Newsnight team's 'basic blunders' damned by BBC's own investigation

Newsnight made allegations towards Lord McAlpine, a Tori politician, by linking him to the child abuse scandal in North Wales. These types of allegation were not easily backed up with sources or evidence hence, fatal errors were made in regards to Lord McAlpine. The investigation, led by BBC’s Scotland director Ken Macquarie, during their investigations; there was much confusion as to who was in charge of this investigation. It has been said that Liz Gibbons, the former editor of the programme is likely to be fired.

There were many mistakes that could have easily been avoided. The team, part of this report, failed do the most important thing when it comes to journalism, this was evidence. The team did not have any reliable evidence or anything to prove that the allegations were true. Based on the 12 Ethical Journalistic Standards, there were many rules that were evidently broken. The first rule ‘Produce no material likely to lead to hatred or discrimination on the grounds of a person’s age, gender, race, colour, creed, legal status, disability, material status or sexual orientation.’ was broken. The broadcast on Newsnight did cause some controversy and dispute, as material produced was towards a man of the elderly. These allegations also lead to hatred as many peers of Lord McAlpine were shocked as false accusations were made.

Another basic ‘blunder’ made by the team leading this invsetigation was time management. There was not enough time spent on this report, or on the research. Another major problem was the absence of both the Editor and the Deputy Editor, as this gave the team great pressure as both Editors were not at the scene. Every story before being broadcasted is always run through the Editor but they were not present. Two main rules of the Ethical Laws of Journalism were broken, 'Strive to ensure information is disseminated, is honestly conveyed, accurate and fair, and Obtain Material by honest, straightforward and open means, with the exception of investigations that are both overwhelmingly in the public interest and which involve evidence that cannot be obtained by straightforward means.' Both state that information should be honest, reliable and accurate, the team failed to do so, hence this investigation did not excute as well. This case is a clear sign of defamation, and therefore it is being investigated by OFCOM.

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2231984/Two-BBC-executives-face-sack-botched-Newsnight-investigation.html

 

Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB)

DAB has gradually become the new face of radio

technology. Digital Radio, not only has better reception for listeners to enjoy, but also compatible on many devices. This is a major advantage as you can access the Radio from anywhere. For example, you can listen to the radio on your mobile and on the T.V. New forms of technology have become converged, there are apps on smart phones such as ‘Tunein Radio’(picture shown on the left) in which I have, the app allows me to listen to the radio and lets me do various functions such as rewind to what I have already listen to and listen to podcasts. This sort of technology in my opinion is what keeps Radio going as the public have easy access to do many things such as listen to radio as a technology such as the mobile phone is portable, thus highlighting that radio can be listened virtually anywhere.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/reception/digitalradio/

Case study of a Radio Station: BBC

The ex-BBC Presenters Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand were prosecuted for obscene phone calls to 78-year- old Fawlty Towers actor Andrew Sachs. They left lewd messages regarding his granddaughter. The allegations were that he claimed to have sexual Intercourse with his daughter. Mr. Sachs was deeply upset. These phone calls were broadcasted to two million listeners on Radio 2; as a result Ofcom fined BBC £150,000. The laws that they broke was the Telecommunications Act 1984.

 

In terms of the 12 Legal and Ethical contexts of Local Radio Journalism, the two presenters would have Brocken the following rules. The first rule is ‘Do nothing to intrude into anybody’s private life, grief or distress unless justified by overriding consideration of the public interest.’ They both intervened in Mr. Sachs private life and caused him a lot of distress as accusations were made towards his family, his granddaughter to be precise. The second rule in which they broke was Produce no material likely to lead to hatred or discrimination on the grounds of a person’s age, gender, race, colour, creed, legal status, disability, material status or sexual orientation. The phone call did result to complaints which therefore Ofcom fined them. they  also caused grief to a 78-year-old-man which is stated above that material should not be produced that lead to hatred on the basis of age.

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1080621/Russell-Brand-Jonathan-Ross-face-prosecution-obscene-air-phone-calls-Fawlty-Towers-actor-78.html

Sound Codes

Music, can determine the mood of the News Cast and the News that it is portraying. If there is music that is upbeat the news is soft news, it evokes a good emotion and keeps the audience entertained. If there is no music during the news, this explains that the news is serious and any music here will be irrelevant and can cause controversy.

Silence can mean many things. It can be used when you are introducing a new topic, also silence can be used to deliver hard news or condolences. This gives the audience an idea what has happened and how serious the case was.

Sound Effect are used for comedic purposes. Sound effects have an affect on the audience and keeps them entertained and engaged in the News Cast.

Voice is based on a persons tone of speaking this gives the audience acknowledgement of what type of news is portrayed. If the tone of the voice was serious than we know the news is Hard if the Tone was happy, chirpy we know the news is soft News purely for our entertainment.
Source: Class Notes

The Demonstration at Hyde Park (Outside Broadcast)

Hanna and I decided to complete one of the tasks for our radio production, the Outside Broadcast. This was my task, we decided that my Outside Broadcast will be based on Government issues. There were many movements that were protesting against the government because they were unhappy about the cuts. Here are some of the pictures myself and Hanna took during our time at the March, towards Hyde Park. Enjoy :)

 

The March started at Temple

 

 Me at the March

 

Hanna at the March

Plaque Cards
 

Workers Liberty Party