Madeleine McCann Article for The Day newspaper

The search for McCann continues.  

Madeleine McCann, from Rothley, Leicestershire, went missing from the McCann’s holiday apartment at the Ocean Club, in Praia da Luz, on May 3rd 2007. 

Her Parents Kate and Gerry McCann went to dinner with around some friends at a tapes restaurant just 100 yards away from the apartment. Madeleine’s mother, Kate, went to check on Madeleine and her younger brother and sister later in the evening but was shocked when she realised Madeleine was missing.  

The police were called and a search of the hotels grounds was conducted by around 6o members and staff and quests. The search continued all through the night until daylight. 

The Portugal police continued the case until 2008 and until just recently they just re opened the case and began working alongside with Scotland Yard after the Metropolitan police requested the case to be re-opened, and digging would begin around the McCann’s holiday apartment and surrounding grounds.  

Scotland Yard detectives were flown over to Portugal to oversee the excavation on particular sites as part of the international investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine. 

The digs for evidence are set to take place at three locations, a road just below the apartment block where trenches were believed to have been dug before Madeleine went missing. There is a waste ground to the side of the apartment block where a man was reported to have been carrying a child not long after Madeleine disappeared. Also a beach area where over the years there have been several reports of suspicious activity.  

Along with 40 British police detectives and correspondents The Scotland Yard also brought with them a radar which is believed to have ground penetrating technology in attempt to locate any remains or disruption of the soil within the last seven years.  

The Scotland Yard team later reportedly flew in a military chopper to photograph potential search sites in Praia da Luz, the Algarve resort where Madeleine vanished seven years ago 

The UK police were also said to be discussing their request to interview eight witness they believe could still have vital clues to the mystery.  

Comparing Newspapers

Choose a news story that is covered in the web issues of at least five different newspapers today, Your task is to compare how the different newspapers cover the same story. You may consider doing things such as: 

How much space is devoted to the story? 

How many journalists are working on the story? 

Does the paper seem to have a strong opinion on the subject of the story? 

Where in the paper can you find the story? (is it on the front page?) 

Are there clear differences in the way the papers from different countries cover the story? If this is the case, can you imagine why? 

Pick out words and expressions that are typical of the language in each.in that way do the words that you picked illustrate the different language used in broadsheets and tabloids? 

Which article gives the most interesting information? Explain your answer 

Independent: 

  

Factual doesn’t show any opinions or perspective on Rik Mayall. 

Brief introduction on who he was. 

Explained how in 1998 he had a quad bike accident, which left him with epilepsy.  

Quotes from people he worked with or knew. 

  

The story in The Independent is different to The Mirrors. Mine is more factual, it’s got a lower word count. Backstory and different images, and previous work 

Employment Contract Types

Permanent 

 A permanent contract is an official or written agreement between an employee and employer stating the rules and regulations in a full-time or part time basis and the rules and conditions under which both parties are going to work and/or including the terms and condition for compensation and the targets or milestones to be achieved. 

Full-time 

A full time contract is a legal agreement that is enforceable in a court of law or by binding arbitration in which an employee agrees to work on a fulltime basis for a specified period. To be legally recognized, the agreement should be in written form and should contain signatures of both the employer and the employee. 

Part-time 

a part-time employee is an employee who is engaged to work less than an average of 38 ordinary hours per week and whose hours of work are reasonably predictable, with a guaranteed minimum number of hours of work. Work is usually performed on regular days of the week. A part-time employee will usually be entitled to the same employment conditions as a full-time employee, but on a pro rata basis compared to the full-time hours (usually 38 per week) prescribed under the applicable industrial instrument. 

Freelance 

• they are self-employed or are part of other companies 
• they often look after their own tax and National Insurance contributions (NICs) 
• they might not be entitled to the same rights as workers, eg minimum wage 
• you’re still responsible for their health and safety 

Voluntary 

A person who freely offers to take part in an enterprise or undertake a task: 

Copyright

What is copyright 

A Legal concept that grants the creator of an original work exclusive rights to use and distribution 

When does copyright come into action 

It comes into action automatically when a piece of work that qualifies for protection is created 

What does copyright protect 

Original literary works, Musical works, Dramatic works, Sound recordings, Film recordings, Broadcasts 

Who owns copyright 

The person who created it or if this person is an employee the employer or company owns the copyright. 

What is joint ownership of copyright 

One or more persons involved with the creation of the work therefore they share the copyright. 

What rights does a copyright owner have 

Both economic and moral rights 

How long does copyright last? 

70 years after authors death for most then 25 years for typographical arrangements. 

What is copyright infringement 

Copy it, issues copies to the public, lend to the publics, perform or show to public, communicate to the public 

What are Remedies for copyright infringements  

An injunction, damages for loss, account or infringers profit or and order to seize. 

Are there any copyright exceptions? 

There are specified copyright exceptions, these include schools  and universities for educational use of works. 

How does someone obtain clearance to use copyright material 

Contact copyright owner to grant permission. 

Interview with Brain Flynn

Why did you choose to work in investigative journalism? 

