Assignment 6 - Police Vehicle Involved In Fatal Crash

A man was killed last night following a road accident with a police vehicle in the centre of Moonville.

The driver of the car, a red VW Golf, was announced dead on arrival at the St. Monty’s Hospital, with the policeman, PC Steve Rodgers, being “treated from concussion and a fracture of the nose and left leg” a hospital spokesman said.

The Police car had collided into a monument at the junction of Scar Road in Moonville, and the other car crashed into a shop.

Josephine Rockwell, 31, was working at the Bluehound Pub at the time of the accident, witnessed the events:

“The driver of the [VW Golf] was slumped over the wheel…it looked as if he was really badly injured.”

A search was later carried out for a passenger of the Golf, and a rucksack found in the car was removed and now in the possession of the Drugs Squad.

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Music Scene Frustrating Students

Many students at UCF feel disappointed with the one way music scene that has evolved in Falmouth, and are pleading for some diversity.

Drum and Base and DJ sets seem to dominate the live acts that come to Falmouth, such as Pendulum on Saturday at The Stannary, which leaves fans of other genres dissatisfied.

"Rarely do I or any of my friends get any live acts here that I would want to go to." says student Jamie Hiles-McKellar.

However, new event management company SW1 productions are trying to change this for the better. Recently bringing down post hardcore band “Hell Is For Heroes” to Falmouth, SW1 “know that lots of people want a more diverse scene down here, so we are trying to get more bands to come down and play in Cornwall” a spokesperson said.

The company is urging people to contact them regarding what they want to hear, and to not stay frustrated any more.

“Cornwall seems to home many unheard talents in our genre. We would love to play there to get our voices heard down south, but Plymouth is the furthest down country we are heading.” said lead singer of screamo band ‘Asking Alexandria’ James Murray.

On Saturday, the ‘No One Gets Out Alive Tour’, a tour dedicated to promoting “six of the best breaking British bands”, graced Plymouth’s Voodoo lounge, with Asking Alexandria, recently signed to Sony, headlining.

“The South West has produced some amazing groups, such as Muse and Reef, so obviously there is potential there, it just needs to be played to crowds.” he added.

Critique

When choosing to submit a final story, I was torn between this and the story “Fears for Falmouth’s Female Students”. However, I chose this as, although I felt less newsworthy, it seemed more researched and had a better range of quoted sources.

It would also appeal to a large percentage of the student-aimed readership, as students who can relate to the claims made in the story will be interested in the potential solving of the diversity drought.

I felt quite passionate when writing this story, as it’s a position I feel I am in also. I felt I wrote reasonably fluently complying with the inverted pyramid, and made full use of contacts for quotes which authenticates the stance taken.

I feel the story could have been enhanced with more viewpoints from students regarding the musical requirements in Cornwall, as it could be interpreted that only a minority of people wish for the claims made.

Globalisation and the Global Media

According to theorist Ben Bagdikian, by the year 2010 there will be only five owners in the media in the North of America. This is due to buyouts and merging of companies such as the powerful Time Warner AOL who blended in 2001. The occurrence of this oligopoly and press conglomerates is subsequently looked upon as a form of globalisation within the media, as the once segmented ownership is becoming more and more concentrated.

The most obvious example of a super power in the media is Rupert Murdoch, who owns BskyB, Fox, Harper Collins, The Times, The Sun and The News of the World as well as the other 175 papers he publishes world wide. His gross profit in 2005 would have been in the region of $7.2 billion, with an overall revenue of $55billion, and employs 15 000 people in his media empire.

Closer to home, one of the largest media companies in the UK is the Daily Mail and General Trust, who made profits of £234 million: a huge amount in any other industry, but weak against the example given above. Titles they own include Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday and The Evening Standard. They also own Northcliffe papers, who are a regional paper producer.

On a slightly smaller scale, the Northern and Shell PLC, owned by ex porno magazine mogul Richard Desmond, made a profit of £1.4 million in 2004 with a turnover of £20 million. Although Desmond was forced into selling his top shelf titles like “skinny and wriggly”, he still owns magazines such as OK! And papers such as The Daily Star, and has kept his porno television channels. With only 200 employees, again out of context that is a respectable profit, but within the media world it is tiny.

All the dominant media ownerships have reaches throughout the world, but even smaller single title companies, with the aid of technologies and economic factors, can have their titles bought in nearly any country in the world. However this globalisation is not a new occurrence: European imperialism produced a global market by the end of the 19th Century. However, the technological and economic factors mentioned before have sped the process up hugely.

Theorist Tunstall claims that in television news, most foreign news is dominated by the US and UK, and comes from only three sources: Associated Press, Reuters and BBC. However, foreign news is expensive to obtain, which often leads to the “repurposing” of footage.

Assignment 5 - Wishingshire Protests

Protesters are demonstrating today to prevent the demolition of a copse despite a court order to remove them.

Supermarket chain Megabuck plans flatten the wooded area in Moonville, Wishingshire, to make way for 70 homes, shops, a restaurant and a petrol station, as well as the supermarkets car park.

The felling was meant to have begun this morning, but was foiled by the twenty conservationists who have set up their tarpaulin homes in the canopies of the copse.

Joseph Bloggs, 24, the initiator of the protest has braved snow and his vertigo for the last two weeks to prevent to plans from succeeding:

“I have been here for two weeks and I am not going anywhere. They will have to drag us from these braches.”

Older residents are also upset with the proposal, as the town’s war memorial would have to be relocated to make way for a road to accommodate for heavy goods traffic to the supermarket.

However, some residents have welcomed the idea, as it would tidy up the area and provide better services for locals:

“A new store would be fantastic for the town: more jobs, more business. Anything has to be better than staring at this old dump.” said resident Toby Gunn, 65.

