History of Broadcasting

Media Histories

- Technological determinism 

- The market model

- Social conflict model such as social groups

- Liberal or Whig approaches

It can be said that even broadcasting 100 years ago offered convergence, much like it does in today's day and age. 

Key Periods

1850's: Telegraphy using wire

1880: Edison shows electricity can pass through air

1890-1925: New Broadcasting technologies emerged

1901: Marconi transmits Morse code in the UK

1920: The Marconi company creates a London radio station

1926: This is when the general strike occurred. This established the relationship between the BBC and the state. 

1927-1954: The era of traditional PSB (public service broadcaster)

1954-1979: The market returns to challenge the BBC and during 1954, ITV is created.

1980-2011: Politics and New Media hit Broadcasting. In 1979 was the new Thatcher Government and during this time new media became apparent. New technologies were created such as cable TV in the 80's. New Labour - free market strategy but with the role for BBC. 

Importance

A main issue that is important throughout this topic is Convergence. 

Within this, American telephone companies developed radio, which was originally created for point-to-point communication. After which, Marconi partners the Daily Mail in the 20's.

During this time there was a conflict of interest. The governments and military wanted secure communication and this was not possible through things like the telegraphy wire system. 

It can be said that the US and the UK have different stories about the history of Broadcasting.

-The US was and is virtually unregulated and was seen as a free market.

-Commercial radio was funded by advertising.

-The British government was alarmed by the way the US were creating the 'Chaos of the ether'.

-An epidemic of broadcasting was stated by the British post office official.

-In 1922, the government was putting pressure on people, and through this, these manufacturers created the BBC.

-Newspapers wanted to stop the BBC as the new wave of broadcasting was putting newspapers out of business. 

As a whole commercial interests prevailed in the US and the UK was far more political in general.

The BBC and the General Strike

The BBC was established in 1926 and at this time there was a national crisis. Lord Reith who was the founder of the BBC and he was its first general manager when it was set up as the British Broadcasting Company in 1922. He had a strong vision to inform educate and entertain the public. The BBC was not profit driven and was funded by TV licenses. The monopoly going on at the time allowed Reith to use television scheduling as a strategy to improve. There was a variety of popular and serious programming and a sense of cultural consensus around the home countries. Regional accents were banned and there was a strict regulation of political news coverage. 

During the 30's life at the BBC was strict. They liked to maintain a certain standard and therefore all workers had to wear smart suits and in general had an extremely strict dress code. At this time, many employees were dismissed for divorce. Although this can be seen as a bad point, some good points came from this time at the BBC and this was that there were many exciting opportunities for the young. 

Between 1945-1979 the market returns to challenge the BBC and the BBC then launches television services in the late 30's. The swinging 60's were known for things such as drugs and a sense of rebellion, this is shown through the use of pirate radio in the 60's. 

Social Changes

- WW1: Universal male sufferage - votes for women. 

- Communism - Revolution

- Social and Political changes

- The General Strike

- Cheapness and Accessibility 

- Commercial: because of the interest of manufacturers and the way advertising shapes the way the BBC developed. 

Elements of PSB's (Public service broadcaster)

- Funded by television license fees

- No advert breaks

- Non-profitable, therefore putting audiences first

- Inform, educate and entertain (Reith's values)

- Used for reasurrance for government to public

- Established a national culture

- Impartiality: enshrined in a notion of Britishness

It is important throughout to remember the importance of context, including social, economic and political issues going on at the time. As without these issues, such problems may not of occurred. 

Bored O'Clock

This is just a short blog post relating to my past couple of days being full of illness once again; yes i know, i am always ill. Much to my resentment, my parents are pretty certain I am anaemic, so I have to go get a blood test next Wednesday evening. I have a phobia of needles, quite badly where I end up screaming the place down, so that will be fun. In a way I am kind of hoping it comes positive as it might explain my tiredness, lack of energy and Reynolds, oh not forgetting my poor immune system. After having my seminar in Philosophy on Tuesday, choking half way through resulting in me not even being able to finish my paper, being ill is finally getting my down. The fact is, I put a lot of effort into creating that paper, and after not being able to breathe in the middle of it just puts me down. Good luck comes to those who put the effort in?- not so much. On the up-side being ill as allowed me to do many of the following this;
1. Read LOTS
2. Watch films such as Goodfella's that I haven't seen in years
3. Get organised - wardrobe especially, and for those other females, feel pity on me as you must know how hard it is to throw prised possessions out.
4. Eat tons of junk food as I have nothing else to do. The whole look in the fridge, see nothing, look in the cupboard, nothing. Then back to the fridge again, hoping that something has appeared.
5. Make a to-do list of all of the other things I can do when I'm THIS bored
6. Try doing a zumba work out- which is not advisable when your ill as you end up nearly fainting.

The amount of other useless thing's I have done throughout the past couple of days could go on forever, but this is post must be as boring to you as it is to me. Oh not forgetting I had to miss yesterday's Council meeting just incase I stopped breathing again and were sick everywhere. I mean, it might of made it more interesting though? So, that's actually another thing I have to add on my to-do list; go to another council meeting.

One of those days

Now it's the end of my first week back at Uni, I have to admit, it's quite nice to be back. Being honest, even having work to do is a bit of fresh air, considering I've spent a month bored out of my brain with nothing to do. Unfortunately, after today I have decided I haven't had one of the favourite weeks of my life. This morning our normal lessons were cancelled and we had to go into Uni for a 15 minute one-to-one chat with our lecturers. Something I was quite looking forward to as I wanted to find out a bit more about my recent exam results. Leaving my house an hour and a bit before my meeting, I was feeling quite positive about today. There is one particular road near Uni that I park down but as I was coming up to this road I noticed it had been blocked off due to building/road works. Feeling a bit panicked-as I do not know my way driving around Winchester- I found the back way to get to the Uni, unfortunately this was blocked off too. Knowing my time was running out to get to my meeting I followed the diverted traffic and ended up about 15 minutes away from the Uni, in an industrial estate completely lost. To be honest, I am a fairly good driver but when it comes to not knowing where I'm going in a place I hardly know, I begin to get way to stressed. Looking at the time: 10:44 I realise I have a minute until I have to be at the meeting, and there was definitely no way I was going to make it. Thank god for new smart phones, having an Iphone allowed me to find Winchester Uni's number and ask them to put me through to Chris/Brian. Although I think the University of Winchester is up there with the best, the reception were pretty unhelpful, putting me through to a number that didn't even work! Not going to lie, by this point I was realising this day wasn't going to go as I planned, leaving 45 minutes before I had to didn't make a difference, and my story was probably going to seem as unbelievable as one that entailed a dragon and my famous father taking me to Uni on his private jet that crashed. Yeah, so thought many of you might enjoy reading about my awful day, if anything it's allowed me to de-stress a little. Now for reading some Philosophy which is bound to cheer me up;doubtful. 

A tale of two Revolutions

As today was my first Philosophy lecture of the new year, I thought it would be a good idea to stick to my plan and start blogging straight after the lecture, in order to make sure I revise my notes quickly. Normally, if i leave things to long I find it difficult to get back into what I was actually learning about. So, today's lecture was based upon a tale of two revolutions and two perspectives (which will be covered in a later blog). Those two perspectives were that of Dickens (Urban) and Cobbett (Rural).
The French revolution was the turning point in European politics, however the Industrial revolution transformed Britain and the whole world. (For those who are unsure of what the Industrial revolution is, it is the idea of the factory and mass production.)


The act of union in 1707 with Scotland, allowed the first British Empire to come together, therefore creating the United Kingdom. When Scotland attempted to set up a colony in Central America in 1698, it ended up in disaster therefore meaning their chances of being an empire vanished.


Darien - New Calediona - cost 1/5 of Scotland's wealth, however the place was full of malaria and most of the settlers there fell sick with fever. Due to this, Scotland never fully recovered as they were financially ruined. They surrendered sovereignty in the 1707 act of union with England, therefore allowing the British Empire to be created.
As a whole, England did extremely well from the French Revolution and took out all the positives from the situation Although many borders were changed and the French began causing a fair bit of havoc, the UK stood back as they originally did not want to get involved. In order to beat the French, income tax was created, however much to our dismay, income tax never actually got abolished after the French were beaten. During this period of the French Revolution, the British Navy became the dominant force in Europe, therefore destroying French trade and created an uproar in British exports. This happened to such an extent the British manufactures were clothing the French army themselves. Ultimately, with other European armies occupied, the British began building their empire.


Now for something I find particularly interesting; The transatlantic trade (or as some know it, the slave trade). Within the transatlantic trade, British ships went to Africa to retrieve slaves, then took them on their ships to America. After which, these slaves were swapped for cotton, and the cotton was taken back to places such as Manchester.
During the 16th Century there was said to be 1 million slaves. In the 17th Century, 3 million slaves. 18th Century, 7 million slaves. Not only this, but places such as Liverpool, Bristol and Glasgow were at the centre of this slave trade, which now in the 21st Century seems quite unbelievable.


