Re- version of my Gatsby inspired photo shoot

This is a re-versioned video produced by a member of the features team using my 'Gatsby style' photo shoot that I organised and directed towards the end of last year.

Law Revision.

Court Structure

The court structure is set out like a pyramid with the Supreme Court being the highest court there is. This court has 12 Justices and is located in Central London, Parliament Square. Below the Supreme Court is the Court of Appeal which is split into two divisions, civil division and the criminal division. From the civil division is the High Court which is sectioned into three parts: the Queens Bench, Family and Chancery which includes business cases. Below the High Court is the County Court which deals with minor offences such as building contractors and suing people who have breached a contract. Both the High Court and the County Court are civil courts that have judges present. They are headed by the DPP (director public prosecution) who currently is Alison Saunders. Another organisation is the CPS (Crown Prosecution Service) which decides the sentences in the magistrates court. These include:

• Up to six months in prison
• Community Service
• A fine up to £5,000

The magistrates court does not have a jury present and usually deals with things such as family issues and contractual land etc. The functions of the magistrates court is to:

1. Find liable or not liable in family court and youth court
2. Decide the damages a fine, jail etc through the licensing apparatus
3. Deal with disputes between couples and marriages etc

On the other side of the court structure there is the criminal division which is the Crown Court. This is where all of the indictable cases are which consist of the State Vs the Person. The functions of the Crown Court is:

1. Appeals passed on from the Magistrates Court
2. Sentencing
3. Hear indictable cases

Sources of the law include:

• Common Law
• European Law
• Statue Law (parliament)
• Judicial (case law)

Chris Grayling is currently the Minister of Justice and oversees the administration of the court system. Dominic Grieve is the Attorney General and oversees the government decisions such as the Iraq War.

The Public Interest is when information published provides a 'sufficient benefit' for society to know about and puts them at a fair advantage for knowing such things. This could include a bird flu break out in an area that could upset the locals due to stopping people from visiting their village however can put them at an advantage so they can prepare for it or try and prevent themselves from catching it.

Criminal standard of proof is based on the balance of probabilities- beyond reasonable doubt

whereas Civil law standard of proof is based on the balance of probabilities and is lower than the criminal side.

Reporting Crime and the Court

Prejudice is publication of information which will prevent the accused person from having a fair trial due to the potential jury knowing information before the trial. 

Contempt is information that is published in breach of the court reporting rules and carries a high risk of prejudicing the legal proceedings. 

The stages of reporting a crime are as follows:

1. The crime is reported and the police hunt begins, appeal for witnesses and issue a description.
2. Police make an arrest and issue a warrant or state that 'someone is helping with their inquiries', the case is now legally active and there is a risk of prejudice.
3. The police lay the charges and a trial could be the case so you should only report facts that you know to be true. 'Community colour' is usually a good thing to fill your package with at this stage such as how the community have coped and their actions of laying flowers etc.
4. The court case is here and there are only seven points which can be reported these are:

• The name, age, address and occupation of the defendant
• The charges they face
• The name of the court and the magistrate
• The name of the barristers and solicitors present
• The date and place to where the case is adjourned 
• If they were granted bail
• If they received any legal aid

The case becomes 'legally active' once someone is charged or an arrest is made.

There are three types of offences, these are: Indictable offences (the Crown Court cases such as murder), either way offences (can go to either Magistrates or Crown Court such a robbery and drug offences and summary cases (the Magistrates Court cases such as family issues).

A conditional discharge is where the court does not impose a specific punishment but gives a time period that if the person re-offends in they will be liable for both offences.

Section 39- gives anonymity to under 18s in adult courts and cannot be reported, for instance if they were a witness.

Section 49 gives anonymity to under 18s in youth courts.

Jigsaw Identification is where a combination of details are published which can destroy someones anonymity and lead the public to speculate it is a specific person. This can happen when many newspapers or broadcasters reveal certain information on a specific person but each company state different facts. The case that links to this is the McAlpine case where on BBC Newsnight he was not named however a report they gave set off a series of jigsaw identification on Twitter which lead to the viewers publicly identifying McAlpine.

