Reporting Crimes and Courts

Knowing criminal law is an essential skill for all journalists, as they have to know exactly what they can and can’t include in their reports in order to make them accurate, fair and to avoid committing contempt of court.

All journalists are at risk of being sued for their stories, therefore it is important that they know how to avoid that risk. Prejudice is one of the main things that can put them at high risk. Prejudice means ‘pre-judging’ something; if a reporter makes a statement about a person or an event based on false beliefs or before knowing the case well, they are most likely to be rightly sued for their report. It is important for reporters to get their facts right and to get to know the story well before reporting on it, as well as staying objective and open minded, trying not to pass the judgment too quickly.

Standard of proof in criminal law

For anyone to be convicted of a criminal offence, guilt must be admitted or proven in court ‘beyond reasonable doubt’.
The court journalists can start reporting on the case when it becomes ACTIVE. That happens when the police make an arrest and when the person gets charged. However, the case is not active when an arrest is made with no evidence. In that case the suspect can only be kept under arrest without charge for 24 hours. By law, if they have not been charged within that period, the person has to be released.

The pre trial reports include 7 points of what a reporter can include in statements. That includes:
- Names of defendant, ages, addresses, occupation.
- Charges faced or close summary.
- Name of court and magistrates’ names
- Names of solicitors or barristers present
- Date and place to where the case is adjourned
- Any arrangements as to bail. ( Bail is a system by which a defendant is given his/her liberty until the next court case)
- Whether legal aid was granted.  

Criminal charges are divided into three main categories. Reporters are expected to be able to tell the difference between them, as each category requires different rules for reporting. There are some details that the Automatic reporting restrictions don’t allow to include in reports on some hearings at magistrates court. Journalists need to be able to distinguish those restrictions.

1. Indictable-only offences, which are the most serious crimes, punishable by the longest prison terms.  Possible sentence of 5 years or more. Examples for this type of crime would be murder, rape or robbery.

2. Either-way offences- such charges can be dealt with either at a Crown court or at Magistrates court. Magistrates can decide whether a particular case is a serious one which needs to be dealt with in Crown court, or if the magistrates can deal with it

3. Summary offences are very minor ones compare to the other two, they include crimes such as common assult, drunkenness. These are also relatively easy to deal with and they stay with Magistrates court.

Winol is back! Week 1.

After a very long and productive summer, I am back to join the rest of the WINOL team for the last time.  It feels strange thinking that it has already been a whole year since WINOL became a huge part of our lives and after Christmas we will no longer be a part of it.

Surprisingly, the term started completely differently to what I imagined. I was expecting panic, running around, screams and arguments because of frustration of not working cameras or computers. However, the first week back was very calm. The new members of the team seemed relaxed and prepared for the hard work. They also seemed curious of what it was all going to look like, especially that they never had the essential training on how to make a news package. Last week’s bulletin was only a dummy edition in order to let the second years get used to the equipment, getting the interviews, having balance in their packages and getting to know the editing system.  I thought the bulletin went really well production wise, there were no technical difficulties, everyone seemed to know what they were doing, Domonique was a good director. Domonique and I tried to pass on all the knowledge we have about the Gallery and the studio to the new production team, who picked up everything easily.
The reporters met their deadline and the script was in on time, which didn’t happen very often last year. This term looks very promising so far. Of course, there were little mistakes made by reporters, such lack of white balance and some of the shots were out of focus, some content was lacking balance. These mistakes were essential last week, as that’s the only way you can learn how to produce a decent package. The content wasn’t brilliant, but we definitely had worse in previous bulletins. The aim of the dummy edition was for the new ones to get an idea of what a package should include. Well done everyone for trying hard.

My role on WINOL this year is Features Producer, alongside with Domonique. We share the role but have different jobs. Domonique is responsible for in studio, regular shows which we produce on Tuesdays, such as Sportsweek, whereas I plan, organise, produce, edit and upload a number of editions of WINOL LIFE and other special projects. I need to attend every features conference and discuss ideas for WINOL LIFE show with the Features Editor, Katie. As Features Producer my aim is to get trains on the Outside Broadcast kit, which we can use on the 25^th of November in the Performance Gym. I am also planning to select a number of features students who can get trained on advanced technical equipment such as gib and dolly with me, which could be useful in perfecting WINOL LIFE, making it look more professional.

This week, starting from Monday I had a feeling of confusion from other members of Winol team, about their roles especially. I think it may be because we are all used to our old roles and being reporters and producers, which is more productive in terms of creating content, rather than having editorials roles, where we are responsible mostly for legal issues and overseeing the content that our new reporters produce. I think this feeling of confusion is going to pass soon when get used to our new roles and when we discover what exactly our particular role involves.

This week is going to be a real bulletin, which is going to be watched by out first guest editor this year – Rachel Hepworth from ITV Meridian. Good luck everyone :-)

Media Law, Week 1 Lecture 1- Hierarchy of Courts.

‘The media are the eyes and ears of the general public’.

