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Paper Keyboards - Innovation Essay

Innovation in the field – Paper Keyboards

Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

With the advancements in technology you don’t need to look very far to find innovation. The market is filled with all these different applications more and more being added more or less every day – some are profound and useful, for example bringing news updates right to your phone or tablet as they happen and then some are the pointless ramblings of the over eccentric. That said, one stood out to me and this was the Paper Keyboard.

The University of London hosted a student who was able to create a virtual keyboard for his iPhone, made out of paper. The student, Florian Kräutli, developed an application which uses the iPhone’s accelerometer, which basically senses and measures movements and pressure, to pick up vibrations caused by tapping on the surface where the paper keyboard is placed.

The world has been introduced to virtual keyboards, magnetic keyboards and laser keyboards but this one is nothing like the others – this one is paper. It starts with an application uploaded exclusively on to the Apple store and it’s called ‘Paper Keyboard – Fast typing and playing with a printed keyboard’. If typing on your phone doesn’t quite cut it for you then you are the target audience. Despite seeming incredibly taxing to use and baffling to wrap your head around, it is surprisingly simple; yet elegant. To get started you have to follow these steps: first, you need an I-phone with the application installed. Second, the application works by printing off a PDF file template on to some paper which will have a keyboard on it, with the application on you just place your phone on the designated spot and the phone’s front camera will then detect your finger movements thanks to an incredibly intelligent algorithm and through the levels of vibration being picked up on the surface you’re using. You will now be up and running to use it, say you wanted to make a note on your phone, open up a memo and just start typing away and what you type will appear on your phone as if you were typing on the normal phone keyboard. Put simply, it makes any surface you place the keyboard on interactive and in a world where technology is progressing in leaps and bounds, where ease and simplicity always override complexities, this application would appear to be right at home.

For a Journalist you will be drawn to how easily portable it is, yes your phone is already fantastic enough for you to make notes on but it’s essentially like having a laptop with you, a laptop only in the form of its keyboard and we all know that typing on a full keyboard is a lot faster and easier then typing on your phone, especially your fingers are too big for the ‘normal’ sized phone keyboard or if you’re trying to be quick about it. For example, I imagine if you’re now allowed to tweet from court galleries then it doesn't seem absurd to bring in your phone and a sheet of paper and just start tapping away. This level of ease and portability make it an admirable addition to the world of Journalism insofar as I believe it can, to some small extent, replace shorthand – making it somewhat redundant. If speed is the name of the game then this application should take first place; you’re no longer at the whims of a pen being low on ink or running out of paper, no, you are only dependent to how much battery your phone has or maybe how well your camera works.

This application brings a whole system to how a Journalist takes notes, so long as you have a surface to operate on. For example when it comes to note taking, be it during an interview for a magazine or your newspaper, or sitting in a board room bouncing ideas off of each other you will be so much more prepared if you have this application, by all means you will want to have a reporter’s notebook but handwriting just doesn’t make the cut sometimes, especially if you want word for word accuracy, your chances of being able to keep up to speed with spoken speech is increased greatly as writing is always slower, shorthand or not.

Despite the innovation and strengths the application does have its drawbacks. The first and foremost being the obvious – it is just a piece of paper and we all know how prone to being creased or ripped due to how brittle it is. This means you’re pinning all your hopes on placing the paper into your bag is going to keep it safe. One would imagine that creasing on the keyboard itself would most likely place limitations how well the keyboard works, for example it might not pick up correctly which key you are pressing. Of course to combat this you would download many copies of the keyboard but this isn't entirely practical.

Albeit a fantastic addition to the world of technology and slightly more importantly to the world of Journalism, another drawback is that you have to balance your I-phone on this sheet of paper. Now I have an I-phone and I must say it is not particularly made to be used as a balancing act; it could lead to a lot of toppling over which damage the phone if it happens time after time then you would be looking at some long term damage. This makes it highly impractical for most use, especially if you’re rushing around and typing fast. Along with this you will always need a surface to place it on, no matter what. This means that if you were to take it on to a train for example, which can at times be rocky rides; it might make your phone fall off the paper, making the whole thing more trouble than it needs to be. This limits its portability which is a big aspect with the paper keyboard but if you remove the surface to place it on, it renders it unusable as it functions through vibration and movement.  But this can be combated – just so long as you place a hefty notebook or a diary on your lap if there is no surface.

