the renaissance and the blatant corruption within the government. Machiavelli had two important works, 'The Prince' and 'Discourses'. The Prince was written in an attempt to give advice on how a Prince may gain and retain power, reasoning for this may be because Machiavelli believed that most of the rulers or people of power had not gained their positions in a fair way, and were therefore corrupt. In Discourses Machiavelli's belief in religion is shown in that he creates an ethical hierarchy, or a list of people, from important to not. His most favoured and important people are the founders of religion and his least favoured are the destroyers. Machiavelli believed that the closer you were to the main Churches in Italy, the less religious you actually were, and he also believed that the 'evil conduct has undermined religious belief'.

During the 17th century there were many advances in science thanks to four important figures of that time:

1) Copernicus - He was a religious man, and it was this reason that he was reluctant to publish a lot of his findings, although he did not make them a secret. He was devoted to astronomy and he believed that the Sun was the centre of the universe, and that the Earth has a 'twofold motion' - diurnal, so it moves in its own circle, and annual revolution about the Sun. This was known as the heliocentric theory (Copernican theory)

2) Kepler - He was also a religious man and carried on the works of Copernicus regarding the heliocentric theory. Kepler was influenced not only by Copernican, but by Pythagoras as well. His great achievement however, was that of his three laws of planetary: The planets describe elliptic orbits, of which the sun occupies one focus; the line joining a planet to the sun sweeps out equal areas in equal times; and the square of the period of revolution of a planet is proportional to the cube of its average distance from the Sun.

3) Galileo - 'Acceleration' was his main achievement. The Law of the falling bodies: no matter what the shape or size of an object the acceleration is constant and it will not change.

4) Newton - proved Kepler's three laws are equivalent the the proposition that every planet, at every moment, has an acceleration towards the Sun. He also concluded that 'force' is the cause of change of motion. Newton could be described as the man who tied up all the loose ends (if any) for the three previous mentioned Philosophers.

Francis Bacon is seen as an important figure during the European Enlightenment, such is true that Bertrand Russell feels it important to dedicate a chapter in his book. Bacon grew up around the Parliament and State affairs due to his family being heavily involved. Bacon himself entered Parliament at the age of twenty-three and in 1618 became Lord Chancellor. After two years he got into trouble for taking bribes and was forced to live the remainder of his days as a book writer. One of his most famous books was 'The Advancement of Learning', from which it is said the saying 'knowledge is power' was originated from. Bacon's philosophy was practical in that he wanted to give man the power over the forces of nature by the means of scientific discoveries and inventions. He did accept religion, and he would not argue with the government over it. He believed that reason could show God's existence, but everything else in theology could only be proven by revelation. Bacon rejected the Copernican theory, and he also did not see the importance of mathematics.

Mathematics was an important part of the European Enlightenment, and unlike Bacon, Hobbes was an admirer of this method. Hobbes was a very well educated man, such proof can be taken from the fact that he translated 'The Medea of Euripides' into Latin iambics at the age of fourteen, and by fifteen he went to Oxford University where he was taught scholastic knowledge. Hobbes was most famous for his Leviathan - one of the publications of this was the way he felt about democracy, describing it as evil. At the time of its publication it was widely rejected and it was seen to offend refugees, and being that Hobbes was living in France, it done him no favours that it attacked the Catholic Church; this extremely offending the government, forcing him to flee back to London. It was not long that Hobbes' writings were being investigated for atheism in London, mainly due to superstitious fears being aroused at the time due to the Plague and the Great Fire. The main content of the writings included ideas such as 'imagination is a decaying sense, both being motions', and 'imagination when asleep is dreaming'. He also goes on to discuss the importance of speech, in that without words we could not conceive any general idea, and without language there would be no truth or false. He also goes on to discuss the way in which our lives are governed, and how all men come into communities to each with a central authority. He believes that the supreme power of a community, be it a single man or a group of people is called the Sovereign, and they have unlimited rights and powers.

