Glamorous Russian MP and husband killed in bomb blast 'while having sex in car'
This is a story from the Sun Newspaper, written by Felix Allen.
The story reports the death of Russian MP, Oskana Bobrovskaya and her husband Nikita Bovrovsky, after their car was blown up by a grenade set off by Nikita.
What drew me to this story was the sensationalistic style of the headline, especially the word 'glamorous' as the pre-modifier gives an image that her image is primary to her position -which it isn't. The more I read this story the more upset I became due to the dehumanisation of Oskana throughout it. Further reading it is revealed that the pair were having marital difficulties as Nikita was out of work and suspected Oskana of having an affair, and that she was forced into having sex with her partner through fear of him having a grenade. The tone of the headline suggests that the MP was just being a bit promiscuous, which is then highlighted with the word 'glamorous' which is irrelevant to the story.
The fact that the story comes from Russia gives some contextual detail as the fact that Nikita relied on Oskana to bring in the money would be frowned upon as Russia is stereotypically a patriarchy society, so his rage is more understood - but still not acceptable in any way.
The couple left an orphaned daughter which was also added as secondary information after the misleading title of them having a sex in the car.
Felix Allen often writes about political stories, having written stories about Russia previously, for example a story about Putin saying
'Putin accuses US of leaking flight plan of jet drowned by Turkey'
However this is contrasted with the aforementioned title but shows no influence to sensationalise the story, which raises the question of why Oskana's death is shown in such a dehumanised way.
Mastermind killed in police raids, the driver still on the run, the 'cowgirl' who was not devout enough and the man who blew himself up: What happened to the 'devil' and his evil disciples?
The 'Mastermind' of the Paris attacks
This is a lead up story following the Paris attacks last week found in the Daily Mail and written Paul Cahalan In Brussels and Hannah Flint For The Mail On Sunday.
I was intrigued by this headline because of the semantic field of religion with use of words such as the devil and disciples. I thought that this was peculiar as it now makes religion a prominent theme or thought throughout the text and because all of the suspected follow their interpretation of Islam, it creates a certain prejudice around others of that faith as they are now linked with these Christianity words of hatred-even though terrorism has no religion.
The article goes on to list all of the participants of the attack with their picture and how they were caught/how they died, and also some backstories into how they became the way they were. One section I found interesting was a line about the 'Mastermind' Abdekhamid Abaaoud about when he went to his private school in Paris.
'But this weekend, classmates revealed he was a bully who once stole a Nintendo Game Boy from the school’s lost-and-found and taunted other pupils.'
This implies to the audience that Abaaoud was born evil and almost suggests his path was inevitable because he was mean as a child and 'no one stopped him'. I think this additional information adds very little to the article as, the audience already know what a horrible human being this man was, so I personally don't see why we need the justification of knowing he was naughty as a child. I understand it takes a certain type of person to be brainwashed into the ideals these men, and woman, were but something as trivial as stealing a Nintendo seems irrelevant.
My first advert is the M&S advert 'The Art of Christmas'
The title of 'The Art of Christmas' gives the audience the idea that with Christmas there is a need for everything to be perfect and beautiful - like an art form. This theme is continued in the opening shots with the Christmas trees and the dancers, as everything is performed in a stylised way. Furthermore the beginning shows a child holding one of the artistic baubles and then running towards the tree, this is supposed to inspire the childlike excitement M&S want its customers to have in their stores.
The use of sound is effect also as to begin with the music is very soft and seems to be recreating a scene from an old fashioned Christmas movie - family decorating the tree together etc. Then there is use of diagetic sound with the star bursting, which signals the break into the more fast tempo music (which is an example of non-diagetic sound). The juxdaposition from the calm Christmas scene to the upbeat music gives the message to the audience that M&S are up to date and 'trendy' and the burst of the star could symbolise M&S breaking out of their old stereotype of a boring, traditional store. This is again highlighted with the bright colours and stage lighting against the black background which shows the contrast from what they used to be, to where they are currently.
