http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/nov/30/uk-retailers-cyber-monday-flat-black-friday-internet-shopping-online-sales
This article is about how focus on retailers has shifted onto cyber Monday being a success rather than Black Friday, I think that this is an interesting shift of focus, as the UK has been influenced to do sales on Black Friday despite stemming from America, but it obviously has not been successful I. The uk. Because the guardian is a uk newspaper, it would obviously do a story on a uk centred retail story.
This story shows the shift importance of online shopping taking over traditional shopping.
I also think this story is interesting because it shows the UK's tendency to borrow from American tradition, as Cyber Monday is something spawned from America, from black Friday, I think it's strange to see that the UK follows this trend, albeit to a lesser extent.
Monday, 30 November 2015
Sunday, 22 November 2015
Brussels faces week on lockdown as hunt for terrorist cell intensifies
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/22/brussels-faces-week-on-lockdown-as-hunt-for-terror-cell-intensifies
This article is about the Belgium capital Brussels under week long lock down as a means to hunt for terrorist extremists, this is mostly connected to the Paris attack last week, and it makes many ties to that to make this especially relevant, in particular it mentions the current situation of one of the attacker's and his whereabouts as he's attempting to run away, it mentions how in particular it's believed that the lock down on Brussel and other de facto capitals is because that current raids have not yet found him yet, this piece of information is obviously shocking to others and to me, as it shows the lengths of which they are going to capture this single person.
I believe this article is particularly shocking, as the long duration of lock downs, is causing Schools, work places, and other elements of every lives, to be disrupted because of it. This is exactly the thing that Terrorists like ISIS would want, for the world to be shaped by their actions and people's ways of living to be halted by them, and I think it's kind of disheartening to see that in this sense we have lost to them by almost meeting what they want. Although I am aware that this is a necessary evil to make sure that such an incident does not happen again.
The Guardian is a most relevant news paper because it's a British news paper, meaning that it's relevant to report on what's happening in Europe and surrounding countries.
This article is about the Belgium capital Brussels under week long lock down as a means to hunt for terrorist extremists, this is mostly connected to the Paris attack last week, and it makes many ties to that to make this especially relevant, in particular it mentions the current situation of one of the attacker's and his whereabouts as he's attempting to run away, it mentions how in particular it's believed that the lock down on Brussel and other de facto capitals is because that current raids have not yet found him yet, this piece of information is obviously shocking to others and to me, as it shows the lengths of which they are going to capture this single person.
I believe this article is particularly shocking, as the long duration of lock downs, is causing Schools, work places, and other elements of every lives, to be disrupted because of it. This is exactly the thing that Terrorists like ISIS would want, for the world to be shaped by their actions and people's ways of living to be halted by them, and I think it's kind of disheartening to see that in this sense we have lost to them by almost meeting what they want. Although I am aware that this is a necessary evil to make sure that such an incident does not happen again.
The Guardian is a most relevant news paper because it's a British news paper, meaning that it's relevant to report on what's happening in Europe and surrounding countries.
Friday, 20 November 2015
Christmas advertisements
#1 PayPal Christmas advertisement https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vrAOu37CUY
This advertisement's audience are the adults who own children. Even if the first person account from children, it intends to show to the degree of convenience PayPal would give to getting presents so much so that it changes how Christmas works for their children. The advertisement doesn't care about the impact it would have on children, as it clearly lacks the more innocent and magical aspect of Christmas, being Santa giving the presents to children, and only focuses on the main task that parents have to face at this time
#2 Sainsbury's 2014 advert https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWF2JBb1bvM
This advertisement's audience is much less specific than the previous advert, and instead it focuses more on a general group of people who are aware of one Christmas during WWI where both sides joined together and played football. The advertisement uses this to emotionally impact the person who is watching it, connecting to such a tragic event such as WWI, and their temporary peace, which as a result would make them probably remember this advert, which is loosely connected to Sainsbury, it uses the exchange of food the two main characters have to solidify this, and perhaps give the idea in a viewer's head that the same thing can happen if they buy food and give it to other people
#3 Coca-Cola's Christmas advert https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gMjPezr8TY&feature=player_embedded
Coca cola's advert aims to connect Coca-Cola with Christmas in this advert, they do this by making a Coca-Cola truck suddenly make a town all Christmassy, and people come to see the Coca-Cola truck going by as if it was Santa himself, they even use that child like innocent wonder where one kid goes to see it by himself, and looks at the truck in the centre of the road. The audience is probably children, because there are mainly children excited about seeing a stupid Coca-Cola truck, and they want the children to want to drink it on Christmas.
