Possible/Practice Questions answered!

Possible Questions:

1. What is the highest court in the UK?　 Supreme Court

Where does it sit? Parliament Square



How many justices? 12

2. Three functions of Crown Courts?　

Appeals from magistrates



Indictable offences



Sentencing

3. Three functions of Magistrates courts?　

Summary cases



Bail application



Committal hearings



Family court



Youth Court



Licensing appeals

4. What is the difference between a civil and criminal offence?

Civil is between individuals and/or companies and criminal is against the state

5. Is the legal test of proof the same or different?

Different – Civil "On the balance of probability" and Criminal "Beyond reasonable doubt"

6. Give 3 sources of law in the UK.

Statute Law



Common Law



Judicial Law



EU Law

7. What do journalists mean by the public interest?
Either: knowledge of information is a sufficiently major benefit t society as a whole
Or:

Promotes accountability and transparency



Furthers understanding of/participation in public debate of issues of the day



Allows individuals/companies to better understand decisions made by public authorities affecting their lives



Brings to light information affecting public health and public safety

8. Briefly explain what is meant by ‘prejudice’ and ‘contempt’ in the context of media law.

Prejudice – where the publication of certain information will make it difficult for an accused person to be treated fairly
Contempt – where information published is in breach of the rules of crime or court reporting and carries a high risk of prejudicing legal proceedings; dealt with by Attorney General Dominic Greeve

9. When does a case become legally active?

When an arrest is made



An arrest warrant is issued



Someone is charged



A summons is issued by magistrates

10. After an arrest is made what sort of facts – in general terms – can be reported?　

Things which will not be disputed at a trial, e.g. that a crime happened and where

11. The accused appears before magistrates – in general terms – what can you report? List them…

Name, age, address and occupation of defendant



Charges



Name of court and judges



If bail is granted



If legal aid was granted



Names of barristers and solicitors present



Date and place case is adjourned to

12. What is meant by an ‘either-way offence?

An offence that can be tried either at magistrates or crown court, usually dependant on the seriousness of allegations as to which

13. What is maximum sentence magistrates can impose?

6 months

14. What is meant by a conditional discharge?

Defendant is not immediately charged unless they re-offend

15. What is the purpose of a ‘Section 49 order’?

Protects anonymity of under 18s in youth court

16. What is purpose of a Section 39 order?

Protects anonymity of under 18s in court

17. What do we mean by ‘jigsaw identification’?

When enough bits of information are published to be able to positively identify someone

18. One morning you arrive at court and barristers are making legal arguments about crucial evidence. You notice the jury isn’t there.　 Can you report the proceedings?

No as it this information could prejudice proceedings

19. What is required of your court report for it to attract absolute privilege?

For reports to be Fair, accurate and contemporaneous/fast

20. In this context explain what is meant by ‘fair’.

Balanced, i.e. not only reporting the defence r prosecution’s side

21. During a murder trial a family member shouts at the defendant from the public gallery. "You lying bastard – you killed our boy!"　 Is that safe to report?

No – can report that shouts were heard but not what is said.

22. How would you define libel?

Libel = Defamation + Identification + Publication

23. How do we know when a statement is defamatory?

It tends to:

Lower them in estimation in the minds of right thinking people



Damages their reputation/disparages their office/trade/business/profession



Exposes them to hatred, contempt or ridicule



Causes them to be shunned or avoided

24. What particular danger is there of libel for TV journalists?

Picture libel – where pictures of people are identifiable in ‘wallpaper’ when discussing a defamatory story, e.g. identifiable pictures of nurses when discussing negligence in hospital

25. What are the 3 major libel defences?

Honest Opinion/Fair Comment



Truth/Justification



Public Interest

26. Something re the McAlpine affair…

Newsnight and subsequent twitter discussions lead to jigsaw identification of Lord McAlpine in false child abuse allegations.

