History and Context of Journalism, Lecture one!

Having studied Philosophy and Ethics at A-level I felt reasonably confident with my Philosophy knowledge, oh how wrong I was! I did however feel at home when Chris mentioned that the first literary artefact which provides us of information to do with the European Civilisation was 'The Odyssey' which was written by Homer. Coincidentally I studied both 'The Illiad' and 'The Odyssey' whilst I studying Classical Civilisation at A-level. Shortly after the first piece of English Literature was 'Beowolf'' which was a short story about how the Saxons came to Britain and were troubled by a gigantic wolf. I was surprised to discover that I had never heard of this tale even having Studied English Literature at A-Level. I can see that both these stories of migration and of a journey display the ways in which the English Language and the English Culture has developed into the language and culture which we know today.

In ancient history the Greeks were a source of culture whereas the Romans were responsible for the source of power through their invention of roads and politics etc. Bertrand Russell believed that Greek Culture and the Middle Ages remained separate. Russell embraced Christianity since one God which means that we're all the same. We're not therefore divided by faith. The Greeks coincidentally believed that the Gods were ruled by Fate and therefore we're all ruled by Fate.

The rise of the Roman empire soon led to the Romans decline which resulted in 'The Dark Ages' around 300AD which lasted roughly a thousand years. There was no roads and the economy collapsed, there was also no democracy. On the other hand during the 'Dark Ages' in the Middle East the 'Golden Age of Islam' whilst us Britons suffered. During the whole period, roughly only three books were published! That's almost impossible to imagine when you think about how many books are published a day in this day of age! Islam believed to have buildings made of gold and to own a flying carpet. Arabs held onto Aristotle's beliefs such as Geometry, Maths and astronomy etc. Al Ghazali was a Religious fanatic who believed that everything that you ever needed to know was in the Quran.
Avicenna was a mathematician who argued that the Quran does not hold the answer to everything.
   Saint Augstine created the idea of 'Sin' and expanded this idea by preaching that if you sinned you would be condemned to an eternal hell.

Logic is part of of Greek science that was preserved by the Church in the Middle Ages. This logic was centred around the idea of 'syllogism'.  This idea of a Syllogism followed three rules:

•  All men are mortal.
• Socrates is a man.
• Therefore Socrates is mortal.

Most of Aristotle's work was lost during the Middle Ages but logic was preserved.

Protestantism was the movement to purify Christianity when the 'New Jews' returned to the Ten Commandments and the Old Testament. Novels and printing were therefore refound when the Bible began to be printed in foreign languages.

Hopefully I didn't go off on a complete ramble and that this made some sense, all that I know is that Philosophy and History doesn't come easy to me but it is really interesting to know where our lives as we know it originated from.

Media Law

Considering I woke up at the ungodly hour of 6:30am, I'm very proud of myself to say that I discovered that I am actually capable of understanding Law! Well..some of it at least! First of all I was fascinated to discover that it is possible to have a half an hour conversation about a crazy little guy who eats bricks and Rhianna's new pair of melons. From that moment on I knew this was going to be a memorable lecture.

I always knew that a Journalist couldn't just make up any old story from nothing, but then again I didn't realise that there was so many laws which restricts a Journalist from having the freedom to create a story in order to sell newspapers. For instance I learnt that Criminal Law such as Contempt of Court places grave restraint on what Journalists can write or broadcast.

In Britain we have no written constitution or 'Fundamental Law', the closest thing we have is the Human Rights Act. This means that it is part of the Human Rights Act to allow every single person to have a right to privacy which therefore can prevent a Journalist from plastering aspects of an individuals' private life across the tabloids. We all have a Code of Conduct which is voluntary, therefore note my use of the word 'prevent' because although it is part of the Human Rights Act it doesn't necessarily mean that Journalists follow it!

There are two types of Law:

• Criminal Law
• Civil Law

These two types are both very different; Criminal Law deals with offences against society as a whole such as murder and violence etc. or are offences against another person which are abhorrent to society as whole such as Fraud.

Civil Law deals with disputes between citizens such as marriage and divorce, no offence against society is committed.

As well as there being two types of Law there are also two types of crime these are:

• Non-Indictable offences
• Indictable or 'arrestable' offences

An Non-Indictable offence are minor crimes such as Car Parking ticket fines. Summary Justice is Parking Ticket worthy, for these crimes no jury is needed. Whereas on the other hand an Indictable offence carries a sentence which means that once arrested the person under arrest must be brought to a Magistrate court within 24 hours.
There is also an evidence gap between the two types of crime; A confession, forensic evidence and witnesses are all vital pieces of evidence that are needed to charge someone in a Criminal Court. Whereas no Categorical Evidence is needed to convict someone of a crime in a Civil Case. A method of balance of probability is the preferred type of evidence.

Last and certainly not least, it is essential that there is a clear understanding between opinion and fact. For instance if i was to call someone a 'murderer' in the press I need to ensure that I have the evidence to back up that the person is a murderer. Therefore journalists need to ensure that they keep their own personal opinions on cases  out of their writing, unless they have the evidence to prove their opinion is in fact a fact!

Well that's my shortened version of an hour and a half lecture so hopefully I didn't send you all to sleep! Who knows what we're in store for next week but back to dedicating to the most important man in my life right now.. MCNAE and his essential law for journalists!

Shona Race is no longer a Blog Virgin!

So this is my first post on my brand, spanking new Journalism Blog! I think the common etiquette for blogs is to share your thoughts with the whole web but since our generation is the 'Facebook Generation' I doubt I'll have a problem with this!

Basically my name is Shona Race i went to the same school for 15 years so it feels extremely strange but also liberating to have a change and study at Winchester University. I live in Bournemouth with my two sisters,Sophie and Emilia, my mum and step dad. We also have a new addition in the family who is Toby our new puppy. As any dog owner will know he has become my latest obsession.

The last two years of Sixth Form I believe have caused me to grow up due to many changes such as being able to drive and having a car to look after, to earning and managing my own money. I feel like an oldie even though I only turned 18 in April and do often find myself wondering what happened to the years when all I had to worry about was whether my mum was going to make a nice dinner or not!
I've always been fascinated with Journalism whether its religiously reading Elle Magazine from cover to cover each month to being a huge fan of radio. Which leads on to introducing my boyfriend who is coincidentally in his second year of studying Radio Production at Bournemouth University.

Although I believe journalism has its many fascinating advantages there are also many issues that i feel the media especially exploit for example the alarming fact that my 7 year old sister feels that make up makes you more beautiful :/ Anyway that's enough of me for now and I'm sure to be blogging more soon.