Sunday 30 December 2012

Connect With One Step Bronte

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Jay and Silent Bob; The Collection

JAY AND SILENT BOB; THE ORIGINAL DUO OF COMEDY GENIUS

Jay and Silent Bob are two characters played by Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith respectively. They are essentially the epitome of two 90s American stoners. However, they stand out from other typical characters and add something different to the screen; bringing laughter to the audience through Jay's over running mouth, saying everything that comes into his mind, no matter how crude and Silent Bob's... well, silence.

The duo are in several films from the 90s and early 00s and the majority are as followed, in chronological order. J&SB aren't necessarily the main characters in each of the following films, however, they do star in every film.

All the films below were written and directed by Kevin Smith; genius, I know.


CLERKS

Bronte's Rating: 8.6/10
Genre: Comedy
Release Year: 1994
Also Starring: Brian O'Halloran, Jeff Anderson and Marilyn Ghigliotti
J&SB Screen Time: Low/Moderate

Plot: The film follows the life of counter clerk Dante Hicks including hockey on the roof of the store, selling cigarettes to four-year-olds, complicated romance and the two potheads that won't stop dealing outside the front of the store.

Review: It's a very low budget film and one of Kevin Smith's first films but it is still brilliant. It's lighthearted and different, whilst still being amusing. One of the best aspects of the film is it's realness; almost every member of the audience would be able to relate to a character or scene in the film which makes it even funnier and enjoyable.







MALLRATS

Bronte's Rating: 8.6/10
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Release Year: 1995
Also Starring: Jason Lee, Joey Lauren Adams and Ben Affleck
J&SB Screen Time: Moderate/High

Plot: Two best friends hit the mall to seek solace after being dumped by their girlfriends and end up facing one crazy scenario after another including comic books, extreme munchies and sail boats.

Review: Hilarious. Jay and Silent Bob are at their absolute prime in this film. Despite the plot sounding like a typical American rom-com, it is almost a mick take of all films like it. The humour is simple, original and creative. This must be one of my favourite films of all time, I mean, it's even got Stan Lee in it.







CHASING AMY

Bronte's Rating: 8.3/10
Genre: Drama, Comedy, Romance
Release Year: 1997
Also Starring: Jason Lee, Joey Lauren Adams and Ben Affleck
J&SB Screen Time: Minimal

Plot: Two best friends, Holden and Banky, are comic book artists. They meet a fellow artist, Alyssa, who is a lesbian. Holden falls madly in love with Alyssa which, as you can imagine, presents some difficulties. 

Review: The most serious Jay and Silent Bob film ever produced. It tackles a lot of important social issues as well as self-acceptance issues and is a well produced and overall, beautiful film. It also stars Silent Bob talking more than you will see in any other movie.








DOGMA

Bronte's Rating: 8.2/10
Genre: Comedy
Release Year: 1999
Also Starring: Ben Affleck, Matt Damon and Alan Rickman
J&SB Screen Time: Moderate/High

Plot: Two fallen angels intend to reenter heaven. An abortion clinic worker is enlisted by God to stop them, who is blessed with the prophets Jay and Silent Bob to help her along the way. Yep, that's right.

Review: It's certainly an odd film. It combines some of the world's most complicated ideas with two potheads and abortion and it's all a bit confusing as to how the idea of the film came about. However, Kevin Smith being the genius he is, pulled it off and created an unusually hilarious film.







JAY AND SILENT BOB STRIKE BACK

Bronte's Rating: 8.7/10
Genre: Comedy
Release Year: 2001
Also Starring: Chris Rock, Ben Affleck and Jason Lee
J&SB Screen Time: High

Plot: The comic based on Jay and Silent Bob, Bluntman and Chronic, has been made into a movie and the boys haven't got their cut and are being slandered all over the Internet. They decide to go to Hollywood to try and stop the film from going ahead but things don't go too smoothly.

Review: If you want to watch a hilarious film about two potheads, then this is just the epitome of your perfect film. It is the first film that focuses on J&SB and shows the immense crudeness of Jay whilst showing a deeper side to him as well. A film full of laughs from beginning to end.