27. Why is the legal principle of privilege so important to journalists?

Protects journalists from potentially untrue or defamatory statements

28. Give examples of occasions when reports may attract Qualified Privilege with, and without, explanation and contradiction.

Public Meetings



Police Statements



Press Conferences



Council Meetings



Press Releases

29. Why was a public meeting in 2000 about the jailed paratrooper Lee Clegg so significant?

Lord Bingham ruled that in regards to a public meeting whereby the press have been invited with intention to addressing a large audience, then journalists will act as the eyes and ears of the public

30. What’s the purpose of copyright law?

Protect intellectual property

31. You use a photo off the internet.　 Is it free of copyright?　

Unlikely; if the image is from a commons site, such as WikiCommons, it is either in the public domain and therefore free to use or a Creative Commons photo which will at least need attribution to be used, as stated in the licence agreement. Photos cannot be used under fair dealing so copyright photos are not safe to use without written permission from copyright holder.

32. Why is the principle of fair dealing important and what are its limitations?

Fair dealing allows journalists to use small snippets of copyright material for the purpose of:

Reporting news/current events



Review/criticism



Parody and satire (as of sometime later this year)

33. What is the purpose of the law of confidence?

Protect private or confidential information

34. What are the danger areas for journalists?

Breach of Privacy (Section 8 Human Rights Act)



Commercial secrets



State Secrets (Official Secrets Act)

35. What dilemma does a journalist face when newsworthy information comes into his or her possession?

Either risk an injunction asking for a response to allegations or risk breaching confidence and potentially libel if allegations turn out to be false

36. What bodies are responsible for regulating the professional conduct of journalists?

OfCom – broadcast
PCC – press – soon to be taken over by IPSO
BBC Guidelines

37. Which body has most power and why?

OfCom as it has statutory power

38. Define impartiality.

Balanced stories without bias
Would there be any difference in your approach to this if you were working in newspapers or broadcasting?


Yes – broadcasters must be impartial but print can be skewed politically as per Editor and/or paper’s style

39. Why is accuracy and impartiality especially important at election times?

Coverage aids the democratic process and helps voters make choices

40. What are the danger areas for journalists during campaign reporting?

False statements about candidates



Maintaining Impartiality



Reporting opinion polls and exit polls

41. Must all candidates standing in a constituency be covered equally?

No – major parties must be treated equally but minor party and independent candidates do not need as much coverage

42. On polling day when can we start reporting exit polls?

Once all polls have closed

43. On polling day a candidate makes a final plea to voters – can we report this?

No

Possible/Practice Questions for Media Law exam

Possible Questions:

1. What is the highest court in the UK? 
1. Where does it sit?
2. How many justices?
2. Three functions of Crown Courts? 
3. Three functions of Magistrates courts? 
4. What is the difference between a civil and criminal offence?
5. Is the legal test of proof the same or different?
6. Give 3 sources of law in the UK.
7. What do journalists mean by the public interest?
8. Briefly explain what is meant by ‘prejudice’ and ‘contempt’ in the context of media law.
9. When does a case become legally active?
10. After an arrest is made what sort of facts – in general terms – can be reported? 
11. The accused appears before magistrates – in general terms – what can you report? List them…
12. What is meant by an ‘either-way offence?
13. What is maximum sentence magistrates can impose?
14. What is meant by a conditional discharge?
15. What is the purpose of a ‘Section 49 order’?
16. What is purpose of a Section 39 order?
17. What do we mean by ‘jigsaw identification’?
18. One morning you arrive at court and barristers are making legal arguments about crucial evidence. You notice the jury isn’t there.  Can you report the proceedings?
19. What is required of your court report for it to attract absolute privilege?
20. In this context explain what is meant by ‘fair’.
21. During a murder trial a family member shouts at the defendant from the public gallery. “You lying bastard – you killed our boy!”  Is that safe to report?
22. How would you define libel?
23. How do we know when a statement is defamatory?
24. What particular danger is there of libel for TV journalists?
25. What are the 3 major libel defences?
26. Something re the McAlpine affair…
27. Why is the legal principle of privilege so important to journalists?
28. Give examples of occasions when reports may attract Qualified Privilege with, and without, explanation and contradiction.
29. Why was a public meeting in 2000 about the jailed paratrooper Lee Clegg so significant?
30. What’s the purpose of copyright law?
31. You use a photo off the internet.  Is it free of copyright? 
32. Why is the principle of fair dealing important and what are its limitations?
33. What is the purpose of the law of confidence?
34. What are the danger areas for journalists?
35. What dilemma does a journalist face when newsworthy information comes into his or her possession?
36. What bodies are responsible for regulating the professional conduct of journalists?
37. Which body has most power and why?
38. Define impartiality.
1. Would there be any difference in your approach to this if you were working in newspapers or broadcasting?
39. Why is accuracy and impartiality especially important at election times?
40. What are the danger areas for journalists during campaign reporting?
41. Must all candidates standing in a constituency be covered equally?
42. On polling day when can we start reporting exit polls?
43. On polling day a candidate makes a final plea to voters – can we report this?