When reporting in the Crown Courts you should not report anything that is said if the jury are not present in the room. You are covered in court by 'absolute privilege' as long as your report is, fair (balanced) accurate (the evidence you report is correct) and contemporaneous (you publish it at the first chance you get so that it is current).

Libel and Defamation

Libel results from publishing a defamatory statement which identifies a person or a specific company.

PUBLICATION+ IDENTIFICATION+ DEFAMATION= LIBEL

Published for the public to see, identifies the person or company, contains a defamatory statement.

To define defamation- it is a statement which a 'reasonable man or women' may think 'tends to':

1. Lower someone in the estimation of right thinking people
2. Cause someone to be shunned and avoided
3. Disparages someone in their work or profession
4. Exposes someone to hatred, ridicule or contempt

Picture libel is something that we need to be aware of especially when reporting out on the streets. Framing people or company logos in shots when talking about a paedophile or a negative story can link this company or person to it without you realising. It could contain inference (secondary meaning) or an innuendo (possibly defamatory).

The Defamation Act 2013 sets out some new rules in the libel defences.

1. People must prove that they have suffered 'serious harm' such as the losses serious e.g. losing a job or a lot of money because of it.
2. Truth- it must be the substantial truth
3. Honest opinion- it must be an honestly held opinion based on fact or facts that existed at the time, it no longer has to be in the public interest but must remain free of malice.

Publication on the matter of public interest must be 'reasonably believed' to be in the public interest and valuable for the public to know.

Qualified privilege gives journalists freedom to report what goes on in council meetings or in statements freely even if they are potential defamatory or untrue statements. It gives you legal protection from being sued as long as your accounts are fair, accurate and in the public interest without malice.

Qualified privilege without explanation or contradiction contain proceedings in the legislature anywhere in the world but must publish a letter or statement from the person defamed if requested.

Qualified privilege with explanation or contradiction does not need to publish this sort of material as it is covered by what was said in a public meeting.

Lee Clegg was a soldier that was jailed for killing two joy riders. However due to a campaign from The Daily Mail where 1.5 million readers signed a petition he was released as it was argued that he was simply doing his job. He was also allowed to return to the front line and fight again. 

Copyright

This is the exclusive legal right given to an organisation or person to print/ publish, film or record artistic or musical material. The purpose of copyright is to protect intellectual property of products and skill. Undeveloped ideas such as slogans or catchphrases are not protected.

You can use snippets of people's work through the use of 'fair dealing' if you comply with these rules:

1. Work cannot be passed off as your own therefore it needs to be accredited
2. Usage must be fair
3. Material must be in the public interest

Photographs and TV News pictures etc are not covered by fair dealing and it is important to remember that Internet material is also subject to copyright.

Confidentiality 

The law of confidence safeguards information obtained in confidential circumstances between individuals or a company and its employees. The three areas that are a concern to journalists are:

1. Revealing state or official secrets
2. Revealing commercial secrets
3. Revealing facts about someone that they would expect to remain in private such as NHS health records.

The Official Secrets Act protects state secrets (military or intelligence) and prevents people from publishing photos of sensitive military installations as it is a criminal offence to do so. However this act is rarely used.

Commercial confidentiality is protected by contract of employment laws such as not revealing finance information. At times these figures can be in the public interest and it is up to the journalist to decide on the risk of legal action if they publish something like this. Journalists must decide whether to risk an injunction by seeking a response to the allegation or publishing material and taking risk of legal action for breach of confidence or defamation. 

Important Cases

Max Mosley Vs The News of the World 2008, printed a story that Max Mosley had an orgy with five women and reported that it contained a Nazi them. The High Court ruled that there was no public interest in revealing activities and that Mosley had a right of privacy in which damages were rewarded.

Naomi Campbell Vs The Mirror is when they published photographs of her leaving a narcotics anonymous meeting and reported about her therapy for a drug addiction. The House of Lords ruled that there was a breach of confidence as she should expect privacy.