The end of the war meant the end of this boom period where money was flying in and everything was going pretty well for Britain as an empire. However after the war ended mass unemployment became obvious and there was a steep fall in wages all around Britain. In response to this, the Government brought in Corn Laws which were around from 1815, then were repealed in 1846. The date of 1815 is something to remember as this was the year of the Battle of Waterloo.


Corn Laws
The Corn Laws were made by the Government in order to help the British Empire come out of the financial problems they were in after the war. These laws put tax on all the food that comes into the United Kingdom. By doing this, it was an attempt to save farms in the UK, hoping that due to foreign foods being far more expensive, people would buy local produce, therefore resulting in farmers still having their jobs. A downside to this law was that many people could not afford any produce as it was too expensive. During this time, politicians were debating about what to do in order to save farmers and the British Empire from the recline; this is much like the American's do now. The Corn Law created enclosures, which had ended the idea of landholding peasantry. Ultimately, there was nothing to stop the transfer of workforce from non-industrial to industrial.
In whole, the enclosures act kicked poor people of their land and put them into cities such as Manchester, as there was nothing left in the country for them. This therefore meant that larger farm owners (much like big corporations now) could buy their land and earn far more money. At this time population had been rising very slowly, from 5 million people at the end of the 17th Century until Middle of the 18th Century. However after 1770, it began to rise dramatically, doubling every fifty years after that. The enclosures act ultimately ruined Hampshire and it can be said to have never recovered from this. After this act, Hampshire became merely large fields as most of the men who owned this land went into the army.


Now for the Industrial Revolution which is when England became the 'workshop of the world'. During this time Manchester went from 17,000 to 18,000 people from 1760 to 1830. This and the city itself was seen as revolutionary and was something that had never been seen before. Manchester was central of the Industrial Revolution and in 1850 it was the most important place on Earth! Much to do with the slave trade, cotton was key in the Industrial Revolution and this raw material came from the slave plantations in the American South. Consequently, the conditions in many towns became dire and most people lived in slums, with cholera being quite common. Many described these towns as hell on earth and was full of rickets and people with chest infections.


During this time, politics was used to try and reform society. The policy of brutal repression on any sort of dissent and strict penal penalties was effective for the short term. The Peterloo Massacre in 1819 was when a cavalry charged at a crowd of 60,000 people in Manchester who were demanding parliamentary reform. During the Peterloo Massacre, 11 people died. Although this was a terrible time, The Guardian newspaper began through this event which some may say can shed a slight bit of positive light!?
Back to the important bits, the protesters demanded that growing industrial towns of Britain should have the right to elect MP's. At this time, less than 2% of the population had the chance to vote. This was mainly because the political system was based on 'rotton boroughs' and were extremely corrupt. An example of this is the Village, Old Sarum which had 2 votes and 2 MP's, however Manchester-being the biggest and most important city-had none. The elite noticed that there was a problem and create a reform act in 1832 so people could start having a fair chance of electing MP's.


Ultilitanianism is an idea of happiness as pleasure and the absence of pain. It is extremely appealing for many people as we judge actions often by their consequences and favour those that promote the happiness and reduce the pain.
New Poor Law Act (1834) describes that no able-bodied person was to receive money or other help from the Poor Law authorities except in a workhouse. Bentham, wanted to make a solution to the poor, that is so bad they wouldn't want to do it. He created the idea of the workhouse which enabled the poor to go there, and they would give them just enough food so they are surviving day to day, yet that amount of food is slowly killing them. The saying slow and steady wins the race definitely does not apply to this.