CLERKS II

Bronte's Rating: 8.4/10
Genre: Comedy
Release Year: 2006
Also Starring: Brian O'Halloran, Jeff Anderson and Rosario Dawson 
J&SB Screen Time: Moderate/High

Plot: Dante and Randall are back but this time, they're working at Mooby's; a fictional American fast food chain. Randall is still the same immature, care free guy but Dante is trying to settle down and get a fresh start and a new life.

Review: A real heart-warmer. Not only does it bring Dante, Randall, Jay and Silent Bob closer together, it also brings back to old love felt in the original Clerks. It's funny and a bit awkward at times but overall, a classic Jay and Silent Bob film.








If you actually read this far, well done. If you're skipping to this part after skimming over the above, you're a cheater. Yet, I know reading can be a lot of effort for many people today, so to accurately sum up pretty much every Jay and Silent Bob film, here is a clip from the start of Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. 



Image sources:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109445/
http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/kevin-smith/images/70798/title/jay-silent-bob-photo
http://sibatmedia.wordpress.com/2011/03/09/mini-review-mallrats/
http://my.spill.com/profiles/blogs/chasing-amy-review
http://www.joblo.com/movie-posters/jay-and-silent-bob-strike-back-02
http://cinefiloeamae.blogspot.co.uk/2010/11/o-balconista-clerks-1994-dvdrip.html

Monday 24 December 2012

Hail The King

B. B. KING - THE ONLY KING


Unfortunately these days if you're to say 'BB' to someone. they think you're referring the iPhone inferior, Blackberry. BB is more than this - B. B. is the king of blues.


He has created one of the world's most identifiable guitar styles, not only within the jazz blues genre, but within music as a whole. 

King has received several accolades including ranking number six in Rolling Stone magazine's  '100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time', ranking number 17 in Gibson's 'Top 50 Guitarists of All Time' and was even inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

B.B., real name Riley, has received an amazing 17 Grammy awards, even scoring the big one; the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

The man is 87 years old and is still going strong with his last solo album, 'One Kind Favor', being released in 2008 receiving incredible reviews and winning a Grammy award.

B.B. King is a talented musician and should be remembered through time as a musical innovator.




Tuesday 11 December 2012

HCJ: An Overview

This post will give a quick overview of the key points of each section/philosopher covered in semester one during HCJ.


Socrates (400 BC) is important to show the dedication to the State. He was a classical Greek philospher and strongly believed in the State and even when he was sentenced to commit suicide for corrupting the minds of the young, he did it, because he benefited from living in civilisation and believed in abiding by the law.


Plato (400-300 BC) was a classical Greek philosopher. His most important book was The Republic which defines Utopia, defines what is meant by philosopher and looks at actual constitutions; defining the pros and cons. He was the creator of 'The Royal Lie'; God created all people and each person was made of gold (guardians), silver (soldiers) or brass and iron (common man). The soul is split into three areas and it's called the tripartite theory of the soul. The way Plato symbolises it is that two horses are pulling a chariot; one of the horses is spirit (soldiers), one of the horses is desire (common man) and the carriage itself is reason (guardians). The purpose of this was to aim to stop revolt and keep society in a natural order. Most areas in life were censored to ensure man remained pure and of the best form.  Emotion and any feeling of ownership were to be removed from life and men and women were seen as equal. If Plato's Utopia was to come into being, it is doubtful there would be any movements in art, science or literature.

Aristotle (300 BC) was also a Greek philosopher. His most important book was Politics in which he made it clear he didn't believe in equality and that he thought all power belonged to the State. Although some unusual rules were set out in the book, some can still be applied to modern day such as 'there must be a careful avoidance of indecency as shameful words lead to shameful acts'. He believed everyone should try and fulfil their natural purpose in life (eudamonia). He believed women were naturally inferior to men as a slave is naturally inferior to his master. A large part of the book is concerned with trade. There are two uses of a thing; it's proper use and it's improper use. A t-shirt, for example, has the proper use of being worn and the improper use of being worn. The natural way of gaining wealth is through skilful management of house and land and the most unnatural way is through usury. He believes there are three things needed to prevent a revolution; government propaganda in education, respect for law and justice in law and administration. Aristotelian logic is where you can make a conclusion based on one or more suggested propositions. The axiom is the premise, for example, all men are mortal, Socrates was a man, therefore Socrates is mortal.

Renaissance to Descartes (14th century to 17th century) saw the rise of science against the diminishing power of the church. Men were divided between the aristocracy and the barbarians. Aristocracy means the highest class in society and barbarian means someone considered to be uncivilised. The word comes from the Greeks seeing barbarians to 'bark like dogs'. 

The Italian Renaissance (beginning 14th century, ending 16th century), meaning rebirth, saw much growth in the arts; particularly in art and architecture and saw the culture change from idealistic to realistic. It saw the revival of the work of intellectuality with Plato and Aristotle. There was a lot of corruption amongst those in powers; religious leaders and the Medici family. People started to lose faith in religion and political leaders and started living more by Plato's logic and became independent.

Machiavelli (late 15th century, early 16th century) was a man of political philosophy and focused mainly on power and was a realist rather than a idealist. He was concerned with results and didn't care to much for how the results were achieved. He saw the rise and fall of Savonarola which clearly influenced his philosophy, he remarks that 'all armed prophets have conquered and unarmed ones failed'; placing Savonarola in the latter category.  Machiavelli also says ''The nearer people are to the Church of Rome, which is the head of our religion, the less religious they are' which, in our opinion, could be compared to Rousseau's philosophy of 'the closer man is to society, the more corrupt man is'. This is an unusual comparison, as Rousseau is closely related to romanticism whereas Machiavelli is quite the opposite. The two books he is famous for are The Discourses and The Prince. The Prince is basically Political Power for Dummies.

Desiderius Erasmus (late 15th century, early 16th century) was an exemplar of the Northern Renaissance. He despised scholastics and didn't care for the teachings of Aristotle and Plato. He thought Plato should be studied, but not the subjects Plato thought worth studying. The most read book by Erasmus is The Praise of Folly. The book strongly voices Erasmus's opinions through Folly particularly on abuses of power by the ecclesiastics and suggests that all religion is a form of folly. He was high influential in the educational system, believing everyone should be literate with a strong grounding in Greek and Latin. This remained until the 20th century.

Thomas More (late 15th century, early 16th century) is most well known for his book, Utopia. It is similar to Plato's Republic, in that all things are held common and it is thought that society can not flourish with private property. The rough idea is that everyone and everything is equal and the importance of communism is greatly stressed. He was forcibly friends with Henry VIII and knew the friendship was for nothing but convenience on Henry's part. Henry later sentenced More to death after he voiced his opinions on Henry being made head of the church.

The Reformation (16th century) was basically a movement away from faith/belief in the church and religious leader lead by Martin Luther and John Calvin due to the corruption. The Counter-Reformation (late 16th century) saw a movement back towards faith in religion and religious leaders.

The rise of science (17th century) was a huge movement away from the Ancient Period and the Medieval Ages. The four most influential men in this period were Copernicus, Newton, Kelper and Galileo. It increased man's freedom to explore the world in a scientific way and increased the learning in the fields of science, maths and general secular learning. 

Thomas Hobbes (17th century) was a contract theorist. His most famous book is the Leviathan; it received negative reviews at the time and tended to focus on Royalism and aimed to diminish democracy. He believes you should give up all of your rights to the State except the right to live and self-defense and if the State didn't exist then society couldn't exist. Without the State, life would be 'nasty, brutish and short'. This is the only way that it would be possible to end war and have a peaceful society. He helped establish political philosophy. He believes people are governed out of necessity to feel safe and protected and that it is a large burden to have to think for oneself so to let the State think for you is easier. His ideas are mainly based on man being amoral and selfish, believing a man's selfish wants will always outweigh his loyalty to another.

René Descartes (17th century) was a mathematician, a scientist yet still a man of God. He adopted the cogito and wanted to learn how to doubt the universe. He believed ideas were in three sorts; those that are innate, those that are foreign and those that are created by me. His basic idea was 'How can I believe that what I'm seeing is true?' to which he answered the sense. Cogito ergo sum - I think, therefore, I am. There is the question of how you can trust your sense but Descartes said God is good, God created senses, therefore senses are real.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (18th century) was considered the founder of romanticism and wrote The Social Contract. He believed the further away man was from society, the closer to being the true meaning of what it is to be human being man was. He thought society was corrupt and would only have a negative effect on a person. He was against the Newtonian way of life and thought it was unnatural. He believed cognitive thinking and thoughts were entirely different from instinct; man was born just the same as any other animal. Rousseau, it is thought, inspired the French Revolution. The State at the time was oppressed and a totalitarian state, run by people who thought their power was given to them directly by God. He is still influential today and is thought to be the father of many movements including the hippie movement, the green movement and communism.

Romanticism (late 18th century) is the push forward in art, literature, music and architecture. It stems from the phrase 'la sensibilité' which means prone to feeling emotion and sympathy. Nature, abnormality and danger were all very important to romantics, with the symbolism of the sea, the mountains and metaphorical chains constantly being referred to. They believed solitary confinement was best. Important works from the romantic period/inspired by the romantic period are Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Daffodils by William Wordsworth. Beethoven is the talismanic character of romanticism.







Media Law; An Overview

The Legal Framework In The UK
The highest court in the United Kingdom is the Supreme Court. There are 12 justices and it sits in the Middlesex Guildhall on the western side of Parliament Square. It deals with both civil and criminal cases.

The hierarchy of the courts is in order below from least important to most important; as well as the cases it deals with;



  • Magistrates court - civil and criminal; trys summary offences such as parking tickets, common assault and low scale shoplifting, family courts, youth courts etc. Maximum sentence is six months and maximum fine of £2,500.


  • County court - civil.


  • Crown court - criminal; trys indictable offences such as rape, GBH and murder, deals with appeals from Magistrates courts and also deals with sentencing. Minimum sentence of five years.


  • High court - family, chancery, Queen's Bench (civil and criminal).


  • Court of Appeal - civil division, criminal division.
        Supreme court - civil and criminal.

    Civil law is disputes between individuals or organisations, i.e. divorce or property use disputes. The defendant can not be sent to jail in a civil matter, unless they don't adhere to the final ruling; then it is contempt of court and turns into a criminal matter.

    CIVIL LAW TERMINOLOGY - claimant, defendant, admitting liability, denying liability, liable, not liable.

    Criminal law is an offence against a person and/or a community, i.e. murder or theft. The defendant can be sent to jail in a criminal matter. Criminal matters always start in a Magistrates court. They can then be referred to a Crown court or the Supreme Court.

    CRIMINAL LAW TERMINOLOGY - prosecutor, defendant, guilty, not guilty, convicted, acquitted.

    The test of proof between criminal law and civil law is different. In criminal law, to prosecute it must proved it beyond reasonable doubt. In civil law, it comes down to the balance of probability.

    Sources of law in the UK include;

    • EU law
    • Judiciaries
    • Common law
    • Case law
    • Statutes

    Reporting Crime and the Courts
    Prejudice is where publication of certain information may compromise the fair treatment of the accused during a trial, for instance, if a jury learns background information about those on trial.

    Contempt is where information is published in breach of the rules in crime or court reporting; it has a high risk of prejudicing legal trials.

    A case becomes legally active when;
    • a person is arrested,
    • an arrest warrant is issued,
    • a summons is issued or
    • a person is charged orally.

     A case is legally closed when;

    • the arrested person is released without charge - except on bail,
    • no arrest was made within 12 months of the issue of an arrest warrant,
    • the case is discontinued,
    • the defendant is acquitted or sentenced,
    • the defendant is found to be unfit to be tried, or unfit to plead, or the courts orders the charge to lie on file.

    Four stages of reporting and processing a case are as follow;
    ONE - The crime is reported, police are appealing for witnesses, descriptions are issued. All of this is okay to print with no risk of prejudice.
    TWO - The case becomes legally active and there is risk of prejudice. Seek advice before you publish information.
    THREE - A trial is a definite prospect and only definite, uncontested facts can be printed. You can print a community angle, 'colour' article, such a flowers at the scene etc.
    FOUR - The magistrates court hearing; restricted to reporting seven points!
    - Names, ages, addresses and occupations of defendants
    - Charges faced
    - Names of courts and magistrates name
    - Date and place of where case is adjourned
    - Whether bail is granted or not
    - Whether legal aid is granted

    There are three main types of offence;
    • Indictable; murder, rape, GBH
    • Either-way; aggravated theft, drugs, ABH
    • Summary; minor shoplifting, driving offences, parking tickets
    The purpose of a Section 49 Order is to give anonymity to under 18s in youth court.
    The purpose of a Section 39 Order is to give anonymity to under 18s in adult court.