Answers available here

Freedom of Information and Data Protection

Data protection and confidentiality laws are designed to safeguard confidential information.
For journalists, there are 3 areas of concern:

• Revealing state secrets or 'official' secrets
• Revealing commercial secrets
• Revealing facts about a person they would have expected to remain private

Official Secrets Act protects state secrets (e.g. military or intelligence matters) and breaches are a criminal offence. However, the act is rarely used as juries can be reluctant to convict 'whistleblowers' or people who can be seen as 'victims' of the state.
Commercial confidentiality is normally protected by the contract of employment; staff won't do things detrimental to their employer's interests e.g. reveal financial information beneficial to competitors. However, this interest must always be balanced against the public interest which may dictate that it should be published.
Personal confidences or privacy are protected under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
With newsworthy confidential information, journalists (and lawyers) must decide to either:

• Risk an injunction by seeking a response to the allegation

or

• Publish material and risk legal action for breach of confidence and possibly defamation if there is inaccuracy.

The Freedom of Information Act gives you the legal right of access to any piece of information held by most public authorities, unless there is a valid reason. The act covers around 130,000 bodies and around 100,000 requests are made every year costing in the region of £34 million however, only around 12% of these requests are made by journalists.
"Any person making a request for information to a public body is entitled... to have that information communicated to him."
However, access to information can be refused if:

• Costs come to more than £600 (£450 for smaller authorities)
• It is covered by absolute exemption (e.g. court records, security services) - they have no duty to confirm or deny that any information exists
• It is covered by qualified exemption and the balance of public favour does not favour disclosure (i.e. the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information)

There are 23 types of qualified exemption including:

• Likely to jeopardise national security
• Likely to prejudice defence or international relations
• Intended for future publication
• Prejudices the economic interests of the UK
• Might prejudice law enforcement
• Communication with the Royal family

FOI requests should be made in writing, including email. The public authority must respond within 20 days which can go up to 40 days if they need to consider public interest.
If they deny access to information:

• Internal review
• Information Commissioner
• Information Tribunal
• High Court

Useful resources:

• FOI masterclass - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPp_HEFJoHE
• List of authorities covered - http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/http://www.dca.gov.uk/foi/yourRights/publicauthorities.htm
• Previous requests - https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/

Something is in the public interest if it:

• promotes accountability and transparency
• furthers the understanding of/participation in public debate of issues of the day
• allows individuals and companies to understand decisions made by public authorities affecting their lives
• brings to light information affecting public health and public safety

Reporting Elections

During elections, the requirement for broadcasters to be accurate and impartial is at it's most important as our coverage aids the democratic process and helps to allow voters to make a choice. As broadcasters are obliged to maintain strict impartiality, daily coverage and coverage over time must be assessed and logged to ensure that time given to each party is proportional to each party's performance in the previous election and the polls - major party candidates and minor party or fringe candidates do not have to be treated equally.


