WINOL Critical Reflection - 26/10/11

This week I helped with the production of WINOL by operating the auto-cue. It was really interesting to see how the bulletin is put together, although it was every bit as stressful as I had imagined it would be! Here are my thoughts on this week's bulletin:

Headlines: Once again I thought the headlines this week were done really well. I thought the best part about the headlines this week was that there was a good quote about the government spending that would have engaged the audience and made them want to find out what the government are spending money on. I thought the zoom out of the rugby posts were also good because it made it more interesting to watch than if it had just been an image of the pitch.

University Applications: I thought it was good that the bulletin started with the story about the drop in university applications because the majority of WINOL viewers are students at the university, so it was important that the main story was one which was going to be of interest to them. I thought the use of graphics in this piece was good, although it might have been better if there had been numbers on the graph about the number of applicants because that would have put it into perspective. Lou did well presenting this piece, although he was still looking down a bit it was a huge improvement from his first piece to camera.

Unemployment: I thought Lee's piece on unemployment was good and the graphics made it look more professional. However, the continual list of figures became confusing after a while so perhaps they could have been rounded or not as many used. The interview with Cllr Brain Dash was relevant and well framed, and you could hear him clearly. I liked Lee's use of the notebook when he was reading out the statement because it kept his hands doing something and also looked professional.

Pubs & Clubs: There were relevant shots in this piece with pubs and clubs around Winchester that would be recognisable to local audiences.

Sport: The story about the rugby pitch restoration was a good story but the footage could have been improved. The shots of the empty rugby pitch before showing a match seemed unnecessary. There was also a technical error when the interview started which meant that the strap line flashed up for only a second, making it impossible to read, and therefore it was confusing to watch the interview not knowing who was talking. It was also confusing when there was a voice over reading the statement. The voice was clearly not Henry's, but we were not told who it actually was. The interview with Tim Fell was well framed and relevant and you could clearly hear him. It might have been a bit better if it was more of a close up though. Despite the criticism, I thought that Henry's pieces to camera were extremely good and he looked really smart and authoritative.

I thought that the ice hockey shots were better this week because they were a lot shorter so were easy to follow. I also like the natural sound as well as Amy's voice over.

Once again the football reporting this week was excellent with clear commentary and shots of the goals from both the stands and behind the goals.

Zombosium: The interview with Marcus Leary was framed well and the sound was good, but he was only explaining that students will be studying Zombies, which had already been established. It would have been better to have his opinions about it instead of a repetition of the facts. Tom's use of fair dealing meant that he could show clips from Dawn of the Dead. He was able to use the clips because he made sure that there was a voice over at all times and only showed a few seconds. I thought that Tom's piece to camera was very good again.

Games Review: I thought that this extra feature was a great way to finish up the bulletin. It was short enough so that the viewers did not lose interest, and also showed clips of the games to keep audience attention. I thought that Ewan and Graham were excellent at presenting this piece because they seemed genuinely enthusiastic about the games.

Presenter: I thought that Justina did a really good job at presenting and looked the part. I thought she did particularly well given that English is not her first language.

WINOL Critical Reflection - 19/10/11

I was not involved in the production of WINOL this week so will once again be critiquing it purely as a viewer.

Headlines: I thought that it was really good that even though the picture of the man in handcuffs was a still image, because there was a zoom in it seemed to be more interesting, as though it was footage. I thought the zoom out on Princess Anne unveiling the plaque looked very professional and allowed you to see her clearly as well as then being able to see the main event of the unveiling. I also thought it was good that you could then hear the natural sound of applause and flashing cameras.

Police Exclusive: I thought it was brilliant that WINOL had an exclusive story, especially one which would be of great interest to Hampshire residents, not only students at the university. The graphics used while Julie was giving the story looked extremely professional, and were easy for the viewer to read. I really like the way that the offences stayed listed on the screen because it allowed the viewer to see the whole picture by the end of the story, when otherwise they may have forgotten some of the information. I also thought it was good that Julie very clearly presented the response of the Hampshire Police Force, because it meant that the story was balanced.

Energy Bills: I thought that the start of this package looked really professional in the way that it was unclear what we are looking at until the camera zooms out to reveal a gas hob. This was also good because it gets the viewers attention as they want to know what they are actually looking at. The interview with Jenny Meadows was completely relevant and was well framed. All the cut aways were also completely relevant to the story. Throughout the package Tom's voice over was extremely clear and well scripted. I thought this was a really professional piece.

Princess Anne: This package was quite good, although the quality of sound throughout could have been improved. Ali got some very good shots of Princess Anne which looked professional. In his voice over, Ali mentions Councillor Raymond, although there are no strap lines in this piece so it is not clear to the viewer as to whether the woman giving the speech before the unveiling is Councillor Raymond or not. Also, it could have been more of a close up of the woman to look more professional.

Strikes: I thought it was good that the story about the strikes in Southampton from last week were followed up this week. Although the same footage was used, this acted as more of a reminder of last week's story instead of a repetition.

Housing: Most of the shots about the piece on housing were relevant to the story, however the image of people's feet as they crossed the road were clearly those of school children. This was a bit confusing because the story was not directly involving school children other than the fact that they presumably live in houses. The interview with Cllr Ian Tait was relevant and well framed.

Speed Limit: The shots about the speed limit story were all well framed, in focus and relevant to the story. The only problem was that there was a jump in the footage from those shots to Amy in the studio.