“umm because I went into journalism too see things that I wouldn’t ordinarily  learn things that I wouldn’t ordinarily get to learn things that I wouldn’t normally get a change to get involved in, and it gave me the opportunity to do that. And it’s also challenging and you know just very interesting it’s the sort of thing that interests me, you just see a side to life that you wouldn’t ordinarily get to see.” 

Ah right so it’s kind because of the experience  

“Yeah it’s not the sort of thing you normally get to do, it can be exciting and interesting that it can also be extremely dual at times like when you’re waiting for a door to open and you’re watching but hum you get an insight into life that you wouldn’t normally get to see and all of those by definition of investigative journalism you know exposing things that are wrong and you know doing good.” 

With your experience as a journalist what skills would you say are necessary to write the best story? 

"Well writing a story is less than the half of what you do, the most important things writing a story is to have a story to write. Most newspapers would rather have people that bring in stories and that have contacts and understanding to get a story to have the skills to turn that into a provable stories that somebody can write because if you’ve written it poorly there are always people that can help but normally there are people who can bring in the stories and then execute them properly." 

So having contacts is a quite an important thing obviously 

Brian - "Yeah totally it’s the single most important thing I would say In journalism you know journalism is about finding things out and you if you want to know something you ask somebody who knows uhm I’ve got contacts all over the world who bring stories to me who know things that I uhmuhm recently I was asked to do an investigation into drugs and well I needed a well I needed those contacts to know persifict things but they were contacts who were homed over years not weeks or months." 

Me - Ohh so yeah I just thought it was always about the writing skills, I didn’t know there were contacts and looking for story’s I thought you were just told.

Brian - "Uh no, no if all you want to do is write the investigative journalism isn’t for you because the most important thing in any story is getting the story." 

Me - Oh right 

“Writing it is only a small part of what I do if you haven’t got a story to write you could be you could be good but personally it wouldn’t make any difference, you’ve got to have a story to write” 

I see, and last question uhh what would you say is the best technique to use in an interview 

“Umm ahh, listen to them. Yeah as simple as that. You plan what you want to get out of the interview before you go into it and then when your actually in the interview you don’t rattle of half a dozen pre arranged questions so like what they might mention a topic that’s far more important then or interesting then what you'd expected there's no point carrying out an interview if you think before head.” 

Stages of Publication

news gathering: 

Whether it’s a daily, weekly or monthly newspaper. The first stage of production is news gathering. News gathering can take plenty of forms, including interviewing, reporting and writing, taking photos, gathering press releases and compiling letters to the editor, Every inclusion in the newspaper is gathered during this time, which may last a day or several days, given the production schedule of the newspaper. The news is gathered by a combination of reporters, photographers , editors and even interns.  

Advertising:  

To make money, the newspapers is reliant on advertising revenue. because some newspapers are free, and others cost a nominal fee, the significant revenue is derived from advertisers. As such, every newspaper has an advertising staff responsible for selling advertising space to businesses. 

some ads may be local, while others ay be statewide or national. ads are sold in a variety of sizes and shapes and placed throughout the newspaper's pages.  

Composition 

a newspaper's composition stage is the process by which the editorial content and advertisements are placed throughout the paper, edited and finalized. In small companies, the editorial and/or advertising staff may do this work. At larger publications its composing team is responsible for this stage. The pages are typically designed with a program such as Adobe, InDesign or Quark XPress, then the content is proofread by editors and the advertisements are verified by an advertising manager.  

Printing and Distribution 

The final major step of a newspaper's production is the printing process. Once the newspaper has been composed. It is sent electronically to a printing shop. For large newspapers, the printing facilities are often in the same building as the newspaper's advertising and editorial staff. The images of the newspaper ate loaded onto the printer and the copies are printed, folder, stacked and bundled. From there, they're sent to (or picked up by) delivery people who will take the newspapers door to door, fill boxes around the community and drop them off at stores. 

Defamation

Defamation is when somebody i.e. a Journalist publishes a defamatory story on a certain individual to make the public worse of the individual. In order to bring a claim forward for a defamation, a claimant   must prove that the defendant has published a story which worsens peoples opinion on them to a third party which refers to him. A defamation statement or story is a comment which makes people think worse of a person or businesses. An example would if i were to lie and say UKIP leader Nigel Farage has been accused of raping 4 young children and publish it. Such a statement could also be classed as defamation if allegations of criminality, dishonesty, insolvency, lack of integrity or sharp practice and personal morality.  

Defamation is a generic term for libel and slander 

Libel is a defamatory statement in permanent form: in writing, electronic media, broadcasts and pictures. Slander is a defamatory statement in temporary from, generally spoken but can include conduct and gestures.  

A statement is not defamatory unless its publication has caused or is likely to cause serious harm to the reputation of the claimant. This requirement was introduced in the Defamation Act 2013 which came into force on January 1st 2014 and is likely to increase the number of cases where the claimant decides to nor make a claim or the defendant refuses to offer any remedy or apology. It is likely to be difficult to show that serious harm has been caused due to defamation if the claimant already have a bad reputation, limited publication, the meaning is "pub talk", the statement is criticism of goods or services or if the statement against the claimant was quickly clarified as a mistake and was retracted or an apology was made so that any damage was short-lived.