To comment or not to comment?

The story I am about to tell you illustrates the point made at the end of my last blog perfectly….. That of whether or not members of the public should be given the chance to express their opinions by leaving comments on online new stories.

Last week, my uncle witnessed a young man walking across a busy four-lane motorway on the outskirts of Manchester.  He was hit by a car in the fourth (fast) lane.  It is very likely that he died instantly.

After hearing the horrific details of the incident from my uncle, I turned to the internet to see if I could find anymore information about who the man was and what had led to him being on the motorway.  I’m not embarrassed to admit that I am the sort of person who needs (should that be wants?) to know the grisly details, but my intention was really to find answers for my uncle, who was extremely shook-up by the incident.

The information I found in a Lancashire Telegraph news story (which I found using none other than my friend, Google) was even more upsetting than I expected.  The person on the motorway was a 16-year-old autistic boy from Burnley – just 15 minutes down the road from me.  The poor confused boy, who was trying to make his way home, must have been terrified.

Peter Lincoln, who was killed on the M60 motorway.

I will spare you the details of what happened, according to my uncle.  Peter Lincoln has lost his young life, his family and friends have lost a loved one – details of how do not matter and are, frankly, none of our business.  The Lancashire Telegraph has respected the boy and his family, and has also respected its readers by sparing them unnecessary detail.

It is therefore very disappointing that some people have still felt the need to leave nasty comments online, below this tragic story.  I should point out that, having worked at the Telegraph, I am aware that the web editor does remove any nasty and hurtful comments from the site.  However, responses to those comments are still there for everyone to read and indicate the sort of things that were said in the removed comments.

I am shocked that people – especially people who had never met the boy or his parents – could consider it acceptable to post such vicious comments on the worldwide web for everyone to see.  Of course, everyone is entitled to their own opinion on anything and everything, but a person has died, a family is grieving – back off and have some respect!!   

I think the best way to sum up my feelings on the issue of whether or not members of the public should be given the opportunity to leave comments on any website is to use one of the Telegraph reader’s comments:-

“There are times when it is best to keep personal opinions to yourself and this is one of those times!”

What do you think?  Please feel free to express your opinion by leaving me a comment…..

Baby with two faces

Despite wanting to be a newspaper journalist, I find myself turning more and more to broadcast and online news sources.  Upon hearing an interesting story and, as always, wanting to know more, I begin scouring the internet at the first available opportunity. 

 

Therefore, on seeing the story of the Indian girl with two faces on the TV news a couple of weeks ago, I began my search of the internet the moment I turned on my computer on the following morning. 

Using good ol’ trusty Google, I typed in the obvious – “girl with two faces” – and was presented with a list of direct links to peruse.  My search wasn’t extensive; I was able to find the information I wanted and view the amazing pictures on a number of blogs and newspaper websites within a matter of minutes, with a few simple clicks of the mouse. 

Each blog and online newspaper story was very much the same - short and simple, giving very brief details of the girl’s appearance, her family and home, the celebrations that have taken place in her village following her birth (with villagers believing her to be the reincarnation of the Hindu goddess, Ganesha), and what her doctors have said.  Keeping the text to a minimum, the websites let the pictures tell the story. 

A blog on the Environmental Graffiti website was a particularly touching piece, which slightly altered my thoughts on the baby’s ’situation’ – for want of a better word.

The blogger said: “If the baby had been born over here, she’d be considered a freak.  However, what I think is incredible is that her difference has been celebrated and she will grow up feeling special rather than a freak of nature.” 

I’m glad I read this particular page first, as it opened my mind to a different way of thinking about the baby’s current ’situation’ and her life in years to come.  Although I, like many, feel extremely sorry for the poor girl and cannot imagine what her life will be like, I agree that it is a lovely thing that she is adored by her fellow villagers, rather than being ridiculed – something which hadn’t really crossed my mind until I read the Environmental Graffiti blog.

I then went on to read a story on the Guardian website.  Offering a more serious angle, the Guardian’s brief story consists mainly of comments from the girl’s parents and doctors, and concentrates on the medical aspects of the story.  The Guardian reports that doctors say separating the girl’s two joined skulls is out of the question, because chances of survival are not very bright.  This, to me, is another good reason why it is important the girl is not made to feel like a “freak.”

The Telegraph’s online story focused much more on the similarly shocking story of Lakshmi Tatma – another little Indian girl who was born joined at the pelvis to her ”headless, undeveloped twin” and who was successfully separated from her twin during a long operation.  Having previously seen Lakshmi’s story on TV, this particular article did not offer me any information that I didn’t already know and almost took the attention away from the story at hand – that of the baby with two faces.