The purpose of the advert is to excite the audience with the fast music and bright colours to keep them engaged, whilst showcasing their range of products. This way the audience are able to see glimpse of what M&S has to offer but in a fun entertaining way.
Another advert would be the TK MAXX advert 'Love Your Neighbour'
The non-diagetic use of voiceover in this advert is effective, the tone is very informal and uses direct address to relax the audience into what they are listening to but also because it is played over all of the characters it gives the message that they could be talking about anyone- that 'everyone has that one neighbour who...'. This broadens the range of audience that the advert is directed at as each individual will relate a similar story to the one on screen.
The use of changing camera angles is also effective because in many cases it is taken to from the perspective of the audience. For example at 0.15 we see a distancing shot of 'Sue and Pete' holding open their gate. This is shown to recreate the audience or the neighbour walking away from the couple. This perspective of camera angle again allows the audience to personalise each sub-story and therefore engage more with the advert.
Another aspect which is effective is that throughout the advert their is no specific 'gifts' shown they are all wrapped. This is to not only add mystery but also to emphasise the range of gifts TK MAXX has to offer, as people have a range of neighbours TK MAXX is promising that they will have a gift for everyone.
Finally, Sainsbury's 'Mogs Christmas Catastrophe'
Sainsbury's have taken the famous children's story of Mog the Cat for their Christmas advert. In contrast to M&S's idea of a perfect Christmas, Sainsbury's have tried to capture the chaos which more realistically comes with Christmas. By using this character also, the reader is intrigued as they remember the character from their childhood and with a sense of nostalgia the audience is more inclined to empathise with the characters- who they may feel they already know.
By following the narrative of a Christmas story the reader is automatically engaged because they become curious to how the story is going to end. It also emphasises Sainsbury's family element as it begins with the introduction of each member of the family each dreaming about something stereotypical - as they are not the main characters they are not thought about in much depth.
Before the introduction of Mog there is a shot of the kitchen, undisturbed, as Mog is sleeping. This is to show contrast and to emphasise the change/chaos created after Mog's accident. As Mog begins to explore the kitchen, more chaos starts to unfold. This is not only for comedic effect - to keep the audience interested and more likely to share the advert- but to recreate in an exaggerated way all of the problems that could and sometimes do go wrong on a stressful Christmas morning.
I personally really like this advert I like its message of coming together at Christmas time, and also the inclusion of Mog is nostalgic to me I used to read her books when I was a child. I think the idea of chaos at Christmas time is fat more realistic that M&S's approach, and as Sainsbury's is a more affordable brand, their audience would be 'everyday families' so I think this advert was successful.
'Brit survivor lay on top of girlfriend at Bataclan gig to save her life'
This is the tragic story following the recent shootings at a gig in Paris on Friday night.
Michael O'Connor lay for hours on top his girlfriend, pretending to be dead in order to remain undetected by the attackers.
The story goes on to quote Michael saying 'It was really strange because people looked terribly wounded and they were obviously conscious but they weren’t crying out. They were trying to stay quiet so that they didn’t attract more gunfire
“I thought I was going to die. At one point it sounds like they were firing down from the balcony into the main area where everybody was lying"
The purpose of this story is to: 1, inspire national pride, because the 'hero' of this story is British, its put across that despite the dire times there is still hope and it was achieved by none other that a British person, but also; 2, to remind people that it could just as easily them and can just as easily happen in Britain.
Although the writer, Fred Nathan, has romanticised it a little by including the quote from Michael saying ' He told his girlfriend “I love you”’ as he prepared to die, but she answered defiantly: “We will not die in here.” I like how this story is predominately the account from the survivor. As a reader this makes me believe it more. Furthermore I like how Nathan has included O'Connor's remark about the attackers saying 'they don’t represent anything, they’re not Muslims, they’re just animals' I think this is important because after an incidence like this the media- and the world- are now going to look for a scapegoat to blame all of this violence on, and the most likely it will fall to is Muslim- despite the fact that there are 1.7 billion Muslims in the world so if Islam did promote this cruel acts against humanity, the rest of the world would most definitely be dead.
