Weekly News 4

Sky news is a twenty four hour international multimedia news operation based here in the United Kingdom. Aside from providing news online and on television, sky news delivers international radio news as well as radio news to commercial radio stations based locally in the Britain. Hence these news stories are reported off of serious topics regarding government politics, serious crimes, international crises’ and business politics. Sky news is one of the few big newspapers that only write articles for the public online, as this makes it easier for the public to access and saves money on print costs. The article’s main splash titles ‘Israel: Two Killed After Gunman Opens Fire’. This gives us very little detail on what the gunman actually looks like, if not, no detail at all and is very specific about what they’re talking about. I believe it’s done in this way because its short and easy for the reader to grab attention and seems as if an Israeli is the gunman which makes the article seem more intriguing as it may be a local crime in Israel.

The news agenda for this news website would be to do with crime and international crime as most of the news reported on the homepage relate to crime. The sub-heading of the article which states “An attacker, thought to be a Palestenian, has opened fire at a bus station in the Israeli city of Beersheba” is an accurate summary of the events of which are reported within the article. Reading the sub-heading  alone gives Palestenian people a bad name, as this is nothing but speculation with no evidence that the man is Palestenian which may provoke negativity towards their ethnic group on an international scale. This is there to tempt the reader to continue reading in an effort for the reader to gain more information on the topic and for the website to gain more money from readers looking at advertisements on the page, such as the ‘Promoted Stories’. This works as once the reader has finished scrolling down the page, they’re presented with more articles of interest located on other websites.

In the bodytext of the article, we learn through the information provided to us that this killing comes since Isreal had tightened their security around the country and have constructed a barrier separating Jews and Arab neighbourhoods in the east of Jerusalem as well as the government imposing restrictions on the ‘al Asqa Mosque’. We can deduct that the cause of this crime was religious related since most of the tension seems to be coming from the two opposing religions; Jews and Arabs. 




http://news.sky.com/story/1571739/israel-two-killed-after-gunman-opens-fire

Weekly News no.3

The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. Initially distributed in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second greatest offering day by day daily paper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was dispatched in 1982.

The title of the news article describes how her stepbrother in a gruesome attack murdered the teenage girl, Becky Watts, in her own home. Considering that the attack came from her own step-brother makes this article distinct from the other news articles that are about murder, because it is rarely written about how there are murders which occur in the family itself. This is what makes the article different and tempts the reader into clicking the article. The writer, Richard Spillett , explains how the killer tried to hide the victims remains in an Asda carrier bag, and as we all know, we are very familiar with this which generates a bigger effect on the reader as we all use these supermarkets and this could potentially harm the sales of the giant supermarket chain itself.

The writer of this article makes the article itself seem boring and uninteresting as he keeps on explaining how they discovered the victims remains and just writes about the police and forensics experiences of what they felt and quotes what they say in their opinion. All of this information is displayed in the bodytext of the article.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3272140/Becky-Watts-s-stepbrother-told-police-teenager-annoyed-rude-mother.html

Weekly News 2

The Sun is one of the biggest well known newspapers in the UK which mainly and always present news stories on the front cover based around negativity in order to draw the reader in and purchase the newspaper. An example of this is a new article published by The Sun’s reporters ‘Lynsey Clarke’ and Kristy Dawson’ as stated from the byline, the main splash states “Gran killed my sis yet HER family got custody of son”. The writers address this in a way in which it feels like the reader is involved in that incident, especially using the phrase “Gran killed my sis” which provokes hatred from the audience due to the assumption that most of them having a sister and a grandma close to them, this article tries to involve the audience in order to generate a greater effect on the audience rather than giving a standard, positive approach explaining what the article is about, that would be seen in a broadsheet newspaper such as ‘The London Evening Standard’. The fact that the writer uses informal language to address the crime and make it feel like the readers own relative has been murdered instead of using “her sister” in place of “my sis” in the main splash makes it even more clear that this is a key distinctive feature which distinguishes the two types of newspapers (a tabloid and a broadsheet), generally the tabloid newspaper isn’t the serious news you’d want to read as they tend to include a lot of colloquialisms and be more irreverent in their writing style compared to the more serious broadsheet newspapers.

According to this article, just below the main splash it states that the article is “EXCLUSIVE” in big capital letters in an attempt to somehow try and gain the readers attention and deem that this article is superior to the other written articles due to a petty factor such as how in this case the victims family supposedly speaks out to The Sun. The newspaper tries to make it seem as if its exceptionally significant when in fact that the exclusive aspect isn’t that much of a big concern or deal to the reader, as it’s only there to try and persuade you to read it.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/6665402/Gran-killed-my-sis-yet-her-family-got-custody-of-son.html

Crash Analysis

Crash is an action film directed and written by Paul Haggis that’s made the film win a total of three Oscar awards along with many other nominations. The film was produced by a number of different studios such as Lions Gate Films, DEJ productions and Blackfriars Bridge films. The main focus of the film revolves around racial profiling and white privilege while also exploring ethnic stereotypes in modern day American society. Crash was produced in the year 2004 and then released to the public in 2005.

