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Posts from the ‘Newspapers’ Category

Oct 19

How to Lose Friends and Alienate People – Review

Jeff Bridges (Clayton Harding) and Simon Pegg (Sidney Young)

Simon Pegg film shows journalism – is just a series of rooms 

It’s been a couple of years since we had a film centering around the ruthless world of journalism in America, The Devil Wears Prada being the last in 2006. Simon Pegg’s new movie ’How To Lose Friends & Alienate People’ emphasised this clearly.

The film is based on the personal accounts of Toby Young, a celebrity journalist who struggled for five years to get to the top at Vanity Faire. Simon Pegg plays a very funny Young who continually shoots himself in the foot at every given opportunity, as he tries to adjust to the realities of life a as journalist.

The film depicts the world of journalism as a pressure cooker waiting to go off, with a career being a natural progression through seven different rooms. As an aspiring journalist I was interested in this portrayal but also somewhat scared at the prospect of its reality. Is journalism really as cold and corrupt as the film suggests.

My instant response would be, of course not, Pegg’s Young does make a plethora or mistakes which earn him the abuse he receives, but whilst he comes out smiling in the end, its the other characters who question their morals and break out of the superfitial world of celebrity which the film exposes through the Megan Fox’s Sophie Maes and those who persist in following her every move.

That said I was somewhat surprised at Young’s ability to stay employed for so long despite all his mistakes or even having a piece published. His rise to the seventh room then happened so quickly, if you blinked you’d have missed it.

Whilst this romantic comedy is not way up there with the big hitters it is still a pleasant enjoyable film. Billed as The Devil Wears Prada (TDWP) with balls the film certainly does focus on the brutal, nature of editors and the hard work journalists have to put in to get their big break. Jeff Bridges however, depsite putting in a good performance fails to live up to Meryl Streep’s Miranda Priestly in TDWP. Megan Fox was on form following her big debut in Transformers and Dunst and Pegg made an interesting pairing in the predictable ending.

However as a film centering around journalism it was a fascinating insight into what happends behind close doors in a newsroom and in order to get to the top you have to make decisions which ultimately affect all of those around you. However whilst you may succeed in your job, such actions don’t necessary bring you happiness and fulfillment.

This is ultimately the films message, do not sacrfice your life for your career, evaluate what is important and do not become embroiled in deceitful actions becuase ultimately you will live to regret it.

Oct 15

Blogged About!

I seem to have really taken to the art of blogging now. However nobody was more surprised than me to see that I am now the subject of a blog myself. My post titled “Are journalists to blame?”, in which I reflect on the debate between Roy Greenslade, Adrian Monck, Paul Fashri and Jeff Jarvis received such an enthusiastic response that a blogger, whose name appears to be a secret, has joined the debate using my post as inspiration. The question – Are Journalists to blame for the downturn in newspapers? – remains open though – let the debate continue.

Oct 15

It’s not all doom and gloom

The FT soaring high in the sky

The FT soaring high in the sky

The persistent reports that newspapers are in decline have been turned upside down today.

The FT group, which publishes the Financial Times, has announced an 11% year-on year rise in revenue for the first nine months of the year.

The report in The Guardian today also states that the increase in circulation and advertising revenues was matched by an increase in data revenue. The news I must say is somewhat of a joy to a trainee journalist who, for the past few weeks, has been bombarded with the message the newspaper is dying.

The company said: “The Financial Times and Mergemarket are continuing to increase their content revenues and build their audiences through the volatility in global financial markets” the company said.

However, whilst the news is positive, if taken in context, is only a small piece of music to the ears. The FT is a world wide paper, which does not cater solely for the British market. Therefore, yes, it is pleasing to hear that The FT is thriving but with The Independent struggling with rapidly falling circulation and many other papers heading in that direction the assessment over whether newspaper owners require a profit will become much more of an issue.

Whilst not all media owners only serve to make a profit, the importance of it over political power, public service, prestige and public service will become much more of an issue and one I look forward to following.

Oct 13

3 Comments

Are Journalists to blame?

There doesn’t seem to be an easy answer to this question, and it seems journalists themselves are divided over the issue. Todays Media Guardian is a prime example of this conflict.

In his column Jeff Jarvis criticises, Adrian Monck, head of Journalism at City University, former Daily Mirror Editor now Guardian blogger Roy Greenslade and Paul Fashri of the Washington Post for absolving journalists of responsibility for the fall of newspapers.

After reading Mr Jarvis’ comments I was left questioning my thoughts. What is the cause of this dark period for newspaper sales? In order to answer this I have established two simplified basic questions in which to answer. Is the internet to blame? Or is the journalist to blame?

If we take Adrian Monck’s view then:

“Declining newspaper readership has nothing to do with journalism…The crops did not fail because we offended the gods.”

If we accept this view then the standard and quality of journalism produced by the press has had no affect. Whilst to some extent I agree, the nature of the media in recent years appears to have moved closer to American sensationalising crime and in some respects not catering for public interest, for instance reduction in crime is not as important as small rises in crime.

Despite this, the nature of the public and there demand in my opinion has dramatically changed. People do not seem to care about real news anymore, the celebrity world we live in seems to have taken over. However the celebrity model doesn’t fit. Those that are obsessed are surely more likely to buy a weekly magazine than a daily paper or already know what is being reported in the case of those who actively follow Big Brother.

Paul Farhi summed this up by saying:

“Newspapers are in trouble for reasons that have almost nothing to do with newspaper journalism and everything to do with the newspaper business.”

So is the decline down to journalism, or lack of public interest or something else….

Mr Jarvis stresses that as journalist “we did not see change coming soon enough and ready our craft for it’s transition. After my fortnightly online journalism lecture with Chris Brauer this morning I would tend to agree. The vast array of developing media outlets like newsmapping, oration, newsline, 12 seconds.tv, twitter and phoneshow to name just a few, the potential for journalism on the web is huge.

Citizen journalism is increasing sharply and the greater availability to communicate and share information, – whether it be through blogging, video casting, social mapping or simply social network sites like facebook, – creates a market which not only provides immense scope to generate news but creates a demand for instant news which newspapers cannot compete with. It is therefore unsurprising that a number of newspaper titles are facing an uncertain future, where is a rather strong guarantee none will disappear before the end of the year as some predict, the long term future is less than concrete.

Mr Jarvis adds:

“It is our fault we did not give adequate stewardship to journalism and left business to the business people. it is our fault we sat back and expected some princely patron to support us.”

The internet is not everything. Journalism needs to re-invent itself. The newsroom needs to be stripped down and re-evaluate. The defining principles of journalism re-established and new media embraced and monitored to ensure newspapers are not left behind. There does not seem to be an easy answer to this question, it appears it is simply down to personal opinion.

I am therefore going to go out on a limb and disagree with both parties. I don’t believe that either side is solely to blame. The development of new media, changing news agendas, and the pyramid structures of newspapers which as Greenslade states, removes journalists of any power are to blame for the decline in newspapers. The future is in harnessing new technology enabling journalists more freedom, which thankfully through blogging this can somewhat be achieved.

Oct 9

4 Comments

The Future of Journalism and the Newspaper



While it is common knowledge that newspaper circulation is in decline – the cause of which being regularly attributed to the rise of internet, very few have interrogated the type of journalism we are presented with.

It was refreshing to listen to Sir Max Hastings therefore on Monday enforcing the strength of newspapers against broadcasting and online. Claiming that journalists should be active and out on the streets searching for stories was music to my ears as a trainee journalist. Whilst I am not against the rise of new media in anyway the unstable nature of newspapers, particularly in the on going global economic crisis is a concern. The growth of online and the potential for podcasting, videos, blogging and open comment forums can only be a good thing to provide a fast amount of detail and information on any news story built what does this mean for the reporter. The increase in the demand for instant news he claimed is chaining journalists to desks preventing them from being journalists.

So what is the role of a journalist in this new age? As illustrated by the power of Robert Peston’s blog early this week, which led to shares in HBOS falling 42%, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) dropping 39%, Barclays shedding 9% and Lloyds TSB declining 13% new media is very powerful, but extremely dangerous and not fitting in with the role of the journalist. Journalists are there to inform, providing a service to the public

Whilst his claims against the negative aspects of online journalism were not as clear as his argument against broadcasting – the inability to engage and analyse a story in great depth, I was glad to hear the answer to – what is a journalist? – will ultimately never change completely. It may bend slightly to adjust with a rapidly changing society and medium.

There is an issue between theory and practice though and Roy Greeenslade was quick to address this in his weekly lecture on Journalism and Ethics at City University. Journalism is special. News is special. Without it how can the general public “play a responsible role in society”? The role of a journalist is to inform and educate, but the problem lies with the conflict between ‘is’ and ‘ought’ journalism. Achieving ‘ought’ journalism, or pure journalism to use a less ambiguous term is somewhat of an unachievable target.

Any news whether it be a story on Amy Winehouse or the latest in the banking crisis, is still news, and if it is the news the public demands, then newspapers obligation is to report it. The public control the fate of the press, if they are not interested in the news in a paper they simply won’t buy it. Whatever the story whether it is a celeb fix or hard news story on politics or the economy it is still informing and education the public. It is importance of achieving and identifying the difference between amusing and informing which is essential to the future of the press and the journalists whose purpose it is to unearth it.

The concept of pure journalism or what journalists aspire journalism to be can never be achieved. Many talk of a golden age of journalism, but in many respects there never has been such a thing. Many who hate the smut and brainless nature of some news in today’s press forget that it has always been presence in some form since the very beginning.

The issue therefore is striking a balance. Journalism though as Mr Greenslade states is about providing “information to citizens of a country, region or city – even the world – in order that they can know as much as possible about what is being done to them, for them and about them”. As long as journalism continues to this, the strength of the medium is surely guaranteed? As Sir Hastings advocates, the power of the medium is so strong it can never be replaced, no matter how much the online medium evolves. Only time will tell if this proves to play out in reality but as long as newspapers and journalism continue to evolve, the disappearance of the news stand will never become such a terrifying reality.

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