One further drawback to this is slightly more trivial but it is still an issue – with prolonged use you will come to realise that it takes its toll on your fingers. This is just a sheet of paper placed on a surface, you are just thumping away at keys on a table and obviously the paper boasts no sort of comfort or padding to you. This will eventually start to hurt and make it an uncomfortable experience as it is not going to be the same as using an actual keyboard on a desktop or a laptop and it somewhat cheapens the better features of the application which is a shame. Of course, you can place it on a padded surface no problem and it would work as wonderfully as intended.

To conclude, after trying the keyboard myself I have come to the conclusion that yes it is highly impressive and wonderfully innovative, more in general terms than it is innovative to a Journalist but that being said it is a significant addition to any Journalist as it brings about a whole new way to record information, it’s portability gives it a certain allure and the simplicity of it will speak to many. It might not be as profound and intricate as Google Glass but it is just an application and it has been received with welcome arms to the addition of technology and it brings about a unique look into where the future is leading us in terms of technology. I came across this on the Apple store and it is a perfect place to find innovation, but then again you can find some applications which play with the line between genius and pure insanity as if it were a skipping rope.

Henry Haynes - Confessional Interview

David Brine - Features Editor of The Southern Daily Echo

David Brine - Image
courtesy of The Daily Echo

If you could just introduce yourself - your name and what your role is

I'm David Brine and I'm the Features Editor of The Southern Daily Echo.

How did you first get involved in features - what drew you to it?

David - Well I started off as a Journalist, very much on the news side, I went on and did work experience after I did my degree in politics, I went on to do work experience in my local newspaper in South London, a weekly newspaper there called the Surrey Comet and I managed to secure a job there and basically managed to work my way up through now on this newspaper, I worked on the news desk here for 15 years and when a new vacancy arose for the Features Editor fortunately I managed to get that from my experience of knowing the area and being involved in some of the features content over some of the years.

Did you had more of a passion towards features than news?

David - I wouldn't say so, no, I don't think that's really necessary, I think that there are a lot of similarities between the two and features just gives you more room to breathe and tell people's stories in more detail. I think that you need to, if you're working for news or features, you got to be interested in people and their stories and that holds true for either side of it really, I think it’s more rather than seeing it as being a bid divide between the two, I think they're two sides of the same coin really but as I said you just get more space and more of a chance to let people's real personalities come through and the detail of their story come out in a feature as opposed to a news story which might deal with the issue in more of a condensed form.

So what does your job entail - what is your typical day?

David: For me personally? Well the products I produce fall into different categories - there are things that appear every day in the paper such as 'The Heritage' section and then there are things that appear weekly such as our lifestyle section, which is fashion health and beauty and then I'm also responsible for a TV listings magazine every we produce Saturday in the paper, done in a similar style to what's in the national papers. Obviously that's packed with local features as well and concentrates on things like walking and cycling - general leisure time activities. Typically my day starts at 8 o'clock in the morning and I'm involved in all the major meetings to do with content, in the newspapers as well, then we decide what things can be developed for features. A lot of my time is spent commissioning articles from our feature writers and reporters as our news reporters write a fair number of our features also. Then there is a lot of reading back the features when they're submitted and then making suggestions for changes or helping source photographic material. Then I have to sign off on everything at the end of the day, I have to see the finished product and make sure I'm happy with it as its going to appear published, so I have to make sure I'm happy with the finished product.

Are features and entertainment difficult to get in to?