Next I looked at the Daily Mail website and found that they too had compared the baby’s story with that of Lakshmi.  However, this site was the only one to offer a name for the baby’s rare condition – “Craniofacial Duplication,” where a single head has two faces.  A number of readers’ comments have also left on the Mail’s website.

The final site I visited, an America site called USA Today – On Deadline, was the only site to name the baby – Lali. Readers have again been leaving their comments on this site.

 

And it is these comments, along with the Environmental Graffiti blog, that have stuck with me during the last couple of weeks. How do I feel about this little girl and her future? Who do I agree with, that first blogger or the readers? Maybe both? Are the readers’ comments insensitive? Should readers really have the opportunity to share their sometimes narrow-minded and often ruthless opinions with the world? I just can’t make my mind up…. I feel another blog coming on….

Slow news day.

I am currently in my fifth and final week of work experience at my local group of papers.  And it certainly has been an experience. 

Unfortunately, the experience has not taught me a single thing about working as a newspaper reporter.  In fact, it would be fair to say these last five weeks have almost undone everything I have ever been taught about journalism. 

I have carried out my work experience in a small office in Nelson, Lancashire, where a team of six reporters produce three weekly newspapers – The Nelson Leader, The Colne Times, and The Barnoldswick & Earby Times.

Now I wouldn’t say we live in a sleepy little borough, but there has been very little for me to do during my time here.  In fact, on days it has seemed that there has been very little for anyone to do!  I have spent most of my time writing brief ’soft news’ stories to go with pictures – the team here refer to these stories as “picture captions”, but I refuse to call them that because to do so really would leave me feeling like my time here has been wasted.

It hasn’t been all bad, of course.  I have been to a couple of police briefings, to an inquest, a licensing committe meeting (which the press ended up being kicked out of!), to the fire station numerous times, up on the moors, to a road accident, to readers’ homes…. and I have had a few by-lines.  But I haven’t been able to get stuck into anything juicy or feel proud of the copy I’ve produced.  I haven’t had to stop and think about what I’m writing, the five Ws or the pyramid structure.  Instead I have found myself trying to find funny or quirky things to say in the intros of my little “picture captions.”  The news editor seems to like that.

Unfortunately, all this has left me feeling slightly worried that when the time comes for me to get my hands dirty with a ‘hard news’ story, I won’t remember what on earth I am supposed to do and will find myself completely devoid of any of the skills I have previously perfected!

I am eagar to experience what it’s like to get stuck into the nitty-gritty of a really good, interesting story. 

But maybe I’m being to harsh on my local newspapers….

Maybe this is what I’ve got to look forward to in my future career in journalism….?  

It will never happen to someone I know

In a news week dominated by serial killers and child abuse, one particular story hit too close to home for my liking.

Last Friday I picked up the latest edition of Pluto, the student newspaper at the University of Central Lancashire, and found myself staring at a familiar face.

It took me a moment tear my eyes away from the image of Geeta Rao’s smiling face and read the shocking headline. Geeta had been stabbed to death.

Geeta was a fellow student on the photography course I completed in 2006. Although I didn’t know her well, the belief that “it’ll never happen to someone I know” was suddenly no longer true.

I scanned through Pluto’s double-page spread to find out what had happened. On the night of Tuesday, February 19th Geeta had been stabbed numerous times at her home in Standish, Wigan. Her 73-year-old mother had also been stabbed and was in hospital. One of them had called 999.

Pluto had dedicated a whole page to photographs of Geeta and tributes from her friends. As you would expect in a student newspaper, the article itself was dominated by quotes from other students. A shorter version of the article also appeared on the paper’s website.

Not satisfied with the information given in Pluto – I felt the hard news facts were overshadowed by the emotional and touching tributes – and wanting to know more about the events of that fatal night and the ongoing police enquiry, I turned to the BBC News website.

I wasn’t really expecting to find anything – still not believing that someone I once knew could be involved in such a terrible national news story – but from the BBC, I discovered that Geeta’s younger brother had been charged with her murder and was due to appear at Wigan Magistrates Court. The facts were given, plain and simple, followed by a tribute from her older brother – a straight to the point, ‘here’s what happened’, brief story.

Unsure of when John Rao was to appear at Court, I went in search of a ‘Wigan news’ website. The stories I found on the Wigan Evening Post website confirmed what I already knew, but went that one step further. Their stories struck a balance between those of Pluto and the BBC, with slightly more detail – both personal and factual. The Post’s stories were, of course, written for its local readers and included quotes from Geeta’s neighbours. Although I am not from the area, the ‘Wigan today’ website is the one I have found myself going back to.

It is almost a week now since John Rao appeared at Wigan Magistrates Court charged with his sister’s murder, yet none of the newspaper websites have updated their stories. I hope I’m not left wondering how Geeta’s murderer is brought to justice.

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