New Years Resolution - Blog More

So, this being my first blog of the year I'm already feeling guilty that I haven't blogged before this. I mean, it's already half way through the first month. Oops. Better late than never I suppose. Although the name of the post relates to New Years resolutions, I personally don’t believe in them in the slightest. People can make those changes any day of the year and shouldn’t need a New Year to do so.  As this is my first blog after the holidays I do feel I should tell you a tiny bit about my time off. Being honest, I didn't do much that was productive and spent a lot of the time catching up on my sleep -meaning I didn't hear the word mornings for a month- and watching Christmas films and daytime TV. Although I still feel extremely child-like around the Christmas period and wish I could still write letters to Father Christmas, I still get that slight disappointing feeling on Christmas Eve when I realise it's no way near as exciting as it used to be. Bummer. However, I was a very lucky girl getting lovely presents such as a new camera, Amazon kindle, Pandora bracelet and my favourite present of all- a Harry Potter collectable wand. Yes I am a nerd and I love it.
Now, Christmas seems like a lifetime ago, yet a lifetime away to wait for next Christmas. As I live at home and commute to University, my Christmas may not of been as special as those who got to go back at home and spend the time with loved ones that they have missed. I get to see those loved ones all the time still, so I suppose I may take advantage of that a little. I’m probably going to leave this post at that as It’s probably one of the most uninteresting things I have ever wrote, and you have ever read –if anyone even reads this-. However, from now on expect to be reading lots of new post, hopefully one a day, if I stick to my plan I have now. 

HCJ Seminar Paper (2)

Part 1 – The Pre-Socratics

Ultimately this can be said to be everything before Socrates. As stated in Russel’s History of Western Philosophy book, Thales (624-546 BC) thought that all things within the universe were made up by water. He believed that everything else apart from water(in names of substances and objects) was in fact made out of water as well. People of the time believed this to be slightly outrageous due to the fact that he didn’t relate this to God and the way the world was created by God himself. Thales was known for using scientific experiment and mathematics to gather data and he was the first recorded person to discover electricity. What can be said to be interesting and different with Thales is not his particular thought processes but it is the way he thought everything could be tested scientifically and through experiment.

Anaximander
Anaximander who comes next through time, can be said to be an apprentice of Thales. Although Anaximander agreed with Thales in some senses, he did think differently about the theory of water as the main substance. Anaximander believed that the universe is not solely from just water but it is an accumulation of all of the other elements. He argued such things as; water cannot be dry, only wet and fire cannot be cold, only hot. Ultimately, Anaximander was far more reasonable in the ways of Philosophy itself and this began from his thought process of the elements. He stated that the cold and wet condensed to form the earth. Then the heat and dryness formed the sun, moon and the stars.

Pythagoras
Now we move on to Pythagoras, whose influence in ancient and modern times is outstanding. As it can be guessed, Pythagoras attempted to figure out new knowledge with the use of mathematics and geometry. He stated that ‘all things are numbers’, , logically this is nonsense as described by Russel, however the fact that Pythagoras discovered the important of numbers in music was quite important. The connect which he established between music and arithmetic can be described in mathematical terms as ‘harmonic mean’ and ‘harmonic progression’. He thought of numbers as certain shapes, as they appear on dice for instance. As many of us think of Pythagoras as the theory we study in mathematics at school, it is not for certain that Pythagoras himself created this theory as The Egyptians had known about triangles way before him, however the theory can be related back to Pythagoras’ knowledge.

Heraclitus

Heraclitus was one who also related philosophy to the elements. He believed fire to be the primordial element out of which everything else had arisen. Not only this, but he also stated that all things of the universe are unified, such as (as stated in Russel); 'God is day and night, winter and summer’. Heraclitus also wrote ‘On Nature’, which delves into his views of life as a fighting continuous battle.

Part 2 – Socrates, Plato and Aristotle

Socrates
Socrates was a Athenian citizen who spent his time in disputation and thought philosophy to students, however for no some of money.  The story of Socrates is that he gets imprisoned and his friend Crito tries to influence him to escape from prison. Socrates dismisses Crito's statement as he describes how he has a loyalty to his friends and family, feeling the need to face his sentence rather than escaping as Crito tells him to. Socrates describes how he has lived in the city of Athens for a long time and he has benefited from it through such things as education, therefore he must abide by the laws of the city and face his sentence. Essentially, Socrates is arguing Kantain's principles - what if everyone did that? If everyone began escaping from prison, what would happen then. 

This leads us on to the Social Contract. This was 'created' although it was never wrote down, it was merely a spoken agreement which said that without it there would ultimately be a collapse in society. This 'spoken agreement' was in the Leviathan who was a 'biblical monster of unstoppable power'. The power of the Leviathan was limitless and this can then be related easily to the State of Nature.

