[This is a transcription of a presentation I gave on the chapter of the same name in 'Alternative Journalism' by Chris Atton and James F. Hamilton. The presentation does not focus on the actual content of the chapter, but instead on issues raised by it and connections I made to other examples.]
I am currently in my 4th and final year at Napier University and feel the course has prepared me well for the media industry. Possibly the most challenging aspect of the course so far was our Magazine Production module, when I was elected co-editor of Impulse magazine, a Napier production. Our issue raised an advertising budget in record time and featured interviews with Scots band Glasvegas, Glasgow comedians Frankie Boyle and Limmy, Scots writer AL Kennedy, Scottish rugby captain Mike Blair and DJ Nathan Fake. The issue also included articles on Hepatitis C, the Russian presidency and Scientology. Though the work involved was certainly gruelling, it was definately worthwhile when I was awarded the highest mark of all in the class at peer assessment. It was through Napier that I first came to write for Scotland on Sunday newspaper, during our time on placement. I wish I could say I only felt excitement arriving for my first day – in truth my feelings were more akin to dread. In the previous two and a half years, I had lost count of the number of times tutors had warned us about the pressures and panics of a real newsroom, where by the sounds of things, both egos and dreams were routinely shattered. On my way in I had been plagued by Frank Spencer-esque visions of me rolling down a hill clutching onto the top of a photocopier while the entire Scotsman building collapsed behind me in a cloud of mortar and dust.
- Elected co-editor of 3rd Year student magazine Impulse and awarded highest mark at peer assessment.
- Essay ‘Deception in Journalism’ chosen to be featured in Napier University School of Creative Industries Showcase Booklet 2008
- Writes for Scotland on Sunday newspaper www.journalisted.com/jen_lavery
- Assistant press secretary to Tommy Sheppard at The Stand Comedy Club
- Benefit Convenor of The Stand Comedy Club
DECEPTION IN JOURNALISM IS UNPROFESSIONAL AND MORALLY WRONG. DISCUSS.
“Some doctors claim exemption from a strict rule against lying in as much as they on occasion have to lie (so they say) to fulfill their overriding duty to patients to do them no harm. Might not journalists claim to be similarly exempted: that they sometimes ‘have to’ lie to fulfill their overriding duty to the public to unearth and reveal important truths?” (Besley, 1992, p93)
How far does the UK government ensure effective news management in time of war?
“It is the function of defence intellectuals and other experts, and the mainstream media, to normalize the unthinkable for the general public” Edward Herman ‘The Banality of Evil’
When Des Brogan began a stroll down the Royal Mile one day in 1984, he didn’t realise it was going to lead him to the position he holds today, managing director of one of Edinburgh’s most famous attractions.
“I saw lots of visitors in Edinburgh and nobody who was providing any sort of guided tours. So I thought ‘Well I could do that during the summer holidays.’”
During the Edinburgh Festival, it’s joked that the real residents move out, leaving the city to tourists and performers for three weeks. Now in its fourth year, the Magners Glasgow International Comedy Festival is the biggest dedicated comedy festival in Britain. Over a period of seventeen days over 240 performers will take part in nearly 300 shows held in forty separate venues around the city. The festival has once again attracted big names such as Joan Rivers, Jimmy Carr, Rich Hall, Sean Hughes, Paul Merton, Alan Carr, Russell Brand and last years IF Comeddie winner, Canadian Phil Nichol. We talked to two home-grown acts about their feelings about hosting such a big festival in their city.
Glasgow born comic Frankie Boyle remembers the very first year of the Festival.