Whilst journalists do have some privilege n statements from candidates, it is important to check facts and balance all coverage over the election period. The Representation of the People Act 1983 makes it illegal to spread false statements about candidates, so it is important to check accusations made by candidates before reporting them.


When using information from polls in reports, journalists need to be aware that not all polls are equally reliable. They should ensure that they are aware of and talk about the margins of error and the geographic & demographic balance of the sample taken for the poll. 'Straw polls' by the journalist are a good way of adding colour and getting a sense of opinions in a particular area but are not scientific and must not be construed as such. Ensure you include the context and reliability of polls in your reports.


Danger areas for journalists:

• False statements about candidates
• Maintaining impartiality
• Reporting opinion polls and exit polls

NB: It is an offence to refer to exit polls until close of polling. Also, remember that you should not cover political issues or argument on polling day itself.

UK Legal Framework, Reporting Crime and Privilege

Legal Framework

Magistrates Court
(Deal with both civil and criminal matters)

• Summary cases
• Bail applications
• Committal hearings
• Family Court
• Youth Court
• Licensing appeals
• Maximum sentence of 6 months can be given
• Fines up to £5000

Crown Court
(E.g. Old Bailey, Winchester Crown Court, etc.)

• Indictable offences
• Appeals from magistrates
• Sentencing

Supreme Court - Parliament Square   
 

Standards of Proof

• Criminal case - against the state - "Beyond reasonable doubt"
• Civil case - between individuals/companies - "On the balance of probability"
  

Sources of Law

• Statute law
• Judicial law
• Common law
• EU law
  

Types of Offence

• Summary - Least serious offences (e.g. parking offences, etc.) and are only heard at Magistrates.
• Either Way - e.g. theft, burglary, assault, etc. can be heard at either Magistrates or Crown court, depending on seriousness of allegations.
• Indictable-only - Most serious offences (e.g. rape, murder, robbery, etc.) and are only heard at Crown court. They carry a sentence of 5 or more years.
  

Important People and Organisations

• Crown Prosecution Service (CPS)
• Director of Public Prosecutions - Alison Saunders
• Minister of Justice - Chris Grayling
• Attorney General - Dominic Greeve
  

Reporting Crime
Beware of:
Prejudice - where the publication of certain information will make it difficult for an accused person to be treated fairly at trial i.e the jury already knows background facts about the defendant
Contempt - where information is published in breach of the rules on crime or court reporting.  High risk of prejudicing legal proceedings.


A case becomes legally active when:

• Someone is arrested
• An arrest warrant has been issued
• A person has been charged
• A summons is issued by magistrates

Things to be aware of in court reporting:

• Whilst court proceedings are covered by absolute privilege, things said by those in the public gallery are not
• If the jury is not present, proceedings should not be reported
• Section 49 - grants anonymity to under 18s in Youth Court
• Section 39 - grants anonymity to under 18s in Court

7 reportable points at magistrates hearings:

• Name, age, address and occupation of defendant (needed for positive identification)
• The charges
• If bail is granted
• If legal aid was granted
• Names of Court and Magistrates
• Names of solicitors and barristers present
• Date and place to which case is adjourned

Privilege
Absolute privilege - protection on all matters from court or parliament
Qualified privilege - day to day protection against malice & potentially untrue statements in things such as police statements, press conferences, public meetings, press releases, council meetings, etc.
However, reporting must be fast (in first available edition of publication), accurate and fair (not bias) to maintain privilege.

Libel and Defamation

Defamation + Identification + Publication = Libel


Something is defamatory if it tends to:

• Lower someone in estimation in the minds of right thinking people
• Damages someone's reputation/disparages them in their business/profession/trade/employment
• Causes them to be shunned or avoided
• Exposes them to hatred, contempt or ridicule

Defences:

• Truth/justification (with 'proof')
• Honest opinion/fair comment (based on facts true at the time of publishing)
• Public interest (knowledge of event is sufficiently major benefit to society as a whole)
• Privilege

However, something cannot be defended if it is written with malice.


