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Covid-19: Disabled People Face Employment Barriers

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Katie Mitten logo
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30 March 2021
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People with disabilities will find it harder to get jobs due to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, a new report says.

This is expected to further exacerbate pre-existing employment barriers.

For many disabled people, there is a higher of risk of catching the virus, making employers reluctant to hire them because of safety concerns. 

The Zero Project – a non-governmental organisation advocating disability-inclusiveness – says that Covid-19 is speeding up the transition to a digital economy. As people with disabilities generally experience lower levels of education and training, it is essential that the necessary skills are provided to ensure equal access to new digital jobs.  

Caroline Casey, moderator of the Zero Project Conference, also spoke about the opportunities presented by the pandemic.

“In the last year we have seen the business system flex, adapt and change because it had the intention and willingness to do so.

“Companies that thrived in the pandemic are those that equally included people with disabilities and so we no longer need to make the case for employing that innovative talent”.

Adopting systems such as remote working, flexibility and adaptability in the workplace have long been sought by the disabled community. The Zero Project hopes to lead the way in creating a digitally inclusive workplace that will benefit all.

Growing up LGBT+ in the Twenty-First Century

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30 March 2021
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Russell T Davies' hit TV show It’s a Sin is a hard-hitting account of the injustices and gay shaming that plagued the LGBT+ community throughout the 1980s.

But what has it been like to grow up as an LGBT+ person in the twenty-first century? An LGBT+ kid in Coventry?

For thirty-three-year-old Michael Mullen, it was one of the most challenging times in his life.

“I found school incredibly difficult. I didn’t know how bad it would be from one day to the next and nine times out of ten I would go home feeling really down”.

He believed he was a target for bullies at secondary school because he had a voice and ‘feminine’ mannerisms.

The bullying was not limited to the playground, and he recalls having homophobic slurs thrown at him on the school bus regularly.

“It was difficult because I didn’t even know my own sexuality at the time”.

Michael’s mental health deteriorated throughout this period leading him to self-harm and he believes if he didn’t have his older brother to confide in, he may not have been here now.

Unfortunately, this is not uncommon. In 2017, a report by Stonewall found that 61% of LGB pupils had deliberately harmed themselves because of school bullying while 22% had attempted to take their own life. For trans pupils these figures were higher, rising to 84% and 45% respectively.

Though experiences of homophobic and biphobic bullying at school have declined since Michael went to school, LGBT+ young people are still twice as likely to be bullied as their heterosexual peers. Perhaps just as worrying, a 2017 report by NIESER found that 83% of serious incidents committed against them would go unreported. Common reasons given were ‘it happens all the time’, ‘nothing would change’ or ‘it wouldn’t be taken seriously enough’.

Robbie Young (33), a former National Union Students LGBT+ Officer, understands the negative impact this can have on LGBT+ young people. As a teenager, he internalised a lot of shame as a consequence of relentless bullying at school and Air Cadets for being gay.

The lack of support Robbie received at these institutions and a fear of how his family and peers might react to him embracing his sexuality, eventually played a part in his decision to leave Coventry.

“Moving away for me was a way of becoming who I wanted to be. If I had gone to Coventry University, I’d still be in the same street hiding who I was.

“You are made to feel bad about who you are, who you love, and how you feel”.

As Robbie progressed through university, he was able to relieve some of the shame he felt growing up and he channelled this into creating positive changes for the LGBT community.

“It took a long time to get rid of that shame and I didn't join my LGBT society in my first-year because I didn't see the point. I was one of those people who would say, ‘Oh, I'm gay, but I'm not that gay’.

“I started campaigning when I realised there is so much wrong with society. I began to realise I was not the problem.

“If I had stayed in Coventry, I am not sure how involved or outspoken I would have been on gay rights or LGBT rights in general”.

For thirty-two-year-old Katie Sullivan, her experience of school differed to both Michaels and Robbies which she puts down to the lack of knowledge surrounding LGBT relationships.

“I didn’t hear of any gay people, so I never had a chance to explore it myself. It was just never a thought process, I thought I was straight.

“Everyone used to fancy my boyfriend at school, and I thought I must do too.

“But you don’t understand that feeling [sexual attraction] until you have actually had it”.

For Katie, anxiety came when she had to tell some of her close friends about her sexuality, aged 19. Growing up, they had shared intimate moments and she feared it would change the relationship between them.

“I was really scared they might think it was because of them… that it was something deeper rooted.

“It was difficult for them at the start and they didn’t really grasp it 100%. They were a bit bemused because I had been with men, like many people were.

“This is why people can have a massive lack of empathy because unless they have physically been through something themselves, it is difficult to put themselves in that mind frame”.

Fast forward to 2021 and how LGBT-inclusive is the UK as a whole?

The latest LGBT survey carried out in 2017, showed that just over half of its respondents (56%) felt comfortable being LGBT+ in the UK. Two thirds (68%) still avoided holding hands in public for fear of negative reactions, and 40% had experienced verbal harassment or threats of violence in the year preceding the survey.

For Robbie, education and dispelling the myths around LGBT+ people is key to tackling discrimination.

“My view on life is different from 20 years ago and I believe in compromise, co-operation and negotiation.

“If someone were to say they didn’t like LGBT plus people, I’d ask them exactly what it is they didn’t like.

“I know I’m not going to meet everyone’s view, but there are lots of stuff that people can agree on and as long as it's consensual, safe, and legal, then what’s the point?”

Robbie now works as governor for a school in Manchester which he is proud to say have fully embraced LGBT-inclusivity into its education.

From summer 2021, all schools in England – including independent and faith schools – must teach LGBT+ content in Relationships and Sex Education (RSE), in line with government guidance set out by the Department of Education (DfE) in 2019.

As every young person should receive an education that reflects the full diversity of the world around us, let us hope these changes bring our LGBT+ young people a future without exclusion.

