Leveson Inquiry

Summary
National newspaper editors on Wednesday accepted the challenge laid down by David Cameron by agreeing to create an independent press regulator that meets all but the most contentious of Lord Justice Leveson's recommendations. Normally fiercely competitive tabloid and broadsheet titles agreed at a breakfast summit to 40 of Leveson's first 47 proposals – paving the way for the creation of a new regulator with powers to levy fines of up to £1m. It would also operate a low-cost tribunal system to handle libel and privacy claims. Lord Justice Leveson's 1,987-page report establishes the findings of his 17-month inquiry into the culture, practices and ethics of the press. Jane Martinson offers a five-minute guide to exactly what the report says about the key issues.David Cameron has met newspaper editors and told them the clock is ticking for them to set up a new press regulator. The meeting comes in the wake of the Leveson report which called for an independent self-regulatory body for the press, backed up by legislation. Labour and the Liberal Democrats both support statutory underpinning, but the prime minister and the majority of Conservative MPs are against it.

My view

In my opinion I think that by them implementing this regulation will bring justice to the innocent people that were involved by these phone incidents and prevent it from happening again in the future. But then again on the other hand, making this regulation means that as the public will certain things be hidden from us? These legislations will mean that most information’s will be hidden from the public and as the upper classes that have more authority will have the choice of what we can and cannot see in the media.

Representation; Kidulthood

In the opening of Kidulthood the representation of young people is negative. The scenes that they show of the teenagers are typically wearing hoodies and in gangs that are groups of 3 or more within the playground just as expected when doing a typical representation of teenagers. Most of the teenagers that are shown are either committing crimes such as smoking weed, drilling a gun and bullying within the school facility or participating in sexual activities or promoting their ‘wild’ party whilst their parents are out of town.

These are the common representation of teenagers within the uk and they have all been placed in this one scene at one time that are being shown It can be argued that this is a fair representation of young people but it has been highly exaggerated but at the same time it can be argued against that as some young people  within the uk have never even experienced anything like this in their lives.

For the year that it was produced I think that it is a pretty good example of verisimilitude. The mise-en-scene within the environment created a real feeling of verisimilitude. For example the type of camera shots that were used were camera shots that made us feel that we were within the set at the time, with the type of angle shots used as the camera was swiftly going across the set to one group of teens to another to create that realness of us being actually their as if we were in the playground watching them and also from the type of cuts that were used as they were playing football within the playground as they made it seem as if we were in the playground and had to actually watch out from the ball, as if they were playing football around us whilst we stood in the playground. 

Representation of young Londoner's

A negative representation is better than no representation at all.

To the reference of these images shown on the front pages of the newspapers, the representations of young Londoners are all mostly shown in a negative way. All of the teenagers that are shown in these images all go under the typical stereotype of the youths in London today. For instance one of the articles that stood out the most to me is the article that has the heading of ‘Trouble in the Hood’. The images within this article were all showing negative representations of the youths of London.  They are all shown wearing hoodies, blacked out covering their faces, all in gangs of 2 and more and most commonly all of them were shown causing a ‘riot ’. Within the entire article all of the teenagers are portrayed as mindless violent youths who are damaging the streets of London, calling them names such as ‘thugs & looters’ and who also look hungry for a cause but never had any of the articles stated or even suggested to why the reason of the youths of London had been rioting. This just shows how bias the media is when it comes to showing the true representations of the youth of London. It forces the readers to believe that these representations are all true especially all of the articles are showing the same representation. It makes us the readers think are the media even taking young Londoners seriously enough. Even the headline itself is a pretty sarcastic heading and shows the lack of respect they have for teenagers.

Personally, my own thoughts of all this is that it shows that the youths are shown typically like always in a negative light and that they do not have a true voice within the media no matter what. I also understand that there was nothing positive to be shown during the riots, but not all teenagers are having ‘Trouble in the hood’ most young Londoners during the riots were at home appalled by the actions of others but were still being represented in this typical negative stereotype in the news the next day.

Only one article out of all shown were showing teenagers in a positive aspect as they cleaned the streets of London the next day but were all white youths whereas the looters where manly all black and described as violent criminals. All of the police that were shown within the images were all white and described as being the authority. Also because of the fact that the media never really had true reports to why the Londoners were rioting this could make us believe that these representations are true. This can relate to Frantz Fanon theory of the racial representations as we can see how the media in this situation is reinforcing the racial separation. Within England it is well known about the conflict and tension between the urban youth and police which has been going on for numerous amounts of years. In order for the rioters to be seen as rioting for something with significance do they have to wear the white mask in order to be seen as important people of the society just rioting for justice? Maybe it wouldn’t have turned as big as it got to if they were have been taken seriously from the beginning.

The representations of young teenagers within London have only a negative representation within the media. They are never shown as the ambitious, hardworking people that they really are. For every bad that is done by a young Londoner the rest of them become placed under that representation and portrayal as if they had done that bad action personally themselves, which is never the case because everyone is different.  I think all young Londoners like myself would prefer no representation what so ever than constantly have a negative image within the media which results to them constantly battling others to be taken seriously and maybe that’s even the main reason to why the riots had even started. A negative representation is the main reason to why most young Londoners are unemployed, angry and unmotivated. If these representations were to not exist then maybe the world could be a less stressful place.

Weekly news about technology; BBC scandal

The Guardian: McAlpine's solicitor warns long list of Twitter users to 'apologise or be sued'

Andrew Reid, McAlpine’s solicitor, threatens tough action on those who defamed his client on social media and elsewhere

McAlpine's solicitor, Andrew Reid, said on Thursday that if those on the list failed to come forward to apologise he would have no choice but to sue. Some people, including Guardian columnist George Monbiot, have already apologised.

In an interview on Radio 4's The World At One Reid singled out This Morning presenter Philip Schofield who, live on air last week, handed David Cameron a list featuring several Conservative politicians linked to allegations of child sex abuse, which he had compiled after a three minute internet search.

Reid also mentioned Bercow, who had tweeted, "Why is Lord McAlpine trending? *Innocent face*" – a reference to the fact the peer's name was being repeatedly mentioned on Twitter. Reid said he and McAlpine were determined to take tough action after the Tory peer's name circulated on the internet in relation to the 2 November Newsnight broadcast, which wrongly claimed a senior Conservative politician had been involved in child abuse in a Welsh care home.

The botched Newsnight story has already cost George Entwistle his job as director general, and McAlpine is preparing to sue anyone who linked his name to the broadcast and damaged his good name.

"The next person on our list is in fact the This Morning programme, run by ITV, where Phillip Schofield managed to embarrass the prime minister and then destroy my client's reputation," Reid said. "What Schofield did really was very, very low and I am amazed it was allowed, absolutely amazed. It sent everyone on the internet, those that couldn't read what was there [on Schofield's list] naturally would have been made more keen to see who was referred to, and I think at the top of the list was Lord McAlpine," he added.

Reid said those in the list would receive a 13 to 14 page letter formally notifying them of legal action, with 48 hours to respond.

Reid described the rumour and innuendo that swirled around the internet before and after the Newsnight broadcast as "so vile, so disgusting", and said there would be no escape for those who later deleted their tweets.

He added that McAlpine's legal team had been watching people who had been taking down tweets but said that they did not understand that "we already have all the information" and noted how their tweets have rippled around the world.

The Telegraph: Lord McAlpine tells Twitter users he does not intend to 'create hardship' as he pursues them for damages

Lord McAlpine has told Twitter users he does not intend to “create any hardship” as his lawyers contact all those who tweeted his name following a Newsnight report which made false claims about child abuse.

Anyone who has apologised to Lord McAlpine via his law firm, RMPI, will be sent a letter asking for personal details before the peer decides how much they must donate to charity in lieu of damages.

The letter is only being sent to those with fewer than 500 followers on the micro-blogging site, who may be asked to donate as little as £5 to the BBC’s Children in Need charity.

The letter, which is accompanied by a form asking for the home address, occupation and Twitter details of the addressee, says: “Once we have analysed the information we will let you know how much we shall be asking you to donate to…Children in Need.

The BBC paid Lord McAlpine £185,000 plus costs after the source of the Newsnight allegation, former care home resident Steve Messham, withdrew his claims of being raped by a senior Tory, saying it had been a case of mistaken identity.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/twitter/9694209/Lord-McAlpine-tells-Twitter-users-he-does-not-intend-to-create-hardship-as-he-pursues-them-for-damages.html

The Sun: BLUNDERING BBC Director General George Entwistle sensationally resigned last night over the Newsnight sex abuse fiasco.

Entwistle, boss for 54 days, said quitting was “the honourable thing”. He admitted being in the dark over a paedophile slur on a Tory peer

Entwistle had been ridiculed after admitting he only knew of a Newsnight report wrongly implicating former Tory treasurer Lord McAlpine as a child abuser the day AFTER it was broadcast.

Entwistle, 50, made his dramatic resignation statement outside Broadcasting House in London.

With BBC Trust chairman Lord Patten at his side, he said: “I have decided that the honourable thing to do is step down.

Entwistle — already reeling from a mauling by MPs over the Jimmy Savile “cover-up” scandal — was toppled by Newsnight’s Lord McAlpine fiasco. The Director General said he was not alerted to “trailers” on Twitter promising a report on the BBC2 show about a senior Tory from the Thatcher era. And he revealed he was unaware of newspaper coverage casting doubt on the accusations.

The BBC apologised on Friday night after Steve Messham, a victim quizzed by Newsnight, admitted he wrongly identified Lord McAlpine as the man who abused him at a Wrexham children’s home in the 1970s.

Newsnight did not name Lord McAlpine but he said he will sue the BBC because it led to him being identified on the internet.

Broadcasting and political heavyweights had earlier laid into Entwistle, saying he had to go. It comes just weeks after controversy surrounding the axing in 2011 of a Newsnight investigation on paedophile Savile’s abuse. There were claims of a cover-up.
Despite having once edited Newsnight, he was entirely at sea. Entwistle’s job was to look after the BBC in troubled times. He was never up to it. But the corporation is still saddled with its useless chairman Lord Patten who also seems to be away with the fairies. If the BBC has any hope of salvation, he needs to go — fast. A clean sweep is the only way to get this lot out of the mire.

