Disaster In Chile

Following the massive earthquake that struck Chile on saturday, the country's president Michelle Bachelet has announced further emergency plans to help the country get back to normal.

The country was struck by an 8.8 magnitude quake, one of the most powerful earthquakes ever recorded and has killed over 700 people with the death toll expected to rise as research efforts are stepped up over the next few days.

Troops are being deployed to help with rescue efforts through the country and also to prevent looting as some civilians desperately seek food and water.

A curfew is in force in some areas and some basic supplies are to be distributed as rescuers attempt to reach worst-hit areas.

The country has been in a state of shock and panic, with one US risk assessor, Eqecat, estimating the cost of the damage at between $15bn and $30bn (£9.8bn-£19.6bn) or 10-20% of gross domestic product.

Responsibility for the reconstruction of the country will soon pass to President-elect Sebastian Pinera, who takes office in two weeks, and what a job he has, personally i wish him the best and hope that the country can get back to normality as soon as possible and offer my condolences to the family of the dead, and wish speedy recoveries to those who were injured but lucky enough to survive this horrific disaster.

Microsoft Forced To Offer Alternate Browsers

People logging on to the internet by the Microsoft owned program Internet Explorer, which is the standard default browser for all Windows machines, will be greeted by a different home-page today.

Windows users will be offered the choice of downloading other browsers as part of a deal that Microsoft has struck with the European Commission.

This compromise by Microsoft resolves a long-running case in which the software giant had been accused of abusing its market power and position to belittle others.

Customers using the Internet Explorer browser will be greeted by a pop-up window which will prompt the person to choose and install one of 12 different browsers or let them stick with Microsoft's Internet Explorer.

Although the update has been prepared for Windows XP, Vista and the new operating system Windows 7, not all Windows users will see it.

The alternate browser choice window will not pop up in front of those who already run a different default browser on their PC's, such as Firefox, Safari or Chrome.

This pop up windows is seen as a move in the market by Microsoft's competitors following the recent trouble Microsoft had with safety issues surrounding the security of your computer and its files whilst using the Internet Explorer browser.

WINOL WEEK 1 Debriefing

Clearly not our strongest bulletin by a long shot, but there were some positives to take from it but also a lot of things that we need to work on.

Some of the information provided was inaccuate and we as a team must make sure that all the news we report is 100% fact so not to get into any trouble.

Technically the majority of the sound levels were off cue and out of sync, and there were some basic errors made in filming i.e not enough general views and lots of boom mic's in shot.

On a personal note , i enjoyed filming the football again and doing the voice over ,but agreed with Chris's comments about it being slightly bland and will work on my voiceovers in the coming bulletins.

We know we can do better, and we will.

Former Sikh Judge Thinks Kirpan's Should Be Allowed.....

Sir Mota Singh QC, a former high court judge has started a furious debate this morning regarding his comments on the banning of "Kirpan's" and other religious Muslim artefacts. For those who don't know a Kirpan happens to be a ceremonial sword or dagger that must be worn by all baptised sikhs.

"Not allowing someone who is baptised to wear a Kirpan is not right," Sir Mota told BBC Asian Network. Mota is deeply religious but surely common sense must prevail here, we cannot have people being allowed to walk around carrying knifes, London has a problem with knives already. This is in no way to suggest that Muslims carrying these religious artefact's would intend to use them in an unsavory way however, it is clear to everyone that arming young teenagers with knives is hardly a sensible idea.

Sir Mota said "It's a little more than ceremonial. It's a requirement of the religion." when asked about the possibility of substituting a smaller knife in place of the traditional Kirpan. The judge however conceded that it may have to be an option for debate between school and Sikh authorities.

Personally, i think its a very sensitive issue here, but with all due to respect to the Muslims and their religion, this our country, England, and whilst we respect and welcome their religions and cultural diversity, they must respect and obey our laws if they wish to live here and thus carrying knives no matter how important to their religion cannot and should not be allowed.

Orwellian Language Blog

Advertising - accurate, fast and fair - or just simply misleading? It has the benefit of being able to express views and exploit an audiences mind.

Advertising has the capability of persuading people into entering into commercial transactions and thus "false advertising" (i.e the use of false or misleading statements) is strictly forbidden and companies are required to have "truth in labelling" (the customers have the right to know exactly what they are buying).

For example in Australia, (and most European countries) there is a very broad provision in the Trade Practices Act that prohibits conduct by a corporation that is misleading or deceptive, or would be likely to mislead or deceive you.

It makes no difference whether the business intended to mislead or deceive you—it is how the conduct of the business affected your thoughts and beliefs that matters.

If the overall impression left by an advertisement, promotion, quotation, statement or other representation made by a business creates a misleading impression in your mind—such as to the price, value or the quality of any goods and services—then the conduct is likely to breach the law.

George Orwell’s creation of "Newspeak" in his the novel 1984 shows how the reduction of words can change the meaning of them and the following adverts are good examples:






For example, Gillette's slogans such as: "the best a man can get" and "the worlds most comfortable shave" are extremely misleading because some men may prefer Wilkinson Sword blades and find them more comfortable. The advert suggests that there is nothing better a man can have to shave his face which is clearly misleading and not the 100% truth. The product itself is aimed at a mass audience but the adverts slogan brackets all men into the same category. The use of the 3 professional athletes is another Orewellian technique showing that by bringing famous personnel together and the mass market in order to sell a product.

When the iPhone was first released, one of Apple's adverts was banned because of complaints over the adverts fale advertising. The advert showed the phone loading webpages very quickly and containing "flash and java" images , which at the time the iPhone was actually incapable of producing.

Watch the advert here :

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/aug/27/apple.apple

Perhaps more recently and maybe more in the public eye, there was the controversy surrounding an anti ageing advert, where Twiggy had infact been airbrushed, thus misleading the target audience (presumably women, perhaps the odd vain man..!) into thinking the cream would have the amazing effects and results shown on Twiggy's perfect wrinkle free face.

Read about it here : http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/advertising/airbrushed-twiggy-advert-ruled-misleading-by-watchdog-1841973.html

Personally i believe there are certain boundaries in advertising, airbrushing Twiggy was unacceptable and misleading, however, there also comes a point where the audience must not be so gullible as to believe everything they see., however, the truth of labelling law is there for good reason, in order to protect the average member of the public and make sure transactions occur on fair ground for both parties.

Other adverts that caught my eye when surfing the net were examples such as the food colourings in Hula Hoops and the "100%" beef burgers in McDonalds, the list could go on forever.

George Orwell's theory of "Newspeak" in 1984 is simply fascinating and gripping because it ties in with the foundations of modern advertisements. In the world we live in today, the advertisement industry's manipulation of language and misleading slogans for their brands seems to be socially acceptable and we all fall for it , so my advice to you all , read the small print!

The 70 Nation Summit

So today Gordon Brown has marked mid 2011 as the deadline for "turning the tide" in Afghanistan. Since invading the country in 2001 little if any progress has been truly made and Osama Bin Laden's whereabouts are still unknown and day by day the death toll rises as Al Quaeda recruit militants and suicide bombers with their false preaching. Why should we have to wait until 2011, there is such anger felt and spread through the media when one of our soldiers dies out there, this may sound harsh or cynical, but if we care so much, why don't we do soemthing about it. We do not negotiate with terrorist nor will they with us, its a dog eat dog world, and sitting on our laurels hoping for peace to miraculously occurr is not the answer, action must be taken, and it must happen now...

PS3 Finally Hacked By iPhone Hacker

News has broken this evening that the teenager George Hotz, who was the first person to crack the software on the Apple iPhone has managed to hack the Playstation 3 security software.

The process involves using hardware and software, allowing users to play pirated or copied games on their consoles and Hotz has promised he will make the hacking guide available on the internet as soon as he has perfected it.

The news was met with concern by Sony officials, and it will be interesting to see what happens when Hotz publishes his hacking guide on the net.

Osama to Obama - Or is it a hoax?

A newly released audio tape said to be the voice of Osama Bin Laden, leader of the terrorist group Al Quaeda was aired on Al Jazeera today stating that the US will never live in peace until there is "peace in Palestine".

The audio tape also claims that Al Quaeda were behind the christmas day attempted terrorist act carried out by Nigerian, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who has been charged with attempting to blow up the Delta Airline's plane as it approached Detroit from Amsterdam.

The tape comes in the same week that the UK has lifted its terror level threat to "severe" meaning an attack is possibly imminent and comes as an unpleasant reminder of the world in which we live.

We can find just about anything in this world with the technology we have, but for the best part of 10 years now we have not found Osama Bin Laden (if he is still alive), and as long as he remains alive, terrorists will thrive off of his radical views and propaganda.

I am intrigued to know the authenticity of the tape and will be keeping my eyes glued to all the news sites this week, as i feel the war in Afghanistan and the hunt for Bin Laden is extremely important and his capture and inevitable death are imperative to the war on terrorism.

Haiti Disaster

Following an earthquake in Haiti, hundreds possibly thousands of people are feared dead and the country is in a complete crisis.

The earthquake struck south of Port-au-Prince, and hit 7.0-magnitude on the scale, Haiti's worst for over two centuries.

President Preval told the Miami Herald newspaper in the US he feared thousands of his people had died.

He described the epidemic as "unimaginable", and went on to say: "Parliament has collapsed. The tax office has collapsed. Schools have collapsed. Hospitals have collapsed.

"There are a lot of schools that have a lot of dead people in them."

The US and UK are readying aid , and the first of which is expected to reach the country later on today.

This tragedy was unavoidable and shows us that we undervalue our luck to live in such a normally safe country where the worst we get is cold temperature and a few inches of snow once a year!!

Rupert Hamer - RIP

Saturday was a dark day, for all of those in the journalism industry. Rupert Hamer, the Sunday Mirror's Defence correspondent, was killed by a roadside bomb raising the death toll of servicemen and women to 246 since 2001. However, this death, was the first of a British journalist and has caused a stir within the UK.

Hamer was on his 5th visit to Afghanistan, when the car he was travelling in was blown to pieces by a roadside bomb also injuring Phil Coburing (the Mirror's photographer) and several others.

In a way i felt personally

effected by this death, because as a journalism student, i can appreciate the work that Rupert Hamer was doing in Afghanistan and admire his shear bravery and devotion to his job.

As some of his family members said, "Rupert died doing something he loved", this brought a smile to my face and was a fitting tribute to a truly great servant to his job and to his love of journalism.

The death of Hamer goes along way to reminding everyone, that although the main danger lies with the soldiers fighting the "war", Afghanistan is a dangerous place and shouldn't be taken lightly, the job journalists do to report events out there is challenging and life threatening.

So maybe next time the news is on, we should all pay more attention and appreciate the reporting they do, as a journalist in practice, i know i will......