Asavin Wattanajantra

My self-indulgent blogpost

2010-12-10T14:12:00.007+01:00

It has been a long time since I've updated this blog. I've spent so much time in the last few years writing for money, that I forgot to write about myself in a while. Well, here it is. It's going to be a bit self-indulgent and of no relevance to anybody who doesn't know me, but I think you need to write one of those Livejournal style self-obsession scribbles every so often.

Hmm. 2010 to 2011. 28 years old. Sort of at a crossroads now. Been writing technology for about three years now. I like it, I think I'm very good at it. But the closer I get to 30, I keep thinking to myself, is that it?

The problem is that I've been in London far too long. The place depresses me now, as I know too much of the city. Journeys on the tube are entirely soul destroying, and driving isn't that fun either. I don't want to be one of those people on the Tube or in the car , going to the same office job day after day, drinking away in the evenings or heavens forbid - watching TV or playing video games.

I've met someone. A traveller. Somebody who has been in far off places, seen things and had experiences. She has told me I need to do it. Why am I working? For money? A car? A wife? I've saved money, but I don't actually know what to spend it on. I've thought that perhaps getting a higher-earning job and more responsibility was what I wanted. No, not really. I wouldn't swap places with the editor of the Guardian. I'm missing something.

So next year will be it. I'm flying off. To Thailand first, and around afterwards. I've got writing experience now, so I'm going to travel off and see what I can do. Thing is, I'm in the position where I can lay around on a beach and do absolutely nothing for a long time. But I can't do that, I've got a work ethic, so I'm going to do something productive while I'm out there.

OK, self-indulgent post over. Now I'm doing something about it. The twenties have been a blur and it's been fun. Now it's time for something else

From IT PRO - Twitter being used as a 'political weapon' in Iran

2009-06-21T01:32:00.002+01:00

From IT PRO - Twitter being used as a 'political weapon' in Iran

At the ENISA / Reuters event I attended this morning, there was a very interesting talk with BT chief security technology officer Bruce Schneier and International Security Forum (ISF) president Howard Schmidt that surprisingly switched from business security and into the presidential events in Iran that have been taking place.

Schneier said that the events were very interesting when it came to IT and IT security because it was the “coming of age” for citizen journalists.

The real journalists were under house arrest and not able to report, and the information that was coming out was from people - mostly through Twitter, as the Iran government forgot about it when trying to block things for the election.

Schneier said: “We’re seeing stories and images coming out that are unable to be blocked by the government, and the only thing they can do at this point is to ‘take down’ the internet. It’s possible and governments have done that.”

“Hackers around the world are helping,” he added. “If you have a Twitter account we’re all being asked to change our location to Iran and change our timezone, because that makes it harder for the police to find the real twitterers.”

Schneier also said that people around the world were setting up proxy servers to allow Iranian information to come out, and that there was even a proposal to use the Opera browser and turn it into a massive anonymous network to help the Iranian citizen journalists.

He continued: “The anonymity tools that many Western governments are trying to get rid of are saving lives in Iran. It is the first time that people in other countries don’t just protest in their own capitals - they actually do something.”

Schneier said it was very interesting to see computer security, networks and hacking used in this way.

Howard Schmidt argued the point further by highlighting the fact that mobile devices were being used to get the word out. He said that this anonymity allowed people to use the internet as a real vehicle to create change.

Schneier highlighted the Cyberwar Guide for Iran Elections guide for beginners as a useful starting point, if you wanted to get involved, and mentioned the fact that people were getting involved in denial of service attacks against the Iranian government.

Schneier said: “This is interesting. A lot of what people think as cyber war is kids playing politics - you see this in Pakistan, the Arab states, China. They are not just fooling around - this is serious stuff. We can actually have international politics being affected by these actions.

“I think this is a first. I think this shows the power of social media in a way nothing ever has before,” he adds.

Author Timothy Garton Ash also makes similar points in an article written for the Guardian.

Back again

2009-06-15T23:44:00.001+01:00

Issues with Mac ... £60 a year for the right to create a website. No way. too expensive and Blogger's quicker and easier to use because it's all in the cloud. So here I am, back to blog.

Employment Beckons

2007-12-07T14:57:00.000+01:00

It's taken me quite a while, but finally I've managed to secure a job at a fantastic company in the one journalism application i made that I said to myself that I really really wanted. Maybe that was the thing - I was extremely enthusiastic about working in the publication and the company and I'm very sure that my interviewers saw that.

But now I understand how difficult it is to start off in journalism, either magazine, web based or anything else. My CV and cover letter was worked on many times until I finally got it looking presentable and clear enough for people to not throw away into the garbage pile.

It's also the fact that all companies for journalism roles will have a big stack of CV's which they will have to get through. This applied to me as well, and I feel very good that I stood out.

It is getting more difficult, but I have to say that doing a postgraduate course was very important - most of my class are either in employment or freelancing in some way and that's great. We're meeting up again this Monday and I can talk about work related stuff which makes a change..

I have to mention the University of Westminster Postgraduate Periodical course. I enjoyed it, met some great people and props to my lecturer Chris Horrie who seems to have disappeared from the face of the Earth for the majority of us 2007 students.

Gotta say though that it did kind of suck to see that there was definitely more emphasis on the broadcast side than us print journos. I thought that was definitely unfair - I really wanted to be able to use a video camera and to be honest I thought I was photogenic enough to practice in front of one :) :) - but hey, no complaints - a message for the course leader who's there right now - none of us really liked you that much but wish you luck on carrying on the great experience which has helped me immensely and I enjoyed so much

Now I'm bored, twiddling my thumbs and spending the last of my high interest cash borrowing reserves. Writing about technology, finding the news contacts and getting paid for it. What a life. (Oh and the free magazine thing - they let you have any of the magazines we have for free that my company does (and there are some great titles available) is bloody brilliant. Such a simple thing.)

Two Blogs

2007-07-31T12:25:00.000+01:00

Now I have not one but two blogs! What happened is this - this blogger website came first in support of my journalism studies. Then I thought it would be useful to have a website for myself where I can put up my work at http://www.ashjournalism.co.uk.

However, the software I'm using allows the creation of a blog on that website. It doesn't show up on a google search properly, hence the reason I've decided to keep going on this blog for all my random journalism related thoughts, while saving the other website for news and features I may be writing for myself.

I've had 2471 hits! How, I wouldn't know considering I haven't touched Blogspot since March. But I think it shows how important it is to keep it going.

So save this site on your bookmarks if you want to read about how a newly graduated journalist attempts to take on a very competitive job market. Might be useful to those who are going to start their courses in September!

Making a Podcast

2007-03-08T23:32:00.000+01:00

I haven't been blogging as much as I have been. The Westminster website as well as other various things have kept me busy.

It's been good. Various tensions and arguments. Excellent, just like a real newsroom.

Nothing much happens in Harrow. It's very dull. Which means the news guys are doing an excellent job to get what they have done.

Features wise, I'm slowly learning what I need to do. Our audience isn't huge, but I am still thinking about what features would make more sense to the readers.

I'm looking at our target audience, just like I would in a real situation.

I tried making a podcast for the site today. In the absence of very much multimedia on the site apart from a couple of videos, I tried a bit of amateur podcasting with my Mac, Garageband Software and a microphone I borrowed from the University.

It went OK. However it's going to take some tricky editing to get anything out of it due to the fact it does sound like a bunch of friends just chatting about the news. But it was really easy to do, which I guess shouldn't have surprised me.

Trial By Shorthand

2007-02-25T01:31:00.000+01:00

I am going to link you to this blog by Rob Davies, called Trial By Shorthand.

He is doing online journalism at the Daily Telegraph at the moment, and is quite a different journalist to me.

Whereas I am quite feature and magazine led, Rob is much more of a newspaper style journalist. His blog entries put mine and many others to shame and I guarantee you will see his name up in lights at a national sooner rather than later.

He started his blog when doing the newspaper course at Cardiff, and has carried it on while he's been working.

I've looked at his earliest entries and his latest ones, and you can definitely tell that there is a progression in style as he's improved and styled his writing.

He's looking for more traffic though. So do have a look at it.

Writing 'Creatively'

2007-02-22T19:35:00.000+01:00

I really want to get my habit back of writing creatively... using words to suck you into a different world.

When i was a kid I used to do it. I had an early gift with words... My parents remember me reading the Sun when I was a kid. My parents used to run a greasy spoon when I was a bit younger and apparently I used to sit on a builder's knee and go 'corr blimey' at the Page 3 girls - go figure.

Anyway... yeah, I used to read plenty when I was a kid, and it carried on. For some reason after my GCSE's I decided to do the Science and Maths subjects when I was younger because for some reason I got it in my head that I would make a good doctor - maybe I was watching too much 'Quincy' or something.

Anyway, that didn't go the way I'd hoped so I took the English A-Level in one year and managed to get the University doing it Then I got even lazier about writing - the thing about English Literature is that yes - you're doing a lot of reading... but creative writing - it seems to get ignored in favour of writing essays in an academic style.

So I've lost the habit. And I'm not reading enough anymore, which annoys me should sort out. It's not like I haven't the time to do it. Once I'm reading something I get engrossed and you can't pull me away from it. It's just a question of actually picking it up and starting to read.

It will really help my journalism. It won't really help my news writing, but for feature writing it does help if you have a style that really pulls in the readers.

Max Clifford

2007-02-21T15:57:00.000+01:00

At the moment for Wnol I'm writing a feature profile for the master of PR Max Clifford. Tom Hall, our resident reporter, has already attended an conference that he had at the University of Westminster University and is soon about to conduct a phone interview with him.

He's already come out with some gems. Such as "Public Relations is about achieving the best results - if you're not comfortable with lying, you're not cut out for it."

Interesting point of view. I always though that lying was supposed to be a bad thing when I was a kid. I think everybody through experience realises that is not true. By my mid twenties, I think I've cottoned on to the fact that much of what the media is says to me are bare faced lies and gossip. Sad but true.

It's not like it's a new state of affairs. Governments are never honest with you, but at least we have a certain amount of press freedom to realise that this is the case.

PR is just an extention of that. It's like advertising... it's all about image and if you believe everything you see then you're either stupid or lost to the world. Maybe that's why I was never interested in it so much.

I think that I have enough creativity, intelligence and ambition to cut in this world which I think you need, but it never hit me as much as journalism. Maybe it is because i was watching Bill Hicks too much.

By the way, if anyone here is in marketing or advertising...kill yourself. Thank you. Just planting seeds, planting seeds is all I'm doing. No joke here, really. Seriously, kill yourself, you have no rationalisation for what you do, you are Satan's little helpers. Kill yourself, kill yourself, kill yourself now. Now, back to the show. Seriously, I know the marketing people: 'There's gonna be a joke comin' up.' There's no fuckin' joke. Suck a tail pipe, hang yourself...borrow a pistol from an NRA buddy, do something...rid the world of your evil fuckin' presence

Now i would never go that far as Bill here, but maybe that's why these worlds never interested me. Perhaps it would sap my soul, but then again I would definitely be getting paid more...

Well, it's not like journalism is too far away from PR... after all, Max himself began working as a journalist before joining the EMI press office... so you never know...

Being a Feature Editor.

2007-02-15T16:38:00.000+01:00

We had our jobs assigned to us, and I found myself in the position of being a Features Editor!

Work Experience didn't prepare me for this at all. From being the unpaid member of the office I have quite a big responsibility for the functioning of the website.

I think that this might turn out well. All of us in print seem to know our jobs and are really getting down to it properly.

