How much to exaggerate a story?

I wanted to do some research on how much a story can be exaggerated in order to sell more newspapers. I know for a fact that a tabloids write about a lot of celebrities, they are more likely, and have more reason to exaggerate the real situations. But what does a broadsheet have to gain from exaggerating a local story?

I already know that whatever we read in the media, isn't fully true, it never has been. This is because it is more interesting to read, sells more papers and creates more of a stir around a certain story in order to sell even more newspapers.

Tabloid newspapers usually exaggerate a story because they hook in the kind of audiences that would like to read about something shocking. When writing about celebs, people that the public aspire to be like or like to read about stories are very often made much more dramatic than they actually are to cause stir round that certain celeb so more articles can be written about them. As readers, we do know that headlines and stories aren't always what they seem. I often ask myself: "how would they get that kind of information" when i see some private info about a celeb written in the paper. But after the phone-hacking scandal, my question seemed a little bit answered.

To put it bluntly, we are as some may say, lied to on a daily basis. However, in conversation with friends we may exaggerate a story to make it sound more exiting or dramatic than it actually is. It is something which we do ourselves but might not necessarily admit because it is looked down on - which is something i am going to do while researching how much newspapers exaggerate a story.

As i have researched, there aren't any really big laws or regulations that newspapers have to follow, so they can do pretty much what they like with a story, without being libel or writing slander - which i have seen slightly in newspapers nowadays.

I have found a few case studies to look at which could get me to the conclusion of how effective it is for newspapers to over exaggerate a story. I found these particular studies which searching online and then found a list from 2009 by the Telegraph newspaper of the top celebrity stories of that year. This is a very good page because it states a lot of different forms of controversy through one story. I have kept in mind that the Telegraph is a newspaper and they may have exaggerated:

Here is the page: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/6841016/Top-10-celebrity-stories-of-2009.html

Here are a few stories which caught my eye and that i definitely have an opinion on:

Micheal Jackson

He died in 2009 after an overdose which wasn't known at the time to be suicide, murder or man-slaughter. Throughout Jackson's life there have been some pretty bizarre stories written about him such as; who fathered his children, his plastic surgery and his own intentions. Because these are such strange stories, do people actually believe them? If they are so weird, we know they cont realistically be true, but because these are celebs we almost think that these crazy things could happen and we MUST read about it.

After Jackson died the crazy allegations of his life were still going about, and how he died is still in the papers today due to an on going investigation into how he was killed. Jackson was a mega-star and some peo0ple refused to even believe he was dead - showing that not everybody believes the papers, and prefer to believe something even more ridiculous! As Jackson was a mega-star it was a big deal, therefore a lot of people want to read ANY kind of story about him, selling newspapers very fast!

My opinion about this whole story is that everything in Micheal Jackson's life was blown wayy out of proportion, every story was ridiculous. I put this down to the idea that people believe that in the celebrity world, anything is possible.

Kanye West at the VMAs

I have to admit, i thought this was one of the best stories i heard about in 2009. It gave us as an audience an insight into the real Kanye West - a very rude and inconsiderate person - let alone an egomaniac.

At the VMAs, Kanye West took it to himself to jump on stage while Taylor Swift was receiving her first award for Best Female Video to say that Beyonce should have won this award. This was all happening while Taylor Swift was still standing on stage trying to present her thank-you speech. I didn't know until now reading that rumours of Kanye's death was going around in the papers - the papers clearly had no proof or evidence to support this showing that they can literally write anything untrue as somebody dying.

My opinion is that he made himself look very silly, and the newspapers used this to their own advantage, selling newspapers by the shed-load because of this story of a very well-known performer.

Certain stories can definitely get out of control, whether that is the story itself, the hype around it, conflicting views and because it isn't on the legal side to publish it. A story which didn't go down well with the law or the subject can put harm, not only the subject the article is about, but also the newspaper itself - shooting themselves in the foot.


Many celebrities have sued newspapers due to the content they have published about them - whether true or not. the celebs could blame the newspaper for harming their work and public image. However, the newspapers always seem to come out on top, they can publish stories about the celeb suing. Newspapers never learn from it and carry on to do what they did before, because being sued doesn't harm their income too much if a national newspaper.My Newspaper


I am not planning to take too much time on my newspaper stories because my task isn't to write the best article, it is to create a newspaper that somebody would like to read. I have seen that headlines are normally the most exaggerated part of an article because it hooks the reader and makes hem want to read the article.

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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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.