PCC, Ofcom, BBC Editorial Guidelines

These all decide what is justified for journalist behaviour. Ofcom rules that there should be an absolute requirement for accuracy and impartiality. The Ofcom code has statutory power and can impose large fines and even remove broadcast licenses. ITV were fined 5.6 million for abusing phone in votes for money on Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway.

The PCC (press complaints commission) is now discredited as they did not do enough over the Leveson Enquiry situation. At present they are still regulating and making decisions on their website though. The BBC Editorial Guidelines is a system of regulation for people at the BBC to follow.

Reporting Elections

Accuracy and impartiality is important for reporting as the way you report can influence the public choice in voting. The danger areas for journalists are:

• False statements about candidates
• Maintaining impartiality
• Reporting on opinion and exit polls

To remain impartial you should assess your coverage each day and keep a log of the coverage for the parties to make sure they are all around the correct amount. Major and minor parties do not have to have equal coverage time. It is an offence to refer to exit polls (how real voting is going) until the polling closes as this could prevent people from voting if they think their party isn't doing too well. On polling day the coverage should remain minimal and there should be no reference to political issues or arguments.

Inquests

The function of inquests is to find the cause of death. This death could be due to: unlawful killing or an accidental death. 

They are conducted by the coroner who legally has to find the cause of death if it appears to be 'violent or unnatural'. There is a jury of 8-11 people with these cases and is covered by qualified privilege.

Reporting Elections

On May 22nd there are European Elections being held which makes this blog even more relevant.

The Representation of the of the People's Act 1983 states that it is a criminal offence to make or publish false statements about election candidates. The expected role of a journalist is to broadcast everything you can in regards to what is happening in the run up to the election day. The broadcasters rules are different to those of print where you can say 'vote for'… whereas this cannot be done in broadcasting due to Ofcom and the BBC guidelines that state this.

Impartiality is vital with broadcasting as stated in section 6 of the Ofcom broadcasting code. In news papers you are able to remain partial  as you are free to write editorials. When broadcasting you must give coverage to the major parties during the election evenly to prevent promoting a party more than the others. You must also give appropriate coverage to other parties and independent candidates.

There was a big case with an MP Phil Woolas in 2010 who lost his seat and banned from standing for parliament for three years. This was due to putting a false statement about the liberal candidate Robert Watkins in election leaflets stating that he was 'wooing extremist votes from the Muslim community'.

We have to be careful what we report/ say as a lot of the statements made by people will be defamatory statements which may be made from rival candidates. When it comes to the exit polls which is a survey where people are asked who they have voted for at the polling station which allows a prediction to be made on the election result ahead of the official declaration. There are restrictions on publishing this information and the predictions as it can persuade people to change their votes or to not vote at all if their party appears to not be doing so well.

Opinion polls can be bias and some can be unreliable as they all differ from one another. It is legal to publish them on voting intentions gathered before the voting begins as they are not based on how people have actually voted but on their intentions. Section 66a Representation of the Peoples Act 1989 states that it is an offence to publish before the poll is closed at 10pm any statements about how people have voted in the election and to publish before a poll is closed any forecast or estimate of the election result.

They use samples of people and a different age range and social economic standing in the polls which must include a context and clarify.

Journalists, TV crews and photographers etc do not have to be let into the count by the Returning Officer unless they are also a candidate.

Impartiality is an important aspect for journalists to consider when reporting for each party. A log of the party coverage should be kept to record the amount of sound bites each party receives to keep it fair. You need to define who the major parties are which has changed this year as UKIP are now seen as a major party in the European election even though it does not contain any MP's. Ofcom and the BBC need to make this decision whether to include UKIP as one of their major parties when reporting on the election.

In Press Gazette it appears that Ofcom have already ruled that they will treat UKIP as a major party but not in Scotland. They based this information on a variety of opinion polls over the past year or so. You should expect guidance when you are a journalist as to which parties are major and the ones that are minor but should still receive some coverage.


If you are going to do a show like the Daily Politics panel with around 3-4 people you should include a person to represent the top 3 parties and then you would need to choose a popular minor one to also be represented.

When covering elections there are safe seats which barely matter. Rowenna Davis did a marginal seat report on who is up or down in the voting system and constructed a profile on what is going on at the polling station. The news package report would have contained footage of all of the major parties which don't have to contain the exact amount of screen time. If there is a less popular party they do not have to have as long on screen as a popular party as long as they are covered this should be enough.

There is a such thing as tactical voting where you don't vote for a party if they are a lot further behind the others. People then vote for the opposition of the party that they don't want to win to try and prevent  them from gaining the overall majority of votes.

If you want to profile individual candidates and their campaign you should produce one for each day on the news as long as you make it clear to the viewers that you are doing everyone else too. This is the same for an interview on a radio show as you would have to give everyone a chance to speak.

It is important to make sure your reporting is impartial and accurate as citizens base their choices on your reporting. Politicians love to shoot the messenger when things go wrong- in other words this will be you as the reporter. Campaign language is often heated which must be remembered if you were to do a live broadcast.

On polling day itself there is minimal reporting at all and no exit poll speculation. It is a criminal offence to publish anything before the polls have closed. Politicians even remain quiet too on this day.

The Electoral Commission dictate how the elections are run and are like a watchdog and regulator of the party and election finance. They also deal with any complaints and provide an outline for what is fair/ reasonable to report for the broadcasters.

Regulation of the Press and Broadcast Systems

Ofcom (the office for communication) are the licensing authority that gives out licenses for people to be able to broadcast. Every broadcaster needs to have a license that entitles them to broadcast their channels. Ofcom are independent from the government. The PCC (press complaints commission) is currently still standing however is going to soon be abolished. They set out editorial guidelines for written publications to follow. On their website http://www.pcc.org.uk it still shows current disputes that they are working on so shows that they are still in use at this time.

In the news on the 5th March there was a debate between Nick Clegg and Nigel Farage about whether to have an EU live debate on the TV. The way the press are managed is changing due to the phone hacking scandal which has put a focus on press ethics.

IPSO- independent press standards organisation was set up by the papers themselves. This may work in the future as a press regulator. The government wanted the Royal Charter statute regulation to be more prominent however the papers think that this contains too much state intervention for them to be able to run smoothly. This statute law has been passed however it still currently remains inactive.

The PCC remained silent throughout the phone hacking scandal and never had a word to say about what happened. They were supposed to stand up for the public however failed to do so. The newspapers are more of a self regulator as there has never been any real sanctions or fines on them for hacking etc.

Trust is a big driver of behaving properly as a journalist- if you treat people properly then they will talk to you and you will gain a good reputation. BBC Peter Fincham resigned after an investigation into his footage that misrepresented the Queen. 

There was also the Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross phone prank scandal that aired live on TV on the BBC. The BBC were fined £150,000 by Ofcom and it ended Jonathan Ross's series on the BBC. Ofcom does regulate parts of the BBC if the BBC make a large editorial error as mentioned in the story above. There is also the NUJ code of conduct that regulates. The BBC have their own Royal Charter and agreement with parliament that is regulated by the BBC Trust and BBC governing body as well as their own editorial guidelines and the BBC complaints commission unit which is similar to those of Ofcom. 

The codes guide us through ethical issues and help us with how far we can go to get a story. One of these guidelines is to respect the privacy of the bereaved. The test is to decide whether the story is in the public interest. Undercover investigation and secret filming can be justified by public interest based on prima-facie evidence. 

The purpose of the law is specific and limited. The codes provide a benchmark for behaviour and reassure the audiences that they can build trust. Broadcasting is more intrusive as it contains moving image, sounds and can imitate experiences more vividly than photos or text.

The Ofcom code March 2013: states harm and offence- section 2- swearing on TV and the 9pm watershed where talks about sex, nudity, violence and death have to be regulated these before 9pm due to children watching. Suicide and self harm must not be shown unless justified editorially. 

Section 3 states that crime should not be glamorised and the details should be kept hidden as they could enable commission of crime and people could copy it. Section 7 discusses 'fairness' and to avoid unfair treatment to others/ organisations. 

The Lee Rigby footage that was shown at the time he was killed with a man holding a knife and blood all over his hands was in the public interest. They were incredible pictures with Lee lying on the floor behind him dead. However they were shown on the 6pm news but the editors made sure that a warning was played before the images were shown to warn its audience of what was about to be broadcast. They did show less of this story at 6pm than they did later on in the night due to the watershed regulation.

WINOL last week did a similar story where they had CCTV footage of a man being punched in the face which lead him to fall over. This was shocking footage as the man died in hospital later on in the evening. All broadcasters should not show the moment of death however they can show leading up to it as in this case.

You should also always consider the effect the material has on its viewers/ listeners if they come across your story unawares such as turning on the TV half way through a package. 

Door stepping is filming or recording (section 8) of an interview or an attempt to get an interview with someone being filmed/recorded for broadcast purposes without warning. The former editor of The Sun was libel for the Hillsborough incident. Alex Thomson from channel 4 shows an extreme example of door stepping when trying to get Kelvin MacKenzie to speak. Its defence was that it was in the public interest and and that he is well known, you cannot do this to someone from the general public.

Impartiality is not required for newspapers hence the likes of The Sun or The Daily Mail who are free to talk about immigrants and can be partial in their writing. However it is a requirement for broadcasters to remain impartial to topics. This also means that packages should remain absent from bias or preconception and consider the 'axis for debate' when you work out the lines of the debate for both sides of the argument.

Guidance is regularly updated on the BBC editorial guidelines so you must always make sure that you are up to date with any changes they may add. They are editorially justified and always fit for the audience. 

There is also something called 'product prominence' which is where you should avoid undue prominence when attributes appear on chat shows and similar programmes to promote a new film, book or product. Proper editorial discussion is acceptable however shows like Graham Norton are really pushing the boundaries for this category as he is always holding up Cd's and book releases on his show.

The main differences between broadcasting and newspapers is that broadcasters need to remain impartial whereas newspapers do not. The sanctions of Ofcom include: a direction not to repeat the programme, corrections or findings must be broadcast, impose fines 5% of revenue which for ITV is a lot of money and they can revoke the broadcast license.

The ITV were fined 5.68 million for the Ant and Dec phone service scandal where they seriously mislead the public phoning in to a live programme when they were not doing so. The BBC Attorney General refuses to let the public see letters to minsters however the Court of Appeal 12th March that we should be allowed to know what the people say.

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.

Qualified Privilege

Qualified Privilege is based on the circumstances, place and setting of the information that you have received. There is a defence where if the facts are freely known in the public interest then they are useable. The 'Credit Suisse' story on the BBC was where they claimed that their reputation had been damaged. There was a defamatory statement used, however they were able to print this due to the source being named, 'US congregational committee' report. They were covered by qualified privilege through the act of the committee, government or legislature anywhere in the world being a source.

Your information should always be reported fairly, accurately and published without malice, and should be in the public interest. You are able to report what people say in meetings if they are held in public even if they are negative about something or someone. For example in a council meeting, you are not covered by qualified privilege if something you report is said after the meeting has ended. You can then rely on the principle of justification (prove it is true) but it can be harder to do this. When reporting under qualified privilege it is always best to make sure that your story is balanced (allow other sides response).

If something is said in a press conference or if you are handed a leaflet or something at a press conference it is protected under qualified privilege due to the new laws surrounding the act. If you report someone saying something defamatory and the person it is about wants you to report their response, contradiction or explanation you must do this or the privilege is lost. Absolute privilege covers courts and allows you to report on anything as long as it is fair, accurate and contemporaneous.

Part 1 talks about privilege without explanation/ contradiction and allows you to quote anything:

• Court
• Public meetings/ press conferences
• Government/authority published

Part 2 is where there is a requirement to publish explanation/ contradiction if asked to by the person defamed:

• Public meetings
• Local council/ committee
• Tribunals, Enquiry's
• General meetings or UK public companies
• Company documents

Authorities that provide day to day services to the public are not covered such as statements from the gas board, rail companies and the British Airport Authority. A press conference is a public meeting and can be reported on.

Pressers

Pressers are public meetings (Lords 2000) where written handouts are covered by the qualified privilege if they are given out. You should always consider the risks of live broadcasting and what may be accessible to the viewers. If there was a patients group campaigning against the NHS there would be risks to go there and broadcast live. This is because you will be unsure of what everyone will say and there will be a lot of 'wild allegations' around. When broadcasting things such as alleged wrongful convictions, misconduct by police or campaign groups you should be aware when broadcasting live as there is potential to be a lot of defamatory statements. 

There is no privilege outside main proceedings (setting) and reports must be, fair, accurate, without malice and in the public interest.

A recent story that shows this type of reporting is the murder of two women and the dogs that were shot dead. The man arrested had previous convictions for illegal dog breeding but the media at the time this information was found out were told not to broadcast this aspect due to contempt of court. This information was in the printed papers the next day however at the time the story broke out the lawyers for the likes of the BBC told them not to broadcast this information. The term 'lead and license' is when the claimant can sue you for libel but have given you consent to publishing something.

Inquests

These are usually conducted by coroners (court in Southampton). The legal procedure is to establish the cause of death if it appears 'violent or unnatural'. They do not rule on who may be responsible 'on the balance of evidence… verdict'. People give evidence on what has happened in the case. 

In exceptional cases: the deceased was in state detention, the death result of an action by the police, result of workplace accident, can have a jury if the death was more of a public concern such as someone dying in a police cell etc. The coroners rules state that they have to have a jury between 8 and 11 people. 

Types of verdict

Narrative verdict- increasingly common

Short form- natural cause 'accidental death' or drug dependant

Unlawful killing- or 'open verdict' is where they won't say the death was accidental

On the Daily Mail website there are a few inquest stories such as the 13 year old boy that committed suicide by hanging himself due to a a £420 bill on his parents credit card that he racked up via buying xbox games. The report cannot state much other than what it hears in the court. It talks about what the person did and why they did it and then just mentions a fact about another boy from the same school also committing suicide. This is because inquests make good stories however you cannot go into a lot of detail on the outcome as it is limited.

Media Rules

Inquest is a court proceeding protected by qualified privilege. It is also covered by contempt of court so there should be no publishing prejudicial material. The coroners can impose reporting restrictions such as if a child is giving evidence they may not want you to name them. You should also be aware of bereaved families in your coverage and not give all the details.

The coroners are also in charge of treasure and need to decide whether found objects of value are 'treasure' and if you are subject to a reward.

Magazine-Visual Aspects

When planning the images to go in a magazine, its important to have it the right size. Usually around 960 by 600 is a good size for it to be in the field of vision for its audience. You should always make sure that the human eyes in the image (if there are any), are looking towards where the eyesight of the reader would be as this draws them into the image. You should also ensure that the scope of the magazine is pleasing and comfortable. The programme 'firework' is a good way for you to design your magazine. 

Most spreads are based around the image but this does depend on the style of the magazine. You should still remember the rule of thirds when taking your image if possible. It is also effective to choose an image that has a lot of space in it so you can place the text in them. You should make sure that you edit the white balance and other image filters such as brightness/contrast. The image should be stretched so that it 'bleeds over the edges' of the canvas. You should make sure that you don't distort the image or make it change shape when enlarging it though.

You should always be aware of what the house style of a magazine is as it is important that you keep this. The font, typography, type face and weather the letters are capitalised are important things to consider as they differ between magazines. Other smaller details such as weather the magazine uses the word percentage or the sign % are things to look at. It is important to look at a companies style guide so that you are aware of the way their work is produced. This guide has been written by an art director or editor and costs the company a lot of money so it is best that you keep to the way the magazine is supposed to look.