#4 Toys R Us1986 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2LTSLX6a7Y&feature=player_embedded
This old advert immediately connects itself to the Toys R Us brand with an at the time familiar song they had put in their adverts, the advert manages to advertise itself towards adults as well as children to remind them when they were once a child and would probably think the things Toys R Us are selling would be good for their kid too. The song itself manages to advertise itself in a way that it connects it's brand to these people through the whole of their lives and even when they grow up.
#5 iPhone advertisement https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RtXDPknaQs
This advertisement connects iPhones and Christmas instantly with Santa using it, they may be trying to show how everyone uses an iPhone, even Santa, and they use this to show off a part of the iPhone they were especially at the time, proud of. The audience is obviously people who do not have iPhones, but it's exact age audience is undefined, perhaps it is aiming more for the older audience. as at the end it jokes about how Santa would have billions of 'appointments' to attend to on Christmas if he was real.
This advertisement's audience are the adults who own children. Even if the first person account from children, it intends to show to the degree of convenience PayPal would give to getting presents so much so that it changes how Christmas works for their children. The advertisement doesn't care about the impact it would have on children, as it clearly lacks the more innocent and magical aspect of Christmas, being Santa giving the presents to children, and only focuses on the main task that parents have to face at this time
#2 Sainsbury's 2014 advert https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWF2JBb1bvM
This advertisement's audience is much less specific than the previous advert, and instead it focuses more on a general group of people who are aware of one Christmas during WWI where both sides joined together and played football. The advertisement uses this to emotionally impact the person who is watching it, connecting to such a tragic event such as WWI, and their temporary peace, which as a result would make them probably remember this advert, which is loosely connected to Sainsbury, it uses the exchange of food the two main characters have to solidify this, and perhaps give the idea in a viewer's head that the same thing can happen if they buy food and give it to other people
#3 Coca-Cola's Christmas advert https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gMjPezr8TY&feature=player_embedded
Coca cola's advert aims to connect Coca-Cola with Christmas in this advert, they do this by making a Coca-Cola truck suddenly make a town all Christmassy, and people come to see the Coca-Cola truck going by as if it was Santa himself, they even use that child like innocent wonder where one kid goes to see it by himself, and looks at the truck in the centre of the road. The audience is probably children, because there are mainly children excited about seeing a stupid Coca-Cola truck, and they want the children to want to drink it on Christmas.
#4 Toys R Us1986 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2LTSLX6a7Y&feature=player_embedded
This old advert immediately connects itself to the Toys R Us brand with an at the time familiar song they had put in their adverts, the advert manages to advertise itself towards adults as well as children to remind them when they were once a child and would probably think the things Toys R Us are selling would be good for their kid too. The song itself manages to advertise itself in a way that it connects it's brand to these people through the whole of their lives and even when they grow up.
#5 iPhone advertisement https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RtXDPknaQs
This advertisement connects iPhones and Christmas instantly with Santa using it, they may be trying to show how everyone uses an iPhone, even Santa, and they use this to show off a part of the iPhone they were especially at the time, proud of. The audience is obviously people who do not have iPhones, but it's exact age audience is undefined, perhaps it is aiming more for the older audience. as at the end it jokes about how Santa would have billions of 'appointments' to attend to on Christmas if he was real.