Derek makes a great editor. He has in his mind exactly what he wants from the site and he doesn't have a problem with me asking quite a lot of questions . We seem to work together pretty well, because I know he trusts me with the responsibility of getting the features in all on time.

We've got to make the most of it in the next few weeks and the start has been encouraging. It'll start with the dummy run first of all and then after that will be the point that we go live.

Our job is to get as many hits from the students as possible. To to this we are doing student based news stories to get their attention, and then going on to try and pull them in with the features.

We've got video as well, so the site will be a true multimedia experience. We're using the BBC News Online website as our example, and if the quality of our site approaches that then we'll be happy.

Westminster News Online Day 1

2007-02-12T22:59:00.000+01:00

I'm always on my laptop typing away, so I'm probably the best person to keep a day by day blog of what we are doing for the Online Journalism project. I'm going to try and keep it going day by day, but it may not work that way of course. I'll just keep it updated as much as possible.

First day back to college. Long day, but good nonetheless. Sometimes I ask myself why I blog so much. Well, first of all I simply just like writing. It's like the diary I always wanted to keep, but I got the added benefit of other people looking at it too!

Also, Rosalind and Tom off my course said something about being disappointed when people don't update, and look at mine because I'm guaranteed that I will. That feels good that people do look at it.

Chris Horrie said that it was the best way to get to know us, because we he gets to know exactly what we feel about what we are doing, our weaknesses and strengths, and so will our future employers. Nick Brett, head of the PTC and BBC Worldwide, was pretty clear that a good blog could separate you from the competition.

It's obvious though. You get a pile of CV's. How can management get to know a person and perhaps look at some of his personality before deciding on an interview. Simple. A blog. Easy, free, quick, effective. For a journalist it's such a useful tool.

Enough about that. I've talked about that a million times before. How was the first day? We were given a tutorial for the website by Chris, and then given a run through about the roles that we were about to play for the 6 weeks of news website work.

The site is impressive, especially when you compare to the the London School of Communication one which is a bit rubbish in comparison. (Harsh but fair). We also went through some of the roles that the website needed.

I fancied trying the subbing and managing editing roles, because I thought they could be pretty useful to learn some of the real skills that we might need for employment. But I'm alright with anything really, as I should be because when I do get employed, I should be ready for anything!

Nick Brett came in the evening to convince us that magazines were the way to go. (Especially BBC magazines). If you have been reading my blog at all you'll know that a lot of my attention seems to be focused on what will happen to print and will online take over.

I don't think that magazines will die at all, but I do think that the increased competition will lead to more quality control, which can only be a good thing. I knew this already, and his talk reinforced this, as well the fact that print and online need to reinforce each other to work properly.

It's still an iffy thing as Mr Brett admitted. He was worried that the Top Gear and Good Food websites would affect the sales of the magazines but so far they have actually supported each other. However it is a careful balancing act, as seen with the example of how the NME website decreased sales of the print magazine.

And I think there are good magazines that I would love to write for still, not dominated by pictures and short easily digestible features. I disagree with one of the points made in the talk quite strongly. I still think that long form journalism (above 1000 words) will still be around, and in fact is necessary just to differentiate it from online where people just can't be bothered to read as much.

However if the article is written well and good quality supported by good pictures, then people will read it. The Economist is doing brilliantly and has a lot of words. 'Empire' has very long features. These are two of my favourite magazines and are still doing very well.

And with that, I'll stop. Unlike magazines, online blogs get boring if they are too long.

Westminster News Online

2007-02-10T23:26:00.000+01:00

I'm enjoying this doing postgraduate journalism a lot. I think my results so far have showed that as well. I wasn't actually worried about my degree classification until I found out the marks I've got so far, but because now I'm at that Merit/Distinction boundary, it's crossed my mind that a Distinction wouldn't be such a bad thing would it? :)

But that's not what's important really. The Westminster News Online website that we're doing is the first step to having enough of a portfolio to show our employers as well as practicing our well earned journalism skills.

Me and some of the guys had a brainstorming session this Thursday (meaning quite a few pints and a curry) and we came up with quite a few ideas for the new website. We were thinking an almost tabloid style... tactics to get as many hits as possible.

A few of these were quite rude. But I think that might have been the drink talking. However, there was a lot of ideas coming out, and the main thing was that there seemed to be plenty of ideas to throw about, which is a good sign.

I don't buy newspapers much any more and tend to rely for the majority of news from websites like BBC News Online, so I'm pretty happy to do this. I'm not scared of it and I'm pretty excited that the nature of a website is that there is a lot of opportunity to work with other stuff, such as video and podcasts. A magazine is also good to work on, but the online stuff is a little bit freer in whatever you want to do.

I've looked around the web and the only place i can see a web presence for other journalism colleges is with Cardiff University. They didn't see much blogging, but many of their students in 2005 did create a website similar to the one I just did.

I find that a little bit surprising. City University is somewhere I would expect some kind of web presence, but you the only area you can look at is the alumni section. You need a password to get in the majority of their website. I guess they rely more on print and reputation to make encourage people to see their work, but it's a bit strange that I can't see what they are doing while at Westminster I'm opening all my work out to everybody who wants to look at it.

What type of Journalist do I want to be?

2007-02-08T13:45:00.001+01:00

I’m getting to the point where I have to make some decisions.

It was easy before I started the course at Westminster. All I was thinking was Magazine journalism.

'Empire’ was my favourite magazine and I figured I had the ability to write for a glossy consumer.

My work experience at FHM was the first time that I had a few doubts about the big glossies.

It wasn’t journalism really. I was really trying not to be snobbish, but by the end I didn’t think there was much point in having any text when most of the readers were buying it to get off to the pictures.

It would be more productive to work for ‘Playboy’ magazine. Some of the writing and interviewing in that is extremely good journalism, just enlightened with full frontal nudity.

At least it has the good grace to be a top shelf magazine instead of aiming it at the ‘Sun’ readership.

It’s the same with ‘Empire’, which I do really like.

It’s written for the readership in mind, and is therefore not a ‘proper’ review magazine like ‘Sight and Sound’ but sometimes rather more like a full colour advertisement for the crowd pleasing movies.

How can you be unbiased when your front cover has James Bond or Spiderman at the front?

It had some good reviews and good writing, but if wasn’t for that it would be the film magazine equivalent of ‘Heat’.

But that isn’t necessary a bad thing. Journalists are there to write for the people, and if that’s what the people want we should give it to them.

After all, they are paying our wages.

It’s the same with some of my coursemates who had work experience at the big celebrity magazines.

I know of one example of a girl who much preferred her placement at a local newspaper than the big glossy mag she was at because it gave her proper journalist reporting jobs.

The consumer magazine was basically PR. And to be honest, they shouldn’t pretend to be journalism when the writing is automatically going to be twisted and shaped depending on what celebrity or product they are trying to sell in the advertising.

A ‘Fashion Journalist’ tends to be more about advertising than journalism.

I have nothing against PR but I think the two jobs are incompatible. However I do think that journalists and press officers are well capable of doing each other’s jobs.

Now I’m not sure what direction I will be going in because of the many types of journalist it is possible to be.

But I think I am well capable of dealing with anything anyone throws at me. A bit of self awareness will hopefully get me through the minefield!

My New Website!!

2007-02-06T00:13:00.000+01:00

Out of boredom and also because Blogger has got a bit limited, I've decided to build a new website out of the tools that my little macbook of tricks has given me. I'm going to transfer my journalism blog there and also any random stuff that I might care to write about.

Here's the address http://web.mac.com/ashw

:) See you there xx

My Last Day at Press Gazette

2007-01-26T13:29:00.001+01:00

So that's it. It's finished. No more offices and reasonably early mornings for me. Originally I was meant only to be here for a week but I think somebody couldn't make it so they said I could do the second.

It's been very useful. I know how a proper magazine works and felt that I had some kind of input in its content. The first time I did work experience was with TNT magazine, which when I look back on was actually quite useful. However at that point I had no journalism training whatsoever, so I was caught a little bit cold with how I was supposed to style my writing and having to go out and interview people out on the street.

Second time was with FHM magazine. My advice? Don't bother with work experience at the really big consumer magazines like this, especially if they have an organised scheme. It's good for your CV, but I didn't take much out of it at all. The only memory I have was going around the office passing out the mail and finding out that the reviewers get lots of freebies.

This was better. It's going to help with me when I get serious with the second part of the postgraduate course. For example, I hate phoning people. I've never been any good with it. But I've done a lot of it these two weeks, either with trying to get information about the Freedom of Information Act petition or the work experience feature they are doing in a 'youth' issue in a couple of weeks.

It made me realise that the career is something that I am well capable of doing. I've always been able to write pretty well but I think I'm able to do some good journalistic work once I'm let loose on the world.

Why the 'Daily Mail' scares the crap out of me

2007-01-23T14:31:00.000+01:00

I link you to this article which the editor of Press Gazette, Dominic Ponsford, attended yesterday at the Hugh Cudlipp lecture at the London School of Communications.

From my angle, the basic jist of this argument is that because liberal newspapers and broadcasters are subsidised, they don't connect with the great majority of British people.

So does this mean the views of the Daily Mail are the views of the UK population?

That's a scary thought.

This would mean that the majority of the UK population are middle class, slightly racist, scared of immigrants and firmly right wing.

The only thing to back this up is that the sales of the Daily Mail are rising slightly, while the sales of all the others are falling.

How can he be so misguided? The fact is, that all newspaper sales are in freefall, and this is nothing to do with the fact that some of them are liberal.

'The Sun' for example, which I had always felt was the Daily Mail's chav little brother, is losing sales. 'The Evening Standard' which is the owned by Associated Press, is one of the worst performing newspapers according to ABC statistics.

The only reason that the Mail is successful at the moment is that it is very much feature led and taps into the fear of the middle classes. It has big tabloid headlines which work very well with a certain type of reader.

I think he is very fearful, and he should be, that tabloid journalism is dying a death. He refers to it as being a 'monster' that the liberals fear.

The problem with that is we don't take it seriously anymore. People are intelligent enough to read behind the lines and discover the real story behind the spin.

Now the journalism success stories are those which grasp the future and run with it, such as the Guardian Online and BBC Online. It's only a matter of time that this is where the profits are made and the tabloid newspapers die off.

Instead of blaming the liberals for the death of newspapers, he's got to look at the bigger picture.

The future's bright.

2007-01-21T13:39:00.000+01:00

I woke up to find this really interesting post on what people have been saying for a long time.

There is a mistrust with journalists nowadays. I heard recently that the journalist profession was thought on a low par along with lawyers.

It isn't a good thing that people believe that the media always sets an agenda. Journalists have problems from two sides - the fact that viewers don't believe what we are saying because they think a Rupert Murdoch or a Richard Desmond has a control of what we are saying, and also because of the fact we do actually have to follow media laws and often do fall under control of people who run the business.

The reason that the traditional newspaper is dying a slow death is because people have realised for a long time that the news is shaped and formed by the people above.

Take the Sun - it's always been a right-wing Murdoch populist mouthpiece. The Express has been awful for a long time with its weird insistence on Diana front pages. The Mail is one of the most bigoted publications I have ever read (comment not fact, it may be doing well now but you wait until their middle England readers die off) and the Telegraph is still out of touch with the general population.

Intelligent people don't take them very seriously and tend to use other sources like the BBC for clear unbiased news. And even that is a problem because its government funding means they have their own regulations to follow.

