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.