Myanmar: At least 18 dead in latest security crackdown

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04 March 2021
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At least 18 people have died in Myanmar as violence from security forces intensifies on day two of an aggressive crackdown.

Shots were fired into crowds of anti-coup protesters in several cities including Yangon, Dawei and Mandalay. Tear gas was also used in several locations.

Over 1000 individuals have been arrested for opposing the military coup d’état that overthrew the National League for Democracy Party on 1 February.

Protests had remained largely peaceful until now.

In a statement released today, Ravina Shamdasani of the United Nations Human Rights Office said: “We strongly condemn the escalating violence against protests in Myanmar and call on the military to immediately halt the use of force against peaceful protestors.

“We reiterate our call for the immediate release of all those arbitrarily detained, including members of the democratically elected government”.

One million march for people’s vote

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23 March 2019
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A million people from across the UK demonstrated in London calling for a second referendum or "People's Vote" on Brexit.

Alex Gander, a manager at Boots in Kings Cross said, “We weren’t given enough information in 2016 but now after three years, I realised that I was completely wrong to vote for leave and this is time to correct my decision.”

The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said on TwitterL “The British people didn't vote for a bad Brexit deal. The British people didn't vote for a no-deal Brexit. It's time to give us - the British people the final say.” He added, “Enough is enough - it's time to give the British public the final say on Brexit.”

Laura Gs, marketing officer at Costa in Birmingham, held a placard with words written “voice of Remainers”. She said: “People are really in mental disturbance since this referendum has been done with the ambiguous situation of a country. We are not sure about jobs and especially the NHS if no deal Brexit happens.”

John Buckley, a mental health researcher from Glasgow, said: “People want to get out from the uncertain situation on Brexit and the Government needs to put a vote for people and let them decide rather than a group of elites.”

The Labour MP, Dr Rosena Allin-Khan, said: “We are not asking the elites to decide, we want the decision to be put back to the people.”

Wearable Technology Show 2019 – live coverage

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12 March 2019
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Live reports from the Wearable Technology Show in London. 


ZACHARY ZHOU  4.58pmreporter zach

BikeHud is the world’s only augmented reality head-up display motorcycle helmet. It can display speed, distance and route and was created using 3D printing technology. Inventor Jon Samwell claims: “It’s the safest helmet worldwide.” Samwell is also developing a smart wristband, which can show heart rate and blood pressure to monitor health on a long journey.


JOSE PEDRO ABREU  4.03pmreporter pedro

Patient Voice is an online platform for users of health services to give easy and immediate feedback. Dr Waheed Hussain explained that users can send anonymous opinions through Patient Voice, which collects the data and sends it to the organization concerned. “The main objective is to improve whatever complaints the users have and there are already some cases where the complaints were addressed”, Hussain said. In the last sixth months Patient Voice has expanded to 16000 public and private companies. “This is just a way to make it easy as possible for both the organizations and the users”, says Hussain.

patient


MATTIE JAMES  3.19pmreporter mattie

Smart watches can help retailers sell a third more, according to intelligence company Inovretail. Sales VP Laszlo Csibi says “smarter technology” has been found to improve customer service and organisation in retail companies. "People who are attending to customers with a smart watch sometimes sell 30% more than their peers,” Csibi said. Inovretail also found that if stock control used smart watches, it encouraged store assistants to use them. “We didn’t have to encourage the shop assistants to use the technology,” Csibi said. “When our CTO was sent the result and they reviewed it with the client, they said that 'There must have been a mistake'”. Inovretail has yet to expand beyond Europe but Csibi insisted that the company seeks to expand globally. “We’re looking at a global takeover,” he joked.

invoretail


ZACHARY ZHOU  2.14pmreporter zach

Students from Hong Kong have designed a virtual reality game that encourages people to use fewer plastic bags. The presents a virtual underwater world and shows how rubbish can harm turtles in the sea. The team had to design the interaction between the different objects to make the game feel real. "We want students to learn about environmental problems," said Evan C. W. Chu, the senior teacher of students’ team. "We have to protect sea turtles, which are very important to the whole world, as well as other species." The teacher said many kids did not care much about global environmental issues because they were to complex and seemed too remote. "But they presented their care and love about other species and our planet – it’s quite significant." The students won first runner-up prize in the VR Game Design Competition in 2018.

hk


LUYU CHEN  1.47pmreporter hazel

VR is aiding city planning in Russia, says Ivan Puzyrev, head of AR/VR department at Strelka KB. Stakeholders can view a virtual scene and use buttons to show what they like (green) or hate (red) to provide feedback to developers. The future plan is to provide more services for citizens so they can participate in city construction.

urban


JOSE PEDRO ABREU  1.30pmreporter pedro

The Lancet Digital Health Online Journal will go live in April. The open access journal from the publishers of the medical journal The Lancet is dedicated to publishing original research, comments and correspondence . The main aim will be to promote digital techonologies in health practice worldwide. Some of the subjects covered will be research on digital technology in clinical medicine, public health and global health. The monthly publication will help build and strenghten the relationships between health professionals and researchers.

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Stress and Students

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Features
21 January 2019
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Engineering student Ahmad sits, alone in his room, staring at a bottle of sleeping pills. Taking all those pills, he thinks, will solve all of his problems.

In 21 August 2017 the National student survey revealed that 82% of students at UK universities suffer from stress and more worrying than that, one in five students have had suicidal feelings. Students who have poor organizational skills tend to experience more stress in schools and colleges, usually because they are not properly prepared for the challenges ahead of them. Lack of support from parents and teachers can also add a lot of stress in students and they may feel that a lot is expected from them. This is a cause of stress that can affect hard working students in particular. 