Many other newspapers such as the Daily Mail have chosen to headline with a recent image of what the scene looked like inside of the theatre, although that image is heartbreakingly real, and I appreciate that it has not be censored from the public so we can all understand the extent the attack reached, I did not chose to report on that story as it seemed to sensationalise the event, which I believe does not show the respect the victims of the attack deserve.
This story was from the Daily Mail and written by Gerard Couzens.
The event was part of a Spanish TV show when Brenda Perez, age 21 spent 7 hours in hair and makeup to change herself into 'Dani' Perez and took part in an all male football match.
'Dani' Perez
Essentially, Brenda ran circles around the male athletes, and the rival team's manager commented to his assistant saying 'Keep watch on number eight’ and 'He touches the ball well doesn’t he.'
The purpose of this story is to try and raise the awareness about Women's professional football as it is often overlooked. By showing the talent of the female athletes on a popular TV, and in a comical way it broadens the audience of the piece. In comparison, for example if there was a serious documentary about women's football it would not get the exposure it needed to have an impact.
I personally think that the message of this story comes across as a bit of a joke. Although the intentions of the story are to show how skilled women footballers are to highlight the lack of credit and support they get, in a way I feel like it's a bit degrading to the woman, as the men are tricked into playing with the woman as if she is not worthy almost? I do like that the story is trying to push the equality of the sport but I think maybe it could have been dealt with in a more thought through manner.
This advert is for a press company that produces men's magazines in Belgium in 2007, and the tag line for the advert is
'If men are your target make sure you don't miss them'
This ad is controversial because it is making light of a serious event in American history which not only changed the way the world looked at security, and politics but also resulted in the end of a man's life. It also is the example of the objectification and de-humanisation of women in the media, giving the impression that if Jackie Kennedy had died it would be seen as a joke.
I think this advert is supposed to controversial in order for people to remember it and subsequently remember the companies name - 'all publicity is good publicity'- but essentially is de-humanising and offensive. Furthermore, this ad also cuts out America as a huge market for their service as most Americans would be appalled to see tragic events in their history being made fun of.
The dictionary definition of censorship is 'deleting parts of publications or correspondence or theatrical performances' and essentially means when content or a certain subject is removed or not included in order to prevent offence or to shape a certain view. A perfect example of censorship is one television when bad language is replaced with a 'beeping' noise, on shows when broadcast before 9pm or the watershed.
Censorship has a massive influence on how people think and shapes the ideals of society. This can be a positive thing but also has many negative correlations.
Children's television is a good example of how censorship can cause controversy. In programmes aimed at children there is violence or death is kept to a minimum as during the stages of development, if the child becomes desensitised to the violence, then as they get older they will try to mimic it or think that that sort of behaviour is acceptable. In this instance censorship is important as it prevents children's susceptible minds into accepting immoral behaviours.
In contrast sometimes the media can use censorship in a negative way which can alienate certain groups of people. Again with children's television, for many years it was unlikely to see anyone who had a disability, or was transgender, or was any example against was society would deem as 'normal'. This was because parents believed that children's exposure to all these different people would scare them when in reality constant exposure would make the child more accepting of other types of people.
Cerrie Burnell
A perfect example of this would be Cerrie Burnell, she was born with a right arm that only goes down to the elbow and sparked controversy as she was made a presenter on Cbeebies. Parents complained that having someone on television with one arm 'would' scare their children and sparked up 'difficult conversations' about her disability. There were no real reports of children being scared by Miss Burnell it was only the shock by society that someone different was on screen.
I think exposure of disability, whilst also other areas of prejudice such as homosexuality and being transgender to children from a young age is important, not only so that children grow up to be more accepting - as these people will just be normal people to them- but also if a child does have a disability or does feel like they might be homosexual or transgender then they will grow up knowing that there is a word for it and that the world is full of people like them and will stop children growing up feeling confused and alienated.
