Impartiality, Balance and Fairness

We as Journalist believe that information gathering requires Fairness, Balance and Impartiality primarily for ethical reasons in modern day journalism. It is important to be objective in one's judgments rather than objective in order to give a fair and balanced report on a story. If there is act of bias and impartiality it leads to stories which are biased and unreliable and the implication of this could be costly sometimes involving prison or even death. An example is, A news report may not examine in their news coverage other recognisable political parties apart from the Labour Party, Conservative Party or Liberal Democrats, this compromises other political parties and by doing this it becomes unfair and and a biased report going away from the Journalistic code of conduct. For their part, journalists may be unaware of how their own biases can distort their coverage however this is unacceptable for it could prove costly to those being underrepresented.
Balance concerns how equally sides to a conflict are treated relative to one another. It is important that a Journalist remains impartial throughout despite their political, social or moral background through this the audience receives an undistorted report and are therefore allowed to make their own judgements.
It is sometimes considered almost impossible to remain neutral however it is very essential to the successful delivery of a good story.
In my study of Journalism I have found that Impartiality, Balance and Fairness is rarely practised in many newspapers, one example is The Sun newspaper which often promotes xenophobia and nationalism because of its reading demographic, much of its stories a
lack accuracy and truthfulness and has led to lot of libel cases brought against a newspaper which is meant to be a composition of Impartiality,Balance and Fairness.

Government Tackle Elephant Culling Issue

The culling of elephants in the African regions is to take centre stage in the upcoming Cites (Convention on the Trade in Endangered Species) conference, the conference due to take place in a few months has put many countries at loggerhead with the Southern African countries like Tanzania once a supporter of the ban of ivory trade now asking to sell some of its ivory stock.
Bostwana, Namibia, South African and Zimbabwe want to continue in the trade of culling, the pcroposals by some of the countries include "(1)trade in hunting trophies for non commercial purposes" while Tanzania proposes "(2)trade in live specimens for non-commercial purposes to appropriate and acceptable destination" these proposal to the conventions by some of the countries involved demonstrate some form of humanitarianism in terms of financial gain, one of the chief reasons culling continues to take place.
The idea of culling continues to be a controversial topic, South Africa one of the countries involved in the controversy has blamed the rise in the elephant population and has suggested culling as means of preventing the rising growth, Clare Nullis of Associated Press said "The elephant population of 20,00 is growing at a rate of more than 6percent per year, disrupting the delicate biodiversity".
In a statement Environment Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk said "I would have preferred not to consider the option of both culling and contraception"
Wildlife campapigners have called for more humane methods to be sought, Rob Little of the World Wildlife Fund said "we recognize it is a management option and reiterate our view that all other options first be explored.
In an attempt to ban poaching, trade in ivory has been banned, this has drastically cut the amounts of elephants murdered by poachers, however while countries like South Africa suffer from overpopulation countries such as Kenya are suffering from a lack of elephants, the transportation of elephants to such countries has been considered but seen as inhumane and more stressful than death itself on the elephants, other options are still being debated, the issue on culling has gained a mixed reaction, Jennifer Nwankwo currently on a gap year in Kenya said "We seem to talk about elephant overpopulation and resort to murder, the issue of human overpopulation has been discussed but never once has genocide come into the debate" while Justina Aladetun said "We care too much about animal welfare while key priorities such as starving ,uneducated children in Africa goes on unnoticed."
The announcement from the convention is yet to be disclosed.

Commentary

In order to write my article, I had to conduct background research into a topic which was of interest to me, I chose to focus on the current economic situation in the U.K, I first decided to look at the current economic climate in the U.K and get official figures on how much the U.K and get official figures on how much the U.K had been affected by the recession.

This was very important as it was key my article contained factual information and contained some relevance to my story, it was a;so very important that I could reference back to my sources.

I also looked at other internet articles relating to my story and examined their approach to the story, within these articles I examined the angle taken and this helped me in my approach to the story, I compared the presentation of the story by different newspaper and this was helpful in helping me decide my target audience and how my story was going to be presented.

I approached the story on recession with the angle of how it affected property prices as well as food prices in relation to the previous economic climate.

I also included original quotes from people which I interviewed and included their quotes in the articles, I also used quotes from professional to gain a balanced perspective within my article.

My final article was targeted at a working class audience as well as a middle class audience and much of the information within the article was in relation to my target audience, my choice of language is also reflected in my article.

Recession or Depression?

The economic climate is at its worst and is set to experience a period of recession for the first time in  15 years reports warn.

The Deloitte Economic Review said that the housing market would suffer the most with prices falling by 5% this year alone.

The rocketing cost of oil has led to a downturn in the economy with food prices also suffering, an anonymous source from the Bank of England spoke about an economic slump and called for further rates to be cut back.

Mr Luther Mayers a student at Brunel University spoke of the rising cost of food saying, "I could buy my milk without checking my wallet but now everything cost so much its ridiculous and I am only 21", his views were echoed by Elizanne Nelson who also spoke about "rising cost"

Deloitte Economic Review said prices would drop by 8% in 2009, and in comparison to similar economic situation in 2005, the U.K would not be bailed out by the booming world economy which is also suffering a decline.

The pound is said to have fallen to the lowest level in five years and the Bank of England governor Mervyn King has joined the bandwagon forecasting recessions in the World Economy.

The Swiss Bank UBS warned the U.K will suffe the deepest recession of any major economy.

The Road to Success...

The course of Journalism will prove almost invaluable over the next three years, the knowledge we will attain will help us in our quest to be successful Journalist, during discussions we have learnt about what it takes to be a Journalist, one of them being curious and inquisitive and the willingness to question the 'norm'.

I have also learnt the threat the Journalism industry faces, the idea that good old fashion Journalism has begun is dissipate to the detriment of the public and we as future Journalist are facing some form of extinction, we have learnt that the industry has also become very commercial and what was once a job which required time and effort, with an amalgamation of sources, interviews and other forms of evidence to make a story is now considered to be a job with unrealistic deadlines which takes away a lot from the Journalist.

We have already embarked on different Journalistic task such as going round the campus to collect stories and present them to the class, this task involved a group of us interviewing the students on the Brunel Campus, we interviewed them on their financial status and what their expectations of university, although this was quite small scale it gave us an idea of what the world of  Journalism is like, it showed us it requires confidence and determination.

The first lecture was very interesting as we learnt a lot form the lecturer about the world of Journalism, we were also shown a video which again helps to enlighten us.

It is to my advantage to continue attending lectures and learn more about the world of Journalism or 'churnalism' as it was referred to by the journalist in the video.               

What is Journalism?

In order to be a successful Journalist you have to be very inquisitive and continue to question what is seen as the truth, a form of scepticism is needed in order to get what is considered as the truth.

Journalist are given the freedom to question the going on's in the world, we as Journalist's are seen as enquiring minds and it is a job which requires dedication and attention to detail.

The idea of being the voice of the voiceless is in some way a motivation for being a Journalist however being flexible with your ethics and morals can sometimes help you uncover the story which can help change the situation of many in the long,not afraid of hard work, and boring work, and long days is essential to being a Journalist and surviving within the world of Journalism remaining enthusiastic throughout will bring the best out in you.

It takes a lot to be a Journalist, there comes a point where there may be some things you dont agree with however having a 'tough skin' and the endure abuse and name calling will also prove very handy. There comes a point in your career where the financial prospects may not be as appealing as other careers however the experiences along the way will prove invaluable and the realisation that something in life are priceless.