Laws in the Newspaper Industry.

I wanted to go over some laws which are in action at the moment. These laws could have anything to do with the stories told, how the stories are found, the distribution and exibition. I have kept in mind that all is not what it seems in the newspaper, and even the media world.


I have looked online to see if i can find laws and i have found some useful websites:


http://www.newspapersoc.org.uk/media-law-and-advertising-copy - this gives a detailed but short explaination of certain areas on laws, mainly about advertising. This is useful to me as i would need to know because i am advertising my newspaper on the radio, advertising my newspaper's headline on a sandwich board poster and also advertising my newspaper's website inside my newspaper also. But i am not putting any companies adverts in my newspaper.

Laws and regulations in newspapers

While looking through various websites which gave me no information, i found that there are no strict or serious laws which newspapers must go by - showing that newspapers have the potential to be very powerful and unruley.

When i think about it, it does sort of make sense. Newspapers publish very private information including photos, meaning that privacy has nothing to do with laws that newspapers have to go by.

There werent any official documents which state the different laws that newspapers must follow, but i did find that it is illegal to publish anything which is libel or slander - meaning writing something nasty about someone - however i see this a lot in newspapers?!

Having this clearly very flexible law is only serious when it is actually published - therefore it is already out there for the publc to see and before the paper has been removed from sellers, it has been read by a multiple of people.

To try and find out more about the laws and reguations in the newspaper industry i submitted a question on Yahoo Answers to see if anyone could give me any information:

How will this effect me and my newspaper?

I wanted to find out about the laws they have to follow for my own personal interest, but also because i want to know what i can and cannot put in my paper. Knowing these laws will definatley control what i put in my newspaper.

I did find that there arent many laws and regulations which newspapers have o follow, which is clear with the type of content they publish.

Get Ahead OCR MEDIA.

I have been given a link from the Kett Media website which was set up by the board themselves to help kids like me 'get ahead'.

The Newspaper Industry: How moral is it?

I want to research how moral it is writing a story about somebody, whether they are a celebrity or not, talking paparazzi photos of somebody and how the stories are found. Not only do i want to discover if it is okay to write about somebody when they really don't want it written about them, but i also want to find out if the ways the stories are gotten is morally okay.

My overall opinion before research is that writing untrue stories about somebody and people being constantly hounded my paps (paparazzi) isn't a very nice thing to do. But who is to say these things don't benefit the person whatsoever?

There are many cases which spring to mind when thinking about the morals in the newspaper media, some with bad and good outcomes. Here are a few cases i have looked at in depth:

Rupert Murdoch, The News of the World and it's phone hacking scandal

This story/case was an international scandal and rock many a boat. Rupert Murdoch previously owned 'News corporation', which was a company which then owns 'News International'. News International publishes The Sun, The Times, The Sunday Times and previously News of the World.

This year, employees of the News of the World were accused of phone hacking and police bribery - all to get a story. Investigations in 2005-2007 found that the paper's phone hacking activities were limited just to the Royal family, celebrities and politicians. However, in July 2011 it was revealed that a murdered school girl Milly Dowler's phone was hacked into by a journalist when she was missing, making her family have hope that she was still alive. The phone hacker deleted important voicemails that the police may have needed to solve her case. It was also reported the newspaper hacked into deceased soldier's family's phones and the victims of the 7/7 bombings, causing a public outcry against News Corporation and Rupert Murdoch himself.

Big companies such as Ford Motor Company, Virgin Holidays and the Co-operative group have pulled out their advertisements from the News of the World due to the discovered phone hacking scandal. As the scandal was affecting most of the newspaper world, and causing accusation, enquiries and dislike of the newspaper, Rupert Murdoch took it to himself to anounce that the 10th of July issue will be the News of the Worlds last, after 168 years in print.

The scandal as a whole showed the world that journalists and papers would in some circumstances do anything for a story, and that privacy isn't that private.

                                                  

Paparazzi Photo

I have always been quite interested into who benefits the most out of a paparazzi photo of a celebrity or anyone in the public eye. The word 'papparazzi is Italian for 'photojournalist', which is exactly what they do. is it the newspapers who print the photo where the public will see it, the photographers who take the photo or the subject themselves?