A Megabuck spokeswoman would not comment on the fate of the protesters, or when an eviction attempt would be made, but announced that they “intend to replace the trees that are cut down”.

The company owns an estimated 180 other sites nationwide for development of their stores.

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Guest Speaker - Boyd Farrow

“Very few people actually make money as a journalist, but it's an amazing way of meeting your idols.” This seemed to be the dominant theme in Boyd Farrow’s lecture on the 5th of November: Journalism is not a career, but moreover a lifestyle.

First year Journalism students heard of Boyd’s journey from a Philosophy degree to the streets of London, where he begged for jobs on the doormats of prestigious publishers around Soho, until he gained a position as an Editorial Assistant.

However, the peak of his career was obtained when he maneuvered up the position ladder of “Screen International”, ultimately settling as editor. This job sent him round the world, meeting all of his idols, bar Martin Scorsese, and attending Cannes Film Festivals.

However, he soon escaped the pressure at the top of the board, and opted instead for a career where he could “Remain a teenager for the rest of his life”. Referring to the late nights, lie-ins and partying of the freelance world, Bryn Farrow described the first seven years as a diet of “Cigarettes, Jack Daniels and Tom Waits” and writing throughout the night.

Boyd seemed to foreground the idea throughout that the relaxed lifestyle of freelancing was better than any stable wage how could have been offered, as he has “only been working for three days a week” for the last year.

He added “The best thing about being a Journalist is being able to travel”, but never really spoke about his income, excusing the loose pattern of his wage as an “Adrenaline rush” that many people feel they need to have.

He concentrated a lot on the things he could take for free whilst being a Journalist: hotel rooms, first class flights, even ash trays. This does seem to coincide with the idea that Journalists remain adolescents, as the ‘taking something for nothing’ hints at a childish greed that does invoke a sense of adrenaline.

To sum up his argument in favour of the excellent lifestyle of freelance journalism over the prospect of no money, Boyd simply said:

“People don’t lie on their death beds and say ‘Oh, I wish I had more money in the bank.’ They do, however, say ‘I wish I would have done this.’.”

Capital Fraudsters Worst In Country

London remains the UK’s identity fraud capital with Kensington being the cities scam hotspot, research today uncovered.

Kensington residents sport a five times above national average chance of falling to fraudsters, making them the cities worst affected area, according to Experian, a credit ratings agency. Residents inside of the M25 are more than three-and-a-half times more likely to suffer and Clapham Junction residents are also at increased risk.

The wealthiest sections of society are most expected to be pin pointed by fraudsters; however those renting are also at a high risk.

Outside of London, commuter towns such as St. Albans, Guildford and Slough, which house the capital’s workers, are over twice as likely to suffer compared to the rest of the country.

It was also revealed that there has been a 68% increase in frauds reported since last year, with the most popular form of identity theft involving interception of mail.

Cases involving fraudsters redirecting the victims post to a new address raised the most, with cases taking 32% of all problems documented.

Joseph Bloggs, 37, fell victim to identity fraud after moving house and the new occupiers running up a £6500 credit card bill in his name:

“Despite doing all the right things to protect myself I still became a victim. It is an extremely stressful and unnerving experience to have your identity stolen and I wouldn't wish it on anyone.”

Credit experts advise the following to the public to keep the threat of identity fraud down:
• Regularly review credit reports to check for suspicious anomalies, such as accounts opened in your name.
• Watch out for any missing mail, and report any missing items quickly.
• Destroy revealing documents, such as bank statements and utility bills, by shredding or burning them.
• If moving home, have your mail forwarded to your new address for at least six months.

Helen Lord, Fraud and Regulatory Compliance Director at Experian, says no member of the public should be complacent regarding ID theft and fraud, and “Although people are more aware than ever before of the threat, everyone is a potential victim”.


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Falmouth bid farewell to Heroes

Falmouth’s Princess Pavilions was graced for the last time by one of England’s paramount post-hardcore bands Hell Is For Heroes last night.

Formed in September 2000, the five-piece from Camden have finally decided to hang up their coats. This comes after their final self-titled album attempt failed to make much of an impact compared to their disputably finest ‘Neon Handshake’ debut, which was released in 2003 and was voted in the top 60 best British Albums ever by Kerrang! readers.

The band announced their split on their website last month:

“We're up for spending more time at home working on other projects and potentially a fourth album if we can beat our last effort.”

Support band Resonate, from Exmouth, displayed great talent, and were obviously heavily influenced by the likes of The Fall Of Troy, but lacked the stage presence and energy required to leave their footprint on the stage for the headliners to step into. However, being a young looking twenty years each, this may develop in time.

Also supporting was My Awesome Compilation, who’s rather weak pop punk failed to impress many bar the obvious handful of fans in the crowd.

Performing classic earlier songs such as ‘I Can Climb Mountains’ and ‘Night Vision’ Hell is For Heroes stirred up the smaller-than-expected crowd, but failed to make much of an impact with their newer tracks: a factor that may be assumed affected the recent break-up announcement.

The band were also plagued with technical errors, such as front man Justin Schlosberg’s keyboard connected via a faulty lead, microphones not working, and guitar strings breaking. After seven years, things like that should not be happening, but live music is, in the end, live.

Ending on ‘Five Kids Go’ as usual in the encore, the band bit adieu, and thanked all the fans for their support through their seven year reign as one of the British bests.

Soon to come to Princess Pavilions is 70’s folk entertainer Richard Digance, and local hardcore stars NATO. For more information visit Princess Pavilions web site:
www.carrickleisureservices.org.uk/