As Libel is a civil matter, there is a lower standard of proof - "On the balance of probability"
However the new Defamation Act 2013 means that those claiming to have been libelled must prove that the publication has caused them "serious harm."


Picture Libel: where pictures published alongside a statement or allegation appear to suggest that identifiable people in the shot are involved or responsible (e.g. shots of city workers when discussing insider trading, etc.)


Jigsaw identification can also lead to libel e.g. Lord McAlpine vs. BBC - whilst not identified outright, the information given in various publications lead to him being identifiable as an alleged child abuser on Newsnight; this libellous rumour spread on twitter and caused serious harm.

Codes of Practice and Ethics

Journalists are governed by regulatory bodies, as well as by the law, in an effort to "guard the guardians." The codes and guides cover journalistic behaviour in getting a story and denote what is and isn't justified:

• How far can we go to get a story?
• What practices are legitimate?
• When do circumstances make a difference?

The codes help to guide journalists with what is in the public interest and what is legal and ethical. Ethical behaviour is important as it protects the trust between readers/viewers/listeners and not only the journalist but the organisation they work for and the media in general. This is important as without trust, the publication cannot succeed e.g. after the News of the World phone hacking scandal, so much trust was lost in the paper that it was not worth continuing running the paper, hence its closure.


Different Regulatory Bodies


Press Complaints Commission (PCC) - newspapers and magazines - whilst this is still in operation at the moment, the PCC is to be superseded by a new organisation following the phone hacking scandal and Leveson inquiry.
Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) - newspapers and magazines - similar to the PCC, IPSO is a voluntary organisation that is independent of both government and the press and is set to take over from the PCC.
The Royal Charter - newspapers and magazines - statutory regulation of the press; condemned by some as having the potential to impact upon the freedom of the press.
BBC Editorial Guidelines - BBC - self-regulatory body governing the BBC.
Office of Communications (OFCOM) - Broadcasters - Independent licencing body with statutory powers. Does have powers over the BBC but usually complaints are handled internally (see above).
National Union of Journalists (NUJ) Code of Conduct - union


Examples of key areas covered:

• Requirements for Accuracy & Impartiality*
• Ethical Behaviour
• Fair Treatment
• Protection of vulnerable groups

OFCOM Powers


Include:

• Direction not to repeat programme
• Corrections or findings must be broadcast
• Impose fines - up to 5% revenue
• Revoke Broadcast Licence

Impartiality


Whilst impartiality is a requirement for broadcast, it is not a prerequisite within print. Broadcast news needs to be absent of bias and preconception and should consider the various "axes of debate".


Examples of Unethical Behaviour


Sachsgate - BBC Trust suspended Jonathan Ross for 12 weeks and set up a register for "high-risk" programmes.
Ant & Dec phone in - fined £5.6 m for abusing phone-in votes to make money.
McAlpine affair - The BBC apologised and paid McAlpine £185,000 in damages plus costs which he donated to charity.

Copyright and Fair Dealing

Why is Copyright important in Journalism?
Copyright laws protect people's intellectual property. This is important in two different ways in journalism. The first is that it means our work is protected from what essentially amounts to theft. Secondly, it means we have to be careful about how and when we use other people's work within our own.


Fair Dealing
The second point sounds problematic, however 'Fair Dealing' exemptions allow us to use other people's work under certain circumstances:

• To report current events - you can lift important parts/major themes, etc of stories & quotes from rivals but it must be attributed, in the public interest and follow fair dealing rules.
• For the purpose of review
• To parody* a piece of work

To use other people's work under one of the exemptions, you must give attribution (credit) to the copy right holder, use no more than a 30 seconds of clips (as an absolute maximum) from each work and, in certain circumstances, the piece is removed after a certain amount of time (e.g. once it is out of the news). Stills, however, cannot be used under 'Fair Dealing' so to use these you must get permission from the copyright holder or find a photo with a creative commons licence to use instead.