Sport: I thought that Dale's commentary of the football was really good and sounded professional. I also thought it was good that there were shots from behind the goal as well as of the whole pitch because it added variation to the package. The interview with Sam Wilson was good but needed to be de-centered.

I thought the interview with Henry Olonga was good however the problems with the audio meant that you could not really hear what he was saying or why he was being interviewed.

The footage of the ice hockey was good again this week, especially because with such a fast moving game it would have been easy to miss the shots of the goals. I also thought that the footage of the two fights between the players was good because it added variation to watching goal after goal. However, similarly to last week I felt that this piece went on too long and became confusing to follow.

Rhinos: I thought that Flick's piece about the Rhinos was really good, especially the fact that she was actually able to film them rather than just using still images or not showing them at all. When she was stroking the Rhino she did look slightly terrified, although I would not say this was a criticism because I would not have wanted to do it!

Presenting: I thought that Amy did a really good job of presenting this week, and also noticed that her hair was off her face throughout the bulliten which looked professional.

WINOL Critical Reflection - 12/10/11

This week I was not directly involved in the production of WINOL, however I watched it when it was aired and thought that it was a huge improvement from the dummy edition, although there were still things which could be improved. Each week I will be posting a critical reflection about WINOL. I will critique each section of the bulletin explain which parts I thought were good and which could be improved.

Headlines: I think that the headlines, particularly the footage of the protest worked well because you were still able to hear the natural sound as well as being able to hear Cara saying the headlines. I also thought that the strap lines were much better as they were bigger and bolder than previously which made them easier to read, without distracting the viewer from the footage. I also thought the footage of the goal was great to use in the headlines because if it had just been footage of match it would have been unlikely to get the viewers attention.

Strikes: I thought that the scripting for the introduction about the Southampton strikes story was very good because it didn't over complicate it at all. I liked how the package started with the natural sound of car horns, air horns, etc because it allowed the viewer to become almost involved in the heightened atmosphere. The interview with Mike Turner was well framed and you could hear him clearly despite the noise in the background. My only criticism would be that the strap line said he was from 'Unison', although there was nothing which explained what Unison was so that caused some confusion.

I thought it was a good idea to interview the man who had been blowing the conch, because when watching the footage he seemed like the most interesting man because it is unusual to be blowing a conch in the centre of Southampton. However, his strap line only said that his name was 'Jeremy' and that he was a social worker. It was explained in the debrief that the man did not want to give his last name, and Brian then stated that if this is the case then you cannot use his interview. Just having 'Jeremy' in the strap line looked unprofessional and could have also caused confusion to the viewer who may have been wondering if he had been shown before, or was important enough to be known only by his first name.

The interview with Cllr Jeremy Moulton was well framed and the quality of sound was good, and my only criticism would be that perhaps there needed to be more of an explanation of what his job is and why he was relevant to interview about the strikes.

Lecturer strikes: I thought the footage of students walking around at the start of this piece with Tom's voice over was good because it was something to keep the viewer interested as he talked. I liked his piece to camera, and he had definitely taken on board what Chris had told us about keeping our hands moving, which looked professional. However, I also thought that he could have cut down his piece to camera a bit. He could also have been walking in his pieces to camera to make them a bit more interesting for the viewer.

The interview with Eric Silverman was good because he was a relevant person to talk to about the effects the strike would have. It was good that the shot was de-centered, although it could have been a close up instead of a mid shot to make it look a bit more professional. The cut aways through the interview which showed Silverman talking to someone were confusing because it was not clear who he was talking to, and whether or not the sound was him talking in the interview or was now him talking to someone else. It would have been better to have cutaways of something else, although it is understandable there were not a lot of other shots that would have made sense with the story that Tom had not used already.

Budget Cut: I thought the footage of the high street at the start of this piece were very good, as was Lou's voice over. The interview with Michelle Price was relevant but the camera was looking down on her when it should always be at eye level. Also, it would have looked better if it was a head and shoulder shot rather than seeing her sitting in a chair. The cut aways of inside the care home were slightly confused and almost conflicted with the point of the story. Price was talking about how little money the home already receives, but we were being shown a room with a flat screen TV with no one watching, and three flat screen computers with no one using them. This almost gave the impression of luxury goods in the care home that are not even being used, which conflicts with Price's complaint that they do not receive enough funding.

The interview with George Beckett was good in the sense that it was a relevant person to interview, and he had a brilliant voice for video. However the framing was not consistent with the rule of thirds, it needed to be de-centered.

Lou's piece to camera was good because he was de-centred and you could clearly hear him. However, he kept looking down which made him look a bit shifty and unprofessional. Also, the cut away to the bed was confusing and perhaps unnecessary.

Sport: The footage of the football was really good because you were able to see the goals, which is the most important part. The natural sound was brilliant, and you were still able to hear the voice over at the same time. The only criticism would be the pole that was in shot, however this may have been unavoidable.

The ice hockey footage was also very good, and the replay of the goal looked really professional. However, the footage went on for quite a long time and the commentary became confusing.

I thought that the handover from sport back to news was too a bit jokey and was unprofessional for a news programme.

Antarctica: I thought that the voice over the pictures of Antarctica was really good because it was simple and allowed the viewer to absorb the images without being confused by the reporter's voice.

The interview with Kevin Saw was completely relevant and well framed, although the strap line could have appeared quicker because we see him before we know who he is. Like in Tom's piece, the cut aways in this package which showed the same person were extremely confusing, especially as he was in the same place in the cut aways as he was during the interview. It would have been better to film some of the equipment or just general views around the lab.