The Celebrity

Not everybody who has their photo taken by the paps is necessarily a celebrity, but to make it more understandable lets say that everybody who has their photo taken by the paps is one. The bigger the celeb, the bigger the crowd of paps and fans, making just a walk in the street for the celebrity very difficult. so how does a celebrity benefit from having their photo taken? The idea that bad publicity is good publicity can definitely be applied. More publicity, the celebrity is more noticed and talked about, therefore more people will be interested in what projects they have on. A celebrity may also get free clothes as designers and clothes brands can 'advertise' their clothes on them. Many celebs have complained that the paparazzi never leaves them alone, sometimes leading to contracts. Due to the reputation of paparazzi as a nuisance, some states and countries (particularly within Europe) restrict their activities by passing laws and curfews, and by staging events in which paparazzi are specifically not allowed to take photographs.

The Paparazzi/Photographer

These can either work free lance, selling specific photos to the newspapers and magazines, or they can work for the newspapers and magazines taking photos specifically for them. Recently there has been a rise of photo agencies which are companies who employ photographers to take photos and the company then sells the rights of the photo to the newspapers and magazines. A photo can say a thousand words, therefore can be sold to up to millions of pounds - that is why paparazzi are so competitive to get an exclusive, first photo. Famously the first photo of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt together was sold for reportedly millions. Recently, not only have cameras been used to take photos, they have also been used to film the celebs - because photos can be made from it, you can film the reactions of the celebrities, they can be shown on the television (creating more publicity and more people will see it) and also, the celebrity can speak and it will be recorded.


                                         

The Newspapers
A controversial first photo of a celebrity on the front of a newspaper can sell more of that issue, so, a newspaper would be willing to buy a photo for a lot of money. A photo can be a subject for a story, and also be something which a story can come from.


Here are a few videos of celebrities that have gotten angry at the paps - this is another reason why it benefits the paps to have a video camera (helps with legal reasons also):


<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/bhQ2zk-HYWo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen>iframe>

This one shows Helle berry getting understandably angry at the paps after they are taking photos of her child. There are MANY video cameras.

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/L65M61Ov4g0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen>iframe>



<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/PGxV0QllcZE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen>iframe>

The Newspaper Industry: How do stories work?

I have always been interested i how stories are found and then written about. Are the newspapers given the stories by the subjectees themselves? Do the journalists 'steal' stories? How much can be given for a story?


After some research there are many ways a journalist can get a story:

• From another newspaper. The journalist can take a headline from another newspaper and then further the points and create mre emphasis around it. However, this does mean that the newspaper that will run this story will be a day behind the original newspaper. If there is a big story going on at a certain time, and the journalist gets a front pag story, the newspaper is likely to sell multipple copies, no matter if that story was copied.
• A story can come from readers or publicists of celebrities who want journalists to tell their story. This means the journalist has full reign to develop this story as much as they want, if the journalist/newspaper has paid for a story to be told, they often have full ownership of the story so they can be the only paper to run it. Therefore making one certain newspaper the only place to read the story - huge interest in the paper.
• Gaining trust. A journalist may have to work years to gain trust of a particular individual or organisation. To gain this trust, they would have had to write about them before and not be too critical. The individual or organisation must have liked what they had written about them previously.
• Investigating. A journalist will have to be willing to go out and find a story themselves, so will have to delve deeply into something which could be written about. A journalist may go undercover and record a certain place or conversation (E.g Fergie and her 'money deal' was recorded by a journalist via film).
• From the internet. Journalists can use technology to research a story or ideas to write about. If the topic they are researching has already been written about it, it makes their jobs easier as half of the work ha been done for them.
• Press conferences. This is mainly from people who want their story written about and a story which is 'big news' and has been i the newspapers a lot recently. A press conference may be cet up so people can have their say and it also lets a variety of people get involved and give their views. Multiple newspapers will be there however, so the newspaper who runs the story may not be the only one. The conference will probably be filmed, therefore a more reliable, first hand source for the people watching it. It also gives television a chance to report the story.

