Christian Union helps reduce Lansdowne’s alcohol-related crime

Anti-social behaviour leads Lansdowne’s crime rate, as Christian Union volunteers organise events to reduce drunk and disorderly behaviour. According to official police statistics, a total of 471 anti-social behaviour cases were reported in Lansdowne over December last year. The Christian Union run a number of events in a bid to lower the amount of alcohol-related crimes in the area.

Michael French, a nightclub chaplain, co-ordinates volunteers every Saturday night to tend to drunk and vulnerable people. French works with a group of recovering addicts to create the monthly Late Night Cafe, an event which encourages the view that “substances don’t make a good night out but people and music do”. The event seeks to direct people towards a different kind of night out and indirectly cut anti-social behaviour crime rates.

Lansdowne safezone in daylight

Domestic situations, violence and vandalism are among the common offences CU volunteers find scouting the streets.

The efforts of the CU have not gone unnoticed; Lansdowne locals question the extent to which the events will lessen crime. Hannah, a local florist, does not have high hopes for the alcohol-free club: “An alcohol-free club

won’t help crime in the area, it should be available to those under 18; we need to get them off the streets as well to reduce the crime in the area.” She identifies the job centre, halls of residence and drop-in pharmacies as hotspots attracting trouble.

Non-drinker Cedric, a Subway employee, would consider visiting the club and enjoy not being surrounded by herds of drunks. Working nights, he often sees the alcohol fuelled behaviour and is sometimes the victim of their abuse. “We’ve had to resort to having security in the building at night when fights and abuse are most likely to take place” he says.

Enthusiastic CU students manage a fortnightly cafe night called Tea and Toast and there are talks of an alcohol-free night to feature in Freshers week. The events are run and hosted by the CU in order to change attitudes towards heavy binge drinking.

Media law: for you bloggers

 

Get to grips with the basics

Media law, also known as Entertainment law, is a subject that  every aspiring journalist should be clued-up about. Although, you may not realise journalists face some pretty heavy penalties for a slip on the keyboard. Media ethics deal with the likes of television broadcasting, film, music, publishing, advertising, internet and new media. I am particularly interested in rules I will have to abide by, in regards to blogging. Many bloggers are unaware that they need to comply with any kind of regulations, but we aren’t immune from the punishments of breaking media laws. Fact is, publishing a blog exposes the blogger to legal risk, as anyone can file a lawsuit regardless of merit.

• Defamation is defined as a false remark or statement that adversely affects the character or reputation of another. Libel and Slander are the forms in which defamation can take place. Libel involve defamation through publishing. Whereas, Slander is spoken defamation of character. Reporters and bloggers cannot publish anything they want, rumour, inuendo and gossip should generally be avoided. The dangers of crossing the line could lead to injuring ones reputation and exposing them to disgrace, shame or hatred.

• Contempt of court; the 1981 act ensures that journalists do not publish any details of an ongoing court case that may reflect any bias. The individual charged allows only have certain information publicised about them, in order to protect them until they have faced a fair trial.

• Privacy and human rights goes hand-in-hand with contempt of court, in the sense that privacy must be respected. There may often be sensitive stories within the media, that members involved (for example, family or close friends) would not like to be in the media spotlight. Therefore, the privacy law protects the publics right to privacy. In regards to children under the age of 18, their details must be protected unless they have permission from a parent or guardian.

• Intellectual property rights in accordance with journalism refer mostly to copyrighting. An article you may write can be replicated or an idea if copyright laws are not acquired. Freelance journalists often suffer, because they may pitch an idea to a magazine and incorporate it without your commission. Dan Roberts had this issue, however found out from the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) governor James Thompson  that “It’s only when the work is in writing that copyright automatically protects it.” There are ways around it as Thompson recommends.

Do not, by any means be intimidated by these laws. Remember we live in the day of freedom of speech, so just skim over these as an act of caution and get blogging!

Christchurch death toll at 163

Uninvited and unanticipated, the 6.3 magnitude earthquake that hit Christchurch has left the city in ruins. At peak hour, around lunchtime is when the quake hit, whilst people were going about their daily lives. With sources reporting the death toll primarily at 65, it has now risen to 163 with crews still searching for survivors. Police officials are estimating the toll to reach 220 when all of the bodies have been recovered.

One of the many victims

Lingering hope for survivors lies beneath the Christchurch Cathedral where 22 people are believed to be trapped in the debris. Although Civil Defence boss John Hamilton has expressed little hope for any remaining survivors, as do the rescue team experts.

There are still no plans as yet to begin handling the buildings with heavy machinery, each building will be examined as if there are bodies buried underneath. Sadly, the time will approach when the hope of remaining survivors will fade. As well as materials being transported to Christchurch our prayers should be with them too, in such terrible circumstances. It has been said that it may take up to a decade to restore the city in its demolished state.

Historic landmarks have been deemed unsafe for entry with a red warning label reappearing throughout the city. Also millions of homes destroyed. Without such essentials like toilets and showers rescue teams are doing as much as they can to install portable facilities around the necessary areas.

My heart goes out to all those who have suffered in the Christchurch earthquake.

 

Ruined buildings

‘Bieber fever’ unnecessary hype

I doubt I am the only Bieber hater, but the 12 year-old, sorry, 16-year-old ‘pop-star’ has caused absolute mayhem with herds of tweens following the release of his movie Never Say Never. The film is needlessly shot in 3D, which attempts to pursue the same successions as other movies that have thrived on the 3D trend. It features him in all his glory, showing footage of his 2010 tour. Reviewers (of course I refuse to ever see the film myself) who are not crazy about the singer have taken more of a disliking to him. This all leads to the same question…what is with the hype?

Infamous Bieber pose at the London film premiere

This week Bieber has graced the UK with his presence to promote the new release and had thousands of girls screaming and crying to meet him. In the short space of 18 months, I have to hand it to the kid, he has shot to success. Boasting a staggering 21 million friends on Facebook, 7.3 million followers on Twitter, the most watched videos on YouTube and his name being one of the most searched for on Google he has not done bad at all. Fans of the star even call themselves ‘Bieblers’ and they seem to love the fact that he is all over social media.

The power of social media has helped Bieber’s extended 15 minutes of fame, but it won’t be long until he is surpassed by a younger and much more talented kid on the scene. Jaden and Willow Smith, although with a little help from their legendary father, have already covered acting, singing, songwriting, rapping and dancing collectively at the ages of 12 and 10. Other young talents, such as 10-year-old Heather Russell have been spotted on YouTube and taken on by the Cowell management. Russell begun performing at the age of eight, listing renown names Prince and Queen as her influences. The YouTube clip of her song ‘Every Step of the Way’ attracted more than 100,000 views and received recognition from celebrity couple Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore who have constantly tweeted about her.

Now this is talent worth the hype. Will Heather Russell be the new deserving contender for Bieber?

Does semesterisation mean better time-management?

Universities are beginning to introduce semesterisation to some courses, in order to help students manage their time more effectively. Semesterisation, in its simplest form, is the organisation of one unit being condensed into one term.

Being a final year student myself, I have experienced semesterisation first hand, in one of my units. At first, I found it quite daunting because it was within the first term and the work load was already starting to get intense. In hindsight, I have realised that it was beneficial to me to have one of my units out of the way, as there is a lot else to concentrate on. With the extensive pressure of a dissertation and other demanding units to follow, another to deal with may have just been disastrous. I am certainly one of the guilty students that falls at the hurdle of good time-management, so semesterisation has been beneficial to me personally. but enough about me, I went out and about around the University too see what others thought.

First of all, I approached some of my fellow Communication and Media students and asked them if they thought semesterisation worked for them or not. Lucy Tyler, had some interesting points when I spoke to her : “I think at the time I didn’t really get the point. In uni all hours trying to meet the deadlines and not having time to think about the dissertation waiting for me, but then recently I’ve had deadlines haunting me left, right and centre. So, I have appreciated having the weight of one unit off my mind”. I agree with Lucy on this particular case, but to get a more balanced opinion I asked students on other courses to see if they felt the same way.

Deadlines, deadlines

When proposing to talk to some students about the subject, I found that many people didn’t have a clue what it was. However, when semesterisation was explained I received some simultaneous nods which gave me hope. Dionne Barr, a final year Advertising and Marketing student says she has recognised semesterisation creeping into her course year-by-year. In her first year, Dionne felt that her course eased her into the workload. But the following year saw things heating-up, meaning stress levels rising. “Obviously it goes without saying that each year in your university career you expect it to get harder and strained, but this year has been the most tense so far!”. When I made an enquiry to Dionne about how much semesterisation has affected her time, she also agreed that she is glad to have a couple of the units behind her, although it meant some very busy weeks at times. However, it by no means she will be relaxing anytime soon with her dissertation to think about.

All in all, I agree with the girls that semesterisation is an effective way to help students manage their work and time accordingly. At the end of the year is where it counts, especially for the apprehensive final years’. So, even if it means a couple of busy weeks at the beginning term it is worth not having to think about at the busier end of the year. I enjoyed gathering opinions on the matter of semesterisation, I felt I was confident in approaching people which be of use for my next assignment- the patch report.

WHY Journalism? Some might ask…

Journalism. Defined as; the occupation of reporting, writing, editing, photographing, or broadcasting news or of conducting any news organization as a business (Dictionary.com, 2011). The aspect I am most interested in is writing, which is why I have opted for the News and Journalism unit in the final year of my studies at Bournemouth University. Journalism is a career path that I would like to explore once I have graduated, therefore I will find this unit extremely valuable to me in the future.

Reviewer

In this unit I will gain adequate knowledge of the industry. For example; objectivity is an extremely important factor in the world of journalism and could be the difference of the company and yourself bein sued. Gaining insight into working in the newsroom environment will be beneficial.

I have a passion for writing, which I have developed from a young age and have decided to continue into not just my degree but my career. Ideally, I would like to enter the music or film journalism, but I would also like to keep my options open to explore other avenues as well.

Man weds cat

Before you think this is some kind of practical joke, I can assure you it isn’t.

Love at first sight

The unusually posed ‘bride’ was dressed in white for the service. Mitzscherlich commented: “Cecilia has such a trusting character”. And then worryingly went on to say: “We constantly smooch and she has slept in my bed from the beginning of our relationship, which is unique”. This seems to go a little further than bestiality and could be catagorised as borderline insanity. But I’ll leave that judgement up to you.