    If the jury is not present in a Crown court, the proceedings must not be reported. Absolute privilege is granted to a journalist in court if the report is 'fair, accurate and contemporaneous'. Defamatory shouts from the public gallery are not to be reported.

    You can not prejudice a judge or a magistrates court as there is no jury.

    A jury decides whether the defendant is guilty or not guilty whereas the judge decides the penalty.

    Libel and Defamation
    Slander is when someone says something defamatory. 
    Libel is when someone publishes something defamatory;

    • Publication
    • Defamatory
    • Identification; even if jigsaw identification or innuendo.

    A defamatory statement is something that would make a person 'tend' to;
    • lower them in the eyes of right-thinking society
    • causes them to be shunned and avoided
    • discredits them in their profession
    • exposes them to hate, ridicule or contempt
    Libel defences include;
    Justification - it's true and I can prove it.
    Fair or honest comment - it's made clear that is only opinion and it is in the public interest for this opinion to be published.
    Qualified/absolute privilege - court reporting etc.

    TV journalists need to be extra careful because they may accidentally identify someone in a defamatory way with the shots they use; such as noticeable things like posters in a hospital on a documentary about malpractice.

    Public interest means where it is to the advantage of the public to know certain information.

    Privilege
    Privilege is very important to journalists, it gives them protection when reporting day to day things such as; council hearings, public meetings, press conferences and police statements.

    It allows journalists to publish material that may be defamatory or untrue without any legal worries as long as the information is printed 'fair, accurate, without malice and on a matter of public concern'.

    There are two levels of qualified privilege, with or without contradiction and explanation.

    An example of QP without explanation or contradiction would be proceedings of a legislature anywhere in the world.

    An example of QP with explanation or contradiction would be material reported at a public meeting.

    Copyright
    Copyright - the exclusive legal right given to an originator or an assignee to print, publish, perform film, or record literary, artistic, or music material and to authorise others to do the same.

    Intellectual property is essentially work. Even if it is not a physical object, it is a person's property; unless they sell it. The entire purpose of copyright it to protect intellectual property. Without copyright, journalism as an industry could not exist.

    Undeveloped ideas, however, are not protected by copyright statutes. This also includes brief slogans and catchphrases.

    Fair dealing allows some media outlets to lift journalistic material IF;
    • It tells the news and is intrinsic
    • It is not passed off as your own
    • The usage is fair
    • The material is in the public interest

    Copyright is criminal conspiracy, it is not a civil case.

    Material taken from the Internet is still subject to copyright and you can not fair deal photographs.

    Confidentiality
    The law of confidentiality is between the parties in which a 'secret' is told.

    The law depends on each person's expectation of the level of confidentiality. For instance, a doctor has complete confidentiality to a patient. A patient could tell a doctor they committed murder and the doctor would not be able to say anything, as the same with a lawyer.

    A parent would breach confidentiality to their child if the child, for instance, the child told the parent they had a venereal disease and the parent proceeded to tell someone else. However, if a child told a parent they committed murder, the parent would be expected to tell the police. This is one way however, a child owes not confidentiality to their parent.

    There are three main areas of concern for journalists when it comes to confidentiality;

    • revealing state/official secrets (one)
    • revealing commercial secrets (two)
    • revealing facts about a person that they expect to remain private (three)
    ONE - The Official Secrets Act protects state secrets, for instance information on a military base or anything that would be of use to an enemy. Be cautious when using pictures that could be informative to an enemy.

    TWO - Commercial confidentiality is normally written in the contract between an employee and an employer. It will cover, for example, not giving useful financial information to competitors.

    THREE - Personal confidences and privacy is also protected under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

    Journalists can publish certain information if it falls under the public interest. When a journalist thinks they've found newsworthy confidential information, they must decide whether to risk an injunction or having legal action taken against them for breach of confidence; perhaps even defamation if they allegations are inaccurate.

    Regulatory Codes
    This covers how journalists should go about getting a story and general journalistic etiquette. There are three different regulatory codes used in journalism.