Law in the UK allow citizens to ‘free press.’ Some of them, especially journalists are aware that this kind of freedom, especially freedom of expression, must have some strong restrictions by the law. There has to be a balance between the media being free to expose wrongdoing and an individual being able to defend themselves from baseless attacks. Therefore, the UK law provides the law of defamation – LIBEL and SLANDER- which tries to get that balance.


The Hierarchy Of Courts in England and Wales.

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK) consists of four countries: England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Some law applies throughout the whole of the UK and some applies in only one, two or three countries. In our first Law lecture we talked about the hierarchy of courts in England and Wales in order to help us understand their importance.

HOW CRIMINAL LAW IS ENFORCED IN ENGLAND AND WALES

If a crime has been committed, the police are being informed in order to conduct an investigation. If, after arresting and interviewing a person, the police believe that the person committed the crime, that individual is charged. A report of the case is then sent to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).

If the case has been considered successful by the CPS and if it would be in the public interest to do so, it will start criminal proceedings against the suspect, who becomes the defendant in the case. In court, the CPS bears the burden of proving, beyond reasonable doubt, that the defendant committed the crime.

Minor offences, such as speeding, are heard by Magistrates’ Courts. Many towns in England and Wales have their own Magistrates’ Court, where cases are heard by three magistrates. Magistrates do not need any legal qualifications, and they are advised by a Clerk, who is a qualified lawyer. Magistrates do not state reasons for their decisions.

Very serious offences, such as murder and rape, are heard in the Crown Court. The Crown Court is based in about 90 centres throughout England and Wales. A jury consisting of 12 people chosen at random from the local population will decide, without giving reasons, whether the defendant is guilty of the offence.

Some intermediate offences, such as theft, may be tried in a Magistrates’ Court or the Crown Court.


References:
McNaes, page 3.
http://www.ilex.org.uk/about_legal_executives/the_uk_legal_system.aspx

Director of Winchester News Online

For the last few months I have been writing about what I had been doing as director of Winol. I have decided to make a little film to show what exactly my role was but also to let you can come in to our little production environment and feel the atmosphere, the adrenaline as well as see how much fun, loyalty, teamwork and friendship we shared in the Gallery last term. Hope you enjoy!

Slut Walk Manchester- Trust me, my mini skirt has nothing to do with you!

We live in the 21st century, in the world of freedom, democracy and privacy. We should be free to choose our own paths in life, we should be free to speak and we should be free to do what we want. We live only once in this world and as human beings, we have the rights to live in dignity and enjoy our lives and let others enjoy theirs.

Women are subject to all sorts of assaults the minute they step out into the streets - whistles, cat calls, lame comments, propositions, stares etc. The stories are all too common and they are based on incidents that occur every minute of every day on the streets.

And this is for all those who say, well, the women invite it by the way they dress. Since when do women need to control the way they look? Why can’t they wear anything to show off their perfect bodies without being accused of looking like ‘sluts’ and since when wearing short skirts is an invitation for men to approach women? It’s their own choice to wear what they want. Respect it. What does a woman's dress have to do with how a man reacts to her? Men seem to think women dress for them, while they REALLY do not. Everyone loves looking good and sexy but that’s because it makes them feel good about themselves. And yes, of course women like some male attention, but that’s not an invitation to anything.

What gives a man the right to think he can feel up a woman no matter how she is dressed? Do women, then, have the right to do whatever it pleases them to a man because they like the colour of his shirt? It all makes me so angry. It’s just unbelievably wrong.


In January, a Toronto police officer told students that in order to avoid being raped 'women should avoid dressing like sluts'. This outrage statement basically says that if we behave or dress in certain ways, we deserve to be raped. That’s an attitude in our society which needs to be fought against and needs to be CHANGED. Rape is NEVER the fault of the survivor.


Today at 19.00 SlutWalk will take place on Manchester’s streets, where women will protest against rape and against the false idea of women deserving to be raped if they are wearing revealing clothes. NO. If they are drunk, if they walk home alone late at night after a night out, even if they flirt or are sex workers, they DON’T give an invitation to a sexual assault.

It truly makes me angry how men insolently assume that it's fine to attack women at night, harass them with text messages after getting their number from a CONFIDENTIAL cupboard at work, or even comment on the way they look on streets. How dare they disturb our privacy and harass even if they are told to back off? I don't understand how so many of them can just get away with it.

We are all free and let us be free.

I really wish I could be in Manchester today but I hope the rest of women can make a change.

Ludwig Wittgenstein and his Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus.

Ludwig Wittgenstein was an Austrian- British philosopher who was highly interested in philosophy of mathematics, philosophy of mind, and philosophy of language. He is still seen as one of the greatest philosopher of the 20th century. He continues to influence current philosophical thought in topics as diverse as logic and language, perception and intention, ethics and religion, aesthetics and culture. He’s taken many philosophical views and ideas from his teacher- Russell. However, his philosophy differed from many. In his book ‘Tractatus Logico- Philosophicus’ he, by showing the application of modern logic to metaphysics, via language, provided new insights into the relations between world, thought and language and thereby into the nature of philosophy.