“Student’s stress is higher than general public,” says Doctor Abdullah Umer Rehan Physiatrist in city hospital Peterborough. “Approximately 80% in random stressed students did not get the mental health care they needed, stressed students cannot learn and also that stressed students are more abused more than others when they are in stress.” 

There is no specific treatment for stress. “But there are some treatments which could help,” says Dr Abdullah. “Talking with trained professionals can help you learn to deal with stress; Cognitive behaviour therapy is a type of talking treatment which helps you”. The expert also left some advice for people who are struggling with this problem: “Talk with someone who could not judge you, do some exercise. Swimming is a better option, watch entertaining movies, spend time with family, read books, do not stay alone, try to be social and creative, try to love yourself, these things, help to resolve complicated feelings or try to find a way to live with them.” 

Stress manifests itself when people feel burdened and they do not know how to overcome those problems. Some students have study tension when their exams are near or when their projects deadlines are closing, and in many cases, students stress more about their love life then their studies. There is also work tension, when people feel big amounts of pressure to finish their tasks in the intended. 

“I am always in stress because I have a lot of pressure from University,” says Muhammad Pasha, a physiotherapy student at Coventry University. He complains stress has taken over his life and that all he does is think about university tasks and little more than that. He even claims that they gave me a lot of work to do, “I have a lot of assignments, presentations, and exams, I cannot eat properly I cannot sleep properly, I have a lot of pain in my shoulders, my mind always stuck in studies. Sometimes I motivate myself saying that these problems are temporary, but somehow I am not getting out of this problem”. 

Ahmad, the mechanical engineering student from University of central Peterborough thought seriously about suicide due to all the pressure he was feeling but he never took those sleeping pills. “I could not handle the pressure of work and study at same time; this pressure brings anxiety, depression, tension and stress together and I cannot manage both things. With this I feel pain in my shoulders, I feel lazy and I get headaches. I’m also irritated by usual things, sometimes I cannot even breathe easily. Some days ago, I visited my family doctor, who claimed this was all because of stress, he gave me some medicines and further recommended me to join the gym, and go out for morning walks to get rid of this problem”.

Ahmad is doing better and with a smile on his face he confesses that “I’m feeling better now because i have finished my exams”. 

Anatomy of an eyewitness report

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How to
12 November 2016
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You never know when a news story might present itself to you – so as a journalist it pays to be prepared, and keep your nose for news well-honed.

When I found myself, unexpectedly, in the middle of a breaking news story here’s what I did.

0811: On the train

At Wolverhampton railway station I boarded the late-running 0809 Arriva Wales Trains service towards Birmingham, where I planned to change for a train to Coventry. There was nothing to suggest anything amiss.

0825: Alarm is raised

Like most of the passengers on the train I had no idea what was going on when an alarm sounded. Usually these things are false alarms, or someone is ill and needs to leave the train for medical attention, so nothing for anyone else on the train to worry about. I was near the back of the train and the train manager, and a British Transport Police officer who I’d seen board the train at Wolverhampton, both hurried past towards the front – but in itself that was no real cause for alarm or interest.

The first I knew of a story ‘with legs’ was when passengers started filing down the gangway, and I overhead some saying they had been told to leave the front carriages – because the train was on fire.

I looked at my watch.

Whenever you report on anything, you need to get as many facts as you can and try to answer the six key news questions – Kipling’s ‘six honest serving men’ – who, what, when, where, how and why. One of the facts I could easily establish was when these events were taking place, so I made a mental note of the time.

The train then stopped at Smethwick Rolfe Street station and we were asked to leave both the train and the station. By the time the doors were open I’d grabbed my phone and started up the camera app to get a shot of the train as I left. But there was no way I could grab a picture without impeding other people trying to get out of the station. So I followed the crowd up the staircase to Rolfe Street.

As I queued for the stairs I counted the number of passengers ahead of me and looked back to estimate how many more were still to come. When I finally reached the top I saw one of the station staff coming down carrying two fire extinguishers – and made another mental note.

0835: Off the train

Rolfe Street passes over the station on a bridge. From the bottom it looked like there might be a good view over the train from the bridge, but now I was at the top I could see that most of the train was obscured by trees. But I could see there was a bank on the other side of the tracks that might give me a view over the scene.

I heard emergency vehicle sirens and guessed it would be a fire engine, so I crossed the road to get a shot of the fire engine in front of the station buildings, and noted the time it arrived – 0836. 

0838: Photos and notes

A second fire engine arrived two minutes later, and then fire service personnel and police started closing Rolfe Street. I got pictures of the fire engines being moved and signs being placed on the street.

I now had plenty of facts and could imagine there would be more to come. So I found my notebook and pen and started noting down all the things I’d seen and heard – the time of the alarm on the train, the actions of the train manager and policeman on the train, comments made by passengers as we left the train, the arrival time of the fire engine and so on.

I also made notes of comments passengers were making as they passed by, saying they had been advised a bus service would be provided, though it wasn’t known when, and that an alternative was to walk down the road to Galton Bridge station and catch another train from there. I didn’t end up using this information in the story – but it was useful to know how to continue my own journey later.

I tweeted and emailed pictures to some local news organisations, though I don’t think they picked up the story. Maybe trains catch fire all the time in Smethwick.

Update: Expressandstar.com used two of my pictures with a story they posted later that day.

By now I realised I was going to be late for my meeting, so I called in to apologise.

0850: Surveying the scene

I walked across the bridge to the other side of the tracks and turned left at the end to look for the bank I had identified earlier which might give me a view over the scene. A couple of minutes’ walk and I had found it. I clambered up the grassy bank – frightening away a breakfasting rat – and found I had a good view over the stricken train. Unfortunately the pictures I could get from there had little to indicate the train had a problem – unless you could spot the blue lights of the fire engine through the trees on the far side of the train. But at least I now had a clear shot of the train.

0853: Researching the background

It was a 10-minute walk to Galton Bridge station, where I could take another train towards Birmingham. I shot a picture of the police cars that had closed off the end of Rolfe St as I walked past. Then as I continued towards Galton Bridge I started to wonder about Arriva Trains Wales’ safety record, and the quality of its trains – which I’ve used a lot, and they’ve always struck me as old and a bit dishevelled. So I started doing a bit of internet searching while I walked.

I quickly unearthed a recent report on Wales Online where Arriva Trains Wales’s policy director Roger Cobbe told a Commons committee that the company’s trains were the oldest in Britain, and a constant challenge to keep running reliably.

0925: Story could have gone online

I wasn’t under pressure to get the story written for an online news outlet, so I set about resuming my journey to Coventry, via Galton Bridge, Snow Hill and New Street. If I worked for a news website I’d have found somewhere I could sit and work and typed up the story, and I reckon the first version would have been online in half an hour. I downloaded pictures from my phone to laptop, cropped and resized them in Photoshop, and posted them online along with the 450-word story. It would have been online just about an hour after the incident began.

Be ready for news

  • Charge up your phone at every opportunity, so when you’re at the scene of an incident you’ve got as much battery life as possible.
  • Shoot stills and video if you can – if you’re using your phone hold it horizontally.
  • Always carry a notebook and pen.
  • Think ahead of the situation – what’s about to happen and what information or pictures will you need at that moment? Think about how you can prepare.
  • Keep your eyes and ears open. Listen to what people are saying, look around for details to add colour to your story – like the Victorian bridge, and the column of smoke.
  • In your story, try to answer the six important questions – who, what, when, where, how, why. Remember the reader wasn’t there, so they need you to tell them everything they need to understand the situation. Say what you see.

Fired up: at the centre of a breaking news story

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12 November 2016
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Journalism lecturer Andrew Noakes found himself at the centre of a news story when the train he was travelling on caught fire. Here’s his account.

“OK, who pressed the button?” For passengers crammed onto the 8.09am Arriva Wales Trains service from Wolverhampton to Birmingham International this morning the ring of an alarm bell was just another annoyance to add to the morning’s drizzle and the late running of their train.

But it was about to become more than just an irritation.

Passengers from the front half of the four-carriage train began streaming down the gangway into the rear of the train where I was, saying they had been told to move because the train was on fire.

As the bell continued to sound the train braked to a stop, unexpectedly, at Smethwick Rolfe Street station and the train manager’s voice crackled over the tannoy.

smethwick 1380

Two fire engines attended the scene, and Rolfe Street was closed to traffic Picture: Andrew Noakes

“This is a special announcement,” he said. “Would passengers please leave the train and move to the exit of the station. There is a fire on the train.”

Dutifully we stepped out onto the platform and climbed the narrow staircase to Rolfe Street, which runs above the station on a Victorian brick bridge. Near the top I was met by one of the station staff clambering down – carrying two fire extinguishers.

Arriva Trains Wales has the oldest rolling stock in Britain. In September, policy director Roger Cobbe told the House of Commons Welsh Affairs Committee that ATW's trains were on average over 25 years old. "Some of our trains have done 4.5 million miles and are 30 years old," he told MPs. "There has been a colossal rise in the number of people using trains. Yet we haven't been able to order any new rolling stock because there is no spare capacity across the whole of Britain."

The ageing trains provide a maintenance headache for ATW. "The trains have to work very hard and our engineers have to work very hard to keep them going. Occasionally there are problems," Cobbe told the committee.

While we don't yet know what caused the fire on this train, its age could well have been a factor.

As passengers trooped off the train there was no panic, no pushing – just an orderly procession of 500 or so people towards the exit, some of them glancing over their shoulders at the ominous black column of smoke rising from the second carriage.

Most had reached the road by the time the first fire engine arrived from Smethwick at 8.36am, closely followed by a police car. A second fire engine arrived at the scene at 8.38am, and the emergency services began to close Rolfe Street to traffic while they made the train safe.

 “It was under the carriage we were in,” one train passenger told me. Another summed up the general mood: “Typical,” he said. “The train I decide to get on bursts into flames.” 

smethwick 1389

Police vehicles close Rolfe Street to traffic while the fire is attended to Picture: Andrew Noakes

Challenge or Opportunity?

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29 September 2016
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street-sign-141396_640.jpg

Being 21 comes with a lot of expectation; to establish yourself as an independent adult, whilst juggling a social life and trying to make the correct step into a career that will mould you and fundamentally shape your working life. Sounds exhausting doesn't it? Well you would be correct. It is made even harder when you actually have zero clue where the hell you want to be in 5, 10, 15 years and you are being told that the decisions you make now shape your future. I was foolish to believe that having an undergraduate degree meant getting jobs would be easier, this was an unachievable idea, and after about 100 rejections I am now doing a Masters. I think I chose wisely, however my next steps cannot be delayed for much longer, apparently you cannot be in education forever!

This was three months ago…

Induction week has arrived and I am about to start my tasks in preparation for next week when the hard work begins, again! Aside from all the specifics (rooms, the timetable and the modules) a lot of what I am hearing is centred on passion, resilience, style and content. I like books and reading and discovering new authors; transition from reader to writer is one that is going to take some getting used to. I never once had to write my own pieces because I have never been sure that I have an opinion, let alone one that someone would want to read.

This could be more of a challenge than I expected. I am basically learning the exact opposite to what I have been doing for the last 3 years of my academic life, but rising to the challenge is something I have a lot of experience with. However, whilst writing this piece and laying out my fears, I am realising that whilst this is going to be a challenge this could be the perfect opportunity to find my voice, my interests and develop the skills to be able to enter the world of Publishing/Journalism with all the qualities needed to succeed. Even when faced with modules that had not exactly been what I had expected, I was always able to find and discover a section that interested me, an area that I wanted to research and write about, and I often managed to achieve something I never thought possible. Those experiences are going to be pivotal for this year. This is a year to find and expand on what interests me, share stories that I have written and find my own voice amongst the noise.

So You Want To Be A Journalist?

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29 September 2016
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1st Day at Coventry University

26th September 2016

11AM – 4:15PM

Location: Coventry University

Mood: Lets see how it goes…

Today marked my first step on the path to become a journalist. “How’d it go” i hear you ask? Well I certainly could have done a lot worse. It was a long day for someone who hasn’t done a proper days graft since they graduated back in July…

Parked up, raring to go, sausage roll in one hand and notepad in the other, I entered the Ellen Terry Building. Upon arrival I was greeted by my lecturers for the year, Andrew Noakes and Fred Mudhai. Once the formalities of registers and admin were out of the way, we were taken on the tour of what will be my stomping ground for the next year. I’d like to say that my postgraduate ‘status’ allowed me to waltz around campus with a note of superiority but with a face like mine people were questioning whether they were in a University or a Nursery. Do I not look like I’ve had my soul crushed gradually for the last three years, that I was the twisted, foreboding face of what was to come for all the new, bright face freshers? Evidently not.

Tour complete, the traditional ‘Spoons’ lunch consumed, it was time to meet a man who I am sure will be the highlight of my week. Steve Cropley. A man with unfathomable experience in the trade and a kindness to his voice that is rare to find. The editor-in-chief for AutoCar, the oldest Car publication in the UK, was quick to pass on his knowledge about journalism, describing the pit falls and, most importantly, how to enhance my employability prospects. That is one of the reasons I have started this blog. In a world where everyone can have a voice, I’ve decided to finally voice mine and fight my way to be heard above the rest.

Cropley’s devotion to his passion is unparalleled. I could tell that just from listening to him speak about the past stories he’s broken, the buzz from being the person who tells the world breaking news. It was infectious. Sure, I didn’t particularly care for what car is breaking the land-speed record, or what the best car was in 1985, but I did care for his devotion and excitement for his passion. Watching him lecture about his enthralment in cars made me question what was my passion? What do I want to write about? What can I report about with the same ‘oomph’ as he could. Football!

Cropley’s publication is owned by media conglomerate Haymarket, operating out of Twickenham, London and Daventry. How lucky is it that the publication that i want to work for, FourFourTwo which is also under Haymarket, operates out of Twickenham… as does Cropley. Hopefully he can put in a good word for me, after all, he did teach that work experience is the most essential component to landing your dream job. Practice what you preach Steve?

It was a very interesting, possibly career changing day. I left Ellen Terry full of optimism and a sense of purpose. I want to write and produce content for an outlet which I have a strong passion for, and for the first time I believe I can do it. Steve Cropley is the man who I aspire to be. When I’m 67, with forty years of journalistic experience under my belt, I hope that I can stare at my 1000th article with the same optimistic enthusiasm as if it was my first as Cropley does, just with a few less cars of course!

 

people-woman-coffee-meeting-2.jpg

Digital image size for print and web

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29 September 2016
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The web is crammed with images, and it's tempting to use them in print articles. Legal and ethical issues aside, there are fundamental problems with attempting to use web images in print.

To find out why, let's look at an example:

On screen this looks like a fairly big image, and it might be tempting to try and use it in a magazine or newspaper. But there's a problem. If we use that same image in print it ends up looking like this:

In print, the image reproduces at a much smaller size than you might expect. The problem is that print reproduction has much higher resolution than a computer screen.

Resolution: what is it, and why does it matter?

The resolution of a digital image is measured in 'dots per inch' (it's an area which has yet to go metric). The dots are pixels, the individual elements which make up the image. The greater the number of pixels in each inch of image, the smaller each pixel must be, and the higher the resolution of the image. A higher resolution image can show more detail.

Images on websites are usually 72dpi, whereas images for high-quality print reproduction (eg in a magazine) are usually 300dpi. So a one-inch-square image on screen is 72 x 72 pixels, but a one-inch-square image in print is 300 x 300 pixels.

If we take our 72 x 72 pixel image and try to use it in print, we have to reduce its size until each one of the pixels is the right size for print use – 1/300th of an inch square. Our 72 pixels no longer span one inch of space, but 72/300ths of one inch. So the image comes out 0.24 (72 divided by 300) inches square.

Images taken from websites will usually appear about a quarter the size when they are used in print.

Of course, in InDesign and QuarkXpress it's up to us how big we use images – so why can't we simply use the image scale settings to blow up the picture to the size we want? If we scale up the image to 400% in both directions, it should be the right size again.

The trouble is, we end up with something like this:

We've taken a small image and increased its size, but all that's happened is that we've taken a tiny amount of data and spread it across a wider area. We haven't increased the detail in the picture. The result is that our image starts to look fuzzy.

Whenever you use an image at more than 100% size, the image loses definition – it becomes fuzzier.

Resizing the image in Photoshop is marginally better, because Photoshop has a more sophisticated method of resizing. But even this does not add information back into the image: all it does is use a guesstimate to synthesize more pixels.The result is almost never as good as a big, original image.

Images for print: how big do they have to be?

As we've seen, images for high-quality printing need to have a resolution of 300dpi. To find out how many pixels we need to cover a given area, we simply multiply the size we want (in inches) by 300.

If we take an A4 page (210 x 297mm or 8.25 x 11.7in) as a starting point, we can quickly work out how big a digital image must be to cover different amounts of the page:

Size on the page Digital image size (pixels) Megapixels
1 x 1 in (eg byline pic) 300 x 300 0.09
4.1 x 5.8in (A4 quarter page) 1240 x 1753 2.1
8.25 x 5.8in (A4 half page) 2475 x 1753 4.4
8.25 x 11.7in (A4 full page) 2475 x 3510 8.7
16.5 x 11.7in (A4 DPS) 4950 x 3510 17.4

In practice, we would probably need images even bigger than this to allow for cropping, and to provide some 'bleed' area where the image runs to the edge of the page.

An image we could run at half-page size in a magazine would be 34 inches wide on screen – and you don't see too many websites with images that big...

Role of the Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty at the demise of communism in 1988-1991

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Research
10 June 2010
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Introduction

Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) are U.S sponsored radio stations which were launched as one of the combating weapons against communism in the Soviet Union and its satellite nations in the Eastern Europe. The main aim of this paper is to analyse the role played by an organisation at bringing demise in the Soviet Union and satellite states during an end of the Cold War (1988-1991). At first this paper will provide brief background information of the main aims of RFE/RL when it was inaugurated on 1950’s. Before focussing at the period of the demise of communism, the paper will briefly focus into the changes which happened to organisation during Hungarian Revolution of 1956.  Afterwards, this paper will analyse  how radio influenced the  movements which led to  the break-up  of communism in the Soviet Union, Baltic states and Romania during 1988-1991.

Background of the RFE/RL

Before the merger of the Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty on 1979, both the stations were divided into two separate organisations which were launched on 1950’s. Radio Free Europe, station which was aiming at satellite nations of Soviet Union, was organised by Free Europe Committee and was launched on November 4, 1950(Puddington, 2000: 1-5). Meanwhile Radio Liberty, beaming towards Soviet Union, was launched on March 1, 1953 (Sosin, 1999: 13) and organised by American Committee for Liberation (Amcomlib) (Sosin, 1999: 2). Both of the stations were launched as a strategy to combat against communism without actually intervening directly by military and government means. To achieve this aim both stations were sponsored by CIA even through most amount of staff workers were led to believe that it was privately-owned company until merger of two organisations went public. According to Sosin (1999), who was a member of staff for 35 years of the Radio Liberty, provides his account when he found out that Radio Liberty was funded by CIA and conditions which were given to him by the Amcomlib. It is important to note that staffers from Radio Free Europe had similar experience.

 “Ted Steele, the assistant of Admiral Stevens, then president of Amcomlib, asked me to come to his main office…He greeted me with a grin on his ruddy face and said “Gene, I have good news and bad news for you”…The good news is that you passed the security checks. The bad news is that you are now ‘witting’…He confirmed that Amcomlib and the radio station under its control were indeed “assets” of the CIA, which received funds from annual appropriations of the U.S. Congress, secretly disbursed with the knowledge of only a few senators and representatives on the Hill. Steele requested that I sign paper pledging that I would not reveal this secret.” (28)

Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty had broadcasted its broadcasts in several of the languages. Radio Free Europe had services in Polish, Hungarian, Czech, Slovak, Romanian and others of the satellite nations behind “Iron Curtain”. The stations of particular service were referred as voice of Free of named country, for instance “Voice of Free Poland”. Meanwhile, Radio Liberty was (and still is) beamed to (ex-)Soviet Union and vast of its broadcasts aimed at Russian-spoke population but to addition to that it had broadcasts of all 15 languages in the Soviet Socialist Republics(which includes Moldavian, Azeri and Ukrainian) and the two additional languages of North Caucasus region of Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic(RSFSR) which were Chechen, and Tatar-Bashkir.

 What made RFE/RL stations unique from other propaganda media tools aimed at the communist block, such as Voice of America (VOA), is that it broadcasted the messages which will be directly be interest to the targeted audience rather than information of the American policies and other attempts to glorify U.S and capitalist societies. In the memoir one of the staffers at Radio Free Europe provided following description of the style of presentation of the station: “Only with Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty, however, did a country establish broadcast services whose purpose was to change the form of government in foreign nations by airing news not about the country  from which the broadcasts originated but about the countries that were broadcast targets”(Puddington, 2000: 5-6).

1956 Hungarian Revolution

Although that between 1956 Hungarian Revolution and 1988 Solidarnosc(Solidarity) protest in Poland, there was only one significant uprising (Czechoslovakia uprising of 1968) have took place , the Hungarian Revolution has been referred to by several of the historians as first signs that those  people could stand against communism.

Another reason why the 1956 Hungarian revolution deserves the brief study in this paper is due to fact,  that Radio Free Europe was under pressure from governments both from the Soviet Union and Western side regarding of its coverage of revolution. One of the main arguments which critics proclaimed during that time is that Voice of Free Hungary (VFH), one of the regional stations of RFE, had motivated the students to revolt against current Communist government and that station provided false implications that Western nations, especially USA will provide help after few days of local revolt. It is important to note that aid never arrived.(Puddington, 2000: 90)

One of the arguments of the escalation of the revolution was the secret speech has given by Nikita Khrushchev  during 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Union in the 24-25 February, 1956 in which he criticised Stalin and his “cult of personality”. When CIA got this information into its hands there was decision to broadcast it through RFE affiliates. The Hungarian saw this move as possibility to bring back into power Imre Nagy, Hungarian communist who was providing more liberal socialist policies during his leadership but was sacked with the decision by Stalin. Hungarians believed that “de-stalinisation” might bring Nagy back to power.

VFH staff, which consisted of numerous Hungarian émigrés, during the revolution likely through the emotional reactions were aiming to keep revolution going on with the unjustified statement that West will come for help in upcoming days. The worries came even before the initial revolution as American embassy wrote memo aimed at RFE and VFH, regarding of its coverage:

“Radio Free Europe, the memo charged, was encouraging what was regarded as a dangerous mindset; RFE and other foreign broadcast services were guilty of “arousing what may be false hopes”…”(Puddington, 2000: 96)

In the aftermath of the Hungarian Revolution William (Bill) E. Griffith, chief policy adviser in Munich headquarters, provided internal study of the broadcasts of the VFH affiliate during crises. Even through Griffith findings does not obtain full blame to the role played by the station, it does acknowledge that some of the VFH broadcasts did have some violations of the organisation rules. For instance, one of the scripts was criticised by Griffith as: “The writer tells Hungarians to sabotage (‘disconnect’) railroad and telephone lines. It fairly clearly implies that foreign aid will be forthcoming if the resistance forces succeed in establishing a ‘central military command’”(Puddington, 2000:105)

After the Hungarian Revolution  of 1956, which RFE had an internal crises, the organisation has decided to treat similar cases in future at more moderate ways. Czechoslovak uprising in 1968 was treated in calmer sense by Voice of Free Czechoslovakia(VFC).

Demise of the USSR

The role of the RFE/RL(Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty which was merged in 1979) at the break-up of Soviet Union and end of communism in Eastern Europe is questionable taking account of the 1985 Mihail Gorbachev glasnost(openness) and perestroika(reconstruction)movements, internal problems within Soviet Union and its satellite nations (especially in Poland). In addition most of those nations did not want end communist system but rather demanded to change communism to be more socialistic(except of Baltic states). For instance, during the February 1988 demonstrations given by Soviet Armenian citizens at Nagorno-Karabakh (NKAO) region, which back then belonged to Azerbaijan SSR, in which Armenians proclaimed they wish to transfer  NKAO regions to Armenia SSR, none of the demonstrators proclaimed any talks of succession and anti-communism. In fact it was otherwise, “To ward off arrest, they had devised slogans that proclaimed that they were Soviet loyal citizens acting within the spirit of glasnost.  Banners carried the slogan “Lenin, Party, Gorbachev!””(de Waal, 2003: 11).

The above example of events happening in NKAO during February 1988(that led to the six years war in the region), shows that those actions in that region, and other regions including the case with  Chernobyl nuclear plant disaster  in 1986, were not against Soviet Union Party. The talks of succession from Soviet Union from Azerbaijan, Armenia and Ukraine had begun as those conflicts progressed, and those republics realised that CPSU(Communist Party Soviet Union) only makes the case more complicated and being unhelpful. Hence, the chances of RFE/RL at escalating those  crises, as was case in Hungarian revolution is very slim, as station was rather for those regions to obtain succession in peaceful manner instead than non-succession military and aggressive uprisings.

However, during Chernobyl nuclear plant disaster which happened on 26 April 1986 RFE/RL played an important role, as did other foreign radio corporations which were available in the Soviet Union. Soviet press did not provide the full and in-depth reports regarding to the disaster, focussing instead into economical and propaganda news as usual. Brian McNair, during his studies at Moscow State University, provides following report of how “informative”  Soviet media reported about Chernobyl: “Thus began, for me and for millions of others, a period of ten anxious days…, during which Soviet government, through the media, kept its own citizens, foreign guests, and the international community as a whole in virtual ignorance about a nuclear catastrophe of unprecedented seriousness.”(1991:2)

Brian McNair stay in Moscow also coincided with the events that were happening in NKAO, which are mentioned above. In following excerpt, McNair(1991) describes how Soviet media reported into the events which were happening in the region:

“Throughout March 1988, Soviet journalists stressed two propaganda themes: first, and despite events in Nagorno Karabakh and Sumgait, life in trans-Caucasian republics were proceeding in relative normality; and secondly, despite the actions of a small, unrepresentative minority of ‘hooligan elements’, the great majority amongst the various ethnic groups in the region had long lived together in harmony and wished to continue doing so”(72)

The following attempt at focussing to the Chernobyl and Nagorno Karabakh crises, as non-serious issues, provided distorted information of the whole Soviet population apart of some segment of population which were directly involved in the events happening in Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Armenia. That of course, if others did not have access to RFE/RL services.

According to Sosin(1999), “We(Radio Liberty) learned from audience reports that an “at a time when the Soviet media hardly broadcast anything at all about it and merely claimed that the situation was under control, Radio Liberty devoted a great many broadcasts to Chernobyl””(195). Since through Radio Liberty and other foreign sources, Soviet citizens were able to obtain information of the events happening in Chernobyl, the Mihail Gorbachev and its Party media had to admit the nuclear reactor disaster did take place, even through it was fully informed on 6 May 1986 to the media, 11 days after accident has happened.(McNair 1991: 66)

If the Soviet media and internal events did in fact break-up USSR, as there is an argument among Russian scholars, then the information provided about Chernobyl by western media, including Radio Liberty had provided this drastic changes, such as willingness by Soviet media and party committee to become more critical into the system following ideology of glasnost.(Puddington, 2000: 198)

Even through American historians and RFE/RL claimed that  the events which happened during Failed August Coup d’etat in Russian parliament during 19 August to 21 August 1991 – the events which led to break-up of the USSR –  were dominated by their broadcasts , there are lots of accounts by Russian reports that state opposite and despite of closure of the vast amount of radios(among other mass media) some were able to stay on air during these events. According to Bonnell and Freidin(1995)  “ ‘Radio Rossiia’(Radio Russia)  and ‘Ekho Moskvy’(Echo of Moscow), both established in 1990, continued to broadcast from (Moscow) White House and other locations during the coup, as did several other stations on short and medium wave frequencies”(46). It was even argued by some that 1991 failed August Putsch coverage provided the nation recognition and rise of popularity to Ekho Moskvy, which still is one of the popular talk/news stations in the country (Buntman & Korzun, n/a).

Baltic Republics

During the Reagan years the Baltic Republics were transformed from Radio Liberty affiliates to the Radio Free Europe. The transformation of Latvian, Lithuanian and Estonian services to RFE, was the highly political move taking account that those three republics were mainly arguing for succession status since 1945, compare to other 12 republics in USSR (Puddington, 2000: 217).  The Baltic services during that case had obtained a dilemma of either to be anti-Russian communistic coverage which was demanded by local citizens or be less sympathetic towards Russian leaders but still not demand succession. When Gorbachev came to power the Estonian RFE service, was very skeptical to new reformist communist. According to Puddington(2000):

“Thus when in 1988 the old-line leader of the Estonian Communist Party was replaced by a Gorbachevian man of Euro-Communist sympthathies, Ilves (the chief-editor of the Estonian service) was unimpressed. “I felt that my job was to show that this Gorbachev idea of Communism  with a human face was still a Communism””(298).

Among the RFE/RL services present in the republican states of USSR, Latvian and Lithuanian among Estonian were first to be critical to the communism and probably provided the closestglasnost style reportages. Therefore, it should not be surprising that Lithuania was the first republic to get an independence from USSR on  11 March 1990, followed by Estonia 30th March and Latvia on 4th May(Graham, n/a). Interestingly those three nations also refused to sign the CIS(Commonwealth Independence States) treaty on 21 December 1991, which was signed by all the members of ex-USSR apart of Baltic States(Georgia signed few months later)(Global Security, 2009).

Romania

Romanian treatment of the communist party regarding to  broadcasts which been aired by Voice of Free Romania (VFR), probably show how the station indirectly led to demise of communist at Romania. Nicolai Ceausescu, leader of the Romanian communist party, and secret state police, the Securitate made it illegal to Romanians to listen to VFR broadcasts by establishing “Ether“ organisation to minimize effect of the Western broadcasts, including from RFE. Nestor Ratesh, in the conference regarding of influence of Western broadcasts during the Cold War states that:

“By the end of 1980s, the regime’s paranoia had grown to such an extent that “Esther” scrutinised not only those Romanians who had listened to RFE broadcasts, but anyone who might have the “intention to listen to Radio Free Europe” – a category that could include the entire population, or at least all Romanians who owned radio with the frequencies of Western broadcasts” (2004, 26)

Ken Jowitt, during same conference, believes that this illegality by Ceausescu government provided an additional excitement and motivation by Romanians to carry on listening to RFE and other Western broadcasts. In fact, RFE had enjoyed highest number of audiences in Romania compare to other Eastern European regions (2004, 29-30).

Conclusion

It could be comfortably stated that the internal problems at the Soviet Union and Eastern European satellites led to the demise of the communism in late 1980’s- early 1990’s. However, the indirect role played by the Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty at focusing at providing uncensored information of what was happening in those regions, compared to propagandistic Soviet media, provided its listeners to realise that something is not right in the system. The decision, following bloody 1956 Hungarian revolution, rather to inform its listeners about what is happening in  their country  instead then influencing military action by population had helped for  citizens to become disillusioned about communism. The aims of the Amcomlib and Freedom Europe Committee were realised, even through it took a bit less than 40 years.

Reference

Bonnell, V.E & Freidin, G.(1995), “Televorot: The Role of Television Coverage in Russia’s August 1991 Coup”.in Condee, N. Soviet Hieroglyphics: Visual Culture in Late-Twentieth Century Russia London: Indiana University Press. 22-51

 Buntman, S. & Korzun, S. (n/a), Coup (in Russian). Echo Moscow. Available at:http://echo.msk.ru/about/history/coup.html. Accessed at: 11/05/2010

 De Wall, T.(2003), “February 1988: an Armenian Revolt.” in Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan Through Peace and War. New York : New York University. 10-28

 Global Security (2009), Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). Available at:http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/int/cis.htm. Accessed at: 12/05/2010

 Graham, J. (n/a), Baltic Independence from the Soviet Union. HistoryOrb. Available at:http://www.historyorb.com/russia/baltic_independence.shtml. Accessed at: 12/05/2010

 McNair, B.(1991), “Glasnsost, Perestroika and Soviet Journalism”. in Glasnost, Perestroika and the Soviet Media. London: Routledge. 52-76

 McNair, B.(1991), “Introduction”. in Glasnost, Perestroika and the Soviet Media. London: Routledge. 1-6

 Puddington, A.(2000), “Frequency Wars.” in Broadcasting Freedom: The Cold War Triumph of Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty”. Kentucky: The University Press of Kentucky. 214-226

 Puddington, A.(2000), “It Will Be Seen Who Is Right.” in Broadcasting Freedom: The Cold War Triumph of Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty”. Kentucky: The University Press of Kentucky. 1-19

 Puddington, A.(2000), “Revolution in Hungary and Crises at Radio Free Europe.” inBroadcasting Freedom: The Cold War Triumph of Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty”. Kentucky: The University Press of Kentucky. 90- 114

Puddington, A.(2000), “Victory.” in Broadcasting Freedom: The Cold War Triumph of Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty”. Kentucky: The University Press of Kentucky. 284-306

Sosin, G.(1999), “Radio Liberty’s Conception and Birth.” in Sparks of Liberty: an Insider’s Memoir of Radio Liberty. Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State University. 1-11

 Sosin, G.(1999), “The Sparks begin to kindle.” in Sparks of Liberty: an Insider’s Memoir of Radio Liberty. Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State University. 27-39

 Sosin, G.(1999), “The Soviet Era Draws To a Close.” in Sparks of Liberty: an Insider’s Memoir of Radio Liberty. Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State University. 195-213

 Sosin, G.(1999), “We Are On The Air!“ in Sparks of Liberty: an Insider’s Memoir of Radio Liberty. Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State University. 13-25

 Stanford University(2004), Session  Five:   Impact  of  the  Broadcasts  in  Eastern  Europe:   Evidence  from  the  Archives  (II). In Cold  War  Broadcasting  Impact. Conference organized  by  the  Hoover  Institution  and  the  Cold  War  International  History  Project  of  the  Woodrow  Wilson International Center for Scholars at Stanford University. PDF file available online at: http://hoorferl.stanford.edu/cooperation.php. Accessed at: 14.05.2010. 25-30

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