News is shown to us on the television. This platform shares benefits with online news that typical newspapers cannot offer. For instance when actually watching interviews and a presenter reveal to you a such a moving story such as the Madeleine McCann case.

This television broadcast in particular reflects back on when Madeleine first went missing. The language used is very structured and formal it is iconographic of a news broadcast on the television. Particual signs such as a presented stood filmed at a medium shot reveals to the audience that the programme is real as it is of the norm for television news programmes to be shot like this. Similarly the voice over technique has the same impact.

the news in this platform often relates to other stories to give the audience hope that she is still alive, This link shows that they mother and father of Madeleine have not given up hope because of a similar case in which the victem eventually escaped.

The treatment of this flashback news piece is heavily effective and moving for the audience, it uses a range of content such as pics, interviews, flashbacks, change of location and typical studio shots of the presenter to create this and portray the story and life that the McCanns now have to live.

Posted in Uni year one, Writing for news
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January 31, 2012

Social media website (Facebook)

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Profile-of-the-Disappearance-of-Madeleine-McCann/137592626316577

The social media website ‘Facebook’ uses user generated content as its primary function. Obviousley, people have a right to freedom of speech and therefore if people want to upload their own news, thoughts and feelings via post, images, groups or pages they are more than welcome to, regarding it doesn’t breach Facebooks social media policy.

There are many groups relating to the Madeleine McCann case, However, on in particular stood out at me. A journalist called ‘Pat Brown’ who is passionate and determined to find Madeleine McCann has created a group on Facebook. He updates it regularly gaining his information from the news in general and using his own personal theories and feelings incorporating it all into his posts. When a girl was spotted allegedly supposed to be Madeleine he travelled to South India in search of her.

The structure of the posts are not chosen and are all in the same style as any other group on Facebook. However, Brown uses other content other than his writings such as video, pictures and links and therefore a huge advantage of the group would be that its online, the digital age has huge advantages for the news world.

The language used is actually very formal. I believe that this man maybe has a strong interest in writing, However, not just his posts are on the group wall. Other users and more specifically Facebook users of that groups are published on there too. Which is a problem with online media if the content from third parties are not monitered properly. comments such as this appear ‘Madeleine would have expected her parents to search for her! But they let her down…’ which can be very offensive to some people.

The treatment of the Madeleine case in this platform is extremely in depth and posts are made regularly. People can use this group as a new source specifically aimed at people interested in this case.

Posted in Uni year one, Writing for news
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January 31, 2012

Newspaper

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2019698/Madeleine-McCann-Hopes-dashed-sighting-India.html#ixzz1kwtkSuWM’ –

The case of Madeleine McCann has many topics surrounding it, Therfore i have chosen a newspaper article which claims that a british woman had spotted Madeleline in a town named ‘leh’ in Northern India.

Generally when you publish an article via a newspaper the two primary functions of a missing person case would be to inform and educate their audience of recent happenings in a case.

The language used is very basic and factual. For instance instead of writing about the parents stating its not their child because the child spotted was six years old and Madeleine would be nine the sentence read – ‘Spokesman Clarence Mitchell said the couple were ‘certain’ the girl was not Madeleine, who would now be eight-years-old.’ The sentence structure is solid especially when using the noun phrase ‘The girl’ as the definate article is used indicating that is it factual that a girl was spotted, also using numerics such as ‘six’ and ‘eight’ years old shows formal and factual data which is iconic of newspapers.

When writing for news articles tend to be short and to the point, this article is exactley that. (Around 300 words) Using Large images to portray a sence of dispair amongst the parents which is what photography within news articles generally do, portray whats happening through a picture telling the story first before the article itself.

Typically the viewpoint used within news is a strange subject. Broadsheet newspapers such as The Times and The Independent tend to be mutual and just tell the story or facts as they are, wereas tabloid newspapers such as The sun have a biased opinion and have been known to judge Madeleines parents for her dissapearance. However, The mail online happens to be a informative and innovative paper and therefore there no bias but, the piece is specifically wrote about Madeleines parents not believing the child spotted was theirs and therefore it becomes acceptable for there to be a strong viewpoint/angle.

Posted in Uni year one, Writing for news
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January 31, 2012

http://justice4mccannfam.5forum.biz/t1489-help-find-madeleine-mccann-forum

Forums are an interesting online method of answering questions, having general debate and providing information on what topic the forum is discussing in particular.

Forums are generally very informal, The forum that i have researched is in particular. However, it still provides facts but alot of the conversations taken place are very opinionated. For instance this comment was posted – ‘It would not be the first time that someone in the police covers up a crime. Has anyone heard of organized crime? It happens everywhere in the world. Many times all it takes is a call from the culprit to a high official threatening his family. This may very well be the case with Mr Amaral. He is too persistent in attempting to sabotage every move the McCanns make with absolutely no proof at all of their guilt..’

With regards to the treatment of the the case i would say that the forum medium is purely a platform designed for personal opinions. In light of this i would say that a forum is the worst medium to choose in relation to this case as people let the news they are told manipulate their opinions. How do we know if all the information news companys have are published? Many papers are also bias which creates a domino affect on websites such as forums.

Posted in Uni year one, Writing for news
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January 31, 2012

Adapted news piece within five media platforms

Cliff hanger…

Rimvydas Liorancas, prosecuted for the brutal killing of the loving couple Avatar and Carole Kolar early this January. The bodies of the two were discovered by their son the same day.

But, on the 28^th of January the killer had been found dead in his cell, officers at the prison in Milton Keynes reported that he had hung himself and a representative of the Milton Keynes Prison Service said: “HMP Woodhill prisoner Rimvydas Liorancas was found hanging in his cell at 8.52am on Saturday 28 January.” Furthermore he was announced dead at exactly 9.30am.

However, the police are making further enquires into the death of the couple as there is more to discover about the case. When the post-mortem outcome was shown it appeared that the couple had suffered from an injury to the head but further investigation is required.

(newspaper purpose article)

News stories are presented to an audience is many ways. The case that I have chosen to adapt on could also be presented over other mediums and not just print.

For instance, I have chose five different media platforms in which this story can be portrayed.

Radio – If my story was presented on the radio I would firstly read the story in what ever tone of voice fits the story. This story happens to be an upsetting and moving story and therefore should be read in a softer tone. Prior to this I might also have interviews with the family, other news corporations, the prison or general people of the public for discussion purposes to enhance the story.

Television – If my story was presented on the television I would like an anchor to read the story out at a news desk for a degree of formality. The tone of voice would be the same as the radio with possible pictures for the backdrop of the newsroom.

Social media website – As a social media website I would possibly use the two biggest user generated content sites which are – Facebook and Twitter. Personally, I would create links to the online newspaper as a post and update status’ or posts every time something significant happened within the case.

Forum- As Forums are created with the sole purpose of discussion I would post the same things as what I would on social media websites. The purpose of this being that if people have comments or questions to share on separate topics within the case, they can. Much like social media websites.

Newspaper online – Having the news online means that content other than written or pictures can be uploaded such as vodcasts, podcasts and links can be used for more in depth research and and elaborate news case can be developed stronger. I would include all this content and of course the original news piece. The links could be possibly to websites such as social media like Facebook and Twitter, blogs and Youtube.