    These are;
    OFCOM - can impose large fines, can take shows offline, covers radio and television but not Sky, requires absolute accuracy and impartiality.
    BBC Editorial Guidelines and Press Complaints Commission (PCC) - self regulatory, quick, cheap and easy but also has limited fines.

    Reporting Elections
    Impartiality and accuracy is vital around elections times as journalists could influence the public on who to vote for.

    The danger area for journalists when it comes to reporting elections are;
    • False statements about candidates
    • Maintaining impartiality
    • Reporting opinion polls or exit polls
    Major party and minor party candidates do not have to be treated equally.

    It is an offence to refer to exit polls until the polls are closed.

    There must be no coverage of political debates or arguments by the candidates or parties on polling day.




    Investigative Journalism and Freedom of Information

    The Freedom of Information Act came into place in 2005 and allows the public to access information they previously wouldn't have been able to from public authorities. This helps investigative journalists in particular.

    Investigative journalism is when journalist's themselves uncover stories, rather than just covering the current news. Journalist's can now simply send a request for certain information to a public body and receive an answer now that the Act has been passed, making their job a lot easier than before.

    There are two types of investigative journalism; light and heavy. Light investigative journalism is often about celebrities or current stars, about there bullying rampages at schools, botched plastic surgery or pictures of them on a drunken night out. They can usually get this kind of information from family, 'friends' or associates. Heavy investigative journalism includes the more serious news, such as miscarriages of justice, public authorities misusing money or political scandals. This information is often gained through the allowance of the Freedom of Information Act.

    Tony Blair, the man who passed the Act, said himself that he regretted passing the Freedom of Information Act; too many people have too much access to the skeleton's in everyone's closet.

    The Act covers 130,000 public bodies, receives over 100,000 requests a year; 12% of these requests are made by journalists. The estimated cost spent on FOI requests a year is approximately £34 million.

    A public body can refuse to give information under the following circumstances;

    • The request costs more than £450 for small institutions, or more than £600 for larger institutions.
    • The information requested comes under the Official Secrets Act
    • The information requested is exempt; either absolute or qualified.
    Absolution exemption means the public body does not have the duty to confirm or deny that information even exists, for instance, court records or security services.

    Qualified exemption means the public body does not necessarily have to release certain information, however, if public interest overrules then it should be released, for instance, commercial confidentiality and ministerial communication.

    You can submit of Freedom of Information request at www.whatdotheyknow.com

    However, sometimes investigative journalists won't always obtain their information this way. Some may receive leaked information from a certain source; being a person. One of the most important unwritten rules is to never, ever give up a source. If you give up a source, you're dead in the industry, no one will look at you the same and you may as well start looking for a new career. If you're not willing to go to prison to protect your source, then you shouldn't take the information.




    Monday 10 December 2012

    Confidentiality - Breach of Confidence

    What does confidentiality mean it ordinary every day language mean? A secret.

    The law of confidentiality is between the parties in which a 'secret' is told.

    The law depends on each person's expectation of the level of confidentiality. For instance, a doctor has complete confidentiality to a patient. A patient could tell a doctor they committed murder and the doctor would not be able to say anything, as the same with a lawyer.

    A parent would breach confidentiality to their child if the child, for instance, the child told the parent they had a venereal disease and the parent proceeded to tell someone else. However, if a child told a parent they committed murder, the parent would be expected to tell the police. This is one way however, a child owes not confidentiality to their parent.

    There are three main areas of concern for journalists when it comes to confidentiality;

    • revealing state/official secrets (one)
    • revealing commercial secrets (two)
    • revealing facts about a person that they expect to remain private (three)
    ONE - The Official Secrets Act protects state secrets, for instance information on a military base or anything that would be of use to an enemy. Be cautious when using pictures that could be informative to an enemy.

    TWO - Commercial confidentiality is normally written in the contract between an employee and an employer. It will cover, for example, not giving useful financial information to competitors.

    THREE - Personal confidences and privacy is also protected under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

    Journalists can publish certain information if it falls under the public interest. When a journalist thinks they've found newsworthy confidential information, they must decide whether to risk an injunction or having legal action taken against them for breach of confidence; perhaps even defamation if they allegations are inaccurate.





    Tuesday 4 December 2012

    Copyright

    Copyright - the exclusive legal right given to an originator or an assignee to print, publish, perform film, or record literary, artistic, or music material and to authorise others to do the same.