In the features section of WINOL, fair dealing is an important part of our work. In one of our recent articles "Top 5 Greatest Love Songs" by Joe Rutterford we used the 'review' exemption within fair dealing to use clips from songs. This meant we had to be careful with the length of the clips and the way they were used; as we are using it for the purpose of review, we must add relevant description and comment over the top of the clips and ensure that each is no longer than about 25 seconds. Some of the clips run a little longer than this and there are some gaps in the commentary in which the music swells which could be potentially risky. Another issue found was finding images to go in the video. The original images used were not all under a creative commons licence and none were credited properly which meant it was in breech of copyright law. By searching creative commons websites and attributing over the top of the pictures, we removed this issue.

Another example of copyright concerns is "My Valentine's Lipstick" by Maria Almeida. When Maria pitched her idea, she expressed concerns that by doing something similar to someone else's work we were breaking copyright law. However, copyright protects people's work, not their ideas meaning we could do something very similar but not just take their work. We then had to find a song that was either under the creative commons or that we could get written consent to use. Maria contacted a band and was told she could use the song so long as some credit was given, which was done in the opening credits of the video.


Parody Problems
Currently, parody is not an included exemption for copyright, although a Government Consultation
following the Hargreaves Review (2011) has proposed a parody exemption [1] which could take affect as soon as 6th April this year [2][3]. According to the intellectual Property Office, the aim of the new exception is to "give people in the UK's creative industries greater freedom to you others' works for parody purposes"[4] but how the definition of fair dealing will affect peoples ability to use copyrighted materials for parody is still unclear [5].

At the moment, if copyright on a parody is called into question, it is settled in court on a case by case basis.


***


Resources:
[1] http://www.ipo.gov.uk/ipresearch-parody-report2-150313.pdf
http://www.ipo.gov.uk/ipresearch-parody-report3-150313.pdf
[4] http://www.ipo.gov.uk/techreview-parody.pdf
http://www.ipo.gov.uk/ipresearch-parody-report1-150313.pdf
[5] http://www.lawcareers.net/Information/BurningQuestion/Taylor-Wessing-New-parody-exception-is-imitation-the-sincerest-form-of-flattery
[2] http://www.marketinglaw.co.uk/media-and-ip/new-parody-copyright-exception-by-easter-2014?cat_id=4
[3] http://www.out-law.com/en/articles/2013/december/uk-copyright-reforms-to-take-effect-in-april-2014/

Final Year Project

Critical Reflection

For my Final Year Project, I took over as Editor of the features section of WINOL from the 16th December until 16th March with the intention of using my editorial experience and journalism skills to improve the quality of the content and the forward planning of articles as well as circulation of the magazine through the use of social media, advertising and social media. After a discussion with my tutor I also added the challenge to organise a re-launch event for the magazine that included special celebrity guests and to write a series of articles to accompany the other students work for the magazine.

The first month was spent researching both other online student editorials and magazines that looked at the areas covered by our magazine section, looking into article ideas and pegs and preparing the site so that it would be ready to be used at the beginning of the semester, as documented in the accompanying scrapbooks.

After gathering the team together for the first features meeting, my tutor and I discussed with the team the possibility of changing the format from a very text focused format to video after the success the previous semester of Access Winchester. This would increase the multimedia aspect of the site, which had proved popular in the past, and make the features section more modern and innovative but would require a very abrupt change of plans. After much debating, the new style was adopted and I spent time over the week briefing my team in detail as none of them had filmed for Access Winchester before and, as the majority were MAs, had little to no experience in filming packages. Together, we went through examples of previous Access Winchester videos, going through the style and structure and highlighting both the techniques used and the things to improve upon or adopt when filming. I also took the opportunity to explain SEO checking, how to upload and save work and the importance of using creative commons photos & not breaching copyright amongst other things. The feedback I received from the group was very positive and they seemed happy and prepared to use this format. However, after further discussions the following week with my tutor, the structure was changed again as we had not factored in the inexperience of the team when it came to using cameras. This would mean that the quality of the videos were unlikely to be up to standard and therefore having a high quality, regular video published on the site would be difficult. Instead, as we had such a small and fairly inexperienced team, a plan to merge the features and news sites by making the features a column section was put into place.