I read the Times but I have a mistrust of News International. The Guardian is probably the best for me to read, but is that because I have liberal leftist tendencies? That may be so. The Independent has been a feature led paper for a long time now.

So for news in London, people have tended to give up and read the Metro or London Lite or whatever.

I hate to say it, but it looks like it is technology is where its going. The only news sources that I need now are BBC Online and Guardian Online. I have RSS feeds on my computer which means I can look up news all around the world without having to bother with going to the shops.

TV and Radio are in a similar position. The traditional four channels are gone for good. Radio as a traditional FM/AM form will be replaced by Digital sooner or later by Podcasting and the like.

People are willing and will find their own news sources by the use of technology. And I'm afraid we're all going to have to deal with it.

Traditional skills such as shorthand, law and news reporting, the whole basis of what I'm learning at the moment, will not go out of fashion though.

There is only so much that you can do in terms of news gathering without picking up the phone or using your pen at a time to pick up a quote.

What I am saying though, is if people think that they are going to work as a journalist without getting to grips with new media then they are going to be left behind.

It also means that journalism may become a respected profession again in the sense that we have to work that bit harder because people have so much choice on where they can get their news now.

It also means that we won't necessarily have to be be mucked around by owners who feel that they have control of what we write and film. There will be more opportunity with independent websites and print media due to the fact that technology makes it so much easier to get our work across.

It's happening. Try not to bury your head in the sand.

The Beauty of Blogging

2007-01-18T13:44:00.000+01:00

I started this blog really for fun and the purposes of my course. It genuinely is the best way for a student like me to get my work and writing around the UK and to other people.

People can simply look at my blog and immediately get a sense of who I am and the way that I write. It's also true that I wouldn't get away with a lot of what I write to any employers. Its quite personal to me.

I'm a little concerned though that students and many journalists still don't realise don't quite understand its importance. I look around the blogs of the other students and I'm always quite disappoined that people don't update more.

A year ago I think I wanted to get on the City Journalism Magazine course because I thought it was consumer magazines that I really wanted to do. But I'm glad I went to the Westminster course as they've made me realise that I can't be as narrow as that.

The fact that we have a website in the public domain I feel is also very, very important. I think this message of having to move with the times seems to be put forward often to journalists, but it is true.

For me, working with print all my career would be very boring. Although I don't feel comfortable with cameras and radio in the same way as the Broadcast Journalists, I still would like to get involved.

Back to the blogs... I've started to realise that people look at it very differently. For me, I feell like I should be able to do anything on it. I like putting pictures, silly youtube videos, my journalistic feelings and publish my work on it.

For instance I stuck the Press Gazette piece on my previous post before it got into the magazine or website. I just didn't think about the fact that I was in sense scooping the magazine because I published on my blog before where it was supposed to. But I'm learning and should be a bit more careful, but then I think to myself, it's my blog! I can do anything I want with it!

It might possibly mean I have to separate blogs at some point dealing with different parts of my journalistic career, but not yet, as I don't have enough to write about!

Anyway. Here are some blogger rules somebody thought up.

The Campaign Starts Here....?

2007-01-17T17:33:00.000+01:00

At the moment the biggest thing at Press Gazette is their campaign for the FOI Act.

I've spent a lot of time this week emailing the editors of the regional weeklies about signing a petition against the Government.

It's good, but I 've also heard that because many working Journalists are stressed and so busy, they haven't been as active in supporting the campaign as they really should do.

Basically, it'll make their job much harder and their stories more dull.

But some are also probably cynical and old and I'm sure many UK Journalists just simply can't be bothered to put the effort in supporting it.

For us, it is probably even more important, because our first steps in the career that we've chosen is going to be affected by this act.

The quality of our Journalism will be affected severely.

I made a suggestion to the editor it might be good for the campaign if us students get involved. We don't have pressing deadlines and pressure in quite the same way yet so I think it would be a great thing and possibly our duty to get involved.

I'm going to have a talk about it with him tomorrow, so if anybody has idea how we can get involved with the 'Press Gazette' in this campaign, I'm all open to suggestions.

Work Experience At The Press Gazette. Day One.

2007-01-16T00:08:00.001+01:00

I was lucky enough to find work experience at 'Press Gazette', the magazine for journalists, and one which I wasn't sure that would be in existence until Wilmington Media came in to save the day.

It was strange though. I was watching a film about a journalist at the other end of the spectrum the night before, Hunter S. Thompson, in 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas'. It is excellent to know that it was possible to have a journalist who did copious amounts of drugs, be unaware of the events he was supposed to be actually reporting and still write a story that will be remembered from generation to generation.

It would nice to be able to follow his footsteps, but to be honest, I'm not sure if my future bosses will accept me thinking that he was an evil lizard out to get me, or have bats chasing me around the office.

So I went for the normality of a trade magazine famous for reporting about journalists. I even wore a kind of suit for the occasion. I'm never sure what 'smart casual' means so I went for a suit and trousers, though I'm not sure I'll ever be comfortable with it.

But it's a job. Got to get on with it.

It was a very small office with about six or seven people. They were all extremely nice to me, and I quickly felt comfortable.

But.... I was using Windows!

I think it was for budgetary reasons, but the equipment didn't really match the computers that we have at the college. The Apple Macs are fast and great with graphics. The computer I was using had desktop icons and was painfully slow which I actually wasn't used to.

It's strange. Like people hate using Macs, I now have this problem with Windows because it feels dated and slow.

Onto the work. And for my first day I think it went very well.

First of all I was asked to cut clippings and find any useful stories that they had in the weekend papers. To be honest, I didn't think it was the most useful thing to do for them but it did mean I researched what kind of stories which the Gazette would go for.

They asked me what kind of stories that I had found and I mentioned Alexander Livinenko as he was mentioned an awful lot on the course and also a frequent subject for the Frontline. He is incidentally going to be played by Johnny Depp in a film which he is producing, which I was actually tempted to write a whole other entry about, but I haven't got time at the moment.

However, I was told that it wasn't really a 'journalist' story so to speak, as he was a Russian spy rather than a proper journalist.

I disagree actually, but didn't bring it up. He was poisoned allegedly because he spoke up and tried to reveal the truth that he felt about the Goverment, which is very much one of the things that a good journalist would do.

Maybe I'm wrong, but Hunter S. Thompson wasn't really a Journalist in a typical sense, but he did try to reveal what his own truth was. As the film mentioned, he was a 'Doctor of Journalism' (self proclaimed)

Personally I think the Gazette should go for stories and features about this type of thing, because it has a major importance to journalists just as much as pieces on blogging and staff redundancies at the Daily Express. But its not really for me to say.

Anyway. back to the job. I was asked to write a story about the 'Romsey Advertiser' and its change from a broadsheet to tabloid format.

It was only a little piece, about 250 words, and had a couple of changes in it. But it was very important to me because they will print it in the next issue, with my name on it as a byeline on it.

As I'm just starting out, this makes me feel pretty good, because if at this stage my writing is good enough to get into a very famous trade magazine, I should be happy.

Anyway here it is.

Press Gazette Article

Not a work of art by any means, but nevertheless important to me.

I then got involved with the 'Freedom of Information' campaign by the Gazette by emailing an electronic petition to editors from various regional weeklies which asked to be signed, in order to stop Blair from diluting it in the future.

An important task. A little boring and slightly secretarial, but nevertheless a useful thing to do and even relevant to my efficiency as a journalist in the future.

Anyway. It was a nice day. I hope it continues and gets even better.

September 29th 1947

2007-01-11T13:41:00.000+01:00

A news report I wrote for Reporting Week about the opening prosecution statement of the Nuremberg Trials

In a black day for humanity, the War Crimes Court in Nuremberg heard how the Nazi Third Reich were responsible for the murder of six million Jews as well as many others whose race and creed were not part of their ideology of the ‘Master Race’.

In a court of law for the first time, the lead prosecutor revealed the true extent of the atrocities that Hitler and the German army committed in support of Nazi doctrine as he opened the prosecution case against members of the ‘Einsatzgruppen’, or ‘Death Squad.’

The court heard how of nine million Jews who lived in Nazi owned territory, six million were murdered, four million in extermination camps and two million by the security forces such as the Einsatzgruppen and secret police.

Mr Ferencz said that the rules of war such as the Geneva Convention and basic human rights were torn apart in a campaign of cold-blooded slaughter against the Jews but also against other people who did not fit the Aryan theory of German superiority such as Slavs, Russians and gypsies.

The prosecutor told how the Einsatzgruppen were not soldiers in the traditional sense but rather executioners who murdered innocent men, women and children in a chillingly systematic way.

Jews were called out and registered with the Star of David and taken away for ‘resettlement’. Often they were led to a ditch on the outskirts of the town where the death squads were waiting to gun them down in a hail of bullets. Other times they were led to vehicles and gassed to death.

He said of the Einsatzgruppen “We have suggested that the chief significance of this case lies in the law of human rights which have been systematically violated. Only obeying orders has no foundation in any article of law in defence of the act of murdering innocent civilians.”

“We cannot believe that anybody engaged in the murder of millions of people could believe it was not a criminal act. It beggars belief that they did not know they were engaged in a conspiracy to commit crime”.

The Mustardian Conflict

2007-01-10T14:04:00.001+01:00

A report on a mock NATO news conference that I did for Reporting Week

After months of provocation, the Mustardian Government will send a major military force to combat the terrorist insurgency developing in Northwestern former Britannica.

The action will destabilise an already fractious situation due to the recent defeat of the Brownian Defence force in the Mustardian enclave of Eddarachllis earlier in the year. The Mustardian force will be monitoring these waters as part of the military action.

The Mustardian Government and the international community have been increasingly worried by the resurgence of An-Quaich terrorists in the region, including the independent state of South Hebridea and also through Brownian and Mustardian borders.

There is no suggestion yet that President Ardiman is supporting the terrorists, yet there was some suspicion that Brownia were preparing for future conflict in the Weapons Restriction Zone between the two countries

Since April of last year the Brownian forces have launched attacks on territories that they have regarded as their own since the break-up of former-Britannica in 1972.

This resulted in a ceasefire agreement, pending an armistice in July. The Mustardian Military have denied the deployment of forces was an aggressive act, claiming it is a peacekeeping mission due to the Brownian inability to control the flow of terrorists coming through the borders of Mustardia and the independent Hebridean islands.

Mustardian intelligence also claimed that the terrorists were receiving logistical and financial support in the region, which was a direct cause of the rising levels of drugs and arms trafficking.

Derek Deighton, the Brownian Minister for Defence said in a prepared statement: “This deployment of Mustardian forces aims to restore stability to the region. The force is fully combat ready and the government will not shy away from the use of military force, if necessary, to implement the Cease Fire Agreement and maintain the rule of law. Mustardia remains a force for good and acts within international law”

The Mustardian Government advised its citizens to cancel all non-essential travel to the regions of Caledonia, Rumskya and North Hebridea until all hostilities at ceased. Regular security updates are available on the Government website.

The Apple iphone

2007-01-10T01:38:00.000+01:00

The ipod has conquered the music player market.

Apple Macs are simply 'prettier' than clunky PC's.

Now they are hoping to conquer the mobile phone market with this...

The Apple iphone

Steve Jobs unveiled his new gadget at the Annual MacWorld at Los Angeles.

The phone uses no conventional buttons, but has touch-screen technology. It is basically a mini-computer with a touch-screen that people can scroll with their fingers, in a similar way that the ipod currently works to scroll songs.

You can turn the phone around to make it into a widescreen television screen.