Film is a good example of censorship, as with each film comes a rating from the British Board of Film Classification. Without the BBFC everyone would be able to watch whatever they wanted. This organisation then has the power to influence the type of films seen by each age group, and in turn what is deemed suitable for that age group. People feel more trusting towards these organisations as they believe they are put in place for their protection. I personally think that there should be warnings on films with violent content or strong language but people should be able to make that decision themselves if they want to watch it and if they do, its at their own risk.
The government and the large media corporations are the source of censorship. As these control the different mediums of media, they can therefore control their image to the public. An example of this would be the recent rave incident in Lambeth, South London. This was the story that when an illegal rave was reported to the police with over 5,000 attendees, the police initially responded with just 2 officers, 3 hours later 6 more officers came to the scene, then when the 'ravers' became out of control further police officers were called. This was interesting as despite the event happening on Saturday 31st October, the full story didn't reach the BBC news show until Monday 2nd October. This is because after a few days the story has lost its sensationalism, and therefore makes less of an impact in the media. This story was postponed because it shows the state in a negative light.
China and places such as North Korea are examples of governments which heavily the content the people of their country has access to. This includes the news, so the government is never criticised
and also certain social media platforms such as YouTube are banned so that the public are limited to their exposure of other countries governments, in order to keep the people under control.
As briefly aforementioned, another aspect of the media which is censored is the news. In the same idea that censorship can be used to prevent negative imagery, the news can be an example of when the content is censored to put a certain message across. Some evidence of this would be news stories about the war in Afghanistan about the soldiers who were killed in battle. The perspective of these stories are very biased. Although the death of British soldiers is very tragic, the news always seems to miss out the death and destruction that Britain caused from fighting in these countries, and the many instances of rape and abuse that are again caused by soldiers who are fighting on 'our side'- however because these stories reflect badly on Britain and the government so they are subsequently censored out of the news we see and heard.
I personally believe that the news has the duty of being neutral and should deliver stories that are true on both sides, even if that means critiquing the government as otherwise it lures the public into a false sense of security and also a sense of power that everything in our country is fine when in reality there are most likely issues happening that effect the public negatively but are allowed to continue as people aren't told they are happening.
To conclude, censorship happens every day in every aspect of media that we use in our daily lives and had it's positive and negative aspects, as in some areas it is used for the public's benefit but in others it is used as a tool of control. I think that as technology increases, so will censorship. The more distant the public becomes from the facts and reality of national and global affairs, the more power the state gets- which could be dangerous.
"Gifted" teenager found hanged after she was suspended from prestigious grammar school"
Francesca Candita-Simpkins
This article is from the Daily Mirror, written by Hannah Stubbs.
This is a story about a thirteen year old girl, who committed suicide after being suspended from her prestigious grammar school. By showing a picture of Francesca as a young child the writer is trying to provoke empathy towards the girl, as the photo shows her as a child which is a representation of dependency and vulnerability.
Francesca was shortly suspended for stealing a craft knife from her school, Newstead Wood in Orpington. She stole the knife to become 'Blood Sisters' with one of her friends. Her school then did not follow the correct procedure in excluding Francesca. It was known to the school that Francesca has been having suicidal thoughts since she was 6 years old, and had already attempted an overdose 6 months earlier.
"The teacher suggested to Mr Simpkins that if Francesca was to be suspended it would not be until the end of the week of exams she was about to complete.
But the headteacher, who did not meet with Francesca or her parents, decided that she should immediately be excluded and did not follow the behaviour and exclusions policies, the inquest heard"
I think the purpose of this story is to raise awareness about the lack of knowledge about mental health in teenagers, whilst also claiming that the school is largely responsible for her death. Mental health in the UK, and across is rarely recognised as the huge problem it is. This is highlighted when Francesca's father, Mr Simpkins, is quoted saying "There was no advice given on how to look after her or how to manage her. At the time I assumed that none was required."
I agree to some extent that the school was irresponsible in letting Francesca be suspended when they knew she was having troubles with her mental health and with her parents. However I also think that her parents were to blame as it seems that Francesca was not given the support she needed and judging by the comments given by her father, her parents seemed reluctant to show her any special attention.