David - I think so, I think that the key thing is all journalists need to be curious and need to be always asking questions and never accept something at face value, on top of that they need to be interested in people, all sorts of people and all sorts of things that people are telling them. They need to be willing to invest time into it and talking to people, really finding out what exactly makes people tick - the reasons behind why they are doing the things they are doing. It can be incredibly rewarding, I think, to work in features because you get a little more time to do  a bit more digging and finding out about things by spending more time talking to people.

What aspects do you think make for a good feature?

David - I like to be surprised. A lot of features you read are quite like you feel like you've read them before, only the names have changed really. I like things that surprise me, Ii like to learn things from reading them but you can get a feel about when you read a feature about how committed to the story the writer has been, you don't want to come away with unanswered questions in your own mind, I like things to be tied up as well, I do like to be surprised, like to read something that's different that I've not come across before, something that manages to peak my curiosity

Do you have any tips for an aspiring features writer?

David - I think that you should try make contact with the people who are doing that job and offer them ideas. Send suggestions to them and be prepared to have a go doing it yourself and try and get the professionals that are doing the job to get some sort of dialogue with you, you know? I think work experience is a really good way of doing that - spend a week with your local paper, be it daily or weekly just to get a feel for what's going on there, the sort of things that happen day to day and see if it’s the sort of place you'd like to work, that can be a real way of improving yourself or just read features; the supplements in the National Papers and lifestyle sections of the National Papers and also your local papers; just read them and pick up ideas and tips from that. There are a lot of similar stories that go around and you can get lots of ideas and tips just from reading, really.

Law - Confidentiality and Privacy

Law of Confidence is key to a person keeping their private lives separate from the public. This ensures total privacy with information that is exchanged in a private or confidential circumstance, for example when you are talking to your doctor - all medical files are confidential between doctor and patient.

There are three elements to determine when a breach of confidence has occurred:
- The information must be shared in a confidential manner.
- It must also have the necessary quality of confidence (so it can't be something trivial).
- For action to be taken there must be an unauthorised use of the information.

Journalists must be mindful in terms of confidence and privacy when reporting on three areas:
- Official Secrets Act: this keeps safe all military intelligence information for example the location of bases or information that could be harmful to the safety of the country if it was exposed, much like the phrase 'spilling state secrets'.
- Individual Privacy: Section 8 of the Human Rights act defends individual privacy, so that concerns your family life and anything else that would be deemed out of the public sphere.
- Commercial Confidentiality: this will be in contracts of employees essentially saying they can't release sensitive information that would be damaging to the employer.

You can defence breaches of confidence or privacy by proving if the information did not have the necessary quality of confidence or if the information is in the public sphere. The main defence would be that if it is in the public interest to know this information. Naomi Campbell won a breach of privacy concerning a newspaper publishing images of her leaving a narcotics anonymous meeting.

When a journalist obtains sensitive information they have two choices:
- They can just run the story and face potential legal repercussion, but you should really only do this if you could justify it in the public interest and not merely interesting to the public.
- The other choice is to confront the business / person that the information pertains to and try to get a response, but this could lead to an injunction and therefore the information will be swept under the rug.

Law - Reporting on Elections

Journalists must always be impartial, but this is even more pertinent when it comes to elections and your coverage of them. The big divide between broadcast and print here is that print publications can nail their flag to the mast and outright pick a side in which political party they want to win, this is because newspapers are orientated that way - there have always been specific newspapers for Labour supporters and the same goes for Conservative supporters. 

However, in terms of broadcast we are there to simply cover each 'major' party in an impartial and fair way and major parties have been decided so by Ofcom and the overall popularity of a political party. For example, it used to be that the major parties consisted of Labour, Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, but due to a surge in popularity and support, Ofcom have said that UKIP should now be considered a major party when it comes to reporting the European elections.

Defamation is an ever present risk to publications at election time - simply because the warring parties might spread defamatory statements or comments about another candidate and since it is just them spouting off accusations there is no privilege involved to protect the media in highlighting the statements made and if they were to do so then the journalist or the publication could get sued. An example of this would be in 2010 concerning Phil Woolas. Woolas is a former Labour Government Minister and he lost the Oldham East seat which he had previously with a majority of 103. He suffered a three year ban after being convicted of publishing false statements about the rival candidate in one of his leaflets and thus suffered the consequences. 