The thing that personally gets me is that it has so many useful functions, but in essence it is a very simple idea and looks very easy to use.

Problem would be the price. I'm not paying more than £300 for something like this, even if it is extremely inviting.

But then I said I would never buy an ipod a few years ago. How things have changed...

Ze Frank

2007-01-09T22:01:00.003+01:00

I'm going to advise you to go to this site Ze Frank

It's a great example of a video blog.

It's very strange sometimes, but very good. Make sure you watch some of the videos which are here

'Arms Without Borders'

2007-01-09T13:09:00.000+01:00

The threat of terrorism could be drastically reduced if an effective international Arms Trade Treaty was enforced properly, a major report by Oxfam and Amnesty International has claimed.

The ‘Arms Without Borders’ campaign has said that the free exchange of weapons supplied by unscrupulous arms dealers without proper governmental controls is partly responsible for the easy availability of guns and bomb-making equipment in terrorist hotspots such as Iraq and Afghanistan.

Amartya Sen, India’s Nobel Economics Laureate who is also an honorary president of Oxfam said: “The G8 countries have reasons of self-interest to do this (sign up to the international Arms Treaty), given the growing threat of terrorism that affects these countries.”

It was claimed that the situation in the Middle East has been inflamed by the huge arsenal available to Israel, primarily with helicopters, planes and missiles supplied by the USA but also with components supplied by other countries.

The report also said that although weapons and military equipment produced by massive arms producing nations such as the US and the UK may be destined for legitimate security forces, few have brought in effective controls over licensed deals.

This meant that they retained little or no control over onward export of arms, which had been produced overseas from places within their jurisdiction.

It would mean that weaponry could easily fall into the wrong hands. The report said that hand grenades bearing markings of an Austrian company, Arges, likely to be manufactured in Pakistan, had been used in numerous attacks in the country and its neighbours.

The effect of the arms trade in poverty stricken countries has already been well documented. Weapons supplied by major industrialised countries have already been known to contribute directly and indirectly to violence and rape in countries such as the Sudan and Liberia.

A group of states led by Argentina, Australia, Costa Rica, Finland, Japan, Kenya and the UK are campaigning to table a resolution in order to start a process to develop the Arms Trade Treaty. This draft resolution would call for a Group of Government Experts to consider the issue in 2008.

Little Red Corvette

2007-01-07T20:06:00.000+01:00

I love this song.

But I was very shocked and highly amused when somebody pointed out that I should really start listening to the lyrics.

I guess I shoulda known
By the way u parked your car sideways
That it wouldnt last

See youre the kinda person
That believes in makin out once
Love em and leave em fast

I guess I must be dumb
cuz u had a pocket full of horses
Trojan and some of them used

But it was saturday night
I guess that makes it all right
And u say what have I got 2 lose?
And honey I say

Little red corvette
Baby youre much 2 fast
Little red corvette
U need a love thats gonna last

I guess I shoulda closed my eyes
When u drove me 2 the place
Where your horses run free

cuz I felt a little ill
When I saw all the pictures
Of the jockeys that were there before me

Believe it or not
I started to worry
I wondered if I had enough class

But it was saturday night
I guess that makes it all right
And u say, baby, have u got enough gas?
Oh yeah

Little red corvette
Baby youre much 2 fast, yes u r
Little red corvette
U need 2 find a love thats gonna last

A body like yours (a body like yours)
Oughta be in jail (oughta be in jail)
cuz its on the verge of bein obscene
(cuz its on the verge of bein obscene)

Move over baby (move over baby)
Gimme the keys (gimme the keys)
Im gonna try 2 tame your little red love machine
(Im gonna try 2 tame your little red love machine)

Little red corvette
Baby youre much 2 fast
Little red corvette
U need 2 find a love thats gonna last

Little red corvette
Honey u got 2 slow down (got 2 slow down)
Little red corvette
cuz if u dont u gonna run your
Little red corvette right in the ground

(little red corvette)
Right down 2 the ground (honey u got 2 slow down)
U, u, u got 2 slow down (little red corvette)
Youre movin much 2 fast (2 fast)
U need 2 find a love thats gonna last

Girl, u got an ass like I never seen
And the ride...
I say the ride is so smooth
U must be a limousine

Baby youre much 2 fast
Little red corvette
U need a love, u need a love thats
Thats gonna last
(little red corvette)
U got 2 slow down (u got 2 slow down)
Little red corvette

cuz if u dont, cuz if u dont,
U gonna run your body right into the ground (right into the ground)
Right into the ground (right into the ground)
Right into the ground (right into the ground)

Little red corvette

One tip - it's not about a car!

Illegal Immigrant Steals Painting from Historic Museum.

2007-01-06T16:58:00.000+01:00

An illegal immigrant from Syria was sentenced to 20 months imprisonment yesterday for stealing a painting from the Victoria and Albert Museum.

The painting called 'Women of the Fountain' was recovered unharmed but the priceless 19th century frame was destroyed, it was heard at Blackfriars Crown Court.

Hassan Ali had entered the UK thanks to two fake Italian passports and had found a job in catering at the prestigious museum in South Kensington, London.

No reason for his stealing of the painting was given apart from that of 'impulse'. The Defence argued for a less strict penalty by arguing that he had pleaded guilty straight away and the theft wasn't planned or organised

The Judge disregarded this argument by stating that Mr Ali had gravely abused his position of power in the job as well as hiding in the country illegally. It was also a breach of trust with the catering company which could possibly affect their relationship with the museum.

However he did say that if Ali did not plead guilty straight away the sentence would have been two and a half years. Also mitigation was given in that Mr Aliwas paying £5200 costs for the damage and the painting was only missing for ten days.

The judge recommended that Mr Ali be deported back to Syria by the Home Secretary when his sentence was completed.

The Nintendo Wii

2006-12-30T00:55:00.000+01:00

Following reading this post by Chris I felt I had to defend what i think Nintendo's intentions were for the machine.

The whole point of the Wii is that it is a machine to cater for people who don't normally play games. It is what is also going to make Nintendo number one again.

One of the most important things about this machine is that it is cheap. £175 for a games machine is very little nowadays, especially when you compare it to the XBox 360 which goes over £200 and the Playstation 3 which will go over £400 if the rumours are to be believed.

The very idea of it is genius. Wii Sports which come bundled with the machine is the perfect showcase for what it can do. Swing your arms like a tennis player? Bowling in your own home? Punching and Boxing? Drive like a golfer?

Check out these first impressions.

Personally I love the fact that I can see myself playing these games with anybody. I'm too old to be dealing with hours in front of the console or PC playing a 40 hour role playing game or trying to learn intricate button combinations on some pretty fighting game.

I don't want to waste time doing this anymore. If I'm going to spend ages on a game, I would rather spend my time on the Wii version of Zelda, where I can sword fight, ride on horseback, shoot arrows, and go fishing.

So I've developed a bit of an obsession with the machine, and tomorrow I'm going to go hunting around the shops to find myself one to play with. Instead of arsing around with football management games that take hours to play, I can get some free exercise and play games with my friends.

Come on. Anything where it is possible to smash your TV screen with the controller due to your enthusiasm has to be good.

This is absolutely brilliant.

2006-12-29T21:36:00.000+01:00

Naked In Front of the Computer

2006-12-22T16:05:00.000+01:00

The title is nothing to do with this post. It's just to refer you to an excellent song by the most excellent band Faith No More

Recurring on the 'Geekness' I referred to in my last post.. Would you call somebody who has taken to carrying around his macbook around with him everywhere a geek, techy, four eyes etc.

Because that's me. I've become obsessed with the fact that my life could easy just actually function with me and my laptop. Food, clothes, necessities you can order online. Sleeping? All I would need to have was money on my credit card and a hotel with a website.

I hate Starbucks because they are a stinking corporate goliath on every street corner and employing cheap labour for long hours and bad working conditions. However, I've taken to going there and drinking their Gingerbread latte because they offer Wi-Fi Access.

For the people who don't know, wi-fi's is wireless internet. I didn't have a clue what the hell it was to begin with as i was used to dealing with a load of wires running down the floor. However once I loaded up the macbook at home it started giving me Internet! I was like 'WTF?'.

There was no connection to the laptop to speak of so I was a bit bemused and a quite a bit confused. Then I discovered it had this thing called an Airport which picked up wireless signals kind of like a radio antennae.

Now I bring the computer with me because I can log on pretty much at every Starbucks and many places in London wirelessly for a reasonable charge. And at the Leicester Square Starbucks and a mile long area in Islington you can get it for free.

Same at college. I can go online pretty much anywhere.

I'm beginning to think I'm turning a little bit Nathan Barley.

I've actually got a proper song as a ringtone

My Technology part 1

2006-12-13T12:03:00.000+01:00

I tend to forget about how much of a geek I am, but then I should remember that in my lifetime gadgets and electronic wizardry has developed at an incredible speed.

We're only talking about the last 20 years or so.

I remember playing with my first Spectrum brick of a computer and having to wait about five minutes with a frizzy screen and a loud crackling noise similar to the ones that dial-up internet used to make. And my first computer language - BASIC. It was make text based games where you had to type THE ENTIRE PROGRAM OUT!

Then it was Nintendo. Oh, Nintendo. My first NES. Super Mario Brothers. Duck Hunt. Big fat cartridges. Square joypads which gave you massive handache if you used them for long. I had one of those lightgun things and remember shooting ducks for ages on end.

My spectacle prescription is very high mainly thanks to Nintendo and it's bigger brother - the SUPER Nintendo.

I spent my early teenage years on this machine. I think it probably stunted my social growth for a good few years.

I remember having arguments with friends whether what the better machine was - the SEGA Megadrive or the Nintendo SNES. The megadrive was a blocky piece of crap really, with the graphics being awful and only having the attraction of Sonic the Hedgehog. But in my backyard it always had this air of coolness which the Nintendo lacked. It was almost like the choice of the Chav council estate kid (of which I knew a few). I suspect this was because it was the cheaper machine .. but that didn't occur to me at that point. I was more concerned that Sonic was supposed to be cooler than Mario.

Interview Transcript

2006-12-06T17:19:00.000+01:00

Here is an unedited transcript of an interview I did with Phil Nicol, a volunteer with the London Gay and Lesbian Switchboard. My first phone inteview!

Q: How old are you?
A: I’m 36
Q: What do you do for the Switchboard?
A: Switchboard is actually a completely volunteer led organisation. I’m a volunteer not actually a paid member of staff. I’m actually a freelance travel writer. The way switchboard works is that all the volunteers are there to staff the helplines. So it’s very much about answering the telephone and calls and there is a quite expensive training process involved in getting people onto the phones in terms of making sure that they get the most of each and every call and to handle some quite diverse and potentially quite difficult calls and really just to make sure they offer some confidential and non-judgemental support.
Q: Where are you from. What was your childhood like?
A: I was brought up in Hampshire, although I was actually born in Singapore. My parents brought me up in Singapore for a couple of years but we moved back to this country when I was a little under two. I’m the youngest of three children and had a very happy childhood.
Q: When did you realise you were gay?
A: This is something I always say on the switchboard. An individual’s experience of being gay and coming out is obviously quite personal for them but everyone’s experience is so different. Personally I actually came out quite late in life. I’ve actually only been out a few years. I came out when I was 30 and I think part of the reason it took me so long to get to where I am was that I was never sure exactly what I was and I wanted. I had a bit of a change in my life in that both my parents died. Coming to terms with their deaths and grieving made me realise much more who I was and allowed me to question who I was much more than I previously felt able to do. It was all extremely sudden.
I did have heterosexual relationships but looking back I could see why they went wrong really and obviously why that wasn’t what I needed.
Q: Why did yourself want to join the switchboard?
A: I was looking for some sort of volunteering opportunity to tie in with the fact I was a freelance travel writer. I had a bit more time and opportunity to organise myself perhaps than other people. I just figured I wanted to give something back and found out about Switchboard. I joined about a year ago now.
Q: Can you tell me more about the travel writing?
A: I’m actually in a bit of a lull because I haven’t done much writing recently. Essentially it’s writing articles for anybody who’s willing to publish them. I’ve been doing that for just over a year and obviously one area I’m interested in is Travel for the gay traveller and its quite interesting there are now a lot of publications that have the odd article for the gay traveller in them. But there’s no regular dedicated magazine for that really. It’s only touched on.
Q: Do you find that a shame there’s no regular magazine?
A: Yeah, but having said that though there is a tremendous amount of information for gay travellers on the web and obviously it’s just a question of researching it for yourself.
Q: In school did you ever think that you were different than other people?
A: For me I was actually at an all boys school from the age of eleven to eighteen and no, I don’t think I was ever at that stage where I was at a questioning mind-frame.
Q: Did that come more in your twenties?
Yeah.
Q: Do you think that children can make up their minds that young?
A: I think judging by the numbers of calls I get on the switchboard we certainly do have a large number from younger people. Often those who are at school who have worked out that they were gay or lesbian and it’s often very difficult for them to know who to come out to. But certainly as I said before everybody is different. But there are a lot of younger people out there who do find out their sexuality at a much younger age.
Q: What kinds of advice to you give on the switchboard?
A: The issue with advice comes down to the fact that everybody’s experiences are different and it’s not my place to tell someone what to do. If the Switchboard can help empower people to make positive choices throughout their life than that is very much what I’m aiming to do. The idea of dishing up advice can end up being negative. There’s no roadmap. Everyone’s different. Everyone’s relationship with the people around them is different as well. Their experiences and backgrounds are so diverse that it’s counterproductive to tell somebody how they should go about coming out.
Q: What do you think society should do to stop discrimination which is still happening?
A: Well for us, every year Switchboard is prominent in the Pride Event in London which is very much aimed towards promoting gay rights and free choice. It’s very much about being out and proud about who you are. In terms of discrimination that people face on daily basis. We get phone calls about abuse, bullying and also just general discrimination. It’s still very much the case for a lot of people, especially outside London. London is a much easier place to come out then they would in many other cities around the country.
Q: What do you think should be done in other cities?
A: I think general attitudes in society are changing and it is just illustrated last year when Civil Partnerships were introduced and it became possible for same sex couples to have legal status when they weren’t before. Also regarding their status in society I think we have come a long way and it is important to recognise that. Equally it is really a question of broader education in society that ultimately it’s not sexuality that determines how people are treated.
Q: How do you think the press is towards gay people?
A: It’s important to emphasise how far things have come since the 80’s when the tabloid press were repeatedly derogatory towards gay people. I would say that sometimes the press may pick up on a issue because people are different. It’s just a question that gay and lesbian people are a minority in this country. Lazy Journalists often will pick up on this and exploit so it comes down to ignorance about what gay people are. Often judging by the calls we receive all across the country often the prejudices do come largely from ignorance.
Q: Do you think you would have come out at an earlier age if society was more accepting?
A: For me personally it was where I was and my mindset. That was the most important issue. I think it was because I didn’t really question who I was, what I needed and what I wanted. I don’t think it was about the position of gay people in society.
Q: When did you move to London?
A: I’ve been in London for 15 years.
Q: Did you have gay friends before you came out?
A: Yes
Q: Did you ever confide in them?
A: I don’t know if they knew. Again at that stage it wasn’t really something I was thinking myself.
Q: Do you have a relationship now?
A: I’ve been seeing a guys since February.
Q: What do you think of the London scene?
A: It’s incredibly vibrant and diverse. I think it’s quite impressive the sheer range of bars and clubs that are available in London. The fact that not everyone conforms to the stereotype portrayed in the tabloid press. They tend to have a stereotype about what a gay person is. Many of the venues in London are completely highlight that stereotype does not highlight all aspects of gay life. I think it’s fantastic we live in a city where people don’t have to go to a particular type of venue and we have so many choices.
Q: What kinds of problems do your callers usually talk about?
A: We generally get two different types of call. We get calls for information and that could be anything from information about venues to safer sex and sexual health. The other side is very much support which is a whole range of issues. We’ll often get calls from people who are coming out and also people who are friends and family who do not know how to treat the person coming out. We gets calls about abuse and bullying. We get calls from people who are being discriminated and desperately need to chat. We get calls from people who have recently been diagnosed with HIV and sexually transmitted infections and need to talk about some of the feelings they are having. We get calls from people who are having relationship traumas and who don’t feel that they can talk about their friends. Often it’s people who don’t have any gay friends and feel that their friends may not understand what is going on. It’s a chance to speak to someone completely impartial and who’s not going to dish out advice. They are going to listen and help the person through their problems rather than tell them what to do. That’s the fundamental ethos of switchboard. We never tell callers what to do. Hopefully we empower them to make their own decisions and choices but we’re never judgemental and completely confidential.
Q: How did your friends and family react to you coming out?
A: I think it was partly because I came out so late in life. I had a very positive experience from coming out because I got to the stage in my life where I had some really good friends who were mature enough to take it all in their stride and were actually happy for me to find out who I was and where I wanted to be. Unfortunately I never got the chance to come out to my parents but my brother and sister who were elder than me they were incredibly supportive and it’s just a question of me being happy so they are happy.
Q: Do you think your parents would have felt the same as well?
A: It’s so difficult to know. I’d hope that they would but unfortunately I’m not in a position to have that experience so I find it doesn’t really help me to wonder too much about whether they would have accepted me or not.

Before Sunrise/ Sunset

2006-11-30T19:02:00.000+01:00

I watched two films showing at the Riverside Studios called Before Sunrise and Before Sunset back to back. Now both are Romantic comedies, and usually I detest these types of films. It usually consists of two people who dont like each other at the beginning, realise they do and then overcome all obstacles to finally fall in love at the end. There are many variations to the theme but they in all cases they arent really realistic about the portrayal of relationships- most of them are a bit shit.

Before Sunrise is one of the few romantic films I can actually watch without throwing up. Its about an American called Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and a Frenchwoman Cecile (Julie Delpy) who meet on a train one day and something happens. Theres a spark. You know that feeling you get when you start talking to somebody and you just cant stop talking? Or you sit across somebody on a train whos extremely beautiful and you keep looking at each other in that kind of uncomfortable way where you cant help yourself and purposely look away in case they are looking straight at you? You dont know what it is but there is something there.

This must happen to everybody at some point. And in 99% of these cases you get off the train with the feeling that you should have done something, but didnt. This happens all the time. But what happens if you dont? Imagine like Jesse, that you get back on the train and decide that this is the one chance that you have to find out what happens after this first initial meeting I think this was filmed before mobile phones got so popular, but do you honestly reckon that you would get in touch together even if you had swapped numbers? It doesnt happen. Thats the point where you have to go for it. You live in different countries this is your only opportunity.

In Vienna you have only 12 hours to properly get to know each other, fall in love and leave each other again. You keep talking. You cant help looking at each other. You cant help but kiss and you cant help but make love. You talk about life, your plans, your dreams, your hopes. You feel so comfortable with each other that you cant imagine anybody else at that moment, but youve only got until sunrise until you have to leave each other.

At 14 it was just sad but I never fully understood it. At 24 you kind of see it more clearly. Its hard to describe properly, but do you remember those points of childhood where time stood still? Like you were looking up at the stars with somebody you love and then remember it for the rest of your life? You forget the rest of what was happening but at that one point it was magical? Memories that you actually remember like it was yesterday? Its like Jesse and Cecile. Because these 12 hours are so short you have to make every minute of that time count. And every minute of that time is so intense that it is locked into your brain forever.

Maybe if you stayed together it might have been different and this is one of the many conversations they have. You might have discovered all the annoying parts of the other person and a few years down the line you might start hating each other and people do that when they are young. But imagine if you felt a love that intense and then you think to yourself I just want to remember it like this. I dont want it to fizzle out through email or post or whatever. Lets just remember this time and never see each other again. And thats what they do. Before they separate they decide that theyll just remember that time
.
But thats impossible to do. At the last moment they decide that six months from that point theyll come to the same spot and meet each other again. Do you think that theyll actually wait and come to the same point to see each other again? What do you think?

The sequel, Before Sunset, is them ten years down the line. Now I cant really look at things from a thirty something viewpoint so it didnt hit me as hard as its predecessor, but this is the couple ten years after. I cant reveal anything because it means spoiling something, but what it did teach me is that I think there might be a soul-mate for everybody, but the depressing fact is that very few people will find it. I think people do need and settle very easily, and it is usually time, circumstance and work that will in the end decide who you will end up with.

Thats why I dont have any respect or illusions about marriage. Its just a piece of paper that seems to tie people down more for convenience than anything else. I really dont want to end up that way. Marriage and children seems to me what people expect you to do rather than what I really would like to do. Sure I would like kids and I know I would devote my life to them but I wouldnt like to do it at the expense of living my life to the full and being the best that I can be. Thats life though. Its difficult. Thats what makes it so fun. Buddhists talk about getting rid of your desires will make you happy, but isnt the wanting, the build-up, the search for happiness more exciting then the point where you have it all?

Medieval Merriment

2006-11-28T19:23:00.001+01:00

One reason I'm feeling quite unwell this week is that I had a pretty excellent weekend down in the countryside to see an old university friend of mine. They had a medieval fayre which was held in a castle. It was excellent because I was with my friends drinking lots and lots and lots of cider (hence the reason I'm feeling ill). A few photos...

That was a singing plague victim. She was singing a few olde songs and had big massive bosoms which she kept waving around the place. I love the look she is giving me here.

fat guy as a wench and an old king

George and the Dragon killing each other.

Milady

Knights smacking the hell out of each other. (I loved this. It concerned me that I did so much)

Pause for Breath

2006-11-27T23:10:00.000+01:00

Only about three weeks to Christmas!

I'm tired. I think it's come to the point for the Print Journalists where we've become a little bit jaded about being 'taught' journalism. I don't think it is a teachable subject. At the moment we're doing practice exercises and getting feedback from teachers, but I don't think that's how journalism should work. We need to get out there and actually do this practically.

There are quite a few people who want to do consumer journalism and I think everybody who wants to do it is already capable. We don't need any more 'teaching'. The tutors have set out the course well, because now it's all about getting out there getting our stories and writing, which I knew was the most important part.

I've been way too busy with the shorthand, the law and learning how to shape my news and feature writing that I simply haven't had any time to do any photojournalism or video work which I am still very keen on doing. There's only a few hours of the day that i have spare once I get home! I'm sure i'll get more chance to do it after christmas.

The students often don't agree with what the Chris and Andrew and the other lecturers are saying and I think that's a very good thing. I don't pretend to have as much knowledge as they do, but often I'm thinking to myself that if Journalism is ever changing, shouldn't it be possible to have a new angle and approach stories in ways that haven't been done before?

Newspapers are a dying breed. The Press Gazette is dead. From my experience of the PTC journalism awards they are trying to ignore the push of technology. The old guard will disappear and it is us who are going to replace them. This means that we have to think about the way we do this. No rules are set in stone, and yes I'll learn the basic Journalism skills so I can write quickly, form a story and not be sued, but after that my style is going to develop, and i want it to be my own.