René Descartes is often considered the founder of modern philosophy. Bertrand Russell explains, I think, importantly how the use of Holland in the seventeenth century was key. Holland was the only country where there was freedom of speculation, with most philosophers having to have their books printed there. Descartes was a sincere Catholic although he was supportive of the advancements of science, and it is for this reason he tried to persuade the Church to be less hostile towards the new findings. Descartes' most important contribution to mathematics was that of co-ordinates. He has two very important books: 'Discourse on Method' and 'Meditations'. It was in these that Descartes most famous passage was written. Descartes spoke of 'Cartesian doubt', by which he made himself doubt everything that he could manage to doubt. So for instance me sitting here typing up a blog on Western Philosophy, might actually not be what I am doing. It could be a dream and I could be in bed asleep, or in fact I could be insane and imagining the whole thing through hallucinations. The only thing that Descartes did not doubt was his mind: 'I think, therefore I am', makes mind more certain over matter, and my mind more certain than minds of others.

I have done a previous blog on Sir Thomas More and Utopia, so thought it would be a waste of time re-typing my notes so instead I will just post a link below:

http://daelgornall.blogspot.com/2009/09/sir-thomas-more-and-utopia.html

To any first years I hope this helps, I have been here and done this before, the first time not being so successful, but hopefully this time around will be different.

Radio bulletin 4

In the presentation of the recent budget, Alistair Darling has announced that the threshold for stamp duty on first time buyers has doubled from one hundred and twenty five thousand pounds, to two hundred and fifty thousand pounds. This increase will mean that around one hundred and thirty six thousand first-time buyers will be exempt from paying tax on the value of their house, however Darling plans to raise the duty to five percent in order to fund the increase.

We spoke to a student at the university of Winchester, Matthew Maidment who himself is a first time buyer of a property in Southampton:

http://edublogs.tv/play_audio.php?audio=6832

Radio bulletin 3

In the presentation of the recent budget Alistair Darling has announced that cider has incurred a thirteen percent increase, meaning a seventy-five centre-litre bottle will now cost nine pence more. This has left many cider consumers angry especially considering wine, beer and spirit duties will only rise by five percent.

We spoke to a Winchester local:

http://edublogs.tv/play_audio.php?audio=6831

(Written in way of a script, so numbers written as words)

Radio News day - Week two

Winchesters three prospective MP's were this week questioned on the ban of fox hunting, and whether the constant debate to overturn this ban was correct. Steve Brine, Martin Tod and Patrick Davies were the three to take part in the debate and were hoping to get the votes of local countryside campaigners and farmers, just months before the general election.

We asked local Councillor, Daryl Henry, of Colden Common and Twyford her opinion;

In: ...Its very difficult

Out: a different matter...

Return of the Beck

When Manchester United drew AC Milan in the last 16 phase of the Champions League, I do not think anybody could have predicted the emotions displayed at the full time whistle. The occasion saw David Beckham, a United legend and supporter return to his former club.

Being a Manchester United supporter myself it was hard not to wish a man who I had idolised in my younger years luck, and secretly maybe wanted him to score (although I failed to mention that to the lads in the pub).

Manchester United fans gave Beck's a tremendous reception and personally I think that meant more to him than the scoreline, which he pretty much overshadowed! Beckham even joined in the recent campaign against the Glazer families control of Manchester United by donning the green and gold scarf at the full time whistle, at which point he was almost in tears.

Personally, I hope this is not the last time we see Becks at Old Trafford. Maybe a bit far fetched, but it would be nice to see him return to his old club to see out the rest of his career.

Radio News day - Week one

Winchester's long standing Fire Station is set to be relocated to Easton Lane in Winnall in 2011 after a deal was done to turn the old one into affordable housing, something there has been much demand for in recent years.

Bergate Homes are the company that have secured the deal giving the fire station a chance to cope with an ever increasing staff load by relocating to a larger site.

We caught up with the Station Manager of Winchester Fire Station, Dave Turner, to ask his opinion on the relocation.

*AUDIO CLIP* http://edublogs.tv/play_audio.php?audio=6480

(FOR THOSE WHO CANT UPLOAD GO TO EDUBLOGS.TV AND CREATE AN ACCOUNT WHICH WILL ALLOW YOU TO UPLOAD MP3 - THEN SIMPLY POST A LINK ON YOUR BLOG)

The development of the new housing is said to be costing around £10 million, with the new fire station costin £4 million.

Immanuel Kant - HCJ - Lecture 2

HCJ – Lecture two

Kant

Kant:

Immanuel Kant was the last influential philosopher in the theory of knowledge, following on from people we have covered such as Locke, Berkeley and Hume. Kant was a liberal thinker and his ideas on noumenal objects were supportive of those same ideas that Hume and Berkeley had. Kant believed that when you looked away from an object, or stopped perceiving it, it stayed there, but was not the same; when you begin perceiving the object it becomes phenomena. So if you was in a room with no windows and no doors, then Kant would have believed that anything outside of that room was different to what it would be if it were being perceived through a window. Berkeley had a similar notion in that he believed when you do not perceive something it does not exist, or that it flashes in and out of existence, Berkeley believed that God was to blame for this. This would have been because at the times of his philosophy, anything un-explainable was considered an act of God. Hume, however believed that there is no causation in nature, only in our minds the objects are there; anything that you can see is in one’s eyes only.

Kant’s morality

In Kant’s opinion something is only good if it can be legislated as a universal law. This was in opposition to utilitarianism, which is the greatest good for the greatest number. Kant would believe that making all the money would bring all the pleasure. However, utilitarianism would reject this notion as not everyone can be rich. The morality by which Kant lived by also included the theory that any kind of lie is bad, and that the whole World ending would be better than someone telling a lie. So telling an axe murderer where your friends are so he can kill them would be better than lying to save them. Regardless of the outcome, the intent one has is most important. Kant believed that if you were doing something morally right in order to gain respect than it was wrong, but if you were doing something morally right, just because you know it is morally right than it is a good thing.

HCJ - Lecture 1 - Semester 2 - Liberty/Liberalism

In the first semester we discussed certain philosophers who believed that the individual should have more power, therefore more freedom. These philosophers include people such as John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. In order to achieve the Liberalism and to give power to the individual each should be given the equality of opportunity, however also freedom should be more important than equality itself. This fits in nicely with the views of three important Liberal figures: John Wilkes, Mary Wollstonecraft and J.S Mill.

John Wilkes:

Wilkes was an ugly fellow and was somewhat well known for his bad looks! Although this is the case, it did not deter from the fact that he was man of strong opinion and actually established laws that journalists use today. He was a very rebellious character and a member of the Hellfire Club, which were a group that pretty much did whatever they pleased. Wilkes was also the co-writer of, what was at the time, described as the dirtiest poem in the English language: 'Essay on Woman'. It was for his rebellious behaviour that he was liked so much by common people of England, and was elected Mayor of London.

Wilkes importantly for us today established a law that allows us to report on parliament. This consequently giving journalists of the time more freedom, and therefore more power. This links in well with the notion of liberalism and giving the public more knowledge on what actually happened in the politics of their country. In 1762 the 3rd Earl of Bute, John Stuart was appointed Prime Minister by King George III. This was extremely opposed by Wilkes, and he showed his hatred for the King and Stuart when he, although it could not be proved, published a newspaper opposing the King's 'North Briton', with the 'South Briton'. The South Briton was a much loved newspaper, and included scandalous insults on Stuart and the King, including one story claiming John Stuart was having a relationship with the King's mother. The King done everything in his power to stop Wilkes, including bribery and prosecution; neither being successful. In Issue 45 of the South Briton, the publisher accused the King of being a liar, to which a general warrant was issued and Wilkes was arrested. There was no proof and Wilkes consequently sued the government. This sort of behaviour was generally unheard of at the time, however Wilkes won the case, displaying a further power for the individual and a greater step towards a liberal England.

It began to go down-hill for Wilkes when his 'Essay on Woman' poem was read aloud in Parliament by Lord Sandwich (the inventor of the sandwich!) causing pandemonium. Wilkes fled to France, but upon his return was arrested. This did not cease his popularity though, as he regained his seat from prison, however the house voted Wilkes incapable of being elected. Wilkes also pushed for more freedom in the form of complete male suffrage, thus giving every man the ability to vote. This because at the time only people of certain standings within the community had the vote.