The second interview in the package with Dr Ed Waugh was well framed because he was looking the opposite way to Saw in the first interview.

Presenter: I thought that Cara did an amazing job as presenter this week. She had a clear voice and a good pace throughout the whole bulletin. The only thing that could be improved would be if she pinned her fringe back because it was covering her eye for majority of the bulletin. 

Diary of a Winchester Lady: Meeting with a Medium

When I stepped into Charlotte Smith’s house I was hit with an overpowering scent of incense which smelt like mixed spices, so strong that I was able to imagine her entire house filled with the bright red and orange colours you would usually associate with curries. The smell of the house was enough to make me think that this woman was going to be a throw back from the 70s, filled to brim with free love and flowers.

To my surprise, and to my delight, Charlotte seemed to be very much a ‘plain Jane’, with greying hair tied loosely in a pony tail, a pink fleece and a pair of boot cut jeans she was hardly what you would expect a psychic medium to look like.

Apparently from her childhood she had always been able to see and feel the energy of people/animal and places. I asked her what she meant by energy and she explained that everything emits a vibration, which can be felt by some people who have a sensitivity to it.

She explained how everyone is different in how they grieve and there is no right or wrong way, it is a journey, and one which Charlotte feels she has a role to play in, when the time is right.

She gave me a list of some things to watch for when having a reading so that any information they are given can be verified as accurate.

·         Say as little as possible while you are there.

·         Try not to react in a positive or negative way with your body language so the medium isn’t reading ‘you’ instead of making the contact with your loved one.

·         Don’t be afraid to say if information she/he is giving is incorrect.

·         Any medium worth their salt is there to help you, and will only be able to give you the best reading the can if you are 100% honest and that means saying if they are not connecting with someone you recognise.

·         A good medium should be able to give you a very accurate description of your loved ones character and personality. Their likes and dislikes while they were here.

·         Do not accept generalised descriptions

·         Bear in mind that it is not always possible for a medium to make the contact with the person you were hoping to hear from.

Charlotte began by ‘tuning into my energy field’

I was quite surprised that she accurately described my own character and she also was able to tell me what I had been like when I was a child.

She was accurate in her description of my family life, that I had lived by the sea and spent summer holidays on beaches, that I had siblings, and that I had been brought up mainly by my mum, which was true as my father had not been a part of my life in any positive way.

I was slightly sceptical at this point, because although the information she was giving was accurate, it would not be difficult for anyone to guess that most children go to the seaside at some point, and that in today’s society a single parent family is nothing out of the ordinary.

She slipped into telling me that she could feel strongly the presence of my grandfather.

The moment she said that, I felt curious and emotional. She described him completely accurately, including that he had loved to tease myself and my sisters, that he was always playing tricks on us.

She said I had only had him as a grandparent and that my other grandparents had died before I was born which was true. She described my mother’s relationship with my grandfather, which impressed me.

She went on to describe my grandmother, my grandfather’s wife who had died 15 years before I was born. She then explained that they had a ‘fairy tale’ courtship and marriage, and that there had been something important withheld from my grandfather which came to light only when they became married. This was true, my grandmother had lied about her age, and was in fact 3 years younger than she had led my grandfather to believe, it was only when registering the marriage that he found out. This was something that it would have been impossible for Charlotte to know.

She told me that my grandfather wanted to reassure me that ‘all would be well’, that he was certainly watching over us, and that he gave us all the same sign when we needed reassurance; at this point I felt very emotional, as she said, we would see the sign when we looked up to the sky. There is no way this lady could possibly know that between our family members, when any of us were in need of comfort or reassurance we would see a Heron and I am sure this is what Charlotte was referring to.

She had given me what I felt was very definite proof that there is in some shape or form evidence of the survival of ourselves be it our soul, or spirit after this lifetime, and that as loved ones left behind we are still watched over by those who pass over.

As she said, my grandfather was moving his energy away, she sounded rather surprised herself when she said to me, your grandfather wants you to tell your mother not to worry about your brother, he has become a fine young man.

I burst into tears, for as well as my three sisters, I also have an older brother, who passed away when he was a baby and no one outside of my immediate family knows this.

There is a huge amount of controversy surrounding mediumship and until you have an accurate reading for yourself there is no reason to believe that it is possible for someone to connect with people who have passed over. Of course there is always a possibility that a medium could be a fraud, but this is true of any profession in the world.

I would urge anyone reading this to keep an open mind about mediumship and even if you never have a reading yourself, accept that it can be something which is extremely helpful to anyone who has lost a loved one.

Critical Reflection - Meeting with a Medium

Initially I wanted to write a piece about psychics and mediums following the allegations that the famous psychic, Psychic Sally (Sally Morgan), was being fed her lines at a performance in Dublin in September. The issue came to light when audience members of the show rang an Irish radio station, RTE, during Joe Duffy's Liveline Show the following day to make the allegations. (Radio show below)


However if I had written this piece from that angle then it would have be libellous. This is because I would have been suggesting that Sally Morgan was a fraud without any evidence other than the comments of people who were at the show. Also, I had not contacted Ms Morgan myself to ask her about the allegations. This effectively meant that if I had written the piece about her then it would have been extremely defamatory.


In McNae's Essential Law for Journalists it clearly states that 'libel can be a criminal offence as well as a civil wrong'. There are three defences that a journalist has against a libel suit:

1. Justification - is it true and more importantly can you prove it?
2. Fair Comment - is it simply the someones opinion and not presented as fact?
3. Privilege - statutory and qualified

I would not have been able to use justification as a defence because there would have been no way for me to prove that the people making the allegations actually did hear what they claimed. I would not really have been able to present the piece as purely comment because I was not present at the show in Dublin, nor have I ever seen Sally Morgan perform.I would also not have been able to use statutory privilege because it would not have been fair/accurate, nor could I use qualified privilege because the allegations had not been made in a court of law.

I still wanted to write a piece about mediumship, but needed a new angle because it would not have been possible to mention Sally Morgan. Instead, I decided to go to a medium and have a reading done and then write up my experience for my column Diary of a Winchester Lady.

My first draft of the piece was a lot longer than I had imagined it would be because I had included a lot of explanatory details about the medium and her home as well as the details of the reading itself. I sent the draft to Katie Rowles, the features editor, who suggested that I did not need so much detail about the medium and her home because this is not something that the reader would be interested in - they would want to know whether the reading was accurate or not. She also felt that the ending to the piece was not very strong.

The ending on the first draft had been:

"I never thought that having a ‘reading’ with a medium would be something that I would ever do, but after my experience of meeting with Charlotte I would honestly say that it is something which can help anyone who has lost a loved one. The experience was deeply moving and will remain with me forever."

I agree with Katie that this was not a particularly strong/punchy ending to the piece. I have to admit that I did struggle trying to think of an alternative ending but eventually made it a comment of mediumship in general terms.

All my feature pieces need to have a photograph to go with them. I had intended to take a photograph of Charlotte to go with the piece, although she was camera shy and did not want her picture to be shown. This meant that I had to think of another image that would be directly relevant to the piece. I decided to take pictures of her fireplace because she had a lot of angel ornaments and candles around it which I thought looked somewhat spiritual. Below are a couple of the images I took to go with this piece.

Before this piece I don't think I have ever written a piece that has been so emotional for me. I think that this was the reason that I found it so difficult to cut down on the detail as well as trying to make a very personal topic accessible and interesting to the public. In future when I am writing pieces which I find emotional I will take the lessons I have learnt from this piece so that I know how to go about it.

I will also be much more aware of topics which could be defamatory to anyone. Although we were taught the theory and seriousness of defamation and libel cases in the first year of this course, this was the first time that I experienced first hand a topic which could get me into trouble. I am just grateful that this problem was discussed before I made the mistake of writing about it.

Ultimately I am happy with the finished piece and have learnt valuable lessons for my future pieces.

Seminar Paper - Freud

Sigmund Freud was born on May 6^th 1856 to a Jewish family in the town of Moravian in the Czech Republic. He was a neurologist and is best known for his theories of the unconscious mind and repression.

Freud lived in a repressed time after the age of Enlightenment which taught an empirical view of everything in the universe. Freud’s theories challenged this rationality as he believed it was impossible for the human mind to understand the complexities of the universe. At the centre of all of Freud’s theories was a dark vision of humanity and pessimism.

Like Plato, Freud believed in the idea of the tripartite self, but differed to Plato in the sense that he believed that the rational part of our personalities were not the dominant force. Instead Freud believed that the dominant part of our personalities is the ID which is our basic instincts and desires; or as Freud called it the ‘cauldron of seething expectations.’ Freud claimed that the ID is present from birth and should be repressed at all costs because it reveals our deepest desires to cause pain to others and ultimately seek our own destruction. The ID is the subconscious part of our mind which we have no control or awareness of.

Alongside the ID, the other two parts of the personality, according to Freud, are the Ego and the Superego. The Ego represents the conscious part of our mind and is the reality principle. Freud believed this was the least powerful part of our personality and it is in constant battle with the ID. The Ego is our common sense and reason that we are aware of and able to control.

The Superego is the morality principle, the internalised rules imposed on us through socialisation. The Superego imposes impossible standards of perfection and then punishes us with guilt when we do not reach the internal ideal. It is in constant battle with the ID because the ID drives us to behave in ways that go against the rules of society, for example causing harm to others.

Freud was adamant that the ID needs to be repressed at all costs and that the Ego needed to be strengthened. He claimed that the only way to achieve this was through psychoanalysis, although he accepted that this was not an option available to everyone. Because of this, Freud suggested three coping mechanisms; intoxication, isolation and sublimation. He stated that these coping mechanisms only provided temporary satisfaction to the ID, but that the IID would always want total satisfaction. Freud warned that if the ID was given total satisfaction then it would lead individuals to behave in incredibly destructive ways.

Freud’s belief that the ID, our subconscious, is the dominant force in our lives is one which leads to questions of free will and determinism. If we are all driven to behave in certain ways by our subconscious mind, do we actually have free will over our actions?

In 1924 a lawyer called Clarence Darrow used the idea of the subconscious as a defence for murder. He was defending Richard Loeb and Nathan Leopold, aged 18 and 19, who pleaded guilty to the murder of 14 year old Bobby Franks.

Darrow believed Freud’s theory that psychological influences control human behaviour and argued that murdering Bobby Franks was not a conscious decision between right and wrong by Leopold and Loeb

Leopold himself stated that:

“The thing that prompted me to do this was a sort of pure love of excitement…a love of thrills…the satisfaction of the ego...”

If you look at the case of Leopold and Loeb from a Freudian point of view, it could be argued that they murdered Bobby Franks because their IDs had not been repressed and had overridden their ego and superego’s; which did in fact lead to destructive and dangerous behaviour. Darrow’s defence that the boys did not consciously choose between right and right and were not acting according to their own free will was successful and Leopold and Loeb were sentenced to life imprisonment instead of the death penalty.

I think that the idea that we do not have free will over our actions and that we are somehow being controlled by our subconscious mind is fascinating, and it has been the subject of many psychological and empirical experiments.

A criticism of Freud’s theory of the subconscious mind is that there is no way to prove the existence of the subconscious mind; and certainly no way of proving that the subconscious mind is able to overpower our conscious minds. However, in the 1970s a researcher in the physiology department of the University of California called Benjamin Libet conducted an experiment which could be used to prove Freud’s beliefs of the subconscious mind.

Libet monitored the electrical processes in the brain while asking the patient to perform simple tasks such as raising their arm. His results proved that subconscious electrical processes in the brain preceded the patient’s conscious decisions to perform spontaneous acts. On average, Libet found that the subconscious mind started the process of raising the arm 0.7 seconds before the patient’s conscious mind started to react.

It could be argued that these findings prove that the subconscious mind is able to control our actions over our conscious minds, or in Freudian terms, the ID is able to overrule the Ego and the Superego. Freud believed that the ID was only able to truly take control of our thoughts when we are asleep, because he claimed that when the physical body is asleep, the Ego is also asleep, allowing the ID to be expressed.

Freud believed that our dreams are the pathway to understanding the desires of the ID, and only through the interpretation and analysis of dreams are we truly able to understand what our repressed wishes. In Philosophy in the Modern World, Anthony Kenny explains that we are unable to interpret our own dreams because they are coded. These codes are unique to each dreamer and Freud believed that, when stripped down, all codes are usually repressed sexual desires. Kenny argued that in order for Freud’s theory of dreams to be accurate, the interpretation must be accepted by the dreamer, although in many cases the dreamer does not accept them. Freud would argue that the dreamer does not accept the interpretation because their conscious mind tries to repress their subconscious desires, so much so that they are unable to accept them.

The interpretation of dreams is something that has become mainstream in today’s society, with websites and magazine features dedicated entirely to helping you understand what your dreams mean. Some examples of this is that if you dream about travelling this is symbolic of the journey of life and if you dream about being in a car crash it means that you are worrying that you are  not in control of everything in your life.

As well as our subconscious being revealed through our dreams, Freud also believed that there are two more sets of phenomena that reveal the existence of the unconscious. The first of these are trivial, everyday mistakes which he called ‘parapraxes’ and we now refer to as ‘Freudian Slips’. Freud used the example of a professor who in his inaugural lecture instead of saying ‘I have no intention of underrating the achievements of my illustrious predecessor’ actually said ‘I have every intention of underrating the achievements of my illustrious predecessor.’ Freud claimed that parapraxes such as this one reveal hidden motives of the subconscious.

The second way in which Freud believed the existence of the subconscious is revealed is through neurotic symptoms that can only be interpreted by a psychiatrist, although this is only successful if the patient accepts the interpretation.

Ultimately I feel that there is still a place for Freud’s theories of the subconscious mind in today’s society, particularly the significance of the interpretation of dreams.

Philosophy in the Modern World - Chapter 8 synopsis

The reading for HCJ this week is chapter 8 from Anthony Kenny's book Philosophy in the Modern World. The following is a synopsis of the key points in the chapter in preparation for my seminar paper this week.

Bentham on Intention and Motive:

• Bentham explored the effect of moral character depending on the presence or absence of different cognitive and affective elements.
• His approach reflects Aquinas' but he differs in terminology and moral evaluation.
• Aquinas believed that an act is intentional if it chosen as a means to an end. If an action is an unavoidable consequence or accompaniment to such a choice it was not intentional but only voluntary.
• Bentham argued that 'voluntary' was the wrong word for Aquinas to use and he should have used 'intentional'.
• Bentham believed in the same distinctions as Aquinas, but said that they were distinctions of intention.
• A consequence is either directionally intentional or obliquely intentional.
• A directly intentional action is either ultimately or immediately intentional depending on whether the action was a motive or not.
• Bentham wanted to define intention in cognitive terms
• He believed that intention is a key criteria for moral and legal evaluations of actions.
• Intentions are not good or bad in themselves, the consequences make them good or bad.
• Consequences are dependent on circumstances, and circumstances are either known or unknown by the agent.
• If the circumstances are known by the agent an act is an advised act. An unadvised act is when the circumstances are not known by the agent.

Reason, Understanding and Will:

• Both humans and animals have a sense of understanding and sensation.
• Only humans have the ability to reason and a capacity for reflection which allows us to have language, freedom and science.
• Abstract knowledge can be retained and shared.

Schopenhauer:

• Both humans and animals have wills but only humans can deliberate.
• Ethics is based on morals but morals are abstract
• Will is present and active in the universe.
• All will rises from a want, which implies a deficiency in something and therefore all will comes from suffering
• The definition of a genius is someone who is 'imaginative and restless...dislikes mathematic and lives on the borderline of madness.'
• Rejects the idea of the dualism of mind and body
• 'The body is nothing more than the objectification of the will and its desires.'

Experimental Vs Philosophical Psychology:

• The science of the mind was introduced in the 19th century though empirical and experimental methods.
• Professor of psychology, Wilhelm Wundt introduced the science of the mind in 1879 in Leipzig.
• In 1878 William James set up a psychology lab in Harvard University - the first doctorate was awarded.

William James:

• Wrote Principles of Psychology in 1980 - a summary of new findings in psychology.
• Theory of emotions - proposed emotions are perceptions of bodily processes; all states of consciousness can be called 'feelings'.
• Some feelings are cognitive and some are not.
• For a feeling to be cognitive there must be in the world another entity resembling the feeling in its quality and the feeling must be directly or indirectly operate upon this entity.
• Consciousness is essentially a private, internal phenomenon, capable of existing in isolation from any body.

The Freudian Unconscious:

• In his book Introductory Lecture of Psychoanalysis, Freud stated that the greater part of our mental life is unconscious.
• Only a fraction of what we know and believe is present to consciousness in the sense of being an object of our immediate attention.
• Freud believed that there are three sets of phenomena that reveal the existence of the unconscious:

1. Trivial everyday mistakes: Freud suggests that these mistakes are not accidental, they reveal the hidden motives of the unconscious
2. Reports of dreams: Freud called dreams 'the royal road to a knowledge of the unconscious activities of the mind' but we cannot interpret our own dreams, we need a psychoanalyst. He believed that dreams are our repressed wishes and are coded, but when stripped down they are usually sexual. Dream codes are unique to each dreamer, they cannot be universalised.
3. Neurotic symptoms: The interpretation of neuroses by a psychoanalyst is dependant on the patient accepting the interpretations, but often patients do not accept this.

• Freud explained that mental harmony is dependant on the conflict between the ID, Ego and Superego.

Philosophical Psychology in the Tractatus:

• Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus was written by Ludwig Wittgenstein.
• Wittgenstein tried to explain the model of the mind.
• He accepted that psychology is genuine empirical science and thought that philosophy of the mind was on a par with psychology.
• In Tractatus he states that a thought is a logical picture of facts.
• Wittgenstein identified thoughts with propositions which could be either a sign/sentence or a thought. A sign or sentence is a relation between spoken words. A though is a relation between physical elements.
• Thinking a thought involved a psychic element in the sense of mental images or internal impressions.
• Meaning is conferred on signs by us and our conventions - these are not facts of science.

Intentionality:

• Brentano reintroduced intentionality into philosophy in the 19th century.
• In his book Psychology from an Empirical Standpoint (1874) Brentano wanted to marl off physical from physical phenomena.
• He claimed that there are two kinds of action:

1. Transient: Actions that change their object
2. Immanent: Actions that change the agent not the object

• Brentano's distinction between physical and physical phenomena corresponds to the distinction between immanent and transient actions.
• Husserl took this over from Brentano.
• Husserl tells us that consciousness consists of 'intentional experiences or acts'.
• Every mental acts is a certain kind belonging to a certain species.
• He called individual acts the noesis and the specific content the noema.
• Acts have matter and qualities - so do imaginations, perception, emotion and volition. For example, seeing Rome and imagining Rome have the same content (Rome) but different qualities (imagining and seeing).

Wittengstein's Later Philosophy of Mind:

• Wittengstein's later philosophy was a direct reaction to Bertrand Russell, who ignored intentionality.
• Wittgenstein believed that intentionality was all important in understanding and language.
• He thought that the human mind is not a spirit and that there is not such thing as the self.
• Thought and understanding are not processes - there are different criteria of 'thought' and 'understanding'
• He demolished the concept that the connection between consciousness and expression is merely contingent - if this was true then theoretically everything in the universe could be conscious.
• The only evidence that humans are conscious is that we all consciousness in ourselves.
• Experiences one can have is dependent on how one can behave.
• It is wrong to identify the mind with behaviour - it is even more wrong to identify the mind with the brain.
• Connection between mind and brain is contingent, discoverable by empirical science.

HCJ Lecture 2 Notes - Sigmund Freud

This week I am writing the seminar paper about Freud so I will post these notes from the lecture Brian gave about Freud before posting my seminar paper later in the week.

Overview of Freud:

• Born in Vienna 1856.
• Died in London 1939.
• Deeply ambitious.
• Psychoanalyst - tried to explain everything.
• Controversial/Subject to criticism.
• Lived in repressed times - his ideas challenged this and challenged the ideas of the Enlightenment - alternative to rationality.
• Believed we cannot understand the universe, it is impossible.
• The centre of Freud's thoughts was pessimism.
• His theories are a dark vision of humanity.

Attack on Plato:

• He followed Plato's ideas of the tripartite self: Reason, Spirit and Desire.
• He disagreed with Plato's belief that Reason can overrule the other two.
• Freud believed that Reason is the weakest part of a person because people are irrational.

Attack on Marx

• Marx also believed in the idea of a tripartite self: Natural, Species and Alienated.
• Marx believed in the teleological development of humanity; that we are all moving towards something, which he believed to be Communism. 
• Freud thought this was too idealistic because deep down we are all aggressive and that is the basic level that drives us on. He thought we are fundamentally limited so can never develop.
• Ultimately our desire is to hurt people and eventually seek our own destruction.
• Marx believed that is we change the systems in out society then things will get better. Freud disputed this claiming that people are the system - we create a system that is ultimately bad for each other because deep down we enjoy to see others suffer.

Freud had the confidence to dismiss Plato and Marx because he believed he discovered psychoanalysis.

The Freudian Personality:

Freud believed that the human personality consists of three parts:

1. ID: This is the animal part of our personality, our basic desires and instincts, or as Freud described it; 'a cauldron of seething expectations'. The ID is a reservoir of our unconscious present from birth. This is the dominant personality.
2. Ego: This is the reality principle, our conscious self, our reason and common sense. This is the weakest of the three personalities. The Ego is constantly battling with the ID. 
3. Superego: This is the morality principle, the socialised part of our personality, the internalised rules from our parents, society, etc. This sets an impossible standard of perfection and then punishes us with guilt when we do not reach expectations. The Superego is also in constant battle with the ID. Freud believed that civilisation is a collective superego imposing moral limits on the ID.

Freud believed that everything in live is pain, classifiable in these three ways:

1. Our own decaying bodies and eventual death
2. The things which happen to us throughout life
3. Interaction with other people - Freud believed this was the worst pain of all

Freud thought that the solution to dealing with all the pain in life is through analysis to control the ID and make the Ego stronger. Although he accepted that psychoanalysis is not an option available to everyone, so also suggested temporary coping mechanism for those who could not have psychoanalysis.

Coping Mechanisms:

1. Intoxication
2. Isolation
3. Sublimation

These coping mechanisms will only give temporary, mild satisfaction because the ID wants total satisfaction.

Freud said that the key to understanding and controlling the ID is through the interpretation of dreams and hypnosis. He explained that when we are asleep the Ego, our conscious self, also sleeps, so that the ID is able to run free through our dreams revealing our true desires.

Criticisms of Freud:

• Freud did not discover or prove the existence of the unconscious he only made it mainstream. Many before him discussed the idea of the unconscious self. for example Shopenhauer believed man was irrational, guided by internal forces of which he is not aware.
• Falsifiability - there is no way to validate Freud's theory of psychoanalysis. For example, if Freud was to say to someone "you had that dream because you hate your mother" there is no way for the dreamer to validate that Freud has revealed a repressed desire.

Reich:

Reich was a disciple of Freud but ultimately disagreed with parts of Freud's theory. For example, Reich believed that the unconscious forces in the mind are good that it is their suppression by society that makes them dangerous. This differs to Freud who believed that the unconscious is dangerous and should be suppressed by the individual at all costs.

Reich believed in a tripartite self, but differed to Freud in what the personalities are:

• Polite personality - Surface Layer
• Cruel personality - Second Layer
• Honest/Loving personality - Core

Followers of Reich are encouraged to express feelings openly which is the opposite to Freud who taught people to repress everything.

Critical Reflection - People at the Pool

At the end of last year I was extremely excited to be told that I would be a feature writer because ideally that is the area of journalism I want to have a career in. Unfortunately at the start of this academic year I was disappointed to learn that I would also be producing feature video packages as well as writing; and video is not something that interests me at the moment. 

After speaking to Chris he explained that the good thing about the journalism course here is that I am able to adapt it to suit my needs so that I am able to get the most out of my time here. I explained that I wanted to be producing purely written features, and after some discussion with Chris it was decided that I would have a column called 'Diary of a Winchester Lady.'

I am absolutely thrilled about this because a weekly column of social observational journalism is ideal for me. I decided to write my first column about my experience of going to the public swimming pool here in Winchester. I thought it would be a good topic because a swimming pool is always host to a wide variety of people.

After writing my first draft, I had a feedback session with Chris. He explained that my piece was too much "telling" and not enough "seeing" , in the sense that all I had really done was describe what had happened without giving any real detail that would be interesting to the reader.

I learned that feature writing has to be sensory - everything I talk about should be described through the five senses so that anyone reading it is able to accurately imagine what I am talking about. The importance of how my piece would be interpreted by the reader had not really occurred to me when I wrote the first draft, so when I came to write the final copy I made sure that I kept the reader in my mind the whole time. This led to a much more descriptive piece, which hopefully has led to a more interesting piece to read.  

One way I described the pool through the senses was:

'...you will also hear a blend of incredibly annoying sounds including children squealing, agitated parents screaming at them, and an intermittent shrill whistle that will echo around the room and make you feel as though someone is piercing through your eardrum with a rusty needle.'

Something else I had not considered before my feedback session was my use of the word 'oddity'. Chris explained that it is not up to me to tell the reader whether something is odd, it is up to the reader to decide that for themselves. This is something that I will remember when writing my column in the future, because everyone has differing opinions about any given situation, and it is not my place to tell the reader how they should feel about anything.

I had a similar problem when writing my first draft because I had also not considered what effect the use of punctuation would have. For example, I used exclamation marks throughout my first draft when I thought I had written something amusing. Chris explained that there is no place for exclamation marks, or as he called the 'screamers', unless I am quoting someone who was actually screaming at the time. Again, I was telling the reader that I was making a joke, where as it is up to the reader to decide whether something is funny or not.

With my final version of this piece I tried to give it more of a recognisable form. Instead of just describing my trip I decided to start by making the people in the swimming pool sound like ingredients in a recipe. I did this because I thought that it would be humorous to the reader, as well as being a style that most people will recognise. I feel that it also made the piece more interesting because it allowed the reader to understand the form of a recipe, but took this form out of context which is not something you would expect.


I took the content from the first draft and expanded on the things which I had been "telling" the reader and instead took the things further so that the audience could "see" what I was talking about and possibly even relate to. For example, in my first draft I simply told the reader that there was a life guard there and in my final piece I described the lifeguard with his 'yellow t-shirt and red shorts...like some kind of colour blind superhero.' I think that was an improvement because the reader can relate to the recognisable colours of a lifeguard's uniform, and I hoped to bring some humour to the piece with my description.

Ultimately I am extremely happy with how the piece turned out, and am grateful that I made errors in my first draft because now I have learnt lessons that I will remember in all future pieces that I write. I am thoroughly looking forward to continuing with my column and hope that it will be something that readers will enjoy and be able to relate to.