Sunday, 15 November 2015
'This is our 9/11': French Ambassador says Paris attacks are 'act of war' then weeps as opera singer performs her country's anthem
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3319378/This-9-11-French-Ambassador-says-Paris-attacks-act-war-weeps-opera-singer-performs-country-s-anthem.html
This article is about the recent Terror shootings just a few days ago in France. London's French ambassador claims on the BBC, she also describes this tragedy as France's version of 9/11. This article also adds that the Ambassador wept after hearing her anthem, they may have added this in for multiple reasons, one is to shock the person and make them feel sympathetic with what happened, and also to show the impact of the tragedy, which is important to add, as claiming this as an act of war would normally be a drastic statement, and often assumed that when one says this, they are actively seeking war to happen, though this is countered by the fact that she shows genuine remorse and sadness to what happened.
Seeing as the daily mail is a British news paper, it is clear that they would show the tragedy and the impact of the Shooting, and would want you to sympathize with the Ambassador. The author of this article is a Political correspondent of the Daily mail's, which is relevant due to this being a very political concern.
This article interests me due to the fact that this is the aspect they focus on, it's not exactly a topic that a right wing paper like the Daily mail would focus on, but they feel it's needed to be shown anyway, which shows how impacting this tragedy was.
This article is about the recent Terror shootings just a few days ago in France. London's French ambassador claims on the BBC, she also describes this tragedy as France's version of 9/11. This article also adds that the Ambassador wept after hearing her anthem, they may have added this in for multiple reasons, one is to shock the person and make them feel sympathetic with what happened, and also to show the impact of the tragedy, which is important to add, as claiming this as an act of war would normally be a drastic statement, and often assumed that when one says this, they are actively seeking war to happen, though this is countered by the fact that she shows genuine remorse and sadness to what happened.
Seeing as the daily mail is a British news paper, it is clear that they would show the tragedy and the impact of the Shooting, and would want you to sympathize with the Ambassador. The author of this article is a Political correspondent of the Daily mail's, which is relevant due to this being a very political concern.
This article interests me due to the fact that this is the aspect they focus on, it's not exactly a topic that a right wing paper like the Daily mail would focus on, but they feel it's needed to be shown anyway, which shows how impacting this tragedy was.
Sunday, 8 November 2015
Controversial advert by Protein world 'Are you Beach Body ready?'
This was a Billboard ad created by Protein world to promote their 'weight loss' products, it used the slogan "Are you beach Body ready?" and showed slim woman in a bikini accompanying the slogan. The Controversy surrounding this during the time that this advert was shown on Billboards was that people felt like the Advertisement was Body shaming women who were not slim, and that they were specifically targeting these sorts of people to make them feel inferior and that they could not show themselves during the summer, which this advertisement was made, hence causing them to buy their products. A large amount of people wanted this advertisement removed, a Change.org petition was removed to do just this. Protein world and their advertisement campaign were soon investigated, and the advertisement was removed, under the guide lines that it could not appear in the form that it had taken. On top of that there was some minor controversy that Protein world could have been falsely advertising their product, and did not really cause weight loss.
Undelivered letters shed light on 17th-century society
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/08/undelivered-letters-17th-century-dutch-society
This is a very interesting article about the discovery of a leather trunk containing over 2,000 letters, 600 of which that were unopened. that were sent but denied by the the person they were being sent to. These letters are being scanned and identified to discover something about them. The article brings up a few letters that are both very shocking, and interesting, the very first thing they mention is a single letter about a woman who wanted to plead for help due to having a child, but the father denies is, and as they claim, is because he is aware of the matter, they likely used this first letter to make a reader seem very interested and surprised, as so they'd want to read more, making the reader want to be shocked and interested seems to be their main goal as they don't mention anything about the other over 2,000 letters prior, and they try to add to this drama by saying the father "must have suspected it" which implies how they don't really know if that's the truth, but try to make it more dramatic
I think this article is very interesting, as it is not a political issue that you'd usually see in a politically driven news outlet such as the guardian, and instead covers a very interesting discovery about history, there is some relevance to the fact that this article may have been done, because these letters are letters across Europe, which the UK being a part of, makes it somewhat relevant for the Guardian to talk about.