After the journalist has made notes from the sources, they write up the article and then they take it to the editor who decides when and where the article will be put in the newspaper, if it is put in there at all.
I found this video on YouTube which is of a man who describes 'the cycle of publishing' and how journalists stick to that:

The Newspaper Industry: Who does what?

In this post, i wanted to find out whose role is what in the three main stages of making a newspaper (production, distribution and exhibition) and to see what their roles involve. I have made a PowerPoint and then uploaded it to SlideShare, which has been split in the three main stages:

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View more href="http://www.slideshare.net/" target="_blank">presentations from href="http://www.slideshare.net/osmithas" target="_blank">osmithas

This is a very straight forward presentation, as i wanted the definition of each role. However, i didn't define which role is in which process - production, distribution and exhibition. I do think it is very clear and i do know myself what roles go where. I have to be these roles all at one time.

Tabloid or Broadsheet.

There are many different things which define both of them. They are quite different, not only in the way they are written but also the way they look and atrract their audience. I have defined which is which and why on a table which i have written. There are also some examples of existing newspapers.

Some newspapers break the rules. This could be to fit the type of newspaper they want to be and what audience they may want to attract. Such newspapers like 'The Mail', 'The Independent' arent the traditional size and like to mix educated with celebrity gossip - they change with the changing times - more people are now educated and we are surrounded by the celebrity world. The more of a variety of stories, the more the variety of the audience - therefore more sales.

My Newspaper

I am finding it hard to decide what type of newspaper i want to make - tabloid or broadsheet? I know that i will have to do some more work on my questionnaires and research of audiences in order to know if 'educated' people are really that interested in celebs or formal writing. It seems as if without thinking about it, educated people would want formal, intellegent newspapers, however im not sure that this is the case - i need to be sure! At the end of all of this research i will finalize what features of my newspaper will have in order to attract my target audience. I have to achieve everything which will attract my target audience.

To Do List for the coming brief.

I have been assigned to write a big list of all of the things i need to do for my year brief. I will try to add to it, and cross things off when they are completed. I have had to separate the list into the three sections of the brief that i have to do:

 Newspaper

• Research different articles from local newspapers to find out what the two main pages include - adverts? Articles? Advice page?
• Research the target audience for a local newspaper, and research it fro there. This will help me if my target audience is the same as theirs. 
• Research what most articles subjects are. As i have to write these articles and they don't actually have to be real stories, it still has to be realistically written and presented so i need to find out a realistic story.
• Research what adverts are normally seen in the two pages.
• Define on my blog that i am planning to do the front page and the next page after that.
• Research photos that are in newspapers and what a picture can do for the article and the person in question. What does the photo represent/mean/consider/suggest?
• Take photos for my article as they are normally of most articles.
• Find out the general/average amount of articles on the two first pages of a local newspaper (there are normally columns of them beside the big headline.
• Research and define the typography i am planning to use for my newspaper.
• Research and define what the layout and presentation will be like and how it would advantage my target audience.
• How much information is told in a headline? Research headlines and their play on words.

State how EVERYTHING will advantage or disadvantage my target audience on every post!!!

Radio Advertisement

• Try to find copies/recordings from other newspapers and local newspapers.
• Make comparisons between local newspaper ads and national newspaper ads if possible.
• Find out about the technologies that i will have to use in order to record a voice.
• Research what is said during a radio newspaper ad.
• Research how long the adverts usually are - so my target audience wont get bored and turn over.
• Is it usually a man or a woman on a newspaper radio advertisement?
• What is the script like for other newspaper radio ads - what is the lingo like - everyday, educated.
• Find out how recording a voice and putting it on the radio is done in the professional/real world.

State how EVERYTHING will affect my target audience on every post. Will they like it?

Newspaper Poster

• Am i planning to advertise the newspaper as a whole, or just the headline?
• Look around the city of Norwich (take photos also) and see where some posters are. How are they presented.
• Do the newspapers control where the posters are, and who puts them up?
• Do they make any influence on people to buy a newspaper if they see the poster? Does a poster create more sell?
• Where are the posters seen?
• Explore the typography and format of the newspaper posters.
• How will i make the poster - via photoshop, using glue and scissors?
• How long are posters usually up on show for?

State how EVERYTHING can influence my target audience to buy the newspaper on every post!