Diary of a Winchester Lady: People at the Pool

If you have never been to a public swimming pool, here is a simple recipe for an average afternoon there that everyone can enjoy.

Start with a basic mix of:

·         A handful of ‘serious athletes’

·         A dash of mothers and babies

·         Two life guards (must be in a bright yellow top and red shorts)

·         A sprinkle of the elderly

·         One or two used plasters

·         A group of overweight men or women (must be wheezing and gasping for air constantly)

·         And the cherry on the cake – a pair of ‘moobs’

Adding these ingredients should be done with some force to create ‘splashing’ and ‘splooshing’ sounds.

Once all these ingredients are placed in the mixing bowl, mix well and heat to roughly 30 degrees and the result is as hectic as a scene from a ‘Where’s Wally?’ book.

Please note that the mixture will create an overwhelming stench of chlorine that will get stuck in the back of your throat and make you gag and choke – this is completely normal. If all the ingredients have been added you will also hear a blend of incredibly annoying sounds including children squealing, agitated parents screaming at them, and an intermittent shrill whistle that will echo around the room and will make you feel as though someone is piercing through your eardrum with a rusty needle.

The images you see of swimming pools in glossy magazines and on TV filled with attractive women in bikinis and men with six packs lounging by the pool could not be further from the truth. Finding a handsome toned man or a gorgeous woman at a public swimming pool would be like finding a post-it note explaining the cure for cancer at the bottom of a cereal box.

Replace the image in your mind of a tanned man in tight Speedos with a picture of a 50-something year old man with a beer belly and a chest and back that makes you question whether or not he is in fact wearing a woollen jumper, and you will be getting much closer to the truth. Of course you have to make some allowance for the fact that the lighting in a swimming pool is the kind that highlights absolutely every flaw on any individual who is brave enough to stand in its glow.

Admittedly I am not a serious athlete and on a recent trip to the pool I spent most of my time simply floating around letting my thoughts wonder in the way that most tend to do. I was there with a friend who was also mainly floating as we hoped the waves from other people swimming past us would move us slightly so we appeared to actually be progressing further down the lane.

In fact we were remaining so still it is a wonder that the lifeguard did not think we were having some kind of serious problem. Although that would have involved him climbing from his big chair – or as I am sure he would think of it, pedestal. He was sat towering above the rest of us mere mortals in the glorious clashing colours of his uniform like some sort of colour blind superhero. The rest of us in the pool could at least take some solace in the fact that he was probably staring intently at the water not just to look for danger but contemplating flinging himself into the shallow end to put an end to his misery.

There were points where my friend and I were slightly worried that in the time we were taking accomplishing nothing, one of the babies in the mother and baby class would learn to swim independently and come swimming past us, spraying up water in a blur of armbands and huggies.

Oddly this was not enough to deter me from possibly taking another trip to the pool but for now I have had more than my fair share of being in a confined space with such a varied mix of Winchester’s population.

Seminar Notes - History of Tabloids

There were only three of us in our seminar this week and so our seminar was more of a lecture by Chris about the history tabloids. The following are the notes from the seminar/lecture.

UK Newspaper Circulation War

In the UK in the 1900s there was a circulation war between the three largest papers:

The Daily Herald

• Trade union paper
• Labour
• Had the biggest circulation, at one point exceeding 12 million

The Daily Express

• Owned by Beaverbrook
• Had the second biggest circulation
• Conservative

The Daily Mail

• Owned by Northcliffe
• Inspired by William Randolph Hearst

Modern journalism was invented in the USA in the 1980s by Hearst, and this was copied by Northcliffe, who took the style to the UK. 

Paper circulation:

The 1960s saw a massive step forward in the way paper's were circulated thanks to the railways. Prior to the railways newspapers were local with a very small circulation because it was not physically possible to deliver papers across large areas of the country. The advancement in steam technologies, such as the railway, also led to advancements in the production machinery which meant that it was possible to produce many more papers that previously possible.

In the 1970s the invention of the telegraph system led to developments in the content of papers because it meant that news was able to be instantly sent to different areas of the country. This meant that the biggest stories, such as the Crimean War, was able to be printed in papers across the country the next, or in some cases the same, day. Prior to the invention of the telegraph the news from one part of the country would only reach the other side of the country in the amount of time it took someone to travel there and tell them.

Hearst:

William Randolph Hearst was a newspaper proprietor in San Fransisco and owned the San Fransisco Examiner. Hearst benefited greatly from the 'Gold Rush Town' by advertising about it in his paper, and making readers believe that by buying his paper they would learn where the best places to find gold were, etc.

After his success in San Fransisco, Hearst became set on conquering New York. In the 1900s New York was the place to be, with buildings taller than anyone had seen before, electricity, gas and tube train and it was home to America's elite.

Hearst bought a newspaper in New York, and was then in direct competition with the newspaper giant of New York, Pulitzer. This resulted in a circulation war between the two newspaper giants which even involved literally killing people such as newspaper vendors who were selling the oppositions papers.

The turning point in the circulation war between Hearst and Pulitzer came down to cartoon strips. Pulitzer's papers showed Superman cartoon strips which were popular with readers, but not as popular as the cartoon strip of the Yellow Kid. (shown below) Hearst bought the Yellow Kid which was so popular with readers it was that which effectively won him the war.

In the 1900s Hearst invited Northcliffe to be guest editor on his New York paper. During his time as editor in New York, Northcliffe established all the methods to making a successful newspaper, and bought this methodology back to the UK.