Summary:

A summary of the whole situation is that the BBC's diroctor general George Entwistle had admitted that the Newsnight reports that were implicating that Lord McAlpine is a child abuser were false claims a day after that it had been broadcasted on the BBC’s Newsnight. This then caused McAlpine to become a trending topic Twitter which caused the public to actually believe that he is a paedophile. This subject became a trending topic due to the fact that people such as Philip Schofeild, ‘This morning’ presenter tweeted about this embarrassing situation which was actually false. This then lead to McAlpine’s solicitor sending out a letter to everyone that had accused McAlpaine of being a child abuser to either apologise or be prepared to be sued. Also causing Entwistle the director general to make a dramatic resignation statement.

All three articals show the same understanding of the situations, and all three agree that this situation is embarrassing and the BBC should take the situation seriously and all think that its best that if they want the corporation to have a clean slate that the director should go as he lost alot of trust.

My opinion

                                                                                                        

Personally I think that McAlpine has every right to make big deal about these false allegations that have occurred. I believe this because of the fact that he has to live with the legacy of people having doubts and suspicions of him being a child abuser forever, simply because of these false assumptions. This could have undoubtedly affected his life dramatically with his family and friends and could have even caused abuse from the members of public simply just because of the BBC not taking these allegations seriously enough. I think that the general director, George Enwistle made the right decision of resigning as he lost a lot of trust from the public due to the number of scandals that had occurred over the years.However, with the situation about the people who had tweeted about it, they should apologize to McAlpine but no legal action should be taken as everyone is entitled to freedom of speech.

Feminism

To what extent do you agree with Judith Butler's theory that gender roles are socially constructed? Use examples from the media in your response.

Judith Butler argues in her theory that gender roles are socially constructed rather than it being biological and that feminists are wrong to divide the society into men and women as they accidently reinforce the idea of differences between the two genders. Personally, I agree with this. In my opinion certain things within the society push to reinforce the two genders apart without anyone even acknowledging it.

The media is one of the main influences that reinforce this and also influence our behaviour in terms of gender roles. For instance when watching advertisements they always show gender separations and make each individual advertisement for each gender when advertising toys for children. For instance for the young female audiences they show other female children playing with toys such as Barbie’s and dressing up toys etc. Also for male gender of children they show young male children playing with action toys and engineering games and make these children believe from a young age that these are the sort of games that they should get and it makes the children want to buy these games as they see on the advertisement it is being playing with by someone they can relate to making them want it more. These subliminally make the viewer’s believe that even for their children that there should be gender separations  so that boys should grow up to do engineering and manual work, whereas females  should go on to do hairdressing etc.

Also the media not only engages with the younger viewers but it also influences gender role separation to older viewers. For instance with the movie ‘Sweet home Alabama’ the protagonist is stereotyped as a typical American blonde which relates to the theory of Butler as they show this representation of female. She is then shown as a successful woman who leaves her marriage to become an independent working woman in New York which she has males working for her and calling her “boss”, which goes against the typical stereotype of women not being more successful than males.

 Later the protagonist then becomes engaged to a really successful New Yorker but later goes back to her first marriage and choses love over her job, this reinforces the idea that women cannot have both and that they will eventually would want their relationships rather than their careers and highlights that typical damsel female that wants romance over anything.

keywords

Colonialism and post colonialism

Colonialism- started 15^th to 20^th century when people from Europe built colonies on other continents. This was started because European countries wanted to expand the power of the colonising country, to make profits from countries, to convert the population to the colonist religion. Post colonialism- post colonialism can be seen as the aftermath and the continuation of the colonialism.

Keywords:

Countertype

Stereotype

Cultural inferiority

Hegemony

Ideology

Subaltern

Culture and ethnicity

Modern regime of power

Revolution

Orientalism

Globalisation

 Post-colonial Identity  

Weekly News about Technology

Android apps 'leak' personal details

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-20025973

Are Androids really safe to use ?

Scientists tested 13,500 Android apps and found almost 8% failed to protect bank account and social media logins.

These apps failed to implement standard scrambling systems, allowing "man-in-the-middle" attacks to reveal data that passes back and forth when devices communicate with websites.

The researchers were able to:

• capture login details for online bank accounts, email services, social media sites and corporate networks
• disable security programs or fool them into labelling secure apps as infected
• inject computer code into the data stream that made apps carry out specific commands

An attacker could even re-direct a request to transfer funds, while making it look to the app user like the transaction was proceeding unchanged.

Some of the apps tested had been downloaded millions of times, the researchers said.

And a follow-up survey of 754 people suggests users could struggle to spot when they were at risk.

In my opinion, I personally think that Androids are really unsafe to use when it comes to protecting peoples personal details, especially that only 8 % out of 13,500 phones that were being tested failed to protect the bank details. If you use an android phone, you have to extra careful at all times so that people don't steal your personal data and it shouldn't  be like this.