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