This is a very interesting article about the discovery of a leather trunk containing over 2,000 letters, 600 of which that were unopened. that were sent but denied by the the person they were being sent to. These letters are being scanned and identified to discover something about them. The article brings up a few letters that are both very shocking, and interesting, the very first thing they mention is a single letter about a woman who wanted to plead for help due to having a child, but the father denies is, and as they claim, is because he is aware of the matter, they likely used this first letter to make a reader seem very interested and surprised, as so they'd want to read more, making the reader want to be shocked and interested seems to be their main goal as they don't mention anything about the other over 2,000 letters prior, and they try to add to this drama by saying the father "must have suspected it" which implies how they don't really know if that's the truth, but try to make it more dramatic
I think this article is very interesting, as it is not a political issue that you'd usually see in a politically driven news outlet such as the guardian, and instead covers a very interesting discovery about history, there is some relevance to the fact that this article may have been done, because these letters are letters across Europe, which the UK being a part of, makes it somewhat relevant for the Guardian to talk about.
Friday, 6 November 2015
Censorship in the Media.
Censorship is the act of removing, or blocking out certain information, this act is seen all across the Media and mainly in the news, the way Censorship is used in the Media does not follow a strict guideline nor does it have to heed to any rules, and is often a controversial topic of interest brought up, there are arguments on both sides to claim whether it is thing that should be kept in place, or if Censorship should be out ruled from practises done by the Media completely.
People believe that the Media should have Censorship for a couple of issues found in the Media, particularly when a separate controversial or sensitive issue can arise in the Media, people believe that the suppression of such information can avoid harm to certain people, as people may respond to certain information in a certain way, such as if a person of a specific ethnicity commits murder against someone of another ethnicity, it may bring cause major outrage against the whole community of that ethnicity, and could cause future problems and incidents, making it best to with hold that sort of information, this is also done for specific people, where their name and appearances are removed from the article, as to avoid them to be attacked by those who have responded badly to the news. The opposite side of the argument states how Censorship now in it's current form can be abused to however a news outlet wishes, they can suppress certain information to do with a news story so it looks like one that spreads a certain message that they can agree with, as many News outlets have a left or right wing Bias, Censorship can be used as a ways to promote that Bias. Censorship is also seen as a tool abused by governments to make themselves seem better, if they are doing something they know people won't agree with, a good example of this is during the Vietnam war, America had tried to withhold the information about how they were locked into this war, and tried to ignore certain atrocities that happened. In some countries the abuse of Censorship is so bad that it has gone into extreme propaganda, in places such as North Korea.
The ones who are really controlling what is censored or not are those who are controlling the news stations, and in some cases, it's just one person, as an example many news outlets around the world are in control of Rupert Murdoch, he is just one person with one opinion, and if there is something he does not agree with showing because it goes against what he thinks, he could just not distribute that information. The governments are a main body that can influence Censorship in their country, and as shown before, will do it if they need people on their side and they are doing something they know people won't agree with.
I do not believe Censorship should exist in any form in the Media, the fact that it's allowed already leads to it being abused more than it could be used correctly, and I believe it should be a part of a News outlet's job to present news fully and correctly, no matter how much it goes against what they think, and the costs of Censorship existing are greater than the benefits it presents.
People believe that the Media should have Censorship for a couple of issues found in the Media, particularly when a separate controversial or sensitive issue can arise in the Media, people believe that the suppression of such information can avoid harm to certain people, as people may respond to certain information in a certain way, such as if a person of a specific ethnicity commits murder against someone of another ethnicity, it may bring cause major outrage against the whole community of that ethnicity, and could cause future problems and incidents, making it best to with hold that sort of information, this is also done for specific people, where their name and appearances are removed from the article, as to avoid them to be attacked by those who have responded badly to the news. The opposite side of the argument states how Censorship now in it's current form can be abused to however a news outlet wishes, they can suppress certain information to do with a news story so it looks like one that spreads a certain message that they can agree with, as many News outlets have a left or right wing Bias, Censorship can be used as a ways to promote that Bias. Censorship is also seen as a tool abused by governments to make themselves seem better, if they are doing something they know people won't agree with, a good example of this is during the Vietnam war, America had tried to withhold the information about how they were locked into this war, and tried to ignore certain atrocities that happened. In some countries the abuse of Censorship is so bad that it has gone into extreme propaganda, in places such as North Korea.
The ones who are really controlling what is censored or not are those who are controlling the news stations, and in some cases, it's just one person, as an example many news outlets around the world are in control of Rupert Murdoch, he is just one person with one opinion, and if there is something he does not agree with showing because it goes against what he thinks, he could just not distribute that information. The governments are a main body that can influence Censorship in their country, and as shown before, will do it if they need people on their side and they are doing something they know people won't agree with.
I do not believe Censorship should exist in any form in the Media, the fact that it's allowed already leads to it being abused more than it could be used correctly, and I believe it should be a part of a News outlet's job to present news fully and correctly, no matter how much it goes against what they think, and the costs of Censorship existing are greater than the benefits it presents.
Sunday, 1 November 2015
Unaccompanied young refugees in Europe 'at risk from criminal gangs'
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/01/unaccompanied-young-refugees-europe-traffickers
This story is about the discovery of how refugees who are young children are being targeted specifically for human trafficking by illegal groups, because they are the most defenseless when not accompanied by an adult. This article talks about how the forces to stop human trafficking in the UK are low, such as saying that less than half of police units have a anti-trafficking force, and it also shows how people want more trafficking to be stopped in the UK, the UK relevance of human trafficking is because this news paper is a UK news paper, and while it focuses on events in and around the world, it knows that people reading it because they are from the UK, will only care more if the UK has something to do with it, the article clearly wants the reader to feel sad for the Refugees like all their other articles about them, as they show you why Trafficking is such a problem because it's not an issue focused on, and the fact that the point of the article is about children being affected by trafficking, the article clearly wants you to feel sympathetic, because the Guardian's left wing view influences it to want to take every person into consideration, and takes concern to those who are in a lower position in life
I think this article gives a great idea of the situation of human trafficking, and displays what it's like globally, with a bit of focus on Trafficking in the UK, which makes sense, however the majority of the article is about Trafficking in general, and does not bring much focus to the title, which mentions children in particular, making this article a bit misleading, and was probably only put there for shock value.
This story is about the discovery of how refugees who are young children are being targeted specifically for human trafficking by illegal groups, because they are the most defenseless when not accompanied by an adult. This article talks about how the forces to stop human trafficking in the UK are low, such as saying that less than half of police units have a anti-trafficking force, and it also shows how people want more trafficking to be stopped in the UK, the UK relevance of human trafficking is because this news paper is a UK news paper, and while it focuses on events in and around the world, it knows that people reading it because they are from the UK, will only care more if the UK has something to do with it, the article clearly wants the reader to feel sad for the Refugees like all their other articles about them, as they show you why Trafficking is such a problem because it's not an issue focused on, and the fact that the point of the article is about children being affected by trafficking, the article clearly wants you to feel sympathetic, because the Guardian's left wing view influences it to want to take every person into consideration, and takes concern to those who are in a lower position in life
I think this article gives a great idea of the situation of human trafficking, and displays what it's like globally, with a bit of focus on Trafficking in the UK, which makes sense, however the majority of the article is about Trafficking in general, and does not bring much focus to the title, which mentions children in particular, making this article a bit misleading, and was probably only put there for shock value.
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