Journalists for Human Rights

Whilst Researching for a presentation i’m due to give on Human Rights, i came across this:

http://www.witness.org/

Witness appears to be an organization that campaigns for Human Rights through the medium of using New Media Technology, therefore raises a question: If the ordniary public is encouraged so much to pick up a camera, in the way of ‘citizen journalism’ then where does the idea of a journalist end? And if this cannot be defined, then how can a watchdog such as the PCC ‘control’ people who are not even journalists. In this way, is the organization a bit of a catch 22? How can you have Human Rights and privacy if the average Joe Public is filming your every move?

New Journalism

The trouble with new journalism, in my opinion, is that it goes against everything that we have learnt so far as to how to be a journalist. New journalism is long, incredibly self-indulgent and takes the reader on a long and winding novelistic journey. However, i have a lot of admiration for new journalists, as it takes a huge amount of effort and dedication to achieve successfully.

When we studied ‘In Cold Blood’ in Writing for the World, it was deemed a non-fiction novel. The trouble with that particular book though, was based on how much of the journalism we could actually trust as fact, because it all came from one primary source, Truman Capote.

 I’m too tired now to keep warbling on about this, more later when i can be chuffed!

Subject Matter of Lecture Week 1

One of the things that struck me most about the lecture today is that i didn’t realise just how much journalists have to risk in their job. It doesn’t seem so much 9-5 as a lifelong commitment, think entering into the mob. Veronica Guerin, War journalists, these people are giving their careers so much of their lives. I thoroughly enjoyed the parts on Tom Wolfe and Truman Capote concerning New Journalism, as this is a topic we have just recently covered in our creative writing module ‘writing and the world’. Also, in the seminar i thought that bringing up ‘gonzo’ journalism was a very good move as i had no real idea what this was, did anyone else?

About me

My name is Sian Gibson. I am a 19 year old, second year journalism student studying at the University of Winchester. I’m originally from Oxfordshire and love my hometown Bicester. I studied English, Drama and Media Studies at A-Level and gained 3B’s.

 To get the picture of me in a few sentences, i love a good few things in life: My friends, My family, Bill Bryson books, Houmous, New shoes, Ross Noble, The Drifters, Music Festivals and Playing sports. I love to laugh and have fun but against popular belief, i don’t go out drinking all that much!

Hello world!

First Things First, absolutely terrible with technology, so lets give this whole blogging thing a bash and try to ignore the fact that i feel a bit like a moron writing it!