2. Power
Come the revolution, every newspaper, radio and TV
station becomes a strategic target - whoever controls
the media has a strong hand in the war for people’s
hearts and minds.
3. The Romanian Revolution 1989
A video summary of the events of December
1989
Ceaucescu's Last Speech
4. Bias, Impartiality and Balance
The BBC claim to have ‘no editorial opinions
of its own. It has an obligation not to take
sides; a duty to reflect all main views on a
given issue’ (BBC News Guide)
5. ‘The very selection of news
involves bias’ (Sir Alastair
Burnet)
The process of eradicating this bias begins by
recognising that every argument has at least
two sides and the truth probably lies
somewhere between them.
7. Getting an ‘angle’
There is seldom time or space to cover
every aspect of a story.
Decisions must be made about what
‘angle’ to approach the story from.
Given that there are at least 2 sides to
every story, the ‘angle’ is crucial to how
the news is represented to its audience.
9. News Agenda
BBC & The Independent - unbiased and impartial
The Sun = pro-Labour (until 2010)
The Daily Mirror = anti-Labour
10. Ideology
All news institutions work within an ideological
context
Ideology means shared values and beliefs by
which one makes sense of and understands
the world.
Ideology offers us a means of deciding what is
‘right’ and ‘wrong’, what we believe in.
Ideology tells us what is important, what is
‘natural’ and what norms and standards we should
promote.
News institutions, even those who see themselves as
impartial, cannot avoid working within an ideological
framework.
14. Murdoch vs. Obama – A Truce
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/s
ep/03/uselections2008.barackobama
15. The Zeitgeist
The news agenda is
also influenced by
the Zeitgeist.
A German word
meaning “the spirit
of the times”
16. Freedom
Who should hold the reins - the government
or the newspapers and news broadcasters?
17. UK ranked 23rd for press freedom
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/oct/22/pressandpublishing
UK journalists enjoy less press freedom than 22 other countries
including the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Estonia and Jamaica,
according to a survey released today.
The UK is ranked joint 23rd, alongside Hungary and Namibia, out of
173 countries on the world press freedom index published
annually by Reporters Sans Frontieres. In last year's index the UK was
ranked 24th.
RSF looks at a number of factors including the treatment of journalists,
freedom of speech and information, and media ownership in individual
countries in drawing up its world press freedom index.
The UK's position is in line with RSF's surveys over the past five years,
which have put the country between a high of 21st in 2002 and a low of
27th in 2006.
Iceland, Luxembourg and Norway were joint top of the index, while
emerging superpower China was seventh from the bottom of the list at
167th.
18. Anna Politskovkaya
Murdered for
criticising Vladimir
Putin’s government
in Russia.
Was particularly
critical of their
treatment of people
in Chechnya.
19. Kenji Nagai
Murdered by government forces in Burma
during the peaceful protests of April 2008
Editor's Notes
The revolutionaries occupied the Romanian National TV Building and broadcast to the people encouraging them to come to Bucharest, the capital to support the revolution. They told people that over 100 civilians had been killed at the previous day’s protest. Whether or not this is true, it was the catalyst that was needed to persuade the people to join the revolution. They no longer needed to be afraid of speaking their minds.
