William Randolph Hearst

William Randolph Hearst was born on April 29, 1863 in San Francisco, California. He was born into a family wealthy from his father's discovery of and involvement in some of the greatest mines in United States history (including the Anaconda mine, the Homestake mine, and the Comstock load). After attending primary schooling, young Hearst was off to Harvard, studying in journalism. He worked on the Harvard Lampoon and was even an apprentice under Joseph Pulitzer while there.

Due in no small part to his father's fortune, he soon was able to have a newspaper of his own to run. (The newspaper had been earlier won as repayment for a poker debt.) Still at Harvard, he wrote his father, demanding to take over the San Francisco Examiner. While his father wished William to work in managing the family's ranching and mining interests, he had very little interest in the newspaper himself, and allowed the young Hearst to do as he pleased. Soon after, on March 7, 1887, Hearst became the proud owner of The Examiner. From the very beginning, he was determined to make the paper a popular one.

He publicly nicknamed the small paper "The Monarch of the Dailies", and went about purchasing some of the best equipment money could buy. He also hired a talented and experienced staff, and soon, he was modeling his newspaper after the Pulitzer-style sensationalism, in a practice that would later condemn him in the eyes of the world.

In 1895, Hearst went for the "big cheese", and purchased The New York Morning Journal, becoming a direct competitor to his former mentor, Joseph Pulitzer. From the very beginning, Hearst would perform generally immoral acts such as hiring away staff from Pulitzer's paper, The World. Acts such as this ended up throwing the two into a bitter circulation war. The story that caught the attention of Hearst the most was the Cuban Revolution of 1895. He saw this as a key opportunity to promote his paper, and he spent a large amount of effort supporting Cuba Librè, the Cuban insurgent forces. In addition, he would try to disgrace Spain in whatever way he could, always making it as flashy as possible in nothing more than an effort to sell the most papers.

After the mysterious explosion of the U.S.S. Maine, in Havana Harbor, Hearst's actions are thought by many to have seriously influenced the very existence of the state of war that existed afterwards. Hearst traveled to Cuba himself, working with his reporters in the field. One of his reporters, James Creelman, actually took charge of an assault on a Spanish blockhouse and was wounded. Reportedly, kneeling beside him, Hearst said, "I'm sorry you're hurt. But wasn't it a splendid fight? We beat every paper in the world!" Just this simple statement represents Hearst's personality and viewpoints on war and journalism very thoroughly.

Eventually, the war ended, and with it, the common use of such overtly biased practices in journalism slowly faded off, also. In 1903, during his European honeymoon with his new wife, Millicent Wilson, Hearst started his first magazine, Motor. After a brief stint in politics, he went on to become a more legitimate agent for news delivery. He later expanded his business operation into radio and produced movie newsreels, making what would become Hearst Corp. into one of the first real multimedia syndicates.

William Randolph Hearst died at the age of 88 in Beverly Hills, California on August 14, 1951, leaving behind a huge legacy. Today, the Hearst Corporation owns 12 newspaper and 25 magazines (including the popular Cosmopolitan), besides managing other media enterprises

Greg Lovell's Election Campaign- Labour Party

Finally, after months and weeks of waiting, the General Election Campaigns in the UK have started. People don’t seem to be surprised to see a Conservative candidate walking through Chippenham town centre on a black horse while telling them about intentions and changes he would do if he became an MP. This political theatre appears to be quite exciting to me.

Finding a General Election candidate I could observe in a considerable town like Chippenham doesn’t seem to be difficult. However, all the candidates I have contacted were too busy to email or ring me back. One of the secretaries thought I was joking when I asked to help in a campaign and told me not to bother them. I decided to have one more go and I emailed Greg Lovell- a Labour Party candidate.
On the next morning I checked my emails while having a cup of coffee to keep me going throughout the day at work. My heart started beating quicker filled with hope, excitement and relief. My eyes were staring at an email from Greg Lovell. ‘That was quick’, I thought and read it through quickly.
An email was slightly different to what I expected. Greg was delighted to see that a young person was interested to see how he promotes his views. He also said that they weren’t doing the traditional knocking-on-the-door campaign- simply because of financial reasons and limited time he had with a full time job and his family. He, however, decided to spend Saturdays getting out into the town centers and meeting as many people as possible, giving out leaflets and talking to them about their concerns. It sounded good to me.

He left his phone number and asked to call him so we can discuss all bits and pieces about it. All happy and excited I grabbed my phone and rang him. A male voice answered with a serious tone- ‘Greg Lovell’. His voice changed when I told him who I was. It became happier, more relaxed and warm. I felt like I was talking to an uncle who hadn’t seen me in a long while. He tried his best to be helpful on the phone. We arranged a meeting for the 17th of April in Corsham’s town centre.

The sun was shining and the birds were singing. It was a quiet Saturday morning- sunny but cold. Drops of frost on the grass and cars were shinning in the sunshine like little diamonds. There were no clouds on the sky. It looked like it was going to be a lovely day.

It was my first visit in Corsham. It seemed to be a little, old town. Some people say it is a ‘useless place’ just because the number of shops in town centre was very small. But personally- I loved it. ‘So this is where Greg Lovell spent his childhood. Interesting- write this down.’ I thought wandering about with a notepad and a pen as I was a little early. At least I had a chance to see an open-air Little Wiltshire Farmers market filled with a smell of village food such as cheese, bread, bread rolls.

I finally got to meet the Labour Candidate for an MP of Chippenham. He was young- just approached his thirties- quite tall. He was wearing jeans, white shirt with black sweater and brown shoes, which I thought didn’t go with the entire outfit, but at the end of the day it wasn’t a fashion show.

His campaign was quite exciting. Besides it was the very first campaign I have ever attended, so no wonder why it was so fascinating. We were stood by Somerfield in the Corsham town centre. His friends- councilors- were helping Greg handing out leaflets. They were 7 people all together. They all had red badges with yellow writing ‘vote for labour’. There was a box full of posters, balloons, stickers, leaflets- 2 kinds. One kind for families and the other one for working mums. It looked like they were brilliantly prepared.

Many people were passing by, taking leaflets smiling or putting them right into their pockets as if they weren’t going to look at them again. Greg talked to them in a calm, respectful and convincing way.
A young lady with a baby seemed interested. Greg was telling her about his policy – protecting frontline services. The lady agreed that the NHS is a very important aspect in her and her baby’s life. Greg amused the lady with a little joke about the NHS. She has already agreed to vote Labour. They talked for a long time about the future and about how much needs to be improved. ‘Exactly’ nods the lady, says goodbye and rushes away.

A policeman came over to shake the Candidate’s hand and to ask about his campaign. Greg explained why it is easier and better to meet people on the street. He also explained to him the rules of the new constituency, why it changed and how it changed.

A man in shades came to say thank you for emails Greg sent to him. They then continued talking about other parties and their candidates. They exchanged opinions about a political debate they watched on TV on Thursday night. Greg declared that his opinions about it were biased. They were comparing what Cameron and Brown said that evening. The man also mentioned a problem he had by his house. It was a large number of lorries driving past his tiny road. He asked Greg to mention it during the next meeting.

The weather was getting hotter and hotter as the time was passing by. Still sunny, surprisingly wonderful compare to all the other days this week. Doves were walking on the pavement. It’s strange how I have never seen such white pigeons before.

When it got really busy just before lunchtime I thought I could help a little, as up to this point I was just observing, listening and writing things down. I grabbed a badge and a few leaflets and I started giving them away to people. A young man- early thirties- stopped for a chat after he took a leaflet. He was fascinated with Greg’s ideas and asked for ‘VOTE LABOUR’ posters to put upon his windows.

It’s interesting how many different people walked past in an hour time. Foreigners, teenagers, elderly people, young marriages with babies. Some of them looked happy but some of them were grumpy and unhappy about a Labour candidate campaigning in their town.

We all experienced an amusing moment when an elderly man wearing a beret came over to tell a story from his childhood when he was taught to vote ‘LABOUR ONLY’. He was a very confident, cheery man that made us all laugh.
It was an incredible experience to be able to help in such an important event. An unordinary day like this one doesn’t happen often. I was glad to be so closely involved with politics.

Life if Fragile. R.I.P

Poland is grieving the loss of a head of the country- President Lech Kaczyński, his wife and 94 other important political figures that died in a tragic plane crash in Smoleńsk, Russia, on Saturday morning. The Polish delegation was flying in from Warsaw to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Katyn mass execution of thousands of Poles by Soviet forces during the World War II. The machine crashed during terrible weather conditions- the fog limited sight to 500m. The plane broke into 2 pieces after its second try to landing. The body of president was found and returned to Warsaw.

What horrific news to hear at the beginning of a weekend while drinking a cup of coffee. I simply couldn’t believe what I was watching on TV. All the channels were talking about the same thing- crash of the president’s plane. How shocking. I think the whole world experienced the same feeling. This is the biggest loss that happened to Poland since the Katyn tragedy. It’s so difficult to believe that Poland lost so many incredible people who made the country better in the last 3 and half years.

Everybody unites in mourning in Poland.