With these changes and delays, it has been difficult to follow my original plans. For example, the event was no longer relevant and there was not a place in either of the new structures for my original article idea. However this taught me a great lesson in adapting and, after the original change in structure, I changed my article to a weekly video package called “Hanniversaries” based around the idea of “On This Day” style features but taking a more comic view of the week anniversaries of major events that week. When this was changed, I found that I needed to spend a lot more time guiding my team than I had anticipated and this, combined with the fact there was not a section for me to write for, made me decide to work a lot closer with the team rather than spend time writing my own articles.

Where my focus has fallen upon improving the content and training the team, plans improve the circulation of the features and the number of page views we have received have slipped. Partially, this is because working out the views for the features section has been difficult since integrating it into the news site and so figures collected should be treated with a pinch of salt. Other contributing factors could include that the content has not been very regularly updated and many articles have not been SEO checked which should have boosted its position in search engine results. However I believe the major factor is that the work on the features section was not publicised on social networking sites very well which, from previous experience as the Social Media Editor of WINOL, I know is often a major factor in the success of a site or an article’s viewing figures. Becoming too focused on helping the team and the content of the site, I neglected to use social media in a way that would aid our features section’s circulation and reputation which has lowered the average number of page views.

Originally, when the features site was separate, tracking the statistics was possible using the ‘SlimStat’ plugin on the WordPress site which would tell us the overall page views, most popular sections and sources from which our audience would get to our work amongst other data. However, by moving the features to become a part of the news site obtaining accurate figures for the page views specifically of our section was tricky and the solution that I found of finding out the percentage of views for our category and using that with the average page views of the site is not a very accurate science. Even baring this in mind though, the figures for features do not make for good reading with an average before Christmas of around 116 views per day dropping to an average of 45 per day over the past month. However compared to the previous month, this average has almost doubled from 28, which shows that interest in the work of the features team has improved significantly over time.

It is likely that the reason interest in features has increased over time is down to the fact that overall quality of the content has improved. At the very beginning, there were a lot of legal issues surrounding copyright and malice. In some of the first few articles, the images used were copyright rather than creative commons licenced which meant the pictures were essentially stolen. Whilst I noticed this and did not publish it, either the journalist or another person with access to the posts and the ability to publish them put it up briefly. This highlights another issue that I came across whilst working on the features section: ineffective communication. Where the roles this semester were less defined than in the last and sometimes overlapped, some articles were published by subs on other teams before I was able to properly approve the overall article which meant that some articles were not as high quality as I would have liked when originally published. Another thing that has been difficult for similar reasons is keeping the front page section for the columnists up to date; as I was not trained to do this and the front page editor was reluctant to teach me, I had to rely on her to edit it in a way that I felt was appropriate. Whilst this was done, it made the task much more complicated than was necessary.

The overall experience of being the features editor has taught me a lot about both planning and adapting said plans to fit in with altering circumstances and reminded me of the importance of social media in increasing circulation of editorial websites. It has also reinforced in my mind the importance of clear communication and job roles, effective leadership and good legal and ethical training in the journalism world. If I were to do this project again, I would use social media more effectively, try to improve the use communication and hierarchy to make it more efficient, keep the features on its own separate site to make tracking progress of the features site easier and ensure that plans and structure were firmly in place a lot earlier in the process to avoid wasting time at the beginning of the process. I would also suggest that a lot off difficulties arise from having your FYP overlap with course teaching and training as many of the aims and needs of each are opposing, making merging the requirements for each tricky and resulting in some aims having to be neglected.


Research Scrapbooks: