14th Journalism Leaders Forum

Yesterday I attended the 14th Journalism Leaders Forum which was held at UCLan. The forum was held in order to discuss the recent scandals within the press.

The panel was made up of Bob Satchwell, the executive director of the Society of Editors, Bettina Peters, director of the Global Forum for Media Development, Professor Chris Frost author of Journalism Ethics and Regulation, Martin Moore director of the Media Standards Trust and a founder of HackedOff, Martain Wainwright, northern editor of The Guardian and Professor Peter Cole former head of journalism at both UCLAN and Sheffield universities and co-author of Newspaper Journalism.

The evening, which was conducted in the style of BBC's Question Time, was chaired by Michael Williams.

The main question of the night was, in light of recent issues with phone hacking, should the press be free or do we need some kind of statutory control to regain public trust and prevent anything like this from happening again.

Photograph by Emerson Utracik

Chris Frost said that the main point of 'hackgate' was not what was exposed but the way newspapers are conducting themselves. He did however highlight the fact that as it was the Guardian that broke the 'hackgate' story the press are still doing their job.

Martain Wainwright said that we don't want to lose the fun side of journalism saying that it is a "ethically hazardous but very enjoyable" industry.

Bettina Peters, who was talking at the conference via video call from Columbia, said that Britain needs to look at the press regulation of other countries such as Sweden and Denmark where law establishes the rules but the press is regulated through the journalists, publishers, editors and judges.

No one can deny the need for an improvement of press regulation in Britain, the public are loosing confidence in the press the question is how we go about this.


To draw the forum to a close Michael Williams asked the panel how we could regulate the press, Peter Cole said that the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) should be given investigative powers, Bob Satchwell said that we need to strengthen the press and media as a whole and remind people that the press play a big role in the democracy of Britain.

Chris Frost said that for as long as people can opt out of the PCC problems like these could still happen, Martain Moore said that there needs to be statutory recognition within the press regulation while Martain Wainwright said that the punishments used need to frighten people.

Bettina Peters said that it is important that Britain's press strengthens public interest and admit that the press need to change.

Photograph by piper caldwell

I feel that Britain's press freedom is essential to the running of our country. One of the major roles of the British Press is to hold the government to account. If we have statutory regulation the press may no longer be able to fulfil this purpose.

Overall it was a very insightful night which I enjoyed taking part in.

Trying my hand at something new...

I am not an expert in fashion but in a bid to try something different I decided to get involved in the style section of the UCLan students union PR1 magazine. I got my piece published online and it can be seen here.

My front page

In my magazine design class earlier this week we were given the task of inventing a front page of a made up magazine with a theme of our choice. Saying as I am interested in going into travel writing I thought I would give designing the front page of a travel magazine a go.

Here is the front page I designed;


I based my front cover on The Sunday Times Travel magazine as they use a single striking image with text over the top. According to the website Brad, The Sunday Times Travel magazine is a

"Dedicated travel magazine that covers holidays worldwide and centres on one specific destination per issue. The varied editorial features cover holiday types, countries, city guides and deals along with beautiful photography"

Brad says that it has a target readership of "ABC1 adults aged between 25 and 50, affluent with money to spend on their lifestyle. More adventurous than the norm and book independently where possible"

I wanted to create something that looked of a similar quality and was very proud of my design. Unfortunately I can not take credit for the photograph - because the exercise was sprung on me I didn't have access to my own photographs of Prague. I got the photograph from the address below.

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=prague&um=1&hl=en&client=firefox-a&sa=N&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&biw=1366&bih=649&tbm=isch&tbnid=fYPkSFsdozFg5M:&imgrefurl=http://www.bookyourhotel.org/info/romantic-holiday-in-prague/&docid=zWzeC2I43rSu6M&imgurl=http://www.bookyourhotel.org/info/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/prague1.jpg&w=3543&h=2583&ei=OZqhTpqyLMiZ8QPj6bHeBQ&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=332&sig=103878679062256418800&page=1&tbnh=127&tbnw=171&start=0&ndsp=18&ved=1t:429,r:4,s:0&tx=117&ty=93

Heading in a new direction (again)

When I left school I knew I wanted to be a journalist. I had my first piece of writing published in The Evening Chronicle when I was 13 and loved the thrill of seeing my name and words in print.

During my first year at university I got to try my hand at radio and television journalism but chose to continue on my path to a career in newspapers. Last year I was suddenly distracted away from newspapers by the glossy life of the magazine industry.

I have now decided that I would like to go into food, lifestyle or travel (I'm not fussy!)

Back into the swing of things

I have had a very busy summer working for the university and, as a result have not been blogging as much as I would have hoped.

After two days back at university I am fully back in to the swing of things and learning the dreaded shorthand. I may regret saying this so early but I am surprised at how well I am picking it up - although I don't know how I will get up to 100 words per minute!

It's very exciting to be back at uni but it looks like I will be extremely busy for the foreseeable!

Live from the court room...

Yesterday Sky News reported that "The Justice Secretary has come under renewed pressure to allow television cameras into the country's court rooms"

While the main idea behind this argument is so that the rest of the country can find out what is happening with those involved in the recent riots I disagree that television cameras should be allowed into court rooms.

I simply feel that if cameras were allowed in to the court rooms the Judaical system could become over dramatised and Britain's criminals could become famous which would set a bad example for the British Youth.

Phone Hacking.

We all know only to well the pain we go through when someone we love dies. It is a pain so strong we often don't think that we can carry on.

Fewer of us know the pain of a child going missing. Many parents have had the fright of their lives when their child has wondered off in a shop and they can not find them for a few minutes. The panic that builds up inside them in that short time must be immense. But in some cases when a person goes missing or is kidnapped the family are left in limbo, not knowing what has happened to their loved one, terrified that the next knock at the door will be a police officer bringing them the worst news imaginable.

And what about the hundreds of people who left their homes on July 7th 2005 and started their commute into London. That morning 52 commuters didn't get to their offices and families were left heart broken.

Being a journalist at times like these can be tricky. You want and need a story so you can inform the nation what is happening and allow everyone to become familiar with a missing persons face in the hope that someone will see them and provide the police with some new information.

Quite often a journalist will have to try to talk to a member of the family. I can imagine that this would be very hard. Journalists are offered guidance for this situation in Clause 5 of the PCC editors code which states:

"In cases involving personal grief or shock, enquiries and approaches must be made with sympathy and discretion and publication handled sensitively. This should not restrict the right to report legal proceedings, such as inquests."

I woke up to the news this morning that the families of the people who lost their lives in the horrific 7/7 bombings may have had their phones hacked. We have also heard that the parents of Holly Wells, Jessica Chapman and Milly Dowler have had their privacy invaded at the hardest time in their lives.

As a journalist I understand the importance of following the stories of missing people and terrorist attacks but to obtain information and fill the families minds and hearts with false hope as in the case of Milly Dowler is sick.

A statement made by Rupert Murdoch can be found on the News of the World website. In it he states:

"Recent allegations of phone hacking and making payments to police with respect to the News of the World are deplorable and unacceptable. "

I fear the the phone handle scandal is only just starting and, like the expenses scandal, there are many more cases to be revealed. I am often proud and excited to be training to be a journalist but, to be associated with the handful of people who feel it is acceptable to intrude on a persons privacy in such a disgraceful way has left me feeling a little different. It is a shame that the actions of a handful of people in the industry have left the nation feeling this way about all journalists.

London 2012 tickets...

Photograph by EK13 Photography

Its every athletes dream - being the best in your sport and competing for your country with the chance of winning an Olympic medal.

To me, London 2012 is such a big and rather exciting event - I believe that it will promote a healthier lifestyle for our obese nation and will get more young people into sports that they may never have considered before.

I imagine it would be a very proud moment getting selected to represent you're country at the Olympic games - not just for you but all of you're friends and family.

I also can imagine the excitement and nerves of sitting in the stands beside the track, in the velodrome, poolside or wherever the family of other sports men and women sit, waiting for your friend/spouse/son/daughter/brother/sister to do their thing and hopefully win a medal.

When Olympic fans, Olympians families went online to check their bank balances yesterday morning many were left disappointed. British Diver Tom Daley, whose father sadly passed away earlier this week, expressed his anger on twitter saying that his mam didn't get all the tickets that they wanted and that his family might not get the chance to see him compete.

Last nights news reported that in Germany tickets for the 2012 games were still available for many events - even to people in the UK.

While Lord Seb Coe defended the ticketing system bumbling London Mayor Boris Johnson expressed his disappointment at not being allocated any tickets to a major event happening in his own city!

Yes I believe that the 2012 games are a huge chance to promote tourism in the country but maybe some more thought should have been given to the allocation of tickets - especially to those who have won medals for our country in the past or the families of those supporting our Olympic hopefuls.

While I would have liked to gone to watch some of the Synchronised Swimming (my student loan won't allow such luxuries) so I shall be watching the 2012 games from the comfort of my own home.

It's a private issue...

Photograph by eye dropper

While watching Question Time last night I got into the discussion of Injunctions and Privacy and, saying as for some reason my tweets failed to load I thought I would write a post all about my view on privacy and injunctions.

Injunctions and privacy laws in Britain were originally put in place to protect trade secrets and government information not to protects overpaid men who are supposed to be role models to aspiring footballers up and down the country.

Photograph by funkypancake

It is not just footballers who are trying to hide their extra marital activity - Andrew Marr took out an injunction to hide his love affair.

If public figures don't want their affairs splashed all over the front pages then perhaps they should learn to stay committed and work out any problems in their relationship rather than running to someone else.

Photograph by Sara Simmons

Before Ryan Giggs became front page news for his activities off the pitch, Imogen Thomas was portrayed as a home wrecker. Even though she should have known better, I don't feel that she should have been identified and forced to take the majority of abuse from the media when -as they say - it takes two to tango.

Although sex sells newspapers, I don't think anyone is bothered about who is sleeping with who - I personally feel that there are more important things happening in the world than a public figure who can't stay faithful.

I feel that privacy laws and injunctions should be applied to cases of blackmail, trade secrets and government information and that the men getting gagging orders out against the women they sleep with and the secret children they may or may not have should think about the consequences of their actions instead of paying thousands to cover up their dirty little secrets.

Another side to my industry...

Photograph by Richard Aird

Last night I went to a talk at Newcastle City Library by Simon Donald and Geoff Laws and heard about a side of the journalism industry that I had never considered before - that of cartoons.

When I was younger, the first and only thing I used to do was look at the cartoon page - they are what attracted me to newspapers.

Photograph by Eleventh Earl of Mar

Simon Donald talked about setting up Viz magazine and what it meant to him. It was interesting to hear about how the magazine that has become a North East institution was running at a loss at first.

Geoff Laws discussed how he got into the cartoon industry and how hard it was to work on page layouts in comparison to the use of computer programmes which are used in industry today. He also mentioned the tight deadlines which he had to meet on a daily basis while working for the Journal.

I didn't know what to expect from this event as I had never been to anything like it before. The talk, which was part of Local History Month, was conducted in the style of a chat show with the pair asking each other questions, answering questions and telling funny stories about life in Newcastle during the 1970's and 1980's along the way.

Despite the talk of dreaded deadlines, the event made me more excited that I will be going into such an interesting and demanding industry which is so unpredictable.

Time flies...

Then...

This is my last Friday as a teenager. Monday is my last day as a second year journalism student. I realise this post will make me sound really old but I remember being in Reception class - my dad (pictured above with me as a baby) stood at the back as I settled in to my first day. Here I am about to sit my NCTJ Essential Law and Court Reporting papers.

People have asked me so many times why I want to be a journalist. I always say that I have just always wanted to do it. Seeing my name in Print at the age of thirteen as a Young Reviewer for the Newcastle Evening Chronicle (the paper in the photograph above) made me determined to reach my dream.

On Monday I will be sitting my NCTJ Essential Law and Court Reporting exam papers so will be spending my birthday learning about contempt, defamation and the ethical considerations of the Journalist!For my third year at UCLan, I have picked to do the Magazine Route and I am very excited to say that I have two 2 week work placements arranged for either side of Christmas. My first two weeks will be at North East Lifestyle Magazine and the second two weeks I will be working at Accent Magazine.