We will all always remember every good thing that Lech Kaczyński and the rest of Polish political figures did for Poland.
This is so unbelievably sad :(

R.I.P

News day 3

Naomi House Hospice is arranging a fundraising walk from Winchester Cathedral to Salisbury on Sunday 6th of June. They are hoping a thousand people to join and help raise money for the hospice. The member of Naomi House gives all the details about this event

Audio Insert Name: Naomi House
IN WORDS: The walk is on the 6th of June
OUT WORDS: It’s quite a big money raise for us
0’22’



This year’s event is sponsored by Foresters, MITIE and the pupils and staff at St Swithun’s Junior School in Winchester.


The number of patients missing their appointment at Royal Hampshire County Hospital has recently increased and now is one of the key problems. Doctors are preparing a new scheme which they hope will reduce the issue. Andrew Cable, in charge of ‘patient flow’, explains the reasons why people miss their appointment and introduces to the new system.

Audio Insert Name: Missed appointments
IN WORDS: We phoned up patients
OUT WORDS: that has actually improved dramatically..
0’23’

News Day 2: Gneral Elections

Winchester City Council is preparing for fast coming General Elections. Students can make a real difference, but if they don't register, they can't vote. Alison Rayman, a member of Winchester City Council, explains all the reasons why we should register to vote and how we can do it.





You can register to vote both at home and at University by going on to the Winchester City Council website or by going on to the Student Union website. There are registration forms which you can download and send off to Winchester City Council.

William Cobbett

William Cobbett was an English pamphleteer, farmer and journalist, who was born in Farnham, Surrey. He believed that reforming Parliament and stopping the rotten boroughs would help to end the poverty of farm labourers, and he attacked the borough-mongers, sinecurists and "tax-eaters" relentlessly. He was also against the Corn Laws, a tax on imported grain.

He took to riding around the country on horseback making observations of what was happening in the towns and villages
At the time of writing in the early 1820s Cobbett was a radical anti-Corn Law campaigner, newly returned to England from a spell of self-imposed political exile in the United States. Cobbett disapproved of proposals for remedies for agricultural distress suggested in Parliament in 1821. He made up his mind to see conditions for himself, and to "enforce by actual observation of rural conditions", the statements he had made in answer to the arguments of the landlords before the Parliamentary Agricultural Committee.

He embarked on a series of journeys by horseback through the countryside of Southeast England and the English Midlands. He wrote down what he saw from the points of view both of a farmer and a social reformer. The result documents the early nineteenth century countryside and its people as well as giving free vent to Cobbett's opinions.

Some information about Industrial Revolution. You all probably know this stuff, but I thought it would be quite useful for me to have it here.

Industrial revolution

•Between 1815 and 1914, an industrial revolution took place. The industries in the cities eventually won the competition with the rural industries. Because of the industrial revolution that took place, urbanisation started in the 19th century.
•Grow of population
•Industrial revolution also effected transportation. In the 19th century bicycles, steamships and trains made it easier for people to move further away. In the 20th century, the explosion motor further accelerated this process. An ever-growing part of world population became subdued to market economy.
•a move away from farming into manufacturing.
•the revolution was something more than just new machines, smoke-belching factories, increased productivity and an increased standard of living.
•The INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION can be said to have made the European working-class. It made the European middle-class as well. In the wake of the Revolution, new social relationships appeared. As Ben Franklin once said, "time is money." Man no longer treated men as men, but as a commodity which could be bought and sold on the open market. This "commodification" of man is what bothered Karl Marx -- his solution was to transcend the profit motive by social revolution
On this theme, his Rural Rides has proved his most enduring work. It is a collection of journals written during his tours on horseback between 1822 and 1826, observing rural conditions and discussing the political perceptions of the agricultural community.


Cobbett's effectiveness lay less in his theories about paper money, electoral reform, or whatever, than in his creation of a mythical, but not insubstantial, lost Eden of old rural England. Cobbett glorified agricultural labor in its hardihood, innocence, and usefulness—and by its associations with patriotism, morality, and the beauties of nature. Cobbett exaggerated the material comforts of laborers in Old England, but he did not exaggerate the beauty of the man-made (yet natural) landscape where they worked and the decency of a life regulated by the cycle of the seasons rather than the steam engine.

Cobbett's readers may have been mostly in the industrial towns, but many of them had only recently abandoned an agricultural way of life. Cobbett kept alive in the consciousness of urban workers a folk memory of rural beauty and seemliness, and an allied sense of lost rights in the land.

Increased unemployment in Winchester

As unemployment in Winchester increases, the number of people claiming Job Seeker Allowance rose in January and now is the highest figure since August 2009. Martin Todd, Liberal Democrat Prospective MP for Winchester believes it is possible to lower the unemployment rate and gives the reason for such an increase.

Audio Insert Name: Increased unemployment in Winchester
In words: I think it should start to..
Out words: .. definitely see quite a significant increase in unemployment.
Duration: 0’22’