Plato
Plato can be said to be the greatest student of Socrates and believed similar hypothesis to Socrates himself. Plato believed of a distinct perfect world/universe and his forms are represented in an imperfect way in our world. This idea is shown through Plato's cave analogy where prisoners were forced to stare at the side of the cave and the only world they ever knew was the world of shadows, one day one of the prisoners decided to turn around and saw the 'perfect world' and tried to influence the others to do so. Ultimately he believed that whatever object you saw, for instance your phone, is imperfect and there is a better phone out there in a distant world. This can be related to Heaven and Christianity.
Plato also believed that the soul is organised into three parts;

1. Reason - Knows the forms, and therefore reality

2. Spirit  - Courage, ferocity, aggression - wants honour but does not know what honour is

3. Desire - Constant craving, pushed hopelessly from one desire to another

Aristotle

One of the main points to conquer about Aristotle was that he believed knowledge comes from experience. His method of logic was one of the first available however some downfalls of this method was that it allows false premises to influence conclusions. Logic was part of the Greek science which was presented by the Western World. He -so to speak- 'stuck' by these 3 rules;

1. All men are mortal. 

2. Socrates is a man. 

3. Therefore Socrates is mortal'

This 'craze' of logic also stuck and was eventually taken on by the Catholic Church and was then what was learnt by University students.

Ultimately, this logic ruled out any possibility of new scientific knowledge, therefore changing the way people viewed the world.

Aristotle states that ethical theories can be divided into two separate classes, he takes the view that virtues are means to an end, mainly happiness itself. He believed in the word ‘pleasure’, which Plato had regarded aesthetically. Aristotle states pleasure is distinct from happiness, yet there can be no happiness without pleasure. He believes there are three views of pleasure; 1. That is never good. 2. That some pleasure is good, but most is bad. 3. That pleasure is good, but not the best.

For almost a thousand years after this, civilisation as we know it seemed to 'disappear' with us now having no record of what happened during this time period.

Law Revision Notes

No matter what Chris says, I am nervous about next weeks Law exam. Since completing SATS in year 6, I manage to make a complete moron out of myself before exams, being sick, using my inhaler and now being given special spray to calm me down; brilliant. Although I am certain getting myself this worked up does me no favours and probably makes me perform far worse than if i just chilled for once in my life, I still can't help feeling slightly worried. I am now going to write up some of my revision notes made today -a week before my exam- and will hopefully help these things sink in to me a bit for next week.

- The highest court in the UK is the Supreme Court
- The DPP = Director of Public Prosecutor
- Functions of a Crown Court
  1. Indictable cases
  2. Appeals
- Criminal Offences are things that are against society and the state
- Civil Disputes are things that go on between two people such as divorces etc

- Statue Law is a law that has been inacted in parliment
- Prejudice is in simple terms, pre-judging someone and coming in to a court with pre-ideas about someone
CONTEMPT - denying people a fair trial in anyway
                       - disobeying a judge e.g. when the judge asks you to leave court and you don't
                       - laughing in a hearing etc

When does a case become legally active? We don't know - yes great answer there, but it is the right one

After an arrest has been made, what facts can be reported by us as journalists?
- Name (in most cases)
- Could say about their expression e.g. looked nervous
- Keep to neutral points

DEFAMATION - if something is said that damages their reputation
                            - they are open to hatred/ridicule/contempt
                            - they become shunned or avoided
                            - damage to their occupation occurs


Libel = Publication + Identification + Defemation
10 point test
This test was made by Judge Lord Nicholls in the appeal stage of the Albert Reynolds VS The Sunday Times case in 1999. It was made to ensure that aslong as journalists work without malice and takes responsible steps, they then may be protected from libel.
1. The seriousness of the allegation
2. The nature of the information, and the extent to which the subject matter is of public concern.
3. The source of the information. Some informants have no direct knowledge of the events. Some have their own axes to grind or are being paid for their stories.
4. The steps taken to verify the information.
5. The status of the information. The allegation may have already been the subject of an
investigation that commands respect.
6. The urgency of the matter. News is often a perishable commodity.
7. Whether comment was sought from the claimant. He may have information others do not possess or have not disclosed. An approach to the claimant will not always be necessary.
8. Whether the article contained the gist of the claimant's side of the story.
9. The tone of the article. A paper can raise queries or call for an investigation. It need not adopt allegations as statements of fact.
10. The circumstances of the publication, including the timing.


Some particular events that are protected by qualified privilege are as followed;
- Court
- Parliament
- Local Government
- Common Law

-Fair dealing is when you take someones work e.g. a picture, however you must be fair and attribute them is that's what they ask of you.

-The difference between PCC and Ofcom is that Ofcom relates to Broadcast Journalism and the PCC often deal with print journalism.