I better get back to the revision and hope that the world doesn't end tomorrow as some are speculating so that all my revision doesn't go to waste!

...and now!

Social Media in Journalism

I've been having a look back at my previous posts and came across this one from January 2011- Is social media making us less social?.

After having a read through it I am disappointed in myself - not because it makes me look like a massive Facebook addict but because I didn't talk about possibly the best online tool for Journalists - Twitter!

I have had Twitter for a few years now. At first I didn't understand it - I thought it was a boring version of Facebook and rarely used it. In the last few months I have become a Twitter addict and now check for new tweets more than I do for Facebook status updates!

I feel that as a result of Twitter, I am in contact with people I wouldn't have met in the real world. Through common interests and pure luck I been given some good advice for my career from people in industry.

Twitter can benefit everyone no matter what your interests - It's still better to talk face to face but you can't beat a good tweet!

If you have any questions about anything you have read in my blog feel free to email me - FDent1@uclan.ac.uk

The romantic way to travel?

Using the train was once such a romantic way to travel. You could sit and watch the world flash by while getting from A to B. If you were lucky enough to afford it, waiting staff would serve you meals to make your journey a lot more romantic and comfortable.

This is a very different image to that of train travel today. Packed carriages full of people desperate to get to where they want to be with music blasting or their heads in a book not paying attention to the beautiful countryside.

In a time when we are being told to be more green and be careful when it comes to our carbon footprint, train travel is a very expensive alternative - even with my 16-25 railcard the majority of my student loan is given away to train companies as I travel between Preston and Newcastle.

With reports of the UK having higher fares than most of Europe, it is about time that they are apparently about to be rebalanced. I just wonder how much this bloke thought he would have to pay for him and his horse to get to his destination....

From post to print...

Earlier this semester I have learned how to use QuarkXPress to design pages and was pleased with the pieces that I handed in for assessment. Unfortunately, because the pieces were part of an assessment, I can not put them on my blog so I thought it would be a good idea to use a few of my blog posts to create pages and practice my new skills.

Below is a copy of my Albania post from last year - the text is the same so if you haven't already read it you can see it here.

I would like you to tell me what you think about my pages. If you have any comments or questions feel free to email me at FDent1@uclan.ac.uk.

School Uniforms

There was a debate on This Morning today about school uniforms and whether school pupils around the UK should wear them.

I can see both sides of the argument. School uniforms are often uncomfortable or hot in summer - mine certainly was. When you wear a school uniform you don't have a chance to show your individuality but they do give you a sense of belonging to a big community that I don't think you would if you had the choice of what to wear.

Scrapping the school uniform will give bullies another thing to pick up on especially when not all parents can afford to buy their children the newest trainers all the time. If everyone wears the same then that will cut down on the bullying a little bit.

School is about education not fashion. Although I hated wearing a uniform when I was at school, sometimes when I wake up on a morning and have to chose what to wear for university I wish I had a uniform so that I didn't have to spend half my morning picking what to wear.

Tracey Anderson Method: Triple Work Out DVD

Since the Patsy Palmer Ibiza work out DVD wasn't tough enough for me, I have been combining it with the Tracey Anderson Method Triple Work Out DVD which has proved much more of a challenge.
Madonna, Gwyneth Paltro and Shakira have all been trained by Anderson so I felt confident that the DVD's would work.
In the DVD box set you get a Dance Cardio Workout, a Total Cardio Workout and a Mat Workout.
I started out with the Dance Cardio Workout DVD. While it worked up a good sweat, the routines were long and complicated to start with. The DVD gives you the option to watch the routines from the front as a normal DVD or from behind as if you were in an exercise class.
The Total Cario Workout sees Anderson call on some friends to provide some more work outs they are easier to get to grips with than the routines in the Dance Cardio work out so I would advise starting with these.
Finally the Mat Workout without a doubt makes you work the hardest. This DVD is all about your legs, arms and abs. Anderson provides what seem like never ending repetitions which definitely get results.
I try to combine the DVD's with running but do the Mat Workout DVD on a daily basis.
I have really enjoyed doing the Tracey Anderson Method DVD's as they are helping me look and feel better ready for my summer holidays!

Patsy Palmer's Ibiza Workout DVD: Review

I bought this DVD from a second hand DVD shop last year and I put it to one side but now, with my summer holiday booked I decided to dig it out and start the exercise regime.
This DVD probably should have been called the Louie Spence Ibiza Workout DVD as it is him that provides the exercises and does most of the work while Patsy Palmer stands and watches.
The exercises do get the heart rate raised but are a little bit slow to start with and Louie and Patsy seem to have rehearsed irritating conversations which aren't what you want while trying to exercise.
The exercises work but it isn't the best DVD I have ever done. I have combined doing this DVD with runs around my local park and The Tracey Anderson Method DVD's (review to follow).
I is worth trying this DVD but not if you enjoy hard high impact work outs!

A hunger for travelling

A trip to Amsterdam last weekend has once again made me desperate to go travelling. With this in mind I thought I would update my travel map and show people where I have been on my travels so far.
I hope you enjoy looking through my map and if you have any questions about my travels or anything else you have seen on my bloge, feel free to email me at FDent1@uclan.ac.uk

• Create your own travel map or travel blog


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A weekend in Amsterdam

Photograph by Francesca Dent

Having been to Amsterdam before when I was younger, I had fond memories of big pancakes and spending hours in the Van Gough museum. I was reminded just how good a trip to Amsterdam can be when my boyfriend Ross and I visited last weekend.

We flew into Amsterdam during the night and went straight to our hotel, The Best Western Blue Square. While it was a little way out of the centre of Amsterdam the bus into the centre only took around 25 minutes and the buses were regular and always on time.

The hotel itself was very clean and comfortable the rooms were cleaned daily and had all the amenities that you could need. The staff were very friendly and helped us with all of the questions we had.

On saturday we awoke to the sound of the rain hitting off the windows but refused to let the wet weather spoil our weekend. We got bus 21 from the bus stop just down the road from the hotel to the tourist information centre at the cities Central train station. If you visit Amsterdam and plan to use public transport, getting a OV-chipcard is essential. These cards are available from the tourist information centres and hotels and cover travel on all GVB (travel company) trams. These tickets can over between 24 hour to 7 days so there will be one to suit your visit.

Once we had our chipcards in hand we headed towards Dam square for some food and stumbled across , a cafe which served giant pancakes. In the interest of reliving my childhood I ordered my first pancake of the weekend and was very impressed when it arrived. After refueling we walked along through the labrynth of canals towards Anne Frank's House.

Despite the rain hundreds of people queued in front of us but once we got into the House it was worth the stand in the cold. Anne Franks house is a building which is so full of history and emotion it is hard not to feel affected by what you learn about what happened in the attic of a dutch canal house.

By Sunday the rain had got worse. Despite this we still went exploring an opted to go on one of the many bus tours Amsterdam has to offer. We hopped on the tour bus and our first stop was at a Diamond factory where we saw a 'perfect' pink dimond - a bargain at £2500! Our next stop was to the Heineken brewery, another great place to visit if you take a trip to the city. For 15 Euros you get a tour of the museum and a tasting lesson and two free drinks in the bar. I have been to a few breweries in the past but the Heineken experience was the most enjoyable by far.

Amsterdam is the perfect destination for a relaxing break and has something for everyone.

Just an update

Photograph by Francesca Dent

In a bid to gain more writing experience I have signed up to the University of Central Lancashire blog site and am enjoying blogging about the university experience. You can find all of the blogs on the UCLan site here.
If you are a student and would like to see me blog about something in particular, please feel free to make any suggestions either as a comment on this post or as an email to FDent1@uclan.ac.uk.

Will the Chinese have a Xin Nian Kuai Le? (Happy New Year)

Photograph by Keith Williamson

February 3rd will see Chinese people all over the world celebrate the Spring Festival (also known as Chinese New Year) but in Britain Celebrations are being dampened as the fire service warns people to be cautious with the traditional burning lanterns.
The Lanterns which are set off in order to bring luck and prosperity and have been used for almost two thousand years but have led to 100 calls to the emergency services in the last two years.
Fire services around Britain have warned people to set their lanterns off away from roads, wooded areas and houses but Farmers, the Civil Air Authority and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency also have worries.
The Spring Festival is all about celebrating the Earth coming back to life and it will be sad if a two thousand year tradition is stopped by the infamous British red tape.

Is social media making us less social?

According to Facebook, there are currently more than '500 million active users' of the social network, 'the average user has 130 friends' and 'people that use Facebook on their mobile devices are twice as active on Facebook than non-mobile users.

I am not about to preach that Facebook is the worst thing ever created or that we should all abandon it - that would make me a hypocrite. I am on Facebook and use it on my phone. As I am writing this post I have Facebook open in another tab. I have 313 'friends' on Facebook and spend my time looking at their photos and reading their status updates but rarely talk to them. When I bump into them while out shopping I find there is little to talk about as I have not seen them for years but just read that their boyfriend just did something amazing or they just split up with their girlfriend they have been with for years.

Don't get me wrong - in terms of Journalism, Facebook is a brilliant tool. It allows you to find groups of people who all feel the same way about something. It is a social networking tool, it allows us to connect with people all over the world but it seems that we are becoming less social. Facebook is an addiction. The only time I do not check Facebook is when I am at work, in university or asleep. I check it before my shift at work starts and as soon as I finish. I check it before a lecture and as soon as it finishes. I check it before turning my phone off at night and as soon as I turn it on in the morning.

The amount of times I check Facebook outweighs the number of conversations I have most days. When I do have conversations it is often about something a friend of mine has seen on Facebook and often I have already seen it.

When looking through various websites last night, I came across a very interesting video about Facebook and it really made me think about social networking in a new light. You can find the video here. I must warn you that it does have some strong language.

Every point the guy in the video makes is true. If someone asked me now how many friends I have I wouldn't count all the people I have on Facebook. I would count the important people in my life not the people from school who I haven't seen or talked to since I left there in 2007.

We cannot blame Facebook for becoming a less social world. Sites like myspace and Bebo were around before it and there will probably be more social networking sites in the future. I confess that I am a Facebook addict and I pledge that from now on I will try to be more social in the real world than online.

If you would like to contact me about anything in the post feel free to email me at FDent1@uclan.ac.uk.

Poor Journalism

I was recently searching the internet looking for something to do when I came across something which shocked me –a website by a guy called Tom Scott who has created a set of Journalism Warning Labels he has created to warn people of what he calls “sloppy journalism and other questionable content”. In his site, he mentions how he has been putting the stickers on copies of free London newspapers and has even made them available for readers to download.

At first I was appalled by this – if I saw one of these stickers on a piece of my work I would be very offended and a little upset. But then, as I thought more about the idea I realised that apart from sending letters to the editor, there is no real way of commenting on newspaper articles as there is online. If you send a letter in to a newspaper they are unlikely to publish it but if you comment on an article on their news website, a person is more likely to see it.

A couple of websites later, I found this article. I am not normally one to read about celebrities’ relationships but when I found this article about the announcement that Muse front man Matt Bellamy and actress Kate Hudson are expecting a baby I couldn’t dismiss it. I don’t wish to brag about my skills – I do not think that I am an amazing writer but if I wrote an article like that one I would give up on any hope I ever had of being a journalist.

Having read the Kate Hudson article a few times in a bid to make sense of it I feel that if writing like this appears in your newspaper Tom Scott’s stickers might not be so offensive after all!

Happy New Year!

Despite having travelled to many countries, one of my favourite cities remains Newcastle upon Tyne. Having spent most of the past year and a half in Preston I love coming back home. It’s events like last night’s Winter Festival held around the city really make Newcastle come alive.

The winter festival began with music and carnival dancers around Newcastle’s Greys monument before the parade, organised by outdoor arts company Walk the Plank stunned the thousands lining the streets.

The cities Ice Queen (pictured above) led the parade up Northumberland Street and to the Civic centre where a fantastic fireworks display concluded the event. The parade was a fantastic way to say goodbye to 2010 and welcome in 2011.

Newcastle’s next big event will be Chinese New Year on February 6 when we will celebrate the start of the year of the Rabbit.