The structure of the book is simple and presents short thesis that are numbered in order to present different themes or problems that most philosophers deal with. Each of them has comments which expand the subject, in which the philosopher tries to explain the reason these problems occur. In his views it is because the logic of our language is misunderstood. The last comment of the thesis is the beginning of the next one. The 7th thesis ends and sums up the book, therefore there are no comments attached to it. The preface of Tractatus clearly explains that this is not a text book, which anyone would read and like. It can be understood and enjoyed only by those who already have the same thoughts. The author explains that the purpose of the book is to give a limit to expression of thoughts. We should express what can be expressed in words, otherwise, the rest which can’t be expressed must be left in silence.

Thesis 1- 2.063 are about the world and how it is made of facts,
2.1 till 3.03 about pictures and thoughts,
3.1 till 3.1 - 4.0641 about language,
4.1 – 6.031 reality and logic
6.1 - 7 things, that can’t be expressed.

The idea of tractatus is to show that each proposition can be broken into little parts, in order to explore the true meaning of it. Those little parts of the proposition can be broken into even smaller parts, which can help to find the way to find the facts which in the simplest way can explain the meaning of the world.

The philosopher was bothered by traditional philosophy and unnecessary talking, commonly speaking, known as ‘quaking’, therefore the thesis in his book were short, strict and convincing but also consisted problematic and deep meanings. They started from logical facts, such as ‘The world is all that is the case’ followed by ‘The world is the totality of facts, not of things’. Wittgenstein had also the courage to make an interesting criticism of his masters, the pioneers of analytical philosophy, Russell and Frege. This can be found in Thesis 5, comment 132, as he says ‘Laws of inference, which are supposed to justify inferences, as in works of Frege and Russell, have no sense, and would be superfluous’. He then expanded his horizon and the book takes an existentialist form in which he expresses his views on existence, the world, reality, God and death.

The ethical and existentialist part of the book starts at thesis 6.4 ‘All propositions are of equal value.’ And ‘The sense of the world must lie outside the world. In the world everything is as it is, and everything happens as it happens: in it no value exists [...] ‘ . Wittgenstein in these theses argues that ethic is transcendental, and because it is also a kind of aesthetics which are ‘one and the same’ therefore cannot be examined and expressed in form of the logical language.(6.422)

Wittgenstein explains there that attempts to approach language in order to talk about life after death, free will and God is a misuse of logic, since language can only reflect the real facts, that allow us find out more about the world. (6.43) Therefore, each language statement can only be the reflection of reality, and therefore any statements on ethical issues, religious or aesthetic are devoid of real significance. But also any discussion on these issues automatically become meaningless and leads to logical disagreement.
For example, he argues that it is a fact that death is not an event in life and we don’t live our lives towards experiencing it. Death is our personal end of the world so why bother talking about eternal life after death since we don’t have a proof of its existence. In his views the eternal life is our present life.


The last thesis of chapter 6 refers to the Tractatus itself. It states that this Tractatus is a kind of ladder, which must be thrown away after it has been used to climb to the top. Wittgenstein states that the philosophy contained in it, rejects itself, because it leads to the conclusion that all philosophy is irrelevant, including that contained in itself. When the ladder is thrown away, the reader will see the world alright again.

Wittgenstein believes that the structure of language and his statements about reality are equal to the structure of reality itself, which the language tries to describe. This means that the language is essentially the window we look through to see the world. Wittgenstein writes about this in his typical brief style: "The proposition is a picture of reality." (4.01) It is worth to say that Wittgenstein does not think about writing grammatical sentences, he instead writes the sentences in a logical sense, because according to him only logical sentence, not a grammatical one is the "model of reality as we imagine it." about which he writes in the book.

According to him in language we use, the sentences can be divided into three basic types: Firstly, logical sentences, which are those that allow us to highlight some facts and which allow us to say whether they are true or false.

Secondly, meaningless sentences, among which we are dealing with contradictions, which means it is the structure that decides about their falsity or honesty. For example if I say a word ‘see/sea/C’, no one will know which ‘sea/see/C’ I am talking about till I put it in the right context. It can be discovered logically. These sentences are meaningless because their truth or not depends on the fact or reality that the language is trying to describe. And thirdly those, which despite the grammatical correctness of the statements, are false because you cannot tell whether they are honest or not, either in the way of logical analysis, or verification principle.
Verification principle is very important to Wittgenstein. If the statement can’t be verified then it’s meaningless, therefore, don’t waste your time on propositions which can’t be explained, though if it reaches the pass the verification test then the proposition is true.

The book finishes with the conclusion ‘what cannot we speak about we must pass over in silence’, which sums up the whole idea of the book. By this Wittgenstein shows how to put a limit to the thought of something that can’t be said clearly. It may mean that if we can’t talk about matters such God or life after death because this is outside the reality, there is no proof of their existence and therefore our logical language can’t express their meaning in words, therefore it is better and easier to keep it quiet, not think about it and deal with more real things, such as the presence.

Winol in Polish 16/03

This is the last Winol in Polish for this term. I think I enjoyed it the most. I'm getting better at the sound editing. Trying new techniques such as having a reporter or an interviewee speak for a couple of seconds and then hearing my polish translation sounds very good in my opinion. That's what I learned this week.

You can watch my Polish bulletin here: