When REM sang ‘It’s the end of the world as we know it’ they were not predicting an apocalypse, but the end may be closer than they think. The Doomsday Clock is a representation of the fragility of human existence and represents just how close we are to the end of the world. It currently stands at five minutes to midnight.

For many years The Doomsday Clock has stood as a barometer to the world; charting the changing threats to serve as a reminder that things need to change. Like a mystical council from a J.R Tolkien story the committee in charge of ‘the clock’ moved its hands two minutes closer to the hour to reflect, for the first time, the threat of climate change.

Since the publication of the Stern Report[1] there has been a heavy response from the Government to the threat of climate change. Fresh initiatives have been launched to make the public more aware of their impact on the climate creating a public fixation with CO2 emissions. This phenomenon, spurred on by barrage of media shock stories about polar icecaps and rising sea levels, has inevitably filtered through into the industry of one of the most visible pollutants; car manufacturing.

Current political demands placed on manufacturers is expanding the technology upon which future cars will be based. Already the surge in popularity of hybrid vehicles has lead some major manufacturers including Porsche to develop the technology. European Emission Regulations have set incremented steps for emissions from tailpipes leaving some companies struggling to keep up with the wave of new technology. Currently aiming towards emission level 5 (EU5), many manufacturers are struggling to meet the stringent particulate emissions target that will see up to an 80% reduction in nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons[2] from petrol and diesel engines before 2009. The problem faced by manufacturers is compounded by the UK Government who has set the bar well below realistic levels with demand for 120g/km vehicles in London’s Congestion Charging Zone.

It would seem that the political pressure for emissions reform is greater than the needs expressed by the consumer. How then has CO2 come to be such a deciding factor in today’s car market? Is the hype purely marketing or do customers really care about the environment? Have the UK’s automotive media adopted a political agenda, and who is it benefiting? And finally, what sparked this craze? It seems ‘green concern’ is here to stay, but who is responsible?

If we were to attribute blame, it can be laid squarely at the feet of three groups; manufacturers, consumers and government. Each of these groups is responsible for the growing environmental awareness surrounding the automotive industry, but perhaps blame is too strong a word. Improving our air quality is not a bad thing after all, and to lay blame, implies there is a malfeasance, where I merely would state there is a misguided momentum towards the evils of CO2. As the susceptible consumer we are bombarded with facts from manipulative marketing departments on a daily basis. Whether you are buying a wardrobe or a washing machine, a cardigan or a car, Marketing will sell to you the story to fit, leaving you satisfied you have brought the best there is to offer and that the non-porous surface of your wood-grained wardrobe will leave your freshly laundered cardie smelling of new car – or so the spiel might go. We are suckers for a story, and if our governments tell us that CO2 is the route of all evil we will inevitably believe it.

The catastrophic affect of CO2 is not one I wish to discuss, but I feel it will suffice to say it is not the only bad thing to come from a car exhaust. Far worse chemicals leach from our tailpipes but it is CO2 that takes the wrap despite every one of us breathing out tonnes of the stuff every year from our own hollowly pipes. What we have been told is that CO2 is bad, and that if we persist in pumping out tonnes of the stuff from our cars we will be penalised, and as a consumer that is never going to settle too well. As always, the Marketing Department’s response is feed of the fear and label everything to enhance consumer awareness.

They, however, are not the only ones to blame – manufacturers feed off public demand. We demand a cleaner, greener car to quell our ever increasing fears that we are destroying the planet single-handed and the manufacturers respond by giving us CO2 figures until we are forced to take them into consideration, banding the numbers around like we are accustomed to with 0-60 mph times. But, all of this has of course filtered down from the Government who are keen to make us aware that we must do everything we can to offset something called a ‘carbon footprint’. Green thinking has been brought about through Government pressure, but it is consumer demand that ultimately drives the need for greener vehicles. Financial incentives to take up the green baton have prompted consumers to think more about the damage their driving habits cause. Penalising heavy CO2 polluters is creating greater consumer awareness to car pollution, driving manufacturers to consider new ways to market the environmental benefits of their vehicles. Heavy marketing pressure from the manufacturers then leads to a greater emphasis on the environmental benefits that the consumer needs to know about, all of which are transmitted through the mainstream media, affecting the attitude of the automotive press towards green consumerism.

In 2007 many manufacturers chose the Frankfurt Motor Show to underline their green credentials. Hailed by many as the first Green Motor Show, the level of development already underway in emerging technologies was evident. Manufacturers from all areas of the market and all corners of the globe presented their own vision for the future. At the time Autocar Magazine said “well-advanced hybrid concepts were to be found on most major manufacturers’ stands.”[3] Notable contributions to the green spectacle came from Mercedes-Benz, debuting their F700 Concept. Powered by a 1.8 litre engine, labelled ‘DiesOtto’, Mercedes boasted that this revolutionary new technology harnessed the best of both petrol and diesel engines and would produce 240bhp whilst churning out only 126g/km of CO2. The wild and extravagant claims for the greenest ‘best in show’ didn’t stop there though. As the home team the Germans were keen to ‘wow’ their audience, but there was a stark difference between exhibits from Volkswagen and BMW. The contrasting visions of these two automotive powerhouses in the direction of green technology development could not have been more different. BMW unveiled its mammoth X6, offsetting the shrieks of disgust from bemused journalists who failed to see the purpose of the coupe off-roader, by surprising everyone with details of its hybrid powertrain. Volkswagen took a different approach, emphasising big things about its small cars. The ‘Up’ concept promised small engines in an even smaller package, showing that weight-saving is just as affective as new green technology. New concepts from Volvo (C30 Recharge), Chevrolet (Volt), and Opel (Flextreme) rounded up the major eco-warriors at the show, underlining the importance the world’s major manufacturers place on this growing technology and endearing themselves to environmental campaigners.[4]

So as the first recognisably green motor show Frankfurt helped bring the issue of the environment back to the motoring press’s attention. An almost concerted effort to bring the need for investment and development had been shown, but given that the average development life for a new motor vehicle is around 5 years why had we not anticipated a show like this before? The fact is that most in the industry were well aware of the developments in alternative technologies, but the lack of consumer demand for vehicles of these types did not encourage reports in the media. Stories of technological development have made it onto the pages of popular magazines prior to the momentous Frankfurt epiphany but that is all they have been, stories and conjecture. It took one of the biggest companies in the world to create a new genre of powertrain to make even the slightest of dents in the minds of the consumer. It was of course Toyota and the Prius.

Introduced in the UK in 2001 the Prius has become a byword for hybrid technology. Along with its luxury brand Lexus, Toyota has championed hybrid power making it a trendy and viable alternative. The aggressive marketing and wave of interest surrounding the Prius has inevitably led to a greater coverage of emerging technologies within the media.

Initially the new hybrids were portrayed as fuel savers. Reports from Autocar in 2002 compared newer models with the ‘latest hybrid petrol-electric cars’[5], showing that the media at the time thought little of the environmental impact of the hybrid. Even by 2004 the benefits of zero-emission transportation was only confined to casual reference and benefits surrounding congestion charging. Auto Express ran long term test cars of both the first and second generation of Prius and was still championing the car for its unfeasibly high miles per gallon readouts rather than its environmentally friendly emissions.[6] It would seem that the media at the time were blissfully unaware of the severe CO2 legislation that would follow in the years to come, and although mpg and CO2 are related the media at the time was not concerned with emissions levels.

As consumer demand to be better informed about engine emissions has built up over the past three years, the automotive media have responded to the change. Autocar’s 2007 redesign looked to reinvigorate the magazine bringing it more into line with other weekly titles. However, important sections of the magazine not only changed in appearance, but also adapted to include environmental figures. Autocar’s road tests now feature a ‘green rating’, while the ‘New Car A to Z’ section includes CO2 per km figures. This shift towards more environmental awareness for the readership continues across the market, impacting on even the most committed of petrol fuelled publications, Evo.

In March 2008, Evo issue 118 focused on some alternative methods of propulsion. Despite editorial director Harry Metcalfe saying ‘enthusiasts will always prefer a really good petrol engine to anything else the world can offer’[7], in his editorial introduction to the issue, the magazine’s content suggests otherwise. Focusing on three petrol alternatives the feature ‘New Power Generation’ explores the future of the fast car with electricity, biofuel and diesel. Although mention of the environmental benefits, and drawbacks, of biofuel are consigned to a sidebar, the inclusion of CO2 patter in a magazine as committed to burning fossil fuels as Evo, is not to be taken lightly. Despite one of the subjects in the feature being a 1004 bhp supercar, the environmental impact of petrol use is being translated to the reader. Despite featuring an electric car in the magazine, the cynicism surrounding this alien automotive power source is apparent. Reynolds writes; “Tesla claims the Roadster’s efficiency is six times that of a rival sports car, with CO2 emissions reduced tenfold. It might even be true, but what’s painfully apparent as you delve into the world of battery electric vehicles, plug-in hybrids and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles is that everybody’s sequence of PowerPoint charts, funnily enough, favours themselves.”[8]

Reynolds makes a good point, as with the exciting and new technology, a host of terminology and numerical values are created. The motivation behind manufacturer’s claims is obvious – increased sales – but in a rapidly expanding and subsidised segment, alternative power in automotive manufacturing has the potential to be big business. The US State of California is in the process of setting stringent zero emission regulations on car manufacturers, forcing those wishing to sell in the State to comply or force being banned from the showrooms. Despite the unlikely approval of these laws, clean air policies across the world could seriously affect the choice of vehicles available to city dwellers, potentially causing massive damage to those manufacturers affected by the ruling.

Whether the automotive media encourage, reproach or ignore the political pressure imposed on the industry remains to be seen, but one thing that is clear is that environmental pressure is becoming an increasing factor for editors and consumers alike. We are already seeing an increase in consumer awareness both through manufacturer’s advertising and the automotive media’s editorial policy, but how long will it be before green consumerism breaks away from the online world of cleangreencars.com and onto our shelves with a publication like What Green Car? The automotive media has had relatively little to worry about since the birth of the car. Technology has developed, but always along the same linear structure of petrol and diesel engines becoming bigger and better or more recently, smaller and better still. Now a burgeoning new range of engines are threatening to dominate magazine pages for years to come. How this will affect the attitude to petrol only time will tell, but the transition has already began.

In this paper I aim to show that the development of news technology has and continues to change the methods of news delivery and the users experience of news content. In doing so I also aim to show that at the start of the 21^st century we are on the verge of new breakthroughs in virtual reality technology that have the potential to fundamentally alter the news environment.

We live today in a world of technological development that is progressing faster and more efficiently than any period of technological advancement that has gone before. Technology is getting smaller, more adaptable and helping create a world that is becoming increasingly ‘globally localised’ (Sreberny-Mohammadi, 1997: 174).

Twenty-four hour news channels, constantly updated news websites and satellite communications have allowed for news and information to be accessible to a member of the public almost anywhere on earth soon after a new event takes place. It may initially seem that all of these various technologies have in turn fundamentally altered the news environment, but in the history of global news communications there have only been three technological developments that have fundamentally altered the news environment. Firstly, the invention of the Guttenberg press in 1450, secondly the process of permanent photography developed by Nicephore Niepce in 1826 and lastly the first transatlantic transmissions using telegraph cables in 1858.

While previous technological breakthroughs allowed for the invention of the Guttenburg press, permanent photography and telegraph transmissions, these subsequent technologies laid the foundations for the mass production and global distribution of information and news that we rely on today. They took previously existing technologies and created a new age of possibilities for the delivery and presentation of news and information that would go on to radically change the news environment. With the Guttenburg press books could for the first time be made quickly, accurately and relatively affordable (BBC, 2008), with photography people could actually see events that were not present at and transatlantic telegraph transmissions allowed for information to be delivered to other continents without the need for someone to physically take the information there.

While developments like newspapers, radio, television, satellites and the internet have played a dramatic and vital role in creating the news environment of today, at their core these technologies are essentially only improvements and refinements of the work of Guttenburg, Niepce and the transatlantic communication pioneers.

In the case of the internet, it allows us to access news twenty-four hours a day but in principle it delivers the same service as the first mass produced texts by Guttenburg. It provides people the all over the world the opportunity to read identical accounts and information on news stories in the same way that the Guttenburg press allowed for people to read identical copies of the same book (BBC, 2008), free of the inherent problems of the aural and hand written methods of information delivery. The ability of internet to share information quickly across the world, an ability which is central to the ideas that led to the internets creation (Johnson, 2006) stems from the 1858 transatlantic telegraph communications, with the multimedia content of today’s news internet sites stemming from the development of permanent photography.

These technologies allowed for the creation of the news industry (McPhail, 2002: 18). The Guttenburg press allowed for the creation and production of newspapers, pamphlets and political propaganda. The problem that faced them was the time it took for news to be gathered and delivered, with the full potential of Guttenburg’s invention only being attainable with the development of telegraph communications. In 1851 pigeons were still used by some papers to gather information (Marr, 2005: 330) but by 1872 ‘London’s need for hard facts and the new technologies of cable and telegraph meant that Reuters was able to announce President Lincoln’s assassination’ (Marr, 200: 331).

Events such as the police hunt for Doctor Crippen and the sinking of the Titanic could now reach news stands only hours after they happened (Wynn Jones, 1974: 72-75). Technological developments including stereotyping and web-perfecting printing presses in 1863 and radio telegraphy in 1901 had created a quicker, more efficient and profitable news industry. More importantly though was the improvements in content. With the development of Halftone engraving in 1897 newspapers could now carry photographs of the events giving a reader a better understanding of the news stories, realising the news potential of Niepe’s breakthrough.

The amount and variety media content in news has rapidly grown since 1897 to the multimedia news environment that we have today. The development of radio news allowed people to hear sound recordings of events, interviews with those involved in and discussions about news events. With television people were able to access a greater amount of information on a news story than pictures and sound recordings would be able to convey. Thanks to television technology events such as the first moon landing, the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II and the first Gulf War, coinciding with the launch of twenty four hour news channels (McPhail, 2004: 148), would become some of the defining historical images of the twentieth century (Dayan and Katz, 1995: 98).

What radio and television news allowed was for a viewer to use their senses of sight and hearing, alongside their own knowledge and reasoning, to understand and experience news events in a way that had never been available before. The impact of being able to see the World Trade Centre attacks live on television gave people watching it on television a better understanding of the events than those trapped in the towers themselves (Sreberny and Patterson, 2004: 3).

The growth of the technologies involved with newspapers, radio and television have reached a zenith point. From their fundamental origins with the Guttenberg press, photography and transatlantic telegraph communications news technologies are being collated with the internet. Newspaper circulation continues to fall with a rapidly growing number of readers now relying on the internet for news coverage (Press Gazette, 2007). The technologies of the day are though constantly being negated by the possibilities of the future. While the speed, variety, amount of content and accessibility of information will continue to improve, it is not the internet that will cause the next fundamental change to the news environment.

Recent developments in virtual reality technologies could potentially cause the next fundamental altering of the news environment. The idea of virtual reality has long been established in science fiction and in terms of being a scientific possibility (Day and Laycock, 2005). The idea of being able to interact with another environment without having to physically be there, or for that environment to actually physically exist, has so far though always been ahead of the technological capabilities of making the idea a reality.

Science is now catching up with the idea of a virtual reality. In a breakthrough similar to the first transatlantic telegraph transmissions in 2002 teams based at the Michigan Institute of Technology and University College London were able to virtually manipulate computerised image of a small box from another in the other continent, the first transatlantic virtual touch (MIT, 2002). By 2005 this technology had improved radically. Instead of just being able to manipulate a virtual image, scientists at the University of East Anglia unveiled technology that allowed users the sensation of actually touching and feeling a 3D virtual object (Day and Laycock, 2005).

Given the rapid growth of virtual reality technology, and the equivalent growth in the technologies of a century ago, it is not totally inconceivable that these developments could one day fundamentally alter the news environment. By virtually incorporating the sense of touch to news reporting it could allow a person to experience some of the realties and comprising elements of a news story. When an automotive journalist describes the feel of the interior of a new car a viewer could experience the sensation of feeling it for themselves or when a health journalist describes a new medical procedure a viewer could experience the sensation of putting pressure on the scalpel to cut through the tissue. The basic technologies needed for these examples to become a practical reality exists today.

These developments are in addition to the recent developments and improvements to head-mounted displays, HMDs. HMDs allow for a user to view a virtual environment by wearing small display screens in front of their eyes. Once a cumbersome technology, HMDs are increasingly becoming lighter, providing increasingly higher resolution image with and a dramatically larger field of vision (Boger, 2007: 10).

Given that the technology used for newspapers, radio, television and the internet has adapted and changed radically over the years since their invention it is important that we recognise that it is likely that the basic technology involved in virtual reality today will continue to develop to the point where the technology that is used bares little resemblance to the contemporary technology. The television technology of today has changed dramatically since the first experiments of Logie-Baird in 1923, the first non-mechanical television invented by Philo Farnsworth in 1929 (Abramson, 1995 :13-15) to the multi-platform, digital, LCD screen television that exist today.

For virtual reality technologies to fundamentally alter the news environment its economic viability is essential. Today news can be accessed for free as multimedia content online, in free newspapers or by radio. While circulation figures for commercially bought newspapers indicate that they still hold a significant position in the news environment their circulation figures are still falling (ABC, 2008) as the concept of news as a commodity as changing with free access to news. Newspapers, radio, television and the internet were only able to obtain the place in the news environment that they currently possess because they were economically viable for people to invest in. As such for virtual reality technologies to fundamentally change the news environment it needs to be able to provide the public with an experience, service and understanding of news events that they consider to be both essential and also one which is affordable.

Without economic viability virtual reality technologies will still be radical and significant technological breakthrough, but one that will be redundant and unused. History does though indicate that technologies that were once economically unviable later became an every day, indelible part of people’s lives. In 2003 75% of all adults in the UK owned a mobile phone (National Statistics, 2003), by 2006 there were over 69 million mobile phones in the UK (CIA World Fact Book, 2008), 9 million more than the entire population. Mobile phone prices had dropped to the point were a once expensive technology was now available and affordable to all to the point where it is almost considered to be a disposable piece of technology.

The technology involved with virtual touch and manipulation may be at an early stage of development but ‘just like Bell didn’t anticipate all the applications for the telephone’ scientists today ‘don’t know all of the potential’ for virtual reality technology’ (Srinvisan, 2002). Lord Kelvin, one of the pioneers of telegraph communications, once famously dismissed the potential future possibilities and uses of radio technology, so while we may not be able to see or even fully understand the full potential of virtual reality technology today but we should not be to sceptical about its potential to fundamentally alter the news environment. Virtually reality could potentially give someone an understanding of a story that would simply not be achievable with past technologies.

While virtual reality may potentially offer a greater understanding of news events it threatens the position of the established journalist. Recent technological breakthroughs have coincided with the rise of arguments about the ‘dumbing down’ of the media, the introduction of ‘bite-size McNugget journalism’ (Allan, 2005: 202) and the rise of ‘infotainment’ (Musa, 2006: 131). In 2000 the main debate at the News World Conference focused on whether the quality of journalism was being affected by the rise of the internet (Macmillan, 2000). The internet has led to a situation where journalism is becoming increasingly office based, with fewer journalists needed, requiring a widening range of technological skill and with editors having to decide whether it is economically viable for reporters to be sent to where a news even is taking place (Brand, 2000).

Virtual Reality threatens the very necessity of employing journalist to provide an understanding of news events. Rather than a journalist needing to describe events to a reader, virtual reality would allow for a person to experience the events for themselves. Given the parallel rise in the development of news technologies and arguments about the ‘dumbing down’ of news, virtual reality technology could potentially further extend this trend providing a substantial threat to the established news environment.

The problem that faces arguments about the ‘dumbing down’ of news is that the news industry is economically dependant on the buying and viewing preferences of the public. The public has a choice of which paper it reads and with the internet a person can choose to look at news content from a variety of different sources, from tabloid to broadsheet and from local to global. If ‘the culture of celebrity, like an army of ants, has colonised the news pages both tabloid and broadsheet’ (Bell, 2004) then it must reflect the tastes and interests of a significantly, large proportion of the public.

Virtual reality may though provide a solution to the problem of news ‘dumbing down’. By providing the public with a far greater understanding and experience of hard news events virtual reality could potentially create a news environment in which the public become more interested in hard news (increasing the necessity of journalists to explain and contextualise events) , akin to public reaction worldwide to the Vietnam war and the unrestricted coverage of its realities. This would be in keeping with journalism having ‘always been a profession whose basic capacities and functions are rooted in technology’ (Campbell, 2004: 245) Rather than continuing the trend of the increase in technological capabilities with the erosion of journalism, virtual reality could fundamentally change the news environment be reinstating the importance of the journalist and rebalancing the importance of journalism with the capabilities of the technology they use.

The rapid development of news technology from the first transatlantic telegraph transmissions to the multimedia news environment of today provides a firm basis for arguing that the news environment of 150 years in the future will be dramatically different from what currently exists. Virtual reality technology could potentially be the telegraph technology of today. To start with, primitive and limited in its uses, but possessing the inherent potential to fundamentally change how the public receive and understand the news but the also the role and position of journalists.

References:

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BBC, (2008) Stephen Fry and the Guttenburg Press [VHS Video] [21 April 2008: 21:00]

Johnson, B (2006) Creator of web warns of fraudsters and cheats [online] < http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2006/nov/03/news.newmedia> [19 May 2008)

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Marr, A (2005) My Trade: A Brief History of British Journalism .London: Pan Macmillan

Wynn Jones, M (1974) A newspaper history of the world. Newton Abbot: David and Charles

Dayan and Katz, (1995) Ed. by Smith. A Political Ceremony and Instant Histoy., A. Oxford: Oxford University Press: 97-107

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Press Gazette (2007), The BBC News Website is (not quite) 10 years old [online] <http://blogs.pressgazette.co.uk/fleetstreet/2007/10/30/the-bbc-news-website-is-not-quite-10-years-old> [accessed 9 January 2008]

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Abramson, A (2005) Ed. by Smith, A The Invention of Television. Oxford: Oxford University Press: 9-23.

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Bell, M (2004) cited in Allan, S (2004) News Culture. Maidenhead: Open University Press: 193.

Nick Davies in his book Flat Earth News highlights the fact that journalism has become merely ‘churnalism’, putting much of the blame on media conglomerates, which are keen on putting advertisers’ interests to the top of their priority list and at the same time applying minimal or no emphasis on producing good quality journalistic material for print and broadcast alike. If the daily news is in a dire state then what chance exists for investigative journalism to survive amidst this ever-changing world of news?

Fortunately, investigative journalism is far from churnalism. It requires considerable research and evidential backing in revealing the fraud, corruption or deceit. But it also involves a lot of risk which, not only at times jeopardises the lives of the journalist, but also the lives of their near and dear ones. So, is it worth it? Why is investigation not left up to the police to undertake? Why can’t journalists content themselves with simply news gathering? Are the police happy with investigative work carried out by journalists? What would be the pros and cons of investigative journalism? What is the governing framework within which the police and journalists are required to work?

Relevance of investigative journalism:

This paper is arguing in favour of investigative journalism without taking into account the risks or perils associated with the profession. Before proceeding or embarking in finding answers to these questions it becomes essential to define what is investigative journalism. In a personal interview conducted by the author, distinguished investigative journalist and author Phillip Knightley, defined it as, ‘it is usually to do with a story and injustice preferably an injustice or something that is wrong in society; which has been there for sometime unnoticed by other ordinary reporters and you as an investigator bring it to the public’s attention to bring about social legal reforms.’ (Phillip Knightley: 2008 )

Hugo (2000:68 ) states how the trend began which justified investigative journalism, ‘The development of investigative journalism in Britain in the 1960s and the 1970s resulted in a spate of inquiries into maladministration and corruption that shocked Britons, who had come to assume that corruption was something that happened only in foreign parts. It justified journalism by demonstrating that the public service could not be trusted to police itself.’ Hugo says that investigations cannot be left solely to the police because the police may not be able to ‘understand’ (Hugo, 2006: 76) the victim’s point of view and may not be able to be ‘objective’ (Hugo, 2006: 76).

Yet another advantage journalists have over the police in carrying out investigations is the ability to keep their sources anonymous. This means the sources can offer information to journalists knowing that their identities will not be revealed. This is important as an individual would be unlikely to offer information to the police knowing that he or she may end up in court and open to reproach.

Of course, with many investigative reports leading to police investigations this situation is challenged. There have been many instances where the police have attempted to obtain details of sources from journalists.

‘In the Bill Goodman case, the European Human Rights Commission argued that forcing journalists to reveal sources would impair their ability to inform the public: compulsion should only be used in exceptional circumstances.’ (David Spark, 1999: 102).

On May 19^th 2008, Nina Teggarty (Channel 4, 2008), highlights the growing concern amongst leading journalists and civil liberties groups who warn against “a serious threat to the future of investigative journalism..”

This article raises concerns over the fact that the Greater Manchester Police (GMP), has demanded Shiv Malik’s notebook containing confidential information relating to his work with a former Islamist activist, Hassan Butt. Shiv Malik is an investigative journalist who has been working as an investigator in extremist activities. In an interview with Nina, Shiv Malik explains that, ‘journalists aren’t the police, we are not paid to do their job and we wouldn’t ask for example the police to give up their own sources to scrutiny in the public.’ In a court hearing later this week, Shiv Malik could be ordered to hand over the notes under the counter terrorism legislation, thus revealing his sources.

If the police win the case it will be a landmark decision. Future investigative reports would be made much more difficult, if not impossible, to develop because nobody will come forward in the public interest for fear of exposure.

Also, the difference between the way the police and journalists operate is that they work under different ethical frameworks. Ethics deals with how to distinguish between right and wrong. It can be said that journalists work on the thin line between legal and illegal, and they often cross it. This means that journalists can obtain information, often by deception, using false identities and using hidden cameras and/or microphones. This is an area of concern. Does getting a good or important story justify the way in which the reporter gets his or her information? The answer to this question is perhaps an essay in its own right, but it does highlight the fact that journalists can play detective using a different set of rules than the police.

Investigative journalists have uncovered many instances of ‘maladministration’ (Hugo, 2000: 68), injustice in society, fraud, scandal and illegal dealings, but it is worth mentioning that the police have also suffered at their hands. In reference to the Stephen Lawrence murder case in 1993, ‘A catalogue of incompetence was cited including the failure of the police to treat Lawrence’s condition or the incident as an emergency since they assumed Lawrence had provoked the fight because he was black. Prompted by the lobbying work of Stephen Lawrence’s parents, British journalists took the lead in exposing the incompetence, evasiveness and indifference of the Metropolitan Police.’ (Hugo, 2000: 101).

The Stephen Lawrence case and the journalistic investigation that followed, shows another value of journalism in modern society – that is, ‘the concept of objectivity’ (Hugo, 2000:74). A journalist’s job as Fox, 1996 (in Hugo 2000: 76) states, is ‘to give us the facts and it is to seek to explain these facts by attempting to uncover the reasons why events occurred in the way they did’. It just gives the true story and has the evidence to back the story up. Later, in the essay it is discussed how some of that objectivity was lost and the effect that this had on the public.

An interview with BBC journalist Mark Daly, conducted by John Mair, at Coventry Conversations, brings home the fact that investigative journalism is rewarding. Daly’s ‘Secret Policeman’ reports, which revealed racism within the Greater Manchester Police (GMP) service, UK’s largest police force, won several awards. He said, ‘to go as an undercover agent in the police was a task that no one had ever done in the world.’ But before setting off to do this perilous task Daly says, ‘we had to satisfy a team of lawyers at the BBC, proving to them that we have a Prima Facie case.’ The evidence was there and Daly was confident to go ahead with it as he knew that the BBC, being a large organisation would be able to protect him if he was discovered. Daly says, the GMP, ‘arrested me for producing false documents: I had had to have laser surgery to pass the eye test. You are not allowed to have laser surgery in joining the police.’ Daly agrees it was incorrect. In addition, in order to get this story, Mark used hidden cameras and microphones during his training period to secretly record the behaviour of the trainers and new recruits.

For the ‘Secret Policeman’ Mark Daly, it seems as though the results justified the means. Daly said in the interview, as a consequence of his report ten officers were forced to resign their posts and a national investigation into racism in the police was carried out.

Good investigative reports are done by journalists who follow a number of fundamental principles. These are stated by the Canadian Association of Journalists and are defined as truthfulness, transparency, accountability, fairness and privacy.

Good investigative reports clearly show what evidence they have, and ensure that different and independent sources corroborate the important elements of the story.

John Pilger in his book, Tell me no lies says that the term investigative journalism did not exist when he began his career. According to him the term investigative journalism, ‘became fashionable in the 1960s and 1970s with investigations like Seymour Hersh’s expose of the My Lai massacre in Vietnam, Phillip Keighley’s account of the London Sunday Time’s tortuous disclosure of the scandal of the drug thalidomide and the Watergate scandal,’ (Pilger: 2005, xiv). It was the first time the mass media were exposed to scandals and other wrongdoings that affected the public interest. Investigative journalists were held in high regard and seen as champions of the people. This view, coupled with the public demand for these types of public interest stories led to increased pressure on journalists to uncover them.

But the popularity had its downside as well as this led to an increase in poor reporting. Tessa Mayes, awarding winning journalist, summarised this point speaking at Goodenough College, London, ‘The journalist’s weapon, the pen, was now all too often turned against their own profession.’ Mayes cited the Jason Blair fraud case, the Valerie Plame scandal (‘Plamegate’) and ‘sexed-up’ dossier on Iraq WMDs. ‘While each case had its own intricacies, they all spurred investigations into the investigations. Now the reporters were being reported on. The consequence of all this is that now the onus is on journalists to reveal their sources.’

Excellent investigative reports are not uncommon, but also there are many instances of journalists getting it wrong or even fabricating reports to grab headlines.

In a personal interview conducted by the author, Professor Richard Keeble, City University, said, that in his opinion, ‘there is still some good investigative work going on but given the enormous expansion of the media the internet, the enormous size of the newspapers these days, it’s right to say that the overall picture is very disappointing.’

Commodification theory:

Prof. Keeble, remarks that although there is a need for good investigations there is also the unavoidable fact that the appetite for investigative journalism has been affected by the changes that the way media organisations are financed: Prof. Keeble quotes Nick Davies in Flat Earth News, ‘many media organisations don’t have the desire or the resources to invest in it.’ Prof. Keeble goes on to suggest, ‘But finance is not the only issue here. There is also the intent’. Increasingly over the years, media generated more and more revenue from advertising. Today this is big business. The focus of today’s media is to appeal to the masses with short turn-around stories that generate readership and therefore the audience for advertisers. This affects investigative journalism in two ways: firstly, those media organisations often do not want the overhead of long investigations, and secondly, that they do not wish to alienate their corporate sponsors.

Prof. Keeble explains how the mainstream media relies so heavily on advertising. One such group of advertisers is estate agents. Most of the scandals in local property have gone largely unreported because of the close ties between estate agents and local newspapers.

According to Prof. Keeble, another factor hindering investigative journalism would be fear of the law. For example, ‘investigations of Robert Maxwell was obstructed because he just flung libel writs around to prevent journalists from investigating his activities relating to his pension funds of his companies so libel can impeach investigative journalists. Obviously we have the official secrets act now which are appearing to impede journalists and not only that the Anti- terrorism Act also are threatening journalists investigations. It seems that journalists interviewing a suspected terrorist are now being forced to hand over their interview tapes and notes. So, there are increasing legal threats to investigative journalism.’

According to McNae’s (2007), The Official Secrets Act 1989 makes it an offence to make an unauthorised disclosure which is, or is likely to be, damaging, of information on security, intelligence, defence, or international relations or of information entrusted in confidence by Britain to another country. Also, the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 amended the 2000 Act by introducing a new offence, wit severe penalties, of withholding information on suspected terrorist offences. ‘Withholding’ information includes failing to volunteer it (Welsh et.al, 2007:92).

According to Prof. Keeble, for these reasons, it seems that investigative journalism articles tend to appear in specific print media (examples of these are ‘The Spectator’ and ‘Private Eye’) or tend to be reported in public interest documentaries (examples of these are ‘Watchdog’ and ‘Real Story’).

Motivation:

Before looking into the challenges faced by investigative journalism let’s determine why investigative journalists do what they do. Why do they risk not only their lives and also very often the lives of their families in their curious attempt to dig deeper? Is their work appreciated?

Prof. Keeble explains, ‘it’s this thing called the public interest when some element of corruption is suspected then it’s the responsibility of the journalist to investigate…journalists operate at the margins of legality in, sort of, spaces left by the authorities. I guess one of the main functions of the media is to expose corruption, hypocrisy and the like… I guess there is also challenge: it can be exciting and it is certainly better than writing the odd press release.’ (Richard Keeble: 2008 )

Philip Knightley, who has done some excellent work in this field, disagrees that investigative journalists have to necessarily work undercover as ‘everything is written down somewhere because of the bureaucracy…so I am not happy about the idea that investigative journalism involves going undercover.’

Conclusion:

It is obvious that investigative journalism has an important role to play in our society. The fact that journalists are prepared to go to such lengths in the public interest means that organisations or individuals are always accountable for their actions.

Sadly, the problem is that only a small proportion of society really appreciates investigative journalism. In the main people do not watch programmes such as Panorama or Watchdog. Neither do they buy newspapers for the in-depth journalistic investigative stories. The most popular papers are tabloids.

Society as a whole needs to be educated about the role that investigative journalism. Journalists, often referred as the ‘Fourth Estate’, provide a public service keeping governments and organisations in check not allowing any abuse paper.

Perhaps the value of investigative journalism is undersold. According to Prof. Keeble, ‘the media underestimates the intelligence of the audience and properly marketed good investigative journalism would attract appropriate audiences.’

Investigative journalists have to be careful how they work. They also need to be accountable. Most journalists work under very clear journalistic principles and as a result get good reports that make a clear difference. A good report may change a government, put criminals behind bars or cause an organisation to completely change the way it runs.

There has been much evidence to show how a good investigative report has brought about social change. It’s value is clearly visible.

Referencing:

Burgh, Hugo de. (2000), Investigative Journalism, London: Routledge.

Canadian Association of Journalists. (2004), Statement of Principles for Investigative Journalism [online] available from <http://www.caj.ca/principles/principles-statement-investigative-2004.htm>

Davies, Nick. (2008), Flat Earth News, London: Chatto & Windus.

Hochuli, A. (2006), What Has Happened to Investigative Journalism [online] available from http://culturewars.org.uk/2006-01/portmayes.htm,

Keeble, R. (2001), The Newspaper Handbook, London: Routledge.

McCarthy, Kieren. (Date not given), Phillip Knightley.com [online] available from <http://www.phillipknightley.com/pages/biography.html>

Northmore, David. (1996), Lifting the Lid, London: Cassell.

Pilger, John. (2005), Tell Me No Lies, London: Vintage.

Randall, D. (2000), The Universal Journalist, London: Routledge.

Shepherd, Rob. (2007), Roger Cook [online] available from http://broadcastnow.co.uk/news/interviews/roger_cook.html

Spark, David. (1999), Investigative reporting, A study in technique, Oxford: Focal Press.

Teggarty, Nina. (2008), Threat to Investigative journalism [online] available from http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/society/law_order/threat+to+investigative+journalism/2219747

Welsh, T. & Greenwood, W. (2005), McNae’s Essential Law for Journalists, N. York: Ox UP.

]]> http://cjr08.wordpress.com/2008/06/06/what-is-the-value-of-investigative-journalism-in-modern-society/feed/ 0 amitabh1987 http://cjr08.wordpress.com/2008/06/05/the-agenda-setting-the-coverage-of-the-western-and-eastern-media-to-beijing-olympic-game/ http://cjr08.wordpress.com/2008/06/05/the-agenda-setting-the-coverage-of-the-western-and-eastern-media-to-beijing-olympic-game/#comments Thu, 05 Jun 2008 10:05:00 +0000 julyzoe http://cjr08.wordpress.com/?p=7 ]]>

Pulitzer said: “The news attracting people most is related to sports, scandal and crime news (Brian 2001)” .The Olympic Games as the international campaign is highlight to display in the world. The Olympic Game provides the perfect forum for cultural construction and presentation in that it is one of “modern society’s mega-event” (Roche 2000).Because the Olympic Games is “the largest and most important stage “(Tuggle, Hoffman and Rosengard 2002:361).Its potential scope and impact derive primarily from the mediated mature of the Olympics, particularly its coverage in television broadcasts. The 2008 Beijing Olympics has becomes the focus of attention all over the worldit is also widely reported by the global media who is responsible for helping people to select the matters that gain notice from the complicated world. The reinforced reports may arouse people’s interests．That shows the“ Agenda setting ”of the media for Beijing Olympic Games，the media will persist in the ideas of “ people’s Olympics” to set up agenda，advocates the culture of main seam, bears humane idea．(Xu 2007).Before the 2008 Olympic Games comes，it has been considered the function of agenda setting and walked out of the blindness. Currently, the global mainstream media were critical the Olympic Torch relay protests from Tetan as their coverage. And these was captured a great of attention in the world. At the same time, it was occurred strongly complaints in China, Chinese people protest the distorted reports attacked in the western press as part of a conspiracy to mount a boycott of the Beijing Olympics.

In this article, I would like to provide a mass and communication theory of the media display that the constructed through the Western media and Chinese, It will focus on the pattern of beliefs that determine a group’s interpretation of some aspects of the world—beliefs that reflect a group’s “fundamental social, economic, political or culture interests”(Foss 2007:652).As the result of this articulation of the agenda setting embodied in the object, the critic is able to answer the question about the display such as :what does the reports ask the audience to believe, understand , feel, or thinking about? What arguments are being made in the products and for what? What are the particular characteristics, roles, actions, or ways of seeing being commended in the product? What values or general conceptions of what is and is not good are suggested? (Foss 2004:245)

To discover the agenda setting that characterizes these displays, I analyzed media coverage of the Beijing 2008 Olympics between Western and China. Both I believe, are media sources that China would want to target for its messages of development display leading up to the Olympic Games, and both are representative of the Western media’s construction of China.

An analysis of the above-mentioned case, I aim at the process with the certain agenda effective and whereby the media has been able gradually to influence the audiences of foci for societal energies.

2. Literature Review

When we observe the media reports after the World War II, generally speaking, it could be divided into four different periods: Antagonistic period, unfreezing period, honey-moon period and twist period. (Feng and Li 2008).All these period are directly related with the relationship between West and Chinese government.

In addition, an independent press emerged free of the legal and fiscal controls by which governments had sought to control it. This struggle was accompanied by a development which is generally held to be even greater significance for the emergence of a free press—the economic emancipation of the press from state control (Curran 2002:79).indeed, media clearly serve and perform important functions in politics, and the information and persuasion may lead to behavior or political.

Examinations of the agenda-setting influence of the mass media have been no exception (Mccombs 2004). According to agenda-setting theory, every social system must have an agenda if it is to prioritize the problems facing it, so that it can decide where to start work (Dearing and Rogersm 1996:1).Many mass communication scholars were initially attracted to agenda-setting research as an alternative to looking for individual-level directional media effects, which had often been found to be minimal. Essentially, public agenda –setting research investigates an indirect effect (“what to think about’) rather than a direct media effect (“what to think”). (Dearing and Rogersm 1996:14). In addition, people think about the information is not from receiving one or a few messages but it due to the agenda-setting effect, which has aggregated impact of a very large number of messages, each of which a different content has but all of which deal with the same general issue. Currently, once people understand the basic idea of agenda-setting; they are usually quick to ask which medium is more powerful in setting the public agenda, television or newspapers (Mccombs 2004).

Although western media has a long history of calling on the press freedom, it is also obeying the role of agenda-setting. As coverage of an issue, which is a social problem, often confliction, it can be reported totally different via different media. Agenda-setting can be a zero-sum game in that space on the agenda is a scarce resource, and so a new issue must push another issue down the agenda to come to attention. (Dearing and Rogersm 1996:22).We see agenda-setting as a political process in which the mass media play a crucial role in enabling social problems to become acknowledged as public issues. (Dearing and Rogersm 1996:22).

Hence, in history, no matter the west or east media, both played a good performance in reporting the issues, such as Saddam’s Tyranny, Iraq War, Georgia Rose Revolution and Ukraine’s Orange Revolution .Meanwhile the Chinese media‘s media ‘s censorship system. All of them, they adopt a selective information of agenda setting report to meet the national ideology.

However, China is also presented as the one of the socialist big country, a long period time, as has been mentioned above, has been twist with the western media. Different political system, the media perform the different agenda setting, in this stage, as one falls, another rises.

3. Case Study

The celebrity news websites selected here are the top news website ranked by traffic in both China and UK. The CCTV (China Central Television) is the most important and essential broadcast media in China. It is considered as the propaganda department of the Communist Party of China in a long period of time. The CCTV-9 broadcast the international channel, which target at the English-speaking audience. The BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) is the world’s largest broadcasting which has been found more than seventy years. It is owned high reputation of its quality of programming and the news value. I adopted two pieces of news from each news website. These two news were about the Chinese people were organized spontaneity to protest the Western media’s report of Tibetan rioters in the Olympic torch relay in the abroad route. These two pieces of news were reported on the same day, April 19th (China eight –hour ahead of UK).

I attempted to analyze them from their headline, lead, form and tone of comment between these two articles.

3.1 Headline of post:

Both of these two articles we could read from their internal news columns. In CCTV’s, it was reported that: “Overseas Chinese in Britain rally in protest against Western media distortion.” (Yang 2008 ) The BBC was said:” Hundreds gather in Tibet protest ” (BBC 2008 ).The CCTV’s headline used 11 words to gave all the details about: who (Overseas Chinese), where (in Britain rally), what (protest), how (against Western media distortion).In this headline, we can easily to comprehend that, this piece of internal news, was trying to report the overseas Chinese were in opposition to the British media’s distortion report, it related to the conflict between overseas Chinese and British media. Compare to the BBC’s, it only selected 5 words to explain: Who (Hundreds), What (protest),How (gather in Tibet protest).From this headline, we also to find out, this report was telling the audience about hundred people gathered to protest which was related with the Tibet issue. It was possibly concerning the reflection relationship between the “hundreds” and the” Tibet”.

3.2 Lead of Post:

In the light of their distinction, each report was coded as explain the main context. In CCTV’s:

” In Britain, Chinese expatriates and students have staged a silent demonstration in front of the British Parliament building. They gathered there on Saturday to protest distorted news coverage by some Western media organizations — including the BBC — relating to the March 14th riots in the Tibet Autonomous Region.”

The BBC’s:

“Hundreds of Chinese students have gathered in Manchester and London to protest at the Western media’s portrayal of the Free Tibet movement.”

In these two paragraphs, CCTV obviously spent much more words to explain more details, including the identity of protest (Chinese expatriates and students), the target of protests (Western media organizations), in the form of protest (a silent demonstration),the location of protest (British Parliament building) and the reasons of protest against (the March 14th riots in the Tibet Autonomous Region). At the same time, it was also referenced to one of the protest media: BBC.

On the contrary, observing the report from BBC, it only spent 22words, one sentence to report a campaign of Chinese students. From these 22 words, it selected a soft way to describe, and chose some words such as “Hundreds”, “gathered” and “portrayal”, all of them were not quite exact words. Moreover, the entire sentence‘s offensive was weakened, however, it also paid attention to using the adjectives as” Free”, seemed to highlight some facts.

3.3 Form of post:

Each post is also coded according to the way it presents the discussion topic. In CCTV’s, the report was using a typical narrative way with the inverted pyramid structure, which arranged the paragraphs in order of descending importance. This article had seven paragraphs. In the second paragraph, it was separated to report an exactly number of participants, (More than 3,000 people joined the demonstration); in the next two paragraphs, it was accessed to the interviews from the organizer and some people attended in this protest activities. Thus it explains the purpose of protest, as well as reasons and attitude. (They appealed to British media agencies to end their distortion and fabrication. At the time of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, they warmly welcome people from all over the world to come to China to see, to hear, to touch the real China and talk to the real Chinese people.).Through the interview that commented by participants in the following paragraphs, it also explain the protest ways, it attempted to give the details in various aspects.

Whereas, the BBC’s chose some kinds of the interviewers (Protest organizer Tian Yang, the BBC, director general Mark Thompson and protester Becky Qin).In this report, it seemed to show the two sides of the voice, through both the BBC itself and other officer gave the image to protect the BBC’s authority of truth.

3.4 Tone of comment:

Comments were also implied as supportive, neutral or dissenting to the broadcast .In a representative neutral comment the commenter either did not expressive directly his own attitude to the issue, or the comment is not related to the issue under consideration. Either CCTV’s or BBC’s report, although they had quite deference form to broadcast, they had chosen different length, different point of view to report, it was no doubt that both of them were reflecting their attitude of supportive or dissenting.

4 Possible Findings

As I have shown, these two articles of definition, equivocation, accumulation and anticipation that both China and Western media are presenting in its construction of themselves in the run-up to the broadcasting are organized by the agenda-setting.

These two reports, both are set up in the internal news column, hence they possibility to serve the audiences to read in domestic. When the media attempted to arrange the internal news, it is naturally to set the agenda which is benefit to their media. A better understanding of the agenda-setting process lies at the intersection of mass communication research and political science, agenda-setting can directly affect policy (Dearing and Rogersm 1996:4).Successful media advocacy essentially puts a specific problem, framed in a certain way, on the media agenda (Dearing and Rogersm 1996:4).Exposure through the mass media allows a social problem to be transformed into a public issue.

From the above, these two countries are extremely different in reporting a same issue. It doesn’t mean one of them not tell the truth or follow the news value, actually, it was the difference of their agenda-setting, displayed from the different ideology and culture, the different services of government, the different sprits of media communication and the different effects of spreading information they expected; However, the same thing is that both of them were seeking to perfect their agenda-setting, thus to be preformed a good gatekeeper , to achieve to decide what people will thinking.

In the same coverage of overseas Chinese students protested the western media’s distorted report. The BBC chose a way of reporting with ambiguous words, provided as little as possible information of fact, stressed the controversial of being complained the distorting broadcasting, therefore achieve the support from their audiences. When broadcasting news, it was not the fact that the BBC did not know how to give the accurate of truth to the audience, to the contrary, with his grasp of English langrage skills, basis to achieve the fact, to display a report which is given the weakening information would undermine itself, at the same time, setting the facts for their defense. Moreover, CCTV used nearly a detailed exposition of the whole process of protest. In this description, it displayed to us that the Western media was not perfect; we started to suspect the authority of the media, no longer fetishism believe the western media. On the other hand, it is benefit the audience became much closer to the Chinese media; and gives more tolerance.

5 Conclusion

The western and china’s report were portrayed visibly media agenda setting, Underscore the valuable contributions of news media in global event surrounding. In addition, they also show that the media did not adequately represent key media service roles necessary before, Actually, it was not only reporting the news but also on ensuring that the news informed and influenced key audiences, including policymakers. Clearly, the western and china’s media is primarily an issue requiring broad governmental involvement, The media helps advance the needs of vulnerable policy-based messages; by contrast, should strive to promote and communicate by each other.

Reference

1. Brian, D. (2001) 1^nd edn. Pulitzer: A Life. New York: Wiley

2. Curran, J (2002) 1^nd edn. Media and Power. London and New York: Routledge

3. Dearing, j. and Rogers, E. (1996) 1^nd edn. Communication Concepts 6: Agenda-setting. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage

4. Foss, S (2007) ‘Spatial Structuring of Cultural Display around China’s Olympic

Games: Definition, Equivocation, Accumulation, and Anticipation’. In 2007China Communication Forum Collections. ed. By Cac&ICA. Beijing: Cac: 650-670

5. Foss, S.K. (2004) 3^nd edn. Rhetorical criticism: Exploration& paractice.Long Grove.IL: Waveland

6. Feng, S.W and Li, J.N. (2008 ) ‘A Study of Western media performance in reporting Chinese issues.’ Journal of JiNan University off Physical Education 4

7. Mccombs, M (2004) 1^nd edn. Setting the Agenda: the mass media and public opinion. Cambridge: Polity

8. Roche, M. (2000) Mega-events& modernity: Olympics and expos in the growth of global culture. New York: Routledge

9. Tuggle, C., Huffman, S.and Rosengard, D.S. (2002) A descriptive analysis of NBC’s coverage of 2000 summer Olympics. Mass Communication and Society, 5 p.361

10. Xu, Y. (2007) ‘Agenda Setting Theory on the 2008 Olympic Games.’ Journal of Hebei Institute of Physical Education 21

11. BBC News (2008 ) Hundreds gather in Tibet protest [online] Available from

< http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/7356172.stm> [03 June 2008]

12. Yang, J (2008 ) Overseas Chinese in Britain rally in protest against Western media distortion [online] Available from < http://www.cctv.com/english/20080420/101471.shtml.cctv.com/english/20080420/101471.shtml> [03 June 2008]

]]> http://cjr08.wordpress.com/2008/06/05/the-agenda-setting-the-coverage-of-the-western-and-eastern-media-to-beijing-olympic-game/feed/ 0 julyzoe http://cjr08.wordpress.com/2008/06/05/how-journalisms-portrayal-of-the-thin-ideal-contributes-to-anorexia/ http://cjr08.wordpress.com/2008/06/05/how-journalisms-portrayal-of-the-thin-ideal-contributes-to-anorexia/#comments Thu, 05 Jun 2008 09:58:48 +0000 cheekyirish http://cjr08.wordpress.com/?p=5 ]]>

Journalism plays a key role in the depiction of extremely thin celebrities and fashion models in magazines targeted for teenage girls and young women. Key magazines depict the image of the ideal body which celebrities possess. These images can be seen in magazines such as Heat, Closer, Reveal, Star, Love It and New only to mention a few. The portrayal of the ideal body shape in celebrities applies a cultural pressure to be thin and achieve the ideal body shape on teenagers and young women who read these magazines and other influential media sources. Hollywood has also become obsessed with the way women look and put pressure on celebrities to slim down to a size zero. The image of anorexic celebrities with bones jutting out, like Mary Kate Olsen, may be a contributory factor in young girls becoming eating disordered (Living, 2007).

Journalism also plays a role in the way it puts pressure on women to return to a low body weight soon after giving birth. There are always images of celebrities looking sexy and curvy soon after they have had a baby.

These types of images put pressure on normal women to return to their normal weight soon after giving birth, which is not natural. ‘There is pressure to maintain a low body weight and Ideal shape, even shortly after giving birth.’(Jeffries, 2007)

Hollywood also seems to be obsessed in celebrities having cosmetic surgery to maintain the perfect body. There is no more of celebrities growing old with dignity. Instead they have procedures such as Botox and facelifts. There is pressure to undergo surgery or other interventionist techniques to preserve youthful features or improve one’s body shape or looks (Jeffries, 2007).

Body Dissatisfaction

People, specifically women, view their body image or appearance as falling short of society’s depiction of the ideal body. One reason for body dissatisfaction is that the ideal of feminine beauty in America is so extremely thin that it is unachievable by most women living in that society (Gilbert et al, 2002), bearing in mind that there is a high statistic of obesity in America in normal men and women.

There may be links between the portrayal in the media of very skinny fashion models and other girl stars, the dissatisfaction shown by young women with their weight and the alleged rise in eating disorders among young women (Frost, 2001).

Perfect Body

Women are shown by the media what their bodies can and ought to look like and presented beauty products to attain this (Frost, 2001).

Girls and women are instructed, with the philosophy that it is essential that women have perfect bodies and faces presented for male use. This produces the insecurity of never achieving the accepted standard and experiencing constant dissatisfaction with their own bodies (Frost, 2001).

The Body Image women propose is flexible and vulnerable to screen influence from messages about perfect bodies included in advertising and programming and it is practical to visualize that each of these body messages is ‘one strike of a chisel sculpting the ideal body inside a young woman’s mind’ (Gilbert et al, 2002).

Change Through the decades

The woman’s ideal body image has become continuously smaller over the past century. ‘From the middle ages the rounder reproductive figure was considered attractive and plumpness was erotic and fashionable.’(Ogden, 2003). In the 1600s, paintings Rubens did of women portrayed them as having full rounded hips and breasts.

The aspiration of the thin ideal body was evident in the 1920’s when women bound their breasts and used starvation diets and exercise to attain the ideal body shape (Silverstein et al, 1986). This is relevant to today, as in 2000 Victoria Beckham was criticised for being too thin and promoting starvation diets to achieve the size zero (Reid, 2000).

The ideal body image altered with the popularity of actresses such as Jane Russell (1940s) and Marilyn Monroe (1950s) who were known for their curves and big breasts.

However the ideal body shape of the 1920s made a comeback towards the end of the1950s with Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly and led to the new standard of thinness set by Twiggy in the 1960s (Grogan, 1999).

Can Twiggy be blamed for the obsession with extremely thin models today? This is unlikely to be true, as it is the fashion industry expectation of extremely skinny models, which makes the ideal body image become smaller.

There is an obsession with skinny models today and in reality to compete in the model industry you need to be skinny. Although in saying this Sophie Dahl rose to fame in 1997 for being a size 16 model with large breasts just like Marilyn Monroe, the difference being she was made feel bad about being that size and so has slimmed down to a size eight which is probably too skinny for her body shape (Ask men, 2004). ‘The British model was credited with helping to bring back the curves into Nineties fashion, mesmerising designers like Karl Lagerfeld and Jean-Paul Gaultier with her voluptuous Fifties look’ (Hello).

Body Shape of Models

Silverstein et al researched the body shapes of models as portrayed in women’s magazines and speculated that they have become less curvaceous since the 1950s. Morris, Cooper and Cooper (1989) observed the physical characteristics of models from a London Agency which recruits models for magazines such as Vogue, Cosmopolitan and Woman’s Own and came to the conclusion that models have become more tubular (Ogden, 2003). Data has shown that overweight women have practically disappeared as models in women’s magazines in the last 35 years (Snow& Harris, 1986). Research has shown that Miss America Pageant participants have become slimmer since 1960 (Garner et al, 1980). Film actresses have also become thinner since 1950 (Silverstein, Peterson and Perdue, 1986) and female actors, advertisers, models and newsreaders are overpoweringly young, beautiful and slim (Kilbourne, 1994). Even Barbie has become slimmer since being introduced in 1959 (Freedman, 1986).

Despite rumour that big models are in vogue or that curves are fashionable the desirable size for a woman has dropped over the last few decades so that the icon of feminine beauty from the 1950’s, Marilyn Monroe- a size 16, would now be perceived as fat (Frost, 2001).

Thinness equals attractiveness

If the media is portraying women differently then this may impact how women are viewed. If they are depicted as being increasingly thin this may influence our conceptualization of what it means to be a woman (Ogden, 2003).

If media images of women are getting thinner, then a larger size reveals unattractiveness and thinness is associated with attractiveness (Ogden, 2003).

Orbach has written vastly about the significance of thinness in the context of dieting and eating disorders (1978, 1986). He disputes that thinness and body weight signify a variety of meanings and how women view and experience their bodies relates to the cultural features (1986, p70).

Theory

‘Psychological theories and early research evidence suggest that the media can influence the development and maintenance of eating problems.’(Dolan et al, 1994). Socio-cultural factors appear to offer the best way to clarify why so many women suffer from eating problems. The role of the media is to inform girls and young women what their obsessions should be. The ‘culture of femininity’ (women’s study group, 1978) concentrates on the depiction of an ideal body. For many women media images generate strong emotional reactions such as body dissatisfaction and the aspiration to achieve the ideal body. Such reactions might instigate the sequence of dietary control and binge eating which can be established as a sign of the development of an eating disorder (Slade, 1982; Lacey, 1986).

‘It has been argued that this media presentation of thin images as the ideal is a major contributor to current high levels of body dissatisfaction and eating disorders in women (Cash et al, 2004).’

Social learning theory concentrates on the strong influence of role models upon the growth of self-identity during adolescence. Bandura (1977) assumes that the most influential role models are those who the individuals distinguish as like themselves. The media portray role models, which adolescent girls can use in their quest for self-identity. These images are alluring as they provide a direction for teenage worries with regard to bodily changes during puberty. For example the image of anorexic celebrities such as Mary Kate Olsen and Nicole Richie as portrayed in popular fashion magazines, which young girls regularly read. The mass media portray an ideal body shape for women, and image- vulnerable teenage girls feel pressure to match up to that ideal (Dolan et al, 1994). Such as images of Victoria Beckham, a popular fashion icon portraying the size zero. Young girls look up to women like Victoria Beckham and want to be like her. In relation to this theory there has become a patriarchal side to journalism in the way that western consumer entrepreneurship requires women to believe their bodies are insufficient, so that they will spend huge amounts of money on merchandise to ease this perception of inadequacy. This patriarchal journalism has led theorists believing that it has led to the formation of insecurity which has effected women’s control and capability as human beings leaving them feeling devalued and estranged from themselves (Frost, 2001).

The media’s ever-present use of thinness as the ideal norm of bodily attractiveness for women is likely to trigger dissatisfaction and anxiety in the large amount of women whose bodies do not correspond to this ideal (Silverstein, Perdue, Peterson& Kelly, 1986; Anderson & DiDomenico, 1992).

Solutions

Eating problems seem to be a sign of the conflicts surrounding the growth of women’s psychosocial personality in a society where female identity is associated considerably with body image and appearance, and where non- thinness in women is considered an unattractive attribute (Dolan et al, 1994).

If the media are proven to cause eating psychopathology then the best way to prevent them causing eating problems in women is to change the images and messages that the media portray. It would be more worthwhile for the media to use an extensive variety of models of different sizes and shapes. This would dissuade the idealization of an unattainable form and promote readers to see a broad range of body shapes as acceptable (Dolan et al, 1994).

Although this is a good strategy the media would not agree to this type of intervention as the images are used in the magazines for a reason such as increasing circulation or making a profit. When a single ideal body image is revealed, the majority of the population are unlikely to attain that ideal. Unless the media are prepared to encourage a broad range of body shapes as acceptable, then there will continue to be an ideal form to which the public desire (Dolan et al, 1994).

Content analysis has exposed that women are perceived as abnormally thin in the media. Magazines targeted at girls and young women reveal conventional slim images of attractiveness.

Women with eating disorders or body image dissatisfaction were more likely to compare their body image to that of celebrities (Grogan, 2008).

In 1996 Omega, a leading watch manufacturer, withdrew its advertising from Vogue magazine. The manufacturer criticized Vogue for using models in its fashion pages that were so skinny they looked anorexic (Boseley, 1996).

‘The lollipop silhouette, long-favoured by the female stars of American sitcoms, which involves disproportionately large heads wobbling a top stick-thin body does not say rich and it doesn’t say clever (Vernon, 2001).’ There are still celebrities today who possess lollipop heads such as Mary Kate Olsen and Nicole Richie.

Little seems to have changed with regard to media coverage of skinny models and actresses although there have been certain advertising campaigns which have confronted the thin ideal such as the British campaign for Real Beauty which is sponsored by Dove. However this campaign has not influenced magazines to change the images they use and they continue to use young slim models (Bordo, 2003; Strahan et al, 2006).

Advertisers may dispute that only slim models sell merchandise but recent research found evidence which proves that it is attractiveness, instead of the size of models which is vital in making products eye-catching to consumers (Halliwell and Dittmar, 2004).

Renee Engeln-Maddox (2005) has recommended that as many women make comparisons with media ideals, training women to concentrate on making downward comparisons with the parts of the body that are better than those of the model’s may be useful. She disputes that urging women to concentrate on the positives may be a successful way to defy the negative impact of upward comparisons (Grogan, 2008).

Rita Freedman (1990) proposes that cognitive-behavioural therapy could be used to teach people how to defy media pressure, through challenging “damaged cognitions” and creating new approaches of conceptualizing incoming information (Grogan, 2008).

Interviews done by Grogan with women propose that many women are unhappy and angry about the constricted range of images depicted in the media. Several academics are confronting media organizations to persuade them to change. The media are reacting slowly and although there is no considerable drift towards more realistic photographic models yet, at least the magazines are beginning to publish stories about the dangers of dieting and the significance of recognizing a variety of body shapes (Grogan, 2008).

The media and fashion models are appointed as the most powerful source of the pressure to be skinny. Women diagnosed with eating disorders also indicate that the models in fashion magazines helped to prompt their eating disorder (Cash et al, 2004).

However, there appears to have been a change in approach these magazines have taken, specifically Heat magazine (Heat, 2008) as they now are showing images of more curvy celebrities and emphasizing how good it is that they are curvy rather than looking anorexic. They are promoting the image of the curvy celebrity who is, after all, a role model to teenagers and young women who aspire to be and look like these celebrities. These stars have gone from looking like skin and bone to looking sexy and healthy and it is important to promote this image as this is what we should all attempt to achieve, not the anorexic body with bones jutting out (Heat, 2008).

To conclude, it is evident that the portrayal of the thin ideal in the media puts pressure on young women to conform to this ideal. These media images may indirectly cause eating disorders but only contribute to a small part of this and it is not proven if it actually contributes. In order for there not to be such a cultural pressure on young women to achieve this thin ideal it is important for journalism to acknowledge that these celebrities are too skinny. They already seem to be changing their approach and instead of encouraging celebrities to attain the size zero they are promoting the curvy figure and how it makes them look sexy and healthy. The strategies mentioned above also seem a good idea in tackling the issue of media depiction of the ideal body image and lack of a diverse range of body images shown in magazines and other media sources today.

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The Sun’s 2003 front page headline “Bonkers Bruno Locked up” attracted widespread censure (Cook, 2003), and was criticised as indicative of the tone of press coverage of celebrities with mental illness. The episode led to the replacement of the headline about the former heavyweight boxer with the anodyne “Sad Bruno in Mental Home” and a vow from The Sun’s editor Rebekah Wade to attend mental health training (ibid). More recently, use of the terms “nut”, “psycho”, and “schizo” have been criticised (Batty, 2008), and the social inclusion quango “Shift” have urged journalists to use less stigmatising terminology when reporting on the mentally ill.

Earlier this year, ex-footballer Paul Gascoigne’s declining mental health was reported in The Sun as “ ‘Mad’ Gazza on suicide watch” (Perrie, 2008 ). Rather than simply indicating that sensitivity training has led to a greater awareness of the use of inverted commas, the report is a factual account of Gascoigne having the M word inked on his forehead. Indeed, as the swift retraction of the Bruno headline suggests, there does appear to be an appetite for reduced use of negative and stigmatising terminology in the reporting of mental illness. The somewhat more objective “suicide watch” used in the Gascoigne story is a term currently in vogue. Lexis-Nexis shows 30 uses of the term in the national press in 1997, 163 five years later and 254 in 2007. The term appears to denote extreme mental distress by referring to treatment or intervention rather than slang terminology for diagnosis. A search of Google news underlines this fashionability: It has been used by the UK press in the past month alone in stories about Britney Spears, Joseph Fritzl, Karen Matthews, Jade Goody, Blake Fielder-Civil. While “suicide watch” may be an improvement on “nut” or “schizo”, it is not a term I have heard used in a professional capacity in almost 20 years of working in mental health. ‘Close observation’ is the term used in UK psychiatry, but is markedly less sensational despite being more accurate. It seems that the press has hardly become the embodiment of nuance in its reporting of mental illness.

Alongside the use of negative slang terminology there is a wealth of literature describing how newspapers emphasise violent behaviour when reporting mental illness (e.g. Anderson, 2003). It is true that a small minority of people with some forms of mental disorder, particularly those with personality disorder and those who also misuse drugs, do pose a greater risk of violence. Indeed, a recent report by the Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health (2008 ) reminds us that most forms of mental illness are especially high amongst UK prisoners, though of course this does not prove any causal link between mental illness and crime. The absolute risk of posed by those with mental illness is very small with the chance of you or I being the victim estimated by psychiatrists to be similar to that of being hit by a lightning strike (Walsh & Fahy, 2002). In the US, Slopen et al (2007) report that nearly two-thirds of a sample of stories about mental illness in adults in high-circulation newspapers were related to violent crimes. This is despite the fact that, when asked, the overwhelming majority of US newspaper editors (94%) believed that few mentally ill people are dangerous (Grierson & Scott, 1995). Thornicroft (2006) describes how this picture is mirrored in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the UK where newspaper coverage of mental illness was judged to be more negative than that of physical/medical illness. Medical stories focus on ‘bad doctors’ whilst mental illness stories tend to focus on ‘bad patients’ (ibid), and broadsheets are as negative in their coverage of mental illness as tabloids (ibid).

A special case: the high security hospitals

There is one area where the press might perhaps legitimately defend its’ reporting of mental illness as synonymous with violence. There are three high-security special hospitals for mentally disordered offenders in England – Rampton, Broadmoor and Ashworth (Carstairs hospital in Lanark serves Scotland and Northern Ireland). The three hospitals hold approximately 1000 patients (Abbot et al, 2005) who have a mental disorder, a criminal conviction, and are classified as ‘dangerous’: they pose both an immediate and grave threat to others (Prins, 1997). Patients are by definition prone to violent or other dangerous acts such as arson. Security measures include locked doors, high fences, limited access to contraband items, and regular searching of personal items and mail. The special hospitals are staffed by trained nurses and doctors rather than by prison guards, although many staff are represented by the Prison Officers Association which remains the largest trades union across the high security forensic psychiatric care sector (POA, 2008). Patients are all compulsorily detained under section of the Mental Health Act 1983, with further restrictions ensuring no release without prior Home Office approval. Some of the patients are well known to the British public because of their notoriety, including moors murderer Ian Brady, Peter Sutcliffe (the Yorkshire ripper), and serial child murderer Beverley Allitt. The first aim of the current study is to ascertain – given their historical voracity for stories about the special hospitals’ notorious inmates – whether press coverage of them is typified by use of negative, slang terms for mental illness.

Despite the infamy of some of their patients, a literature search (MEDLINE, PsychInfo, CINAHL, Communication & Mass Media Complete) located only one study reporting on media coverage of the special hospitals (Ness & Collins, 2003). The study presented an analysis of whether each story reported enhanced or detracted from the reputation of Rampton hospital. Perhaps surprisingly, the authors report that negative coverage was less prevalent than they had anticipated. Their relatively narrow study of one years press cuttings supplied little in depth information about how the press frames stories from, and positions its readers in relation to, the specials. A second aim of this paper is to tentatively explore how the press frames stories from the special hospitals. Two final overarching aims are to examine the role of journalism in the reporting of the special hospitals and to develop the topic for further exploration.

METHODOLOGY

The epistemological approach taken is rooted in positivism, defined by Wien (2005) as an attempt to present only that which is observable fact and not opinion, and is based on what can be measured and observed. Quantitative content analysis is the preferred method (Neuendorf, 2001), but the limitations of this are acknowledged and some qualitative analysis is undertaken, specifically ‘framing’ theory is used. Areas of interest for the content analysis include the amount and nature of coverage of the special hospitals both recently and ten years previously. A sample of identified stories were subject to further analysis to identify the frequency of the use of negative slang terms for mental illness. Further issues related to the role of journalism in reporting were also explored, including the use of named and unnamed sources by reporters. Theories of news values will be drawn on to explore the results.

RESULTS

An initial search of Lexis-Nexis suggests that stories about, or in some way related to, the special hospitals are common in the UK national press (184 stories for a 6 month period – full search details are presented below) For comparison Lexis-Nexis was also searched for the same period for stories about 3 of the 8 high security English prisons (Whitemoor, Belmarsh and Wakefield), where maximum operational capacity is double that of the special hospitals at 1938 (HM Prison Service, 2008). These prisons also hold a number of notorious prisoners (serial hostage-taker Charles Bronson, Soham murderer Ian Huntley, Great Train Robber Ronald Biggs, serial child murderer Robert Black, and extremist cleric Abu Hamza) so this would appear to be a fair comparison. There were 248 items for the period. Both searches, then, identified stories about their targets averaging over one per day over the period of interest.

The initial search described above was refined for more accurate identification of relevant stories. Lexis-Nexis was searched using the terms ((“broadmoor” or “rampton” or “ashworth”) AND “hospital”) anywhere in the story text for the period July 1 to December 31 2007 in all National English newspapers, daily and sunday editions (The Sun, News of the World, The Mirror, Sunday Mirror, Sunday People, The Daily Star, Daily Star on Sunday, The Mail, Mail on Sunday, Daily Express, Sunday Express, The Guardian, The Observer, The Independent, Independent on Sunday, The Times, Sunday Times, Daily Telegraph, Sunday Telegraph). This resulted in identification of 184 stories which were reviewed for relevance. Non-relevant and duplicate stories were excluded resulting in a total of 127 items. Similar terms were used to search a 6-month period from July 1 to December 31 1997 resulting in 127 stories, reduced to 98 following exclusion of non-relevant and duplicate stories. There was a 30% increase in stories related to the special hospitals over the ten-year period.

Both sets of stories were examined for use of the following terms:, “schizo”, “psycho”, “nut” or “nutter”, “loony”, and “fruitcake”, “maniac” and “monster”. There was one use of the term “schizo” in 2007 (“Schizo is accused of Rachel murder”, Sullivan, 2007) and none in 1997. The term “psycho” was rare, used three times in 2007 (e.g. “Dandruff psycho knifes 3”, Coles 2007) compared with four in 1997. “Nut” was used twice in 2007 (one in a direct witness quote) and twice in 1997 (though on both occasions in the context of articles about inappropriate language in mental health reporting). The terms ‘loony’ and ‘fruitcake’ were not found at all.

There were 22 uses of the word “maniac” in 2007 compared to zero in 1997. The term ‘monster’ had increased in use from 3 times in 1997 to 18 in 2007. Clearly, this is only a small sample but initial indications suggest that the use more general perjorative terms (“monster” or “maniac”) has increased in frequency whilst specific mental illness-based perjoratives (“psycho”, “nut” etc) have remained infrequent and static.

A sample (n=25) of the 127 (20%) 2007 news stories were further examined as to their content. Twenty of 25 (80%) items named one of five patients (and four of the five – Allitt, Brady, Sutcliffe, and Ian Huntley during a brief stay at Rampton – were very high profile patients) at one of the special hospitals. Due to the narrow time frame from which the sample was drawn some of these items were reports of the same incident in different newspapers. Nine (36%) stories mentioned one of the special hospitals only in passing (e.g. a Daily Telegraph story reported that Michael Stone, killer of Lin and Megan Russell – and never a patient at one of the special hospitals – had told a community nurse prior to his crime that he “wanted to be locked up in Broadmoor”; Edwards, 2007 ), whilst in 16 (64%) the named hospital was integral to the story, for example the story was about the hospital or one of its’ current patients and named his/her place of care.

Fifteen of the 25 (60%) stories were written by nine named authors, one single writer (Jamie Pyatt, The Sun) was responsible for 5 items. Direct quotations from 7 sources were used by reporters in six of the 25 (24%) stories (not including quotes used from judges in open court). Four of the sources were unnamed (an “unnamed source”, “an insider”, “a source” and “a guard”), whilst three named sources included two family members of patients’ victims and one who lived in a house formerly occupied by a named patient. Interestingly, both named and unnamed sources were quoted extensively, beyond the establishing facts of the stories and into areas of opinion:

“It is a complete waste of taxpayers’ money.” (an unnamed source in a story about patients having acting lessons for one hour per week, Whitaker & Kay, 2007)

“Their victims and families will not be able to enjoy Christmas yet they will be better fed than most people in Britain, funded by the taxpayer.” (a source quoted in a story about ‘lavish’ Christmas meals at Broadmoor hospital, Pyatt, 2007)

“Monsters in there should not be allowed any form of entertainment. Why would anyone want to go in and look after these people?” (Winnie Johnson, mother of moors murder victim Keith Bennett in Whitaker & Kay, 2007)

This final quote is an interesting example of personalisation as a news value (Galtung & Rouge, 1965). Winnie Johson is the mother of Keith Bennett, an acknowledged victim of moors murderer and Ashworth hospital patient Ian Brady. There was no evidence presented in the story that Brady had been a recipient of the acting classes, but the news is ‘personalised’ by reference to a prominent individual associated with the hospital in question. Similarly, the item about Christmas meals (Pyatt, 2007) centred heavily on Peter Sutcliffe, although he is incidental to a story about all patients being given a choice of food. Note also that the news value of the stories is maximised by reference to an elite (or rather extremely notorious) person, though, again, there is no evidence that Brady or Sutcliffe were actually involved. Maximisation of the news value of the story is completed by its framing as a negative story (ibid). “Rehabilitation classes for mental health patients” would not have the same ring!

Finally, I wish to briefly examine the theory of ‘framing’ in order to add some qualitative analysis to the quantitative findings. The process of framing is assisted by two particularly important aspects (Pan & Kosicki, 1993: 55). Firstly, selection refers to the choice made about which aspects of a story to cover and, secondly, saliency refers to the accentuation of only certain dimensions of the selected aspects. In effect, this selection allows the press to ‘frame’ public policy issues as part of an ongoing narrative or discourse (ibid). As an example, in the UK, Paterson (2006) describes the process of the press ‘framing’ the unfolding story of the killing of Jonathan Zito by Christopher Clunis, a young black man with a history of mental illness, initially as a private tragedy and eventually to a failure of government health care policies towards the mentally ill. In the current investigation we can see that the public policy issue that commonly arises is that of ‘public money (taxation) funding perceived privilege, whether that privilege be food (as in Pyatt, 2007) or drama (as in Whitaker & Kay, 2007). This accentuation of the ‘waste of money’ bypasses other possible narratives: the difficulty for medical and nursing staff in providing care and treatment to people whose behaviour they find abhorrent, the possibility of rehabilitation for the hundreds of mentally ill patients who are not Allitt or Sutcliffe. Press coverage arguably constructs a simplistic discourse where we are invited to support the provision and delivery of second class services for some based on our moral abhorrence for the actions of a few.

There are some limitations that should be applied to the current findings. The content analysis at this stage is rudimentary and relies on a relatively small sample of identified stories. A more detailed coding system is required and some testing of the validity of coding categories and the reliability of coding between raters should be developed. In terms of epistemological approach, quantitative methodology allows us only to address relatively superficial questions about, for example, perjorative terminology. Questions about how that terminology arises or is constructed as perjorative is beyond the scope of the investigation, though some tentative qualitative analysis points to some interesting areas for further investigation.

CONCLUSIONS

Initial indications are that stories relating to the special hospitals are common and their frequency has increased over the past decade. Stories tend to focus on a very small number of highly notorious patients. The use of negative mental illness-related slang is in fact very rare; there is more use of ‘badness’ or ‘evil’ related language (‘monster’ or ‘maniac’), perhaps reflecting the press’ need for black and white story-telling: people are either mad or bad, and not, apparently, both.

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