The opening title sequence for the film features an ambient soundtrack to create a sense of unease within the audience which is further emphasized by the dark colour codes, the purple lights that adds to the ominous mood the audience is intended to feel while also symbolizing nobility, power and the meanings of wealth that are explored through aspects of the film such as shown through the lives of the higher class attourney, Rick Cabot and his pampered wife, Jean Cabot

This film explores how people from various different ethnic backgrounds try and live their lives in a society that’s corrupt and forces them to abide by the protection of the police and government when in turn, instead of protection it is merely just an adjective that’s used to cloak the real exploitation that they have to undergo in American society. For decades, ethnic minorities have most certainly suffered at the hands of white people. This has been an on going problem for countries that hold a white dominance in society. However the cause of this isn’t all to do with white people being prejudice against the other minorities.

The trepidation of ethnic minorities that is made by the media just strengthens the white hegemonic hold that controlling classes may have over the populace in the States which just adds to the ethical frenzies that at present exist in out society. For instance the rise in unlawful acts that may have been submitted by blacks, or the apprehension of the other ethnic minorites which is produced from the media and makes a 'us and them' circumstance where whites may feel a feeling of prevalence over ethnic minorities.

Here we have a nation that is as yet rising up out of a profoundly bigot history, a general public in which white individuals have treated (and keep on treating) dark individuals with hatred, suspicion and a significantly unmindful feeling of superiority. In spite of the fact that the period of black racial isolation in America is over (1930’s America for example), the American media still sustains segregationist belief systems. Occasions, for example, 9/11 just settle in these philosophies and make individuals more prepared to accuse law violations, for example, homicide and robbery on the dark populace.

Each of all the characters in this film Crash all live up to their own ethnic stereotypes to a certain extent but purposely deny the false accusations that are forced upon them from the media as a whole. They mention what other ethnic backgrounds think about them all the time and display their own opinions about other racial groups but in the conclusion of their own respective parts, they ‘crash’ with an opposite ethnic group which leads them to form a new opinion and enforces the belief through the act that all people are human. An example of this is when the corrupt cop, officer John Ryan who had molested a black man’s wife through a stop and frisk in order to anger her husband and exploit them, then spots his wife in a car crash and acts as a hero who saves her from being oliberated by the explosion that the car causes.

Elderly Presentation

Elderly represented in Media presentation

Ageism is a huge problem within the media and this applies to all age groups with the addition of the elderly. Fact is, the public is vulnerable to this and whenever anyone is unease about something, we seek information and advice; this is mainly derived from the media itself. That’s why the media is so powerful at swaying the minds of the public and acting as a sort of brainwash to people itself without them even realising. This affects the way people view the elderly and typically categorize them into labels such as them being lazy, gritty, greedy, unattractive and senile. Essentially putting them on the same categorization as vulnerable children in most cases, the similarities such as always having to look after them and being forgetful. However on the other hand they’re also depicted as being very kind to people in order for attention since they are represented as being lonely, normally with a carer who takes advantage of them due to them being seen as dumbfounded people and carelessness. These are normally seen in news articles about how the elderly are exploited for their fortune, usually in articles about them in care homes and often times when their own son’s/daughters stealing their pension.

http://www.catersnews.com/stories/latest-news/carer-caught-on-spy-camera-stealing-cash-from-pensioners/

News stories such as these where people who are meant to be looking after them are actually stealing from them and committing crimes against the elderly ADD to the harsh representation of them being helpless victims. This is how the media dictates how the elderly are seen as and also the way we think about an elderly person when we see one.

Categorized into groups

Normally shown in the media, elderly people seem to be the most boring of age groups who do nothing entertaining or what is deemed to be beneficial and practical to our society. In my opinion based from what I have personally seen, the elderly always tend to participate in golf clubs or bowling clubs which the media can use as another tool to utilise in their news stories or in other types of media about how useless and uninteresting they are. This is also another factor to why they’re categorized into groups. However there are a variety of groups they’re stereotyped and represented into. The main ones focusing around the ‘wise and ignorant’ elderly groups, ‘senile and weak’ and ‘sweet and vulnerable’. All of these categories are put into one whole group and become a victim of demonization altogether. This whole group is condemned as greedy and undeservedly drain societies resources and waste the money we pay our taxes with, due to them being represented as not being productive at all. However elderly people have to enjoy themselves in order to prevent becoming depressed and already, as many elderly people are suffering from being lonely so they use these activities to escape being seen that way.

Television