Under the Representation of the People Act 1983 - it is a criminal offence to publish an exit poll or exposing how other people have voted, before the polls are fully closed. This is because people would make of note of who has a chance of wining and if it were someone they didn't want to win then that would lead to a great deal of tactical voting - though this happens it generally would make the whole election corrupt and unfair as it is doctoring a specific outcome with a great deal of foreknowledge.

Further under this act it is deemed a criminal offence to publish anything remotely false about any election candidate, especially if the desired outcome would be to sway the minds of the voters. If you publish something particularly damning then it better be justified and justifiable. Basically, it has to be true so don't bother lying.

Law - Regulatory Codes

Regulations are in place for a reason! That reason being to keep us journalists on the right tracks in terms of morality and behaviour when it comes to stories, sourcing the stories and clearly outlining what is seen as justified. These regulations deal with ethics and an overall respect and understanding of privacy and where to draw the line.

Regulatory bodies:
The Press Complaints Commission (PCC) governs print and other magazine publications.
- If someone has a problem with something thats been published in a news paper or a magazine then these guys are the people that handle it. 

- The BBC have their own set of regulations and guidelines but they still have to follow the rules outlined by Ofcom because otherwise they could get themselves in to some serious trouble.

The Office of Communications (Ofcom) governs broadcast journalism.
- Ofcom holds a great deal of power and it can force public apologies, implement large fines and revoke a publication's broadcasting license. That means you have to follow the rules no matter what, no getting away with anything with these guys.

In general terms codes of practice focus on these areas:
- Protecting youths and children
- Fair treatment
- Ethical behaviour
- Respecting Privacy

Magazine Writing - Confessional Interviews

Confessional Interview possibilities:
Emotional
Medical
Accidental
Reader has a reaction to it

The person has to be super committed to doing it, not necessarily confessing to a crime, it's more about true life experiences and must be extraordinary. They are ghost written, so written in the first person as if it's the person who it happened to is writing it. It's in the victim's voice so it will use slang terms and have sporadic pauses. They can also be written according to the 'house style' which is set by the publication. All the points need to be precise - for example exact dates, exact times - must ask the key questions and delve deep into the issue to use as some sort of set up to the story - ask how they felt about it, how does it feel now, what did you do or say?

Confessionals differ from each publication
Women's magazines will not be pegged to a news story, so that means it wont be something thats happening currently in the news at the time of publication, for example floods. It needs to be of human interest, things along the lines of 'my battle with...' and they are preferred / need to have happy endings.

We want to avoid people that are too vulnerable because they need to have the strength to actually address and talk about the problem, if they can't handle it then your story falls apart. You obviously don't want a hoax, people with mental health problems, or just people that are liars - that's why you must check every thing and then double check.

Newspaper confessionals will be pegged to a news event - for example my home flooded and then I found bones buried in the grounds.

How do we find confessionals? 

- Look for 'victims'
- Medical problems
- Social
- Support groups
- Charity
- Internet
- Phonebook

Case studies
- Good turn phrase
- Great pictures / collects
- Attractive / ugly
- Happy ending
- Open, heartful and honest, making them more relate-able because they're realistic.

The subject is very important, the interviewee must be engaging and well spoken, otherwise it's going to be boring and sound pretty bad. If they're well spoken then it just enriches the whole story because of the way it's told, especially if it's told with eloquence.

Law - Copyright

Copyright was first introduced after the birth of the printing press. This is pretty much a simple aspect of law, insofar as at its basic level it means that if you wrote it, then it’s yours; for example an article. The same applies to any pictures you take, poems you write, drawings you do and so on! Copyright is a property protection law that keeps in check how your own work or images are used by others. It protects a number of things; books, images, film and TV broadcasts and so on, anything that you've done yourself is rightfully and lawfully yours, so if someone is trying to pass off their work as your own then boom you can pounce if you can provide and show that you are the original creator of it.

However, you are allowed to 'license' your pictures, articles on to people who ask you to use them, commonly this happens with pictures - people will usually email the owner of a picture to ask if that they are allowed to use them, for example, in their blogs and this is absolutely fine so long as you stick to their terms - for example crediting the owner and source of the photograph.

The confirmation gained through the email is effectively solid, written consent from the owner that you're allowed to use their picture - you must make sure that they give the confirmation in the form of an email, or at least something substantial that will hold up in court if they decide to sue you for breaching copyright law. Basically, don’t steal other people's work, all right, because that’s plagiarism.The length of copyright does depend on the material. For example musical works are under the copyright of the artist, so long as that artist lives. The copyright then lasts seventy years

Fair Dealing: 
Fair dealing is a beautiful thing - it allows you to use copyrighted material for free! This can also be referred to as 'lifting'. This means that factual stories in the news can be used, insofar as 'lifting' a quote or a story from another newspaper is allowed - so long as you credit the person who originally took the picture, wrote the quote and so on, because otherwise it seems like you're trying to pass off the quote as if you're the one who collected it. This is all upheld in the Copyright Act of 1976.

Fair dealing can have a defence in news, insofar as lets say a famous actor or musician dies - you would be writing an obituary or be doing a tribute - you can say that since it is relevant to tell the story you need to use footage from the past or from their most recent film and that covers you just fine; because it is warranted, however you must still remember to always credit the owner, otherwise it's like you're saying you filmed it yourself and that it's your footage. It's important to note that when using footage, you're only allowed to use around 6 seconds or so of it, something that is not deemed excessive because otherwise its like rubbing it in.

Second defence for fair dealing; if you're doing a film review then you're welcome to use any footage from whatever it is you are reviewing, this is because it's being used to illustrate and show off the film; as always credit the source and make sure its not a huge amount, like you won't be able to use 3 minutes of it.

Law - Freedom of Information Act (2000)

Freedom of information act was passed in 2000. Data protection is an important aspect of the law - it keeps all your personal information and protects it, keeps it away form the public domain. For example just like medical records, it's all confidential but you can see your own information, of course.

Image courtesy of Wikicommons:
Jonathan Joeseph Bondhus

Other protected data comes under the official secrets act: these are all about military and government plans, along with locations of bases; bases are not allowed to be broadcast on a map for example Ministry of Defence sites - just protection for things that protect our country. Confidentiality comes into this too, as mentioned with medical documents and data, in the news a few weeks ago it's been revealed that The NHS want people's details and to use them to try and find cures to diseases. Obvious problems with this - people really don't want their medical records on show.

Any person can request and receive information from a public body and this applies to files, videos, tape and electronic information, not just paper with details. It encompasses all things. The Government cannot make you do thing - governments need to be legitimate (very much the contract theory) and they gain this legitimacy through democracy, eg, voting and being accountable. We all have a right to information, our taxes mean we've paid for it really, and the people who are 'in charge of it' ie the government, are simply custodians. The basic principle of it is 'ask and you shall receive', we are entitled to this information.

Why can they say no?

If it costs more than £600 or if they information is exempt, but even then you don't need to accept their ruling. But there are two exemptions:

1. Absolute - Security services, anything to do with courts

2. Qualified - Where the information is qualified, falls under commercial confidentiality - it's pretty much a maybe area. The exemption to this is if it's in public interest, if you believe it to be then it has to pass the test.

It has to be in the public's interest, not just interesting to the public

Eg: 

• How many nurses have criminal convictions? (Public interest)
• How many NHS nurses are divorced? (Merely interesting to desperate single / divorced people

Under a qualified exemption information can be withheld where 'the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information'.

Update to the act:

Government is considering adding more limits to the FOI act. They are essentially wanting to limit groups or individuals making requests where they become too 'burdensome'. They will lower limits on costs which should lead to many more requests being rejected, just to screw over more journalists or very nosy citizens.

Law - Defamation (Revised from 1st year)

Defamation, Libel and Slander.

Defamation: Defamation is the act of injuring someone’s name or reputation. This is a 'civil' issue and is therefore between two parties and this is because that the persons reputation is their property and to damage a reputation is to break the law. For example, Chris' reputation is the Number 1 educator for journalism in the UK, anyone to say otherwise would be accountable for defamation because it would cause him to be fired. When it comes to defamatory cases, the person suing only has to show a jury that on the Balance of probability the comment could affect their reputation - they don’t exactly need to prove anything.

Libel: Libel is a defamatory statement which is published in a permanent form and identifies a single person, for example in a newspaper. Libel = identification of someone + publication (online or in a newspaper etc) + defamation. By doing this you expose yourself to inciting hatred and contempt. This also causes the person being defamed to be shunned by the public or avoided altogether. It discredits them in their certain profession or business and this generally lowers them in the eyes of the law-abiding citizens of society. So basically, it’s a dick move if you get it wrong! this can affect their chances of being hired and so on as it will, as stated, ruin their reputation

There are defences that people can use to get themselves out of a libel or defamation charge, for example:

1) Justification - It is true and it can actually be proved (YES the truth, as I have mentioned, is the very best defence!) If you call someone a thief, then you must be able to prove that this is true, then you're in the clear and no action can be taken against you.

2) Fair Comment - this is basically your own honest opinion, this is what I referred to as the double rainbow for journalists if I’m not mistaken! But then it could be argued that "what if your honest opinion changes?" well then you know, you're kinda shooting yourself in the foot - also referred to as Malice; this is saying something you don't believe to be true and you are saying for the sake of slating someone else.

Magazine Writing - Pitch Perfect

Freelance Journalism. Being Freelance not only sounds like a suave title but it really has limitless potential. It isn't really wise to start out doing Freelance because it's all about having a steady income and since you're always trying to pitch ideas or hit a road block with it then you have no idea where your next pay cheque is going to come from so it's all about how much you can afford to go without a steady job, sounds like fun right? Well, fun until you're broke, homeless and fighting in the street for a sandwich. So eitherway, the world of Freelance Journalism is always an option and you'll want to be pitching interesting exclusive stories, so here are the steps you take towards nailing that perfect story pitch.

It's important to note that usually it's not going to be done face to face, editors are busy people and they don't have time for this; regardless of how charming and awesome you think you are. So that means you'll be doing the majority of your pitching online through emails.

Make sure you swing for the fence
Image Courtesy of: Antoine Letarte, CC BY 3.0

1. Show you can deliver.
Your chance to be a successful freelance journalist really boils down to your reputation. You need to show you can deliver and so you should be referencing times that you've totally followed through, worked to a deadline and being able to write to the style of the publication you're pitching to. If you can consistently show these qualities then you greatly increase your success rate. From this, you need to persuade people you can deliver.

You don't want to be seen as a 'flake' so show that you aren't - it will all be shown in how you write the pitch and down to how you demonstrate the access you have to the people and to images. Sure you can pitch the story before you start but it's pretty unwise to do so - show you've gained the access beforehand, so make some calls and set up interviews and get access to images. Start using the 'lingo' for example you would call the images you have access to the collects, essentially another word for album; so you have access to all kinds of images to use and you would mention that in your pitch. Collects enable a portrait to be done and they help the story hit home even more.

2. Show off your contacts.
If you know anyone in the business who can vouch for you and your talent then now is the time to drop them into conversation - they will act as a reference as with any 'job application' so get connected and then name drop your way forward, but with moderation obviously.

3. Match the style of the publication.
Pretty simple; so much so it doesn't really need to be said. You should obviously demonstrate that you've read their publication, then match it's style. Straightforward really, shows that you can adapt to changing publications as they're not all the same.

4. Be succinct.
This means get right to the point, right away, no waffling around with preambles; be prepared by all means so when you dive right in you start swimming, as opposed to drowning. You must briefly and clearly express the story; not every single detail but enough to 'sell' it to them because that's what you are now; a salesman.

5. The nutgrab.
This hits the point home, usually around the third line and it needs to be enough to make them want the story, to be convinced that they need the story; that it's right for their publication and that it's interesting.

6. Details.
Now that they're interested and near enough sold on the idea you can bore them with the details and do it in a clear way - you don't want an endless string of emails going on and on because frankly the editor will lose interest. So you need to outline the course of the story and just tell them what you plan on doing and when.

7. Research.
You want to know who you're talking to, read up on them, learn their names and the spellings - show you've read previous publications and such and mention them just to pander.

8. Post-commission
Once you've gotten all the formalities out of the way, you then want to start talking word count, deadlines and money; how much per word. Make it easy on the editor and it'll be rewarding to you, simple as that.

Law - Court Reporting... try not to get arrested

There are two current cases that we can comment on as journalists. The first is Lord Rennard and the second is the death of young Kular in Scotland. The Lord Rennard case is interesting because it could've been sent to the criminal court but has instead gone into the civil courts as it is now just a dispute between people. Rennard was seen as innocent by the state due to the evidence not being able to persuade people 'beyond reasonable doubt' of the wrong doings. It has been sent to the civil courts because the burden of proof is on the prosecution and it is all to the balance of probability.

Lord Rennard seems to have been cleared of all criminal charges but this means it could go to civil courts instead and so it's not about beyond reasonable doubt'.

The second case is interesting because the proceedings seem to be slightly different. Insofar as the case is taking place in Scotland so it differs from the way proceedings follow in England. It's about the murder of Mikaeel Kular.

We saw a blog post that wrote a profile on Kular's mother and it was kind of damning. Insofar as it described her as a party animal and so on which really is casting a negative light off the bat. But they could hide behind the defence of the 'fade factor' the reasoning is "publish something now and the trail is in 6 months time then by the time it comes along people potentially on the jury would've forgotten completely, more or less anyway. So basically it's a pretty sweet way to save yourself. Duly noted.

Key stages of Magistrates
Prosecution opening
Key prosecution witnesses
Defence opening
Key defence witnesses
Judges summation
Jury sent out to deliberate and come to a verdict

Crime reporting rules
Fair
Fast - (contemporaneous)
Accurate
No recording
No tweeting

sidenote: the Attorney General is Dominic Greive

Magazine Writing - There are no features

We always hear about pitching a feature idea to magazines and so on but this isn't exactly the correct term. There are no features there are different types of features that you can pitch, you have to call them by their proper name and not refer to them as a feature.

A type of feature is never going to be news but to be a success it needs what we call a news peg - something that links it to the news and gives it an anchor. For example if a storm is in the news you could do a consumer review feature on the top 5 ways to ride out a storm and so on.

• Confessional Interview - this would be where you interview someone who has something to confess about their private lives which causes the reader to relate to a personal experience.
• Consumer Reviews - this is usually pegged to entertainment and so on, so the top 5 or top 10 of something.
• Pictures / Fashion - pictures are key in 'features' or rather magazines because they need to be visually striking and reel people in, for example the front page of a magazine has to do this job.
• Feature Interview - this is to find out different opinions.
• Documentaries - adds greater exposition to news stories usually, like throwing in a case study to improve personal interest.
• News Feature - adding more of a person touch to the news, not really to do with features.
• Profiles - creating a profile on a person or subject.
• Arts Review - reviewing things like immigration, for example there are a whole bunch of films and short films that explore immigration and so on.
• Investigations - a step further than news, going deeper into a subject to gain a deeper insight.
• Observational - putting yourself into a situation and then write what you see - for example Hunter S Thompson and Thomas Wolfe. An example would be 'my time as a conservative party member'.
• Reader Response - reaction to events, usually delivered by a 'text us what you think about this at... or tweet us at...'

For features you must always stick to a word limit. This is because everything in a magazine is meticulously planned out and if you're given a limit you must get it spot on, anything less or anything over would ruin the whole production cycle. Here is a rough difference between news and features!