Mary Wollstonecraft:

Mary Wollstonecraft had a very hard early life, her father was obsessed with public standing, which led to his inevitable downfall, and she was forced to work as a governess in Ireland for extremely poor pay. She had an extreme passion for education and most importantly, giving women the same education as men. She believed that women were only given this education by which they were taught superficial things such as how to cook, clean or sew; the things that were expected of a woman in those days. She believed that women ere entitled to a freedom of knowledge and that they should be given the equality of opportunity. In Mary's opinion, women were too quick to accept this education, and she was in general critical of women as a whole, and not men, who may have been seen as the people to implement this method of education.

Wollstonecraft would have supported John Locke's theory that the human has nothing in their mind to start off with, and that everybody starts with this 'blank slate'. The majority of men at the time would have believed this applied only to men, whereas Locke and Wollstonecraft believed it to be all humans. She published her first book, 'Thoughts on the Education of Daughters', this was described as a 'self-help' book that gave women advice on not only how not to accept the conventions of education, but also gave etiquette and morality advice, as well as guidelines on how to care for infants.

Another philosopher who intrigued Wollstonecraft was Jean-Jacques Rousseau; even though she was in awe of him she was also critical of him; Mary was fully supportive of the French Revolution and the tearing down of the old regime, which was mainly driven by Rousseau, however, she had previously pleaded with the leaders of revolutionary France to ignore Rousseau's views of women and to grant them full equality.

Wollstonecraft's most famous publication was the Vindication of the Rights of Women; this was diagnosis of the current state of female manners, and was not an attack on society for treating women the way they did, but rather aimed at middle class women to ask them why they were accepting these conventions. It metaphorically put a mirror in front of the female population, and was seen as a well needed wake up call. The vindication was given a very warm response.

J.S. Mill

J.S. Mill was an important figure for political liberalism. He was a son of a philosopher, and was grandson to Jeremy Bentham, the creator of utilitarianism. He was a very smart young man, however this could have been seen to be his downfall when at 20 he had a nervous breakdown. William Wordsworth was an important figure in his life, and his poetry helped him through his tough time. Mill was a big supporter of liberty and said that 'freedom of speech is an absolute, never silence an opinion'. This something that Descartes would have approved in. Descartes believed that until something was proved beyond reasonable doubt then it could not be dismissed. Therefore, one persons opinion is as important as 100 peoples opinion. The notion Mill had was 'do and think what you want as long as it does not harm anybody'. Examples we had in the lecture was a policeman can get drunk everyday, as long as he is sober for his day of work.

Utilitarianism is the greatest good for the the greatest number and was a method thought up by Jeremy Bentham, primarily to help aid the poor law reformation in England. He believed that individuals should have economic and personal freedom, separation of Church and the State, freedom of expression, equal rights for women and laissez faire, which is free trade. All of these beliefs were held in high regards and taken upon knot only by Mill, but by others including Mill's father, James, and political leaders such as Robert Owen.

Media Law (6) - notes

Copyright:

• Similar to theft as it is taking someones work and passing it off as your own.
• The person who originally published this work could sue you if they did not grant you or sell you permission to use their work.
• Original act was in 1911 but was updated in 1988 for technological advancements such as photography.
• If it was not for copyright then journalism would not exist: no copyright, no profit.
• Any work you do belongs to you unless you are contracted to give it up or you sell it.
• wages or fees are often substituted for the right of your work
• If you are freelance then you can sell your work for whatever price you please. For example if you get the last photograph of David Beckham before he dies and you are freelance you could sell it for millions. On the other hand, if you are a working for The Sun and you get this photograph, they will sell it for millions. You will get your £100 usual rate!
• It is very important to understand that there is no copyright in ideas or facts and information.
• The Da Vinci Code case:

Dan Brown the author of the Da Vinci Code was sued in 2007 by two authors who claimed to have published a similar story to his some years before. Even though what they were saying was true, the stories were similar, there was no direct lifting from Brown and the judge ruled that there was no copyright in idea of this sort.

Media Law (4) - notes

Qualified Privilege:

• Common law QP is one of the best defences for defamation.
• The defence has to prove that the statement they have made was in the 'public interest'.
• The publication also has to be free from malice
• For the judge to decide, he/she will look at the whole career of publications in order to determine if the journalist in question generally reports accurately and fairly.
• The Toogood Vs Spyring case:

Spyring accused his butler Toogood of stealing silverware so fired him. When Toogood went to get another job Spyring was asked for a reference to which he mentioned about the incident. Toogood attempted to sue claiming it would be impossible for him to get a job elsewhere, however the appeal was rejected as it was judged that Spyring was acting in the public interest.

• Another important case for QP is the Reyonlds Vs Sunday Times:

The Times published a story that the then Prime minister of Ireland, Albert Reynolds knew about the Catholic Churches priests child abuse. Reynolds unhappy at this sued for libel but failed as the Times proved that it was in the public interest. However, the case was made very hard to judge as The Times omitted the Prime minister's response from the time of accusation, therefore meaning that he was being victimised and not being treated fairly. Subsequently this case was the starting point of the Reynolds test by which further tricky defamation cases would be measured against:

1. The seriousness of the allegation.
2. The nature of the information and whether the subject matter is of public concern.
3. The source of the information.
4. The steps taken to confirm/verify the information obtained.
5. The status of the information. Has it already been subject to investigation.
6. Urgency.
7. Was the Claimant’s comment sought.
8. Does the article contain the ‘gist’ of the Claimant version of events.
9. What is the tone of the article. Should avoid making allegations a statement of fact.
10. circumstances of the publication concerning the timing.

Media Law (3) - notes

Defamation:

• People consider their reputation when attacking someone for defamation.
• The person does not have to prove they have been defamed; the person being accused of publishing a defaming statement has to prove it is not.
• Dr Joe Rahamim is an example when it was accused he was not good at his job by channel 4 news/ITN and was awarded one million pounds. They said he was probably responsible for the death or serious injury to many of his patients. Channel 4 also had to retract their statement.
• The dead cannot be defamed.
• A third party cannot sue on a defamed ones behalf.
• Slander is different as it is not permanent, you may still be sued for it, however journalists rarely get sued for slander as anything they publish is often permanent.
• Internet libel = bad! Becomes international.
• Libel requires:

1. exposing defamed to ridicule/contempt
2. causes them to be shunned/avoided
3. discredits them
4. lowers them generally

• Malice is lies, and for publishing a malicious statement not only will you be sued but could also face police prosecution.
• Defences for defamation:

1. Justification - If the information is true then cannot be defamatory.
2. Fair comment - an opinion and not fact (often done in the way of a cartoon).
3. Absolute and qualified privilege.

Media Law (2) - notes

There are three basic legal principles:

1. Presumption of innocence until proven guilty beyond any reasonable doubt.
2. Justice seen to be done - accusation of law breaking must stand up in court.
3. Evidence based - so the right to have evidence tested in front of a jury.

In England there are six Crown Courts, with two presiding judges; their key functions are to try indictable crimes which are sent from the Magistrates court, cases sent for sentences which cannot be administered in a lower court and to hear appeals.

• Magistrates Court - deals with family matters/disputes such as divorce, child benefit.
• Most court cases are protected by the human rights act which allows us and anybody else the freedom to sit in; the exceptions are adoption cases, family matters and official secrets.

Contempt:

• Anything that will cause a prejudice opinion in court is considered contempt.
• reporting opinions expressed by jurors.
• anything that interferes with course of justice.
• any breach of a court order.

Media Law (1)

In the UK there is no written fundamental law for the media or journalists. There are however statute laws, historical documents and case laws that prevent certain publications, and these these laws are enforced through many different court systems.

The Supreme Court is the highest court, although cases here are often appeals from the next court down which is the High Court. This is divided into three:
1) Queens Bench - compensation claims/breach of contract
2) Family Division - divorce/welfare claims
3) Chancery Division - bankruptcy

A good example of a family division case heard in the High Court is the Diane Blood case in which a woman fought for the rights of her children to be given their deceased father's name even though he had died months before their posthumous conception.

The Civil and Criminal Courts deal with civil disputes and acts that are either anti-social or criminal law. As oppose to cases heard in the Supreme and High Courts, the Civil and Criminal cases are heard as Smith Vs Smith as oppose to Queen Vs Smith. The criminal courts are organised using a hierarchy:
1) Crown Court/Old Bailey
2) County Court
3) Magistrates Court

In a court room, if the jury are not convinced beyond reasonable doubt then the defendant is NOT guilty.

Cape Town joy for England

After all the build up and hype surrounding the 2010 football World Cup, the draw for the first round group stages was announced today. Many in England are hopeful for the nations chances in South Africa following an almost perfect qualification campaign; but lets face it everyone fancies England before a major competition.

The optimistic fans will be boosted by what seems a pretty straight forward draw for the English, as they face the USA, Slovenia and Algeria at the first hurdle. However, the second round could prove a test: if England do qualify, they could face a tricky test against Germany or Serbia. Only time will tell if England will line up against their arch enemies.

As for the rest of the draw there will be some interesting fixtures; especially that of group G which is being labelled a group of death: tournament favorites Brazil, arguably the strongest African nation, Ivory Coast and Portugal will battle it out to escape to the next round along with rank outsiders North Korea.

Italy, Spain, France and Argentina all seem to have favourable draw and are poised to qualify from their groups, however at this stage of the competition no games are easy. Only 188 days to go until the tournament kicks off, and it can almost be guaranteed that all the players and staff involved are chomping at the bit to get out there.

Hampshire Council to implement 'driving under the influence' campaign

Across Hampshire the County Council are implementing a ‘driving under the influence’ campaign from the 30^th November to reduce the number of drunk and drug drivers.

     The Council are sending out 32 taxis with the slogan ‘you drink, I’ll drive’ plastered on the side in an attempt to persuade drivers to use them instead of driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol. 

      This seems like a good idea, but the Council could surely look at other was to make the campaign more effective; cheaper fares or free bus services could seem more appealing to possible offenders.

      A recent road safety week was organised by a charity called Brake, and according to them 15,935 people were either killed or injured in 2007 due to intoxicated drivers.

      Many people who drug-drive often do so without realising due to taking prescribed medication, which affects their driving ability; this is now being highlighted on pharmacy bags as part of the campaign.

     As with the drink driving campaign surely there could be more done to prevent prescription drug driving, and the success of the campaign will reflect this.

    There are already deterrents in place to stop drink or drug drivers: doing so can land you up to 6 months in prison, at least a years driving ban and up to £5000 in fines.

      The results of the campaign will be interesting, and if it is a success the campaign will surely be implemented elsewhere in the UK. 

Will it be a white Christmas?

If you have poked your head out of the door recently, I am sure you would have felt the extreme chill in the air. Just a week ago it would have seemed extremely unlikely that we would be talking about a possible white Christmas, however with conditions this week being reported at 5-6 degrees Celsius, a lot of people are predicting snow.

Snow can be an exciting time for a lot of people, especially the young; a lot of people will also be hoping for snow in order to make their own Christmas experience that extra bit special. After all, in England all we usually experience is soggy leaves and puddles. Even though this is the case, people who are travelling around the Christmas period in order to spend this time with family or friends could face the hardships of delays and cancellations in public transport, and the impossibilities of driving; we all remember the immense problems caused by the snowfall in the early parts of this year! One thing that stands out for me about that time was seeing cars abandoned at the side of the road; if we do have a repeat performance I would advise steering clear of road use!

The temperatures for the beginning of the year that prompted those major snowfalls ranged between -18.4 degrees to 15.4 degrees, so if you are hoping for a white Christmas you could well be in luck, be sure to keep an eye on those weather updates.

Stats source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/weather/hi/uk_reviews/newsid_7924000/7924118.stm