Evolution VS Creationalism

2006-11-27T15:42:00.000+01:00

This is a piece I did as an opinion piece exercise for feature writing. The view expressed is not necessarily my view. So don't hit me. But do comment! :)

Scientists are some of the most arrogant people on the planet. Many of the ideas that they claim to be ‘fact’ are not what you can call true. Much is based on mathematical formula and theories without any hard evidence, and that is flawed. You cannot see, hear, smell, or feel much of what Science deems to be fact and yet we take it as granted that it is real, more real than God.

It is possible to look at the Scriptures written down for us, and we can see that it is hard material evidence that the stories did happen. Scientific evidence especially in evolutionary terms is often circumstantial and much cannot be proved in the same way. It should not be treated as gospel because times change. Years ago scientists believed the world was flat. Who knows what we will know and believe in a hundred years time?

Whatever the case for the validity of Creationalism, it is necessary because the nature of humanity is that we want something to believe. The masses need religion, a brand of faith to keep us from losing hope and becoming cynical like Richard Dawkins, a man whose arrogance about the existence of religion is extremely rude and bigoted. You cannot prove that God exists, but in the same way no scientist can prove evolution happened, because you are looking at evidence beyond the realm of human existence.

What gives scientists the right to impose their views of people? Why should this material be educated in schools without giving children the choice to believe what they want to believe? Children would be some ways much happier adults if they were brought up believing in a higher power and had faith. Think of the way that discipline can be enforced if children knew that the bad or evil things to do will result in them going to hell, while if they were good they would be able to go to heaven.

The problem with today’s society is that children watch television and play computer games (both instruments of science) instead of going to church, and this is where they learn their definitions of right and wrong. If they believed in the bible instead, they would know if they started breaking commandants they would have to pay for it. Now the only punishment they can see is if they get caught or not.

The teaching of evolution allows children to believe that the things they will do wrong will be forgotten, as we are tiny in the whole scheme of life. It is a form of propaganda that allows people to commit harm and crime because they will be able to get away from it. The Scientists are imposing their will on the easily influenced, and that is wrong.

Religion is not wrong. The belief in Creationalism causes no harm to anybody. It is those people who decide to twist and corrupt it that causes the problem. The Muslim and Christian religions are fundamentally worthwhile, but it is the people who twist it to their own way and kill for it that is the harm. In some ways it is due to a lack of strength in their own faith because they forget the inner principles of their religion and exhibit extreme behaviour which is caused by their own human doubt and feelings rather than what they believe (e.g. paedophile Catholic Priests)

The real problem are those Christians who believe in both God and Evolution and feel that they are both compatible. They are hedging their bets. They cannot decide one way or another and so they stuck right down the middle in a state of confusion. Atheists and Creationalists are worthy of admiration because at least they can make their mind up about what they believe. It is those in the middle who are chickening out and they are the people we should make jokes out of as they are in all extent and purposes cowards.

It is not right that Creationalists are the source of ridicule simply because they believe in what their holy book says. The birth of Jesus and his position as God’s son relies on just as much faith as God’s creation of the Earth in the chapter of Genesis. Why should people be allowed to believe in one part of the bible, which is the whole basis of Christianity, and disregard the early part due to the will of the Scientists?

For some people, like fundamentalist believers of the Koran, their book is the word laid down by God and impossible to regard in any other way. And yet Creationalism is not harmful in the same way as Muslim fundamentalism can be. Violence and bloodshed is not caused because people believe in Adam and Eve.

English Heritage in Crisis

2006-11-21T17:25:00.000+01:00

The English Heritage needs money which the Government are not providing and putting the future of famous landmarks into doubt, according to a committee investigation.

The Select Committee report criticised the yearly decline of funding from the Government and claimed that the English Heritage would not be able to do their job properly without it. It also claimed it would result in the degradation of assets such as stately homes, castles and cathedrals, properties valuable for their focal point in the community and their tourist value. .

Funding has been hit recently by the impact of the 2012 Olympics that has taken money from the lottery fund previously used for heritage projects. The Secretary of State has already accepted that £410 million of non-Olympic money would be diverted to the public funding package. In the last eight years it has been estimated that £18m has been lost from Heritage funding.

The English heritage was described as having done ‘its best in the circumstances’ but that it was ‘coming under immense strain and that the situation was becoming critical’. The report also criticised the Heritage’s ‘modernisation programme’ that led to a loss of experienced and expert staff.

The inquiry also revealed that the sector was in a state of anxiety due to their lack of confidence in their standing within Government priorities. Their worries increased when it was revealed that the Prime Minister’s recent ‘priorities letter’ to the Department on Culture, Media and Sport did not reference the importance of the historic environment.

London Assembly 2

2006-11-21T13:08:00.000+01:00

Commuters intimidated by noise pollution was a problem raised at the London Assembly as Ken Livingstone gave his assurance that the issue would be thoroughly dealt with.

The Mayor was questioned by Valerie Shawcross, the assembly representative for Lambeth and Southwark, about the public disturbance caused by noisy devices such as Mobile Phones and MP3 players.

She said ‘This issue has grown up because of technology that wasn’t there before and people don’t think that there are any ground rules. I think a much more blanket and assertive campaign to begin with would make people much more aware… Certainly on the buses people are much more likely to move seats than politely ask to turn it down.’

Ken Livingstone claimed that a campaign with Transport For London would have a big impact which would involve posters being put on bus stops. He said that the previous policy of putting posters on buses was not a sufficient measure.

London Assembly

2006-11-20T21:59:00.000+01:00

The Mayor of London led an impassioned defence of his trip to Cuba at the London Assembly after a fierce attack by the opposition led majority turned into a slanging match.

Led by the Conservatives and in particular the West Central representative Angie Bray, Livingstone was accused of wasting public money and supporting in Cuba a country guilty of human rights abuses. The debate went on for over forty minutes, with at one point Ms Bray being heard to mutter the word 'Fascist' under the microphone.

The visit, which cost around £29,000, involved the Mayor meeting Cuban officials and was kept very low key, with the itinerary not being released and British diplomats being largely kept in the dark about his presence.

Livingstone provoked laughter with the public gallery when he defended the trip by saying

‘If you put into perspective the fact that the assembly for London cost £31,000 a day it’s hardly earth shattering, and I suspect we got from my visit then say… you’.

About Cuba’s human rights abuses he replied

‘If you are serious about making an impact on changing a nation’s human rights record parading about it in the media does not help. It’s the quiet pressure behind the scenes where they know you are genuinely concerned… there are human rights abuses in Cuba. I would like free elections, I would like to see the release of the intellectuals in prison, and I would like to see the liberalisation of the economy. That is much more likely to happen if the Cuban people are free to develop their society their own way, rather than be under American pressure.’

The trip ended in embarrassment for the mayor when President Chavez cancelled the meeting in Venezuela because of ‘scheduling’ problems. Critics have claimed it was because of the upcoming election where one of the policies in debate was the selling of oil to foreign countries. The Mayor acknowledged this but claimed foreign investment would be beneficial to London’s economy.

12.05 University Of Westminster - The Smoker's Zone

2006-11-20T15:56:00.001+01:00

This was a piece I did for the course. It was supposed to be observational but it turned into a Gonzo piece. I think I got carried away with the smoking aspect.

The wind chills and blows against the surface of my skin, layers of clothing protecting my tired body. Cigarette in my hand, breathing in the toxic flavour of a camel, granting my lungs the smoke and nicotine it demands. I look around my surroundings and survey the other victims of addiction.

I listen to the tracksuit attired Asian boy next to me ‘Whatcha saying boy’ he shouts to the baggy jeaned Adidas advertising friend he calls ‘Bro’. ‘You think that girl’s fit?’ His other words wash over me, a mix of hip hop slang and swearing which I suspect he would get a slap from his parents for.

It’s damn cold and my teeth chatter as I breathe out a mix of tar and Carbon Monoxide. I take my cigarette packet out and stare at its words. ‘Smoking Kills’ it shouts in big black lettering. I continue to smoke the cancerous air.

Behind me I notice big boots, a long black trench coat, dyed orange hair and spot ridden skin. My brain yells ‘Emo’ but my mouth keeps quiet. His large headphones on top of his head look top of the range and out of a student’ s budget.

I look around where I am again and notice the big No Smoking Sign hung up on the wall that nobody notices. We are breaking rules yet people still smoke and nobody cares. An unenforceable rule proved by the dozens of cigarette ends littering the floor. The distance to the no smoking area is far too long for everybody.

I notice the way people smoke. Their arms and legs spread, I-pod headphone in one ear, their stances imitating the rappers they see on MTV. ‘We’ve got to do some work man’, ‘We got to fuckin go to our lecture.’ Weirdly I hear Chinese behind me and stare for a second at an oriental girl who looks the same as every other oriental girl.

Suddenly the heavens open and the smokers shelter under the canopy. It’s heavy, almost torrential, and above me I hear the rain hitting the surface. I look opposite and see green. A man made construction with grass, benches and plant-life. I notice a tree red and yellow, a tree without leaves, and realise that autumn is truly among us.

I look around again realise I am alone, and I look at the remainder of the cigarette, smoked till its end. I hear footsteps behind me and realises somebody else is in the smoker’s corner with me. She’s older than most students. It occurs to me it must be a lecturer, and I whisper to myself ‘Nobody cares!’ as I dump the butt on the floor and press it down onto the concrete.

The PTC New Journalist of the Year Awards

2006-11-18T13:59:00.000+01:00

Instead of doing fun and exciting law work at Harrow, I took a ticket being offered for the Periodicals Training Council New Journalist of the Year Awards dinner at the Millennium hotel in Mayfair. To my great surprise and delight, I was taught a masterclass by various editors, given lots of free champagne and had a three course meal in the bargain.

I don't remember who won. I don't remember what most of the awards were about! But it was definitely fancy. Every organisation and industry needs a bit of backslapping once in a while to make themselves feel good. Any excuse for a party.

The masterclasses were interesting though. I really didn't expect it. We were split up into four groups and every half hour we were given a free class in a different aspect of Journalism.

The first editor was Mark Dinning of Empire Magazine. This was great because for the last year or two it has become my favourite publication because it deals with film, which I love, in a great colourful package.

He gave us a few pointers about interview technique and in particular celebrity interviews. He said most celebrities were mental, and gave us an interesting story about the actress Ashley Judd which involved her being partially nude and talking like a baby. And how Audrey Tautou was impossible because she was so shy and talked in french. (Although I wouldn't mind being in a room with her as she is one of my biggest crushes!)

His advice on interviews was pretty much I expected but still quite useful, especially the part about how good writers can turn a bad interview into a good story. And when inteviewing Colin Farrell, don't get drunk with him in a pub because you won't get anything printable.

Mark Frith of Heat Magazine was another editor to talk to us and it was really refreshing to for him to talk about a magazine which I really didn't like. I've slowly warmed to it because I do realise it is tongue in cheek and aimed at exactly what the readers are looking for.

I asked him whether he thought whether Heat was more PR than Journalism and he realised that it was definitely tough to distinguish it in Heat and consumer magazines. He did say though that his writers usually try to put different angles and humour on what the publicists are giving them. It's what the writers can do to make it attractive and readable.

I also asked him why Heat didn't have a website and he replied that he knew it was a strange thing that they didn't. He said they were really only now at the point where they were in a position to do so.

He mentioned the example of the NME, who set up a website with news and various bits because they thought that readers would still buy the magazine for features and reviews alongside it. They were wrong, and their circulations went down simply due to the fact that the readers who bought the magazine for just news and gig listings were simply logging on.

The next masterclass was with the editor of Property Week Giles Barrie, and the Incoming Editor of FHM Stuart Hood, who gave us a few bits of advice about the magazine industry and employment. I took away from it that knowledge of the magazines you will interview for is very important which made me realise how useful the news agenda module was. You need to write (he particularly mentioned how good a blog would look), work experience for the bigger consumer magazines is useless (which I already knew after two weeks at FHM), and you can't predict a path, which is great because I hate predictability.

There were a load of other bits of advice and I took a lot out of something I wasn't even planning to go to. One thing I noticed was about how neglected online was, which I guess is kind of understandable as it is a periodical award. But the Online Journalist award had few nominees (Sun Online.co.uk...? where were the BBC journalists? who actually picks the nominees?).I think somebody from Sugar Magazine won something and I thought to myself 'you'd better enjoy it while it lasts because teenage girls magazines will be dead in a few more years'.

I wonder how much more bitchy I will become when I actually do start work?...

Manga and Anime at the South Bank

2006-11-13T19:54:00.000+01:00

The South Bank is usually known for being the centre for the more traditional arts, but this weekend it also held the third ever International Manga and Anime Festival.

Fans of anime (japanese animation) and manga (japanese comic books) converged to the plush surroundings of the Belvedere County hall for the event. Visitors were offered the chance to watch screenings of popular anime films for free as well as join in with a programme of workshops.

Japanese manga and anime has entered the mainstream in recent years due to its higher profile in popular culture, with the likes of Jonathan Ross as confirmed fans. With imported cartoons such as Dragonball Z and Pokemon, it has also gained control of a sizable percentage of the youth audience. 'Ghost in the Shell', an anime and manga dealing with cyborgs in the future, was a direct influence on the 'Matrix' trilogy.

The South Bank has already supported this growing interest, with the opening of the 'Manga Cafe' offering japanese related drinks and snacks and the London Film Theatre regularly showing Japanese movies, both live action and animation.

Its workshops included classes in manga drawing and lectures in the history of Japanese comics. There was also competitions in the weird and wonderful world of 'Cosplay', where particularly passionate fans dressed up as their favourite manga characters.

Although the event was held in a building which is under the shadow of the London Eye, there was some criticism of the fact that it wasn't advertised well to the public. A user of the IMAF website called 'Fehed' said 'Generally, I heard the event was better than last year. It was fairly nice, but like everyone else, I couldn't find the place. Needs more sign-posting and better directions next time.'

The event was seen to be a success, but the lack of exposure shows that Japanese manga and anime has a long way to go before it has shows that can match the popularity of those like the 'Dali' exhibition in the County Hall Gallery next door.

Zombies Take Over The Barbican

2006-11-12T11:54:00.000+01:00

Picture from 'Night of the Living Dead'. Sourced from wikipedia.org.

The hoards of the undead hit London when the first ever Zombie Film Festival begins on Tuesday 14th November at the Barbican arts centre.

It follows last August with the highly successful Frightfest film festival that proved horror is alive and well in the London film scene.

Zombies have undergone a renaissance in recent times, with the British made '21 Days Later' and 'Shaun Of the Dead' completely invigorating the genre and the legendary film maker George R Romero returning to satisfy a public craving for blood and guts on the silver screen.

The festival is curated by Max Brooks, who writes in the Guardian about why zombies have this enduring appeal:

The last six years have witnessed a bombardment of tragic events. Terrorism, war, viral outbreaks and natural disasters have created a global undercurrent of anxiety not seen since the darkest days of the cold war.

It seems that just turning on the nightly news either shows us some calamity or one that might potentially befall us at any moment. Zombie movies provide people an outlet for their apocalyptic anxieties without directly confronting them.

The festival starts with ‘Night Of The Living Dead’, a masterpiece of low budget filmmaking that played on audiences’ cold war anxieties of the 60’s, and finishes with a Japanese Zombie double bill.

Never blog when you've angry and hungover

2006-11-11T17:22:00.000+01:00

... yep.

It's opinion. Not fact! ;)

The day after the night before

2006-11-11T12:31:00.000+01:00

You guys are great. It's me that sucks.

So, the Journalism Drinking Event. I'm feeling like crap now, not just because of the beer. I'll explain.

First of, the meet-up went reasonably well. I was really glad that people were talking, especially the MA International Journalists. You are all bright and intelligent from whom I saw and I think that we have a lot to learn from you once we get the opportunity.

What I realised though from the night is that Print and Broadcast are on the whole very different sorts of people. Maybe it's the fact that we Print are very much about the writing while Broadcast are all about the sound and visual. It could also be due to the fact that we are mostly in different classes too but I'm not sure it's that either. I can't really put my finger on it.

It was actually very stressful all this organising. I tried my best. I was also getting drunker as the night went on which I guess didn't help. Instead of relaxing I kept thinking about how comfortable everybody was and if people were getting along. Nobody was really comfortable to mix with people they didn't know so sometimes I had to almost force it. Problem is that it made my drunken brain work way too hard. I think at some point my IQ dropped by quite a few points and I kind of lost control of myself was being quite stupid and loud, which I'm not usually. Then my brain decided to completely shut up shop for a time. Again, sorry about that.

Then I got robbed! After I left the pub and was at the bus stop eating a kebab and felt a hand around my pocket. After checking my pocket I realised my Ipod wasn't there! Some fucker had nicked it, and I know exactly what happened. Somebody had pocketed it and gave it to his friend who was walking behind him. I've seen this trick on tv. And there was absolutely nothing I could do because I had no idea who had it.

I am not arranging the next meet-up! You lot are hard work!

Turning Point for America?

2006-11-08T23:58:00.000+01:00

George Bush and the Republicans are screwed. Finally.

I've been avidly following the mid-term elections. For most of my twenty something life I've had to put up with the fact that a person I wouldn't be able to have an intelligent conversation with has been the most powerful man in the world.

Now he's a lame duck. There is simply no way that he can continue to ride ripshod over the world with his hard right conservative agenda.

I'm not really a politics person. British politics doesn't interest me because it doesn't seem to make a difference anymore who is in power. To me Labour and Conservative are interchangable and the same could be said with their leaders.

American politics are different. If you have people like Bush in power, then it spells trouble for the rest of the free world.

This is why the fact that the Democrats can ignore, probe and challenge the majority of Bush's policies is great. I went to the Climate Change March in Trafalgar Square and felt a little bit depressed because I just couldn't see the difference that it made. Now in America, maybe, just maybe, it could be the first step towards a more liberal agenda, with big corporate business being less of importance to those at the top.

Iraq is difficult. The Americans and the British now have a responsibility to sort out the mess that they have made. But it would be so easy just to leave the warring factions to it and pull out just like the Americans did in Vietnam. Personally I would feel an immense sense of guilt if I did that. But it's going to be long and drawn out process otherwise.

It may have been Borat that was responsible :). In the movie there was a scene which showed the anti-semitism of a ranch owner known to George Bush. Here is a comment from Borat's creator, Sacha Baron Cohen.

I am the antichrist to the Texan, and my movie and my documentaries are what have brought attention to the racism that is now inherent in Republican Government, at a local, state and federal level. The people have spoken, and will sweep clean the "inside terrorists" of the Republican Party who now have a foothold in all levels of American Government. I pretended to be from Kazakhstan and found the Texans more accepting of the Kazakhstan Nation than the Jew."

"We believe it is because of the Khazakstan oil fields now being considered by the American Government and Oil Companies," said Cohen The White House refused to comment on the allegations that the President knew the ranch owner in question.Please put first sentence in synopsis, and the rest here. I am using Firefox and can't copy it down here. Thank You,

Sacha Cohen

The Real Borat!

Student Reunion

2006-11-02T18:55:00.000+01:00

It's weird going back...

Yesterday I went to my old university, Queen Mary, down in East London. I had a reunion of sorts with some of my fellow ex-English students. It was interesting how our paths have diverged in the two years since graduation. One is living in Ludlow and doing a pHd in 17th century history, one was doing an MA in modernism, and one was working starting doing the family business in his parents care home.

It was strange being in that old university pub. I remember spending many a day there drinking myself into paralysis because of 'Happy Mondays' where pints were a pound each. As it was Wednesday it was the night of the sports teams... among them was the netball team. blonde, dippy, full makeup, of course drinking the drink of the student - snakebite. How come stereotypes always seem to come true? Even the rugby team... drunk, loud, beefy, going on a pub crawl. Surprise Surprise.

I didn't feel old, although I am about probably four years older than most of them. Even when i was an undergraduate I didn't really belong with the singing drunk student crowd so it hadn't changed for me really.

I was with my main university friends. For two years we hadn't necessarily seen each other every day, but somehow connect when we get together. Maybe it's just chemistry, but I was really glad to see them again.

I was also invited to a medieval castle! With jousting, meat on a spit fire and of course, buxom wenches. I'm definitely going to blog that, complete with photographs!

September 11th Magnum Photograph

2006-10-28T12:34:00.000+01:00

The lecture was excellent and felt really relevant to what I'm doing at the moment. Like David's 'Outernet' Lecture, it showed that to survive in today's market journalists have really got to get to grips with the speed of technology today.

Before the course my expectations were of traditional journalism dealing with print and magazines. It's not been like that and it's been making me think about the many ways that i could make an impact in a very competitive profession in areas such as print, the internet and broadcast. This blog has been vital for me in many ways. First of all I'm able to get my ideas across to everybody who's been reading it and also find out more about the other students and what they are thinking. I can practice writing and get thoughts clear in my mind. And of course I have a permanent record of my writing which has been published and read by other people.

One photograph stirred up quite a lot of debate. It was of the September 11th burning building far in the background while in focus was on some people enjoying themselves on a hot summer day sitting around and cycling.

One of the MA journalism students didn't take kindly to it. He didn't see there was any point in the picture and it had no importance in relation to the event. I think that's fair enough especially if you had some connection with people involved with the tragedy.

But the very fact that the picture stirred up debate and made us talk surely proves that the picture is worthwhile? The fact is that if we were shown a picture of the twin towers burning in close up showing its destruction, we wouldn't talk about it because we've seen these photos before over and over.

But this photograph was different. It made me think a lot. It made me realise that even though we thought the scale of the tragedy was vast, life goes on. It had to. Remember the London tube bombings and a period that people were scared to get on a train? For most people now,it's not even in the back of our minds to be suspicious anymore. People are being killed in Iraq in their hundreds of thousands directly because of this event, which in terms of lives lost, is just a fraction. I even remember the first time I heard about September 11th, which was on a sunny day in Hyde Park with my skateboard. It was so far away at that point, but I knew something bad had happened. That photograph made me remember that time.

If someone noted down the photographer I would really appreciate it so i can put a link to it.

Photojournalism in the Future. Lecture 27/10/06

2006-10-27T15:14:00.000+01:00

'While photographers may not lie, liars may photograph'.

With still images captions and text are vitally important because they are so open to interpretation. Photographers have to be aware of this because when their pictures are published, they may often lose control to publishers who often have a certain agenda.

There are numerous examples of this. The Unknown Rebel is an extremely famous photo but can be interpreted in different ways. Does this mean that Chinese suppression can be stopped in the face of democracy?, or does it mean that the Chinese goverment shows tolerance in the face of its people? It was said that there was another example where a woman was run over by the tank but wasn't reported because there was no camera there to capture it. Does this mean that it failed to exist? And how does it put 'The Unknown Rebel' in perspective?

A photograph's meaning can completely change when it is published and this can become dangerous when now anybody with a mobile phone or camera can take a picture.

Citizen Journalism

It has become a poison chalice for some. The fact that people can participate in the action and get their photos on a public forum has meant big changes which some media outlets, goverments and the military are fearful of.

Abu Ghraib was a watershed. The very fact that trophy photos taken by soldiers was so easily able to enter the public domain has meant that the controlled reporting of previous conflicts such as the first Gulf War is a thing of the past. History was written by the victors; it is not possible to do this anymore. Goverments cannot control soldiers who have mobile phones and cameras.

The London Tube Bombings also marked another change. During the event people who were at the event were happy to hand over images for free. Two weeks later a bidding war was fought over video footage of a film of a suspected terrorist taken by a bystander at the time. Citizen Journalism had become intwined with the media.

Blogging has meant that the media has to ask big questions of itself. A Reuters photographer had doctored photos in Lebanon and Israel and a blogger took it upon himself to bring it out into the open.

This has wide implications for the established media. Bloggers can to large extent openly criticise and investigate anybody without fear of libel or reprisal. This means that editors have to decide how to embrace the new technology and the speed of news content which Citizen Journalism is capable of reaching while checking facts in the traditional way, which can be difficult from web based sources.

The public are getting disillusioned with traditional media leading to falling newspaper sales worldwide. We have to embrace this new type of journalism, which means big questions have to be answered.

Friday 10th November - Journalism Team Building

2006-10-26T16:18:00.000+01:00

After a nightmare shorthand session where I kept swearing to myself and smacking my head against the table I started talking to a few people about the piss-up/ team building exercise (Derek makes it sound so much more intelligent)

We decided to change the drinks to friday 10th november. First of all, it doesn't cut into people's well earned weekends. Secondly our law lecture finishes at 4.30pm, so ideally we can all head off to the Undercroft Bar, have a pint or two, and if we decide it's a good idea, head off somewhere else.

I think this Team Building Exercise (Piss-up) is a great idea and everybody I've talked to seems pretty enthusiastic about it.

And if I get 40wpm in two weeks I'll dance Shakira style.

oh. I love this

Online Feedback

2006-10-25T13:24:00.000+01:00

I just had an interesting twenty minutes with David as part of our feedback for the online project.

I think i did OK. I don't think I put enough content in the end but I was going for a readable style which I thought was clear and attractive.

But honestly the marks are irrelevant. It's all part of the learning process. One thing that me and the rest of the students have got to get out of our minds is that the final mark that we get in the course is actually going to have a bearing on future employers.

I don't think it will matter at all. I can't see any decent employer putting the fact that you have a distinction rather than a pass over areas like the interview, your experience and the work that you have done.

The best thing that we've got from the courses so far is that we've learnt to talk to each other, communicate, and also have the beginnings of ready made contacts when we get out into the job market.

I finished the project pretty quickly. I had what I had in mind, did the work and was happy. It was when I started looking at other projects that I got stressed as people were getting very worried about it!

But we aren't competing. At this stage we are learning from each other. When people had problems, I was happy to help in as much as i could. I'm too old for the best in the class mentality that I've had to put up with since A-Levels and my degree to a certain point.

So share, smile, talk to each other people. We all have our strengths and weaknesses. We're now in the process of moulding ourselves and each other into successful journalists.

Journalism Pub Crawl Saturday 11th November

2006-10-24T15:02:00.000+01:00

I got absolutely plastered with some of the periodical guys yesterday.

And you know what? As well as being fun it was probably one of the most useful things that I've done so far.

This is going to sound a bit of a bastard thing to say by teetotallers but I recently read that people who went out drinking and socialising regularly usually had higher paid jobs than those who don't.

This is quite understandable. Went you go out drinking, especially with people who may be involved in your profession, you relax, chill out and are much more able to talk freely than in a strict office atmosphere.

As well as having fun, you are networking (just be careful not to drink too much)

This is why I am in the initial stages of planning a big Westminster University social gathering/ piss-up in Camden Town. There's a pub called the World's End opposite the station which is really easy to get to. It's a crap pub, but I plan to move on after that to somewhere more interesting.

I'm pretty sure I can get the Periodical people to come to this. That's about 13 people already. It's up to the Broadcast people and International Journalism students to turn it into something else.

There's the split happening between Broadcast and Periodical which is likely to be a problem come time when we have to work together for the online project. I'm also getting more interested in the Broadcast side of things as well so it would be nice to share ideas and thoughts.

I reckon it's time for a bunch of drunk Journalism students to tear up Camden. :)

The New Journalism

2006-10-19T22:25:00.000+01:00

My ideas about journalism are changing and evolving as every day passes.

Reading 'The New Journalism' by Tom Wolfe and some of the lectures that we've had so far has made me realise that being a journalist has much more importance than I have previously given it.

I'm free to write anything I want without fear of retribution and I should use this privilege. The written word is a powerful tool. I think I have some natural ability when it comes to writing and I feel that journalism is where I want to direct my energies.

I did an English degree and after a while i got extremely bored with the whole dry academic style of writing. For instance, and this may be a cruel example, my ex-girlfriend was an English student with me. When I read her essays she was getting A's. When I read it through it, I got bored. I lose interest when flowery language starts to be used and the essays just don't get to the damn point.

Academic essays are just incredibly boring to read. My favourite types of journalism, like the stories written by Hunter S Thompson and Michael Herr, is punchy, exciting, and in your face. I don't have to use a dictionary to look up any of the words.

It also shows me that journalism is not only about the writing. Getting and finding the story is more important in many ways. If you are a beautiful writer with loads of great ideas but don't want to get your hands dirty, you'll probably be a rubbish journalist. It's not that a great writing style will not help you, but you need to find the stories yourself and I find that really exciting.

I like talking to people, getting myself in strange situations, and never take myself too seriously. I like writing and playing with language as well.I hope this is enough to make me successful at whatever challenges that come in the next few years.

Strippers

2006-10-15T01:53:00.000+01:00

It's been a tough week for me

Mainly because I was feeling pretty ill for a lot of the week, which admittedly all stemmed from me drinking far too much alcohol last Sunday. I've lost track of my shorthand completely, which is something I have to make up but it's a bit difficult to summon up motivation for it again. But the online project wasn't too much of a problem apart from the hours I've been fiddling about with links, which although was exasperating, is worthwhile because I do believe the best way you learn is from mistakes, and I do make a lot of them.

Strippers... I saw one today. I'd better explain. On the weekends and some evenings for money and because I like helping out my parents I work their Thai restaurant. Beautiful food and if anybody reading is nice to me I'll invite them over one evening :) Anyway, My mother, who is a mad, charismatic bundle of craziness as the owner, talked to this customer who was a Journalist himself. His name was Guy Ker and turns out he is a chief executive at ITN and previously managing director at Channel 4. (I later found out through a bit of research of my own that he had written a reference for our very own David Dunkley-Gyimah!) We had a chat about the course, was pretty helpful and told me to email him at his address to tell him how I was getting along with it. He also said he could also put me in touch with people who could help me.

I'm not sure why he did this, but it could possibly due to the fact that my mum gave him a discount on the meal later on! But i think he liked the fact he could help out a young journalist on his way up to a career. Even though he is a broadcast journalist I have no reservations about crossing platforms. I'm print, but I like the fact and feel it's necessary that I'm leaving my options open. We are all basically in the same business of newsgathering.

Oh right... the stripper. Well there was a big party of rugby playing lawyers who came to the restaurant later and were extremely rowdy. It was one guy's birthday and his brother was kind enough to hire a stripper out. She was very perky indeed. What I didn't expect was for him to strip down to his boxers... and then take off his boxers. So what we saw was a rugby playing lawyer standing around naked in our restaurant. For such a big guy I didn't expect him to be so... small. Ahem. She preceded to bend him over and stick a cigarette in where you don't usually smoke... writing this actually I can't believe it myself. After a bit of spanking she did something with ice and her mouth which was quite rude, and after this he decided to go for a streak in the middle of our road. We're talking Fulham here as well. My little sister (don't ask) took some pictures so I'll maybe put some up if I'm feeling cheeky.

Somebody better hire me a stripper for my birthday!

Multi Cultural London

2006-10-11T14:52:00.000+01:00

Instead of working on the online project :) I've been distracted by this blogging business, with putting up links and reading the other blogs that students have made, which are all very good. It's a shame that the MA Journalism students don't seem to be getting involved with the coursesite as much... I'm sitting in the newsroom with them as it's their class and they all have a lot of interesting things to say. And some of them are quite cute.. but that's beside the point :)

I've lived in London all my life, and the most interesting people I meet, especially in the centre, are mostly foreign. I've met Australian, South African, Spanish, Swedish, Italian, Swiss, French etc all in the space of the last year. Even the girl I'm seeing now is German. They've got a more open and free outlook on life in the majority of cases. I guess it's a horrible stereotype but there is a reservedness about the British that our parents have sometimes drummed into us. I have Thai and Buddhist parents so I have this strange kind of relaxed part of me which sometimes conflicts with my British sensibilities. Maybe it's no accident that the best friends I have made (who are English) were usually the most craziest and willing to let go.

The multi cultural aspect of London is why it's such an incredible place to live. If I had the money and was helped in the right direction i could probably have burnt myself out by now. Sometimes the only problem is that there is too many people and far too much to do. This is why I hate this Daily Mail/ Sun propagated open warfare on immigration. I detest the fact that some parts of middle England fear something they have never been in contact with. All countries have been built on immigration... The USA is basically an island of immigrants!

You are never going to stop the influx of people from other countries. I think the best solution is to make sure that people are integrated as much as possible and make sure that we all take the best from the different cultures of the world.

Sorry about the last sentence. I should be the president. :)

Online Journalism - Print Journalism Dead?

2006-10-09T10:46:00.000+01:00

David's lecture on Friday caused a lot of unrest with the students. Basically a lot of us were quite unhappy with the claim that print journalism will become obsolete in five or ten years time. I'm not entirely sure that's what he was actually saying, but that's what a lot of people seemed to take out of it.

My opinion? I'm not sure. However what I will say, and this is pretty much what they would probably have in all of the Journalism textbooks, is that I think that you really need to be multi-skilled. You're going to at least have a basic proficiency in dealing with computers. During my periods of work experience I had to use Apple Macs because publishing programs like Indesign are basically standard for magazines nowadays. I didn't need to be expert, but just know my way around it.

Macs are really not hard. In fact I prefer Tiger to Windows by quite a distance. They are colourful... and have cool little moving icons.... and it doesn't crash... well not often but it's not full of bugs and crap like any operating system by Microsoft.

First thoughts about the Journalism course.

2006-10-08T02:00:00.000+01:00

Hello

I'm Ash, and I've decided to make an attempt at writing a blog. First of all, I've always wanted to write one. A proper one, not a half hearted attempt. That's why I decided not to put it on Myspace, because it's not really a blogging site but rather a 'I'm curious to see what bands you like and whether you're single' type of thing. I'm in two minds about it. I like what it does, but I hate being one of the 'Myspace generation'... I don't like seeing every weirdo in the world being able to see me. And don't get me started on those bloody graphics.

This is basically about the thoughts and ideas I have while I'm doing this one year postgraduate course. It's also a good way of practising my writing. I hope and will try and persuade some of the other guys on my course to start writing blogs. But don't do it on Myspace because I will never ever read it.