Reviews

A review should also consist of two parts:

1. A description of what the product is or what it does. You are able to quote from it if you want to due to the copyright law of fair dealing.
2. Comment, your opinion on if it is very good. You are legally protected from libel by it being your 'honest opinion'. It is good to consider the law in journalism as it enables what we can and cannot do as journalists.

Gonzo became an increasingly popular way of reviewing with the journalist constantly showing off how clever they are. This is not particularly good for professional journalism as it doesn't always review the products properly as it concentrates on the 'I did this' aspect of it. Readers want a service and don't usually care what you think of the product itself.

Defences to 'comment' include:

• Justification- you believe it is true what you are stating and it can be proven
• Privilege
• Comment is your 'honest opinion' 'without malice in the public interest', 'based on truth'.

Sight and Sound magazine is written for an expert audience. Therefore you can contrast your reviews to an extent to this magazine as it is aimed towards a very professional audience. The magazine reviews all of the new independent cinema releases for its audience to decide what they will show at their cinema. The review style is very classic and is a good style to follow for journalism reviews.

'Slander of goods' is when you compare products to reduce malice. You must mention other products that are available on the market if you only decide to review one as it gives a peg for journalists to write about products without malice.

You should never write a positive review because you are given something for free. The rival companies of that brand will be onto you if this is the case as you should really give your review balance. If you are given something for free it is always a good idea to write a negative review on it to avoid this or at least keep it balanced. It is known that the BBC never have freebies and always pay for all of their review programmes so that they cannot be accused of this.

Sight and Sound magazine separate the 'what is it' from the 'is it any good' typography by using italics for their own comment. It starts with a summary of what the product is about (synopsis), who the actors are and how long it is etc. It then goes on to pass a (balanced and informed) opinion on whether the film achieves what it has apparently set out to do. There is no comment at all present in the first part of the review. It is set in a linear layout to represent its more upmarket style.

Whereas main stream magazines follow a similar structure but mainly not as pure such as the italic style for the comment. Sometimes you can start with your comment and then discuss the product in detail afterwards. You can also include a star rating which is common in these type of film reviews. The Daily Mirror review on Hamlet the play by Shakespeare used the review: 'Queer tale about a foreign prince that goes potty' with the comment, 'Not for everyone' which is one of the best reviews.

A feature review is where you review a clutch of products under a single heading such as young British film makers. You detect a new trend 'culture' that can be played very big in the arts/culture section of newspapers and magazines. It reduces the malice and makes it more interesting if you review more than one product. 'Which magazine' is very good for its reviews and currently has '83 sat nags' reviewed on their website. Many reviewers are freelancers or experts in their own field that do reviews in their spare time. It is a lot of work to take on and is usually very little pay.

Reader Response

This is a big part of the features department and always aim to get 'win' and 'free' on the front page of their magazine. It sets the tone for the magazine or radio show and builds regular loyalty with everything from Agony Aunt to horoscopes, bingo and cash prizes. 

They regularly have 'how to' videos which increases the viewing figures largely and provides the audience with practical information. There are often diets and 'nutritionist' tips as everyone is always looking at new diets and ways to lose weight. There are usually health and beauty tips and advice that women enjoy reading. There are always competitions where you can revolutionise the readers if you come up with a good competition. The Daily Telegraph bought 'fantasy football' from the man that invented it and managed to gain around 30,000 additional readers due to this idea featuring in the paper.

On WINOL a couple of years ago there was the competition, 'lucky dates' where tickets were printed with random years on them. Girls and boys gave out the tickets to everyone and on a certain day everyone had to check the website to see if their lucky date was the winner. The prize was £50,000 but the tickets were given out for free and no one had to pay to enter. This is why it was always checked that the lucky date would never appear on someones card so that there were no winners. The game gained WINOL a lot of viewings and there were a lot of graphic type packages that lead up to the reveal day of the lucky date. As no one was charged to enter, it is not against the law for there to never be a winner.

If you charge people to enter or to call or text to enter then it is against the law for there not to be a winner. Programmes such as daytime television must make sure that:

1. The prize exists
2. Must be winnable
3. The game must contain some skill and cannot allow the first caller to be a winner, this is why most competitions have a question that is easy to answer so that everyone still enters.

There was a thing called newspaper bingo in The Sun and the Daily Star where they printed millions of bingo cards and posted them through everyone's door. They said that you had to buy The Sun everyday for you to find out the numbers that were revealed everyday to cross them off your bingo card. There were never any winners. The PCC took control of this as they received a lot of complaints as the audience had put money into buying the newspaper to play the game. At one point they accidentally printed the winning number and instead of the £50,000 they claimed that 50,000 won a toastie.

The Daily Mail did a 'guess the amount of money in the Bank of England' competition to win the money if you guessed within a certain range. They believed that the chances of someone winning were near impossible as the sum of money always changes. However they did get insurance against it to protect them in the chance that someone did guess correctly. 

Magazines also have things such as:

• Crosswords, Sudoku and Quizzes
• Horoscopes and similar features such as 'Mystic Meg'
• The magazines sell on their cover so it is important to get the barkers correct and advertise what you think people will want.
• Cover mount is where you give a freebie or sample that is smaller than normal and it prevents people from being able to look in the magazine before they buy it.