    Intellectual property is essentially work. Even if it is not a physical object, it is a person's property; unless they sell it. The entire purpose of copyright it to protect intellectual property. Without copyright, journalism as an industry could not exist.

    Undeveloped ideas, however, are not protected by copyright statutes. This also includes brief slogans and catchphrases.

    Fair dealing allows some media outlets to lift journalistic material IF;
    • It tells the news and is intrinsic
    • It is not passed off as your own
    • The usage is fair
    • The material is in the public interest
    Copyright is criminal conspiracy, it is not a civil case.

    Material taken from the Internet is still subject to copyright and you can not fair deal photographs.

    Sunday 2 December 2012

    Leveson Enquiry; What Do You Need To Know?

    This week was the result that any aspiring/current/previous journalist has been anticipating... the Leveson enquiry result.

    The report itself is 2,000 pages long and I doubt many will ever end up reading it in it's entirety, but here are the basic points;

    A new press regulator should be set up, governed by a new Press Board to replace to PCC (The Press Complaints Commission). The board is to be independently set up by an appointments panel and should not include any serving editor or member of parliament or government.

    This new board should create a new code of conduct for published journalists which should cover privacy, misrepresentation and accuracy. For those not adhering to this code of conduct, the regulator should have the power to control the details newspaper apologies including sizes and placings, impose fines of up to £1 million or 1% of the newspaper's turnover. However, the board should not have the power to ban the publication of articles.

    The regulator should be backed up by a press law which forces newspapers to be included. Any newspaper that refuses to take part in the scheme would be instead regulated by Ofcom.

    How will this affect Rupert Murdoch? I wonder. Here is the opening paragraph of an article Murdoch's paper, The Sun, published just the day after the enquiry results were released;

    "Lord Justice Leveson yesterday launched a scathing attack on politicians and newspapers as he called for Britain's first Press law in 317 YEARS.'

    Seems as if someone is a bit sore about the whole thing...

    A Little Bit More on Rousseau and Romanticism

    Another way to sum up Rousseau and the Romantic era - or to further your understanding - could be through music.

    Here are various songs that I think accurately reflect the ideas of Rousseau and romanticism. 

    The Doors - People Are Strange


    The Smiths - Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now

    Luciano Pavarotti - Caro Mio Ben

    The Rolling Stones - Paint It Black

    John Lennon - Imagine

    HCJ: Rousseau and Romanticism

    Born in Geneva, Switzerland in 1712; Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a man with a great influence in philosophy, politics and literature; right up to the present day.

    He is really influential in two aspects, one in The Social Contract and secondly, he was considered the founder of romanticism. 

    The rough time line of Rousseau, the romantic period and the French Revolution is shown below.



    Essentially Rousseau was anti-establishment and thought society would cause nothing but a negative effect upon a human's life. He believed that the regulated systems with laws, governments and elitist groups were wrong and the 'Newtonian world'  wasn't a true of full expression of what it meant to be to be a human being. It's often said Rousseau was quintessentially anti-enlightenment - he was a noble savage.

    The morals of romantics and Rousseau were both primarily based on aesthetics. Nature was incredibly important as was symbolism. Mountains, the sea and storms were all frequently mentioned. 

    Although these ideas originated in the 1700s, they are far from forgotten. The 1960s saw a rebirth in Rousseau's ideas and people began to live by their own rules and started to live on the outside of society. The song below is John Lennon's song 'Imagine' released in the early 1970s and is a new age adaption of Rousseau's theory.


    Below is a quote heard in The Fallacies of Hope 12/13 which also backs this point; Rousseau's ideas are still influential today.

    “And perhaps its greatest legacy to prosperity has been its message to the young, and those who are strong in love may yet find a way of escaping from the rotten parchment of bonds that tie us down. I can see them still through the windows of university desperate to change the world, vivid in hope, although what precisely they hope for or believe in, I don’t know.” 

    If it wasn't for Jean-Jacques Rousseau and the Romantic period, the world would be a very different place. The idea of alienation by society has been picked up throughout the centuries and throughout the different eras. Rousseau was about free will, basic instinct and being as far away from society as possible; romanticism was very similar. This idealism weaves it's way through literature, political thinkings and music.