The popular two fonts that you will see magazines use or have a similar version of are: 

It is evident that the font Serif is easier to read due to it creating a line for the eye to follow. The classical western script is serif which is a roman style font. San serif is a modern font like Wagner and is a classical 19th century font. Eric Gill is a famous artist and designs typography; his most famous design was the London underground symbol. 

Baskerville also designed the font 'baskerville' from the enlightenment ages. Classical music would link to this style of typography. 

The type of font dictates the type of signal you send out and sets the tone of the magazine. Serif is commonly used with upmarket magazines whereas san serif is more of a New York style of the industry.The visual quality of 'The Times' is all written in serif typeface all the way through it as it gives the paper a posh presentation. Whereas 'The Sun' is san serif typeface as it is a down to earth, modern newspaper. When the body text is small such as in the columns that feature in the newspaper, san serif is usually used. This makes it easier to read for the audience due to the line it creates. The Independent have their headline in san serif and their body text also in san serif as it is a younger, more designer style newspaper that likes to break the norm.

Each font has a 'casting off' that optimises its readability for the audiences at certain sizes. It is all to do with the eye, the bigger the type keystrokes the wider the column. It is usually eight words per line but this again depends on the style of the publication. it is important to understand that the letter 'n' has one keystroke whereas the letter 'm' counts for two. The name for this specific measurement is 'ens' referring to the keystrokes a word has. 

There are usually 10-12 words on a line, whereas the body of the content looks better if it is written like a novel in columns. This makes a visual difference and the legibility (ease of the reading) is increased. San serif is more legible when it is larger compared to serif whereas serif is easier to read when it is in a smaller font. Motorway signs are in san serif as it makes them easy to read as the letters are obvious. Big headlines are usually in a font like san serif as they are in big block headlines with the body text in baskerville font or times which is a serif style of font.

Bauhaus is a graphic design in modernism during the 1920s-1930s in Germany. It is true that everything today looks like it whereas back then it all consisted of more of a Gothic style. Form follows function is how the Bauhaus style worked, everything looked more like tower blocks and was pleasing to the eye. They also invented bright nylon football shirts with numbers on the back of them. 

Bauhaus typography was more in the jazz age and was a funky style. It was post modernism and optimised for eligibility as it was more artsy. The colour of the font can be changed but this depends on the style of the magazine. Some headlines use a drop shadow effect if the contrast with the background is not too strong. You should tighten the typography to reduce the spacing between the lines and the characters themselves. You should at the magazine itself as this will show you how tight their text style is. 

Mondrian is a fine art painter from Bauhaus (Dutch) who explores painting and layout. Some magazines use this layout to add their text and images to. The body of the text is usually in 24 point but it is mainly all about the pictures especially in fashion magazines. Usually the left hand side is full of text and all the rest of the page is taken up by an image. Writing has very low status in some magazines such as fashion however in confessional interviews it does contain a higher status as it tells the story of the images. Modular vs linear is the case in some magazines whereas in others words are important.

The New York review of books reviews every single book that has been published nearly from all over the world. The London Review of books is similar to this. On the left we have publications like The New Statesmen which is usually right in what it says but ca

n be quite dull whereas on the right is The Spectator which can be a lot more humorous in what it publishes. Closer magazine for example is very modular and allows you to move around it from once place to another via its little boxes of images that make no sense. Packaging and modular layout is more downmarket whereas magazines that are more linear appear to be upmarket. They are easier to read as they work from the left to the right which is how we are used to looking at things. 

The cover of the magazine is always the most important part as it is one of the main focus points for grasping the audience. When people interview you for jobs you should always concentrate on analysing the front cover of the publication you are being interviewed for. Remember to also include the barkers when looking at the detail of the cover as these are their main selling points of the magazine. Glamour magazine invented the idea of having random numbers all over their front page and throughout their magazine such as,165 ways to wear your hair, which doubled their viewers and is an important aspect to have in their barkers.