Rant Press Poison Jon Venables.

This is the type of article which proves press poison, propaganda and use of PR. Melanie Reid, Times Online has used the Jon Venables incident to say people should consider he may have had a terrible childhood. There are plenty of people who had a terrible childhood and chose not to pass that pain on to others. Publishing excuses for extremely bad behaviour and choices in the name of political correctness, bites me.

I've commented on the article online, but it could be a good feature, those who were abused etc as children, but have turned their lives around or made something of themselves and focused that pain and hurt into positive action rather than crime.

Detaching from the public emotion around this, and let's face it there's plenty, the crime happened in 1993 and still provokes extreme anger from the public. Again, detaching from the emotion the reason why this story is newsworthy is because Jon Venables is perceived as a threat to the public. IE bad news sells, because of our natural instinct to focus on anything or one who is a potential threat to our own survival. As the justice system will not release details of Jon Venables new identity or how he has reoffended there is fear in the mystery. The govt/justice system would do themselves a favour if they released the details of the offence and take some of the heat out of the situation, but lots of agendas and the reality is it's useful to the press.

Political correctness - good intentions gone mad. By giving Jon Venables an excuse for his actions (his poor childhood), we stop him from growing. Taking responsibility for our own actions whatever age we are brings maturity and growth as a person. PCorrectness DOESN'T work - after the best care and interventions - he's STILL reoffended.

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Julia O'Shaughnessy Even now the political correctness is calling out to stop Jon Venables from taking responsibility for his OWN actions.

We were told Jon Venables had the BEST of interventions, rehabilitation and opportunities within the system to change. The reality is he has CHOSEN NOT to change. The Justice system has protected Jon &...

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We have not yet faced the real Jon Venables problem | Melanie Reid - Times Online

www.timesonline.co.uk

Even as the infamous name of Jon Venables flashed on the screens, you could feel the moral panic start. Seventeen years may have passed since the Bulger killing, but we still haven’t separated logic from emotion in our response to it.

FOJ NEWS High Street Booksellers Struggling

Independent Booksellers are closing down at 2 p/week because of booksites. Major book chains such as Waterstones are also having problems.

The Writers Club in Norwich say there will be a dip in sales for high street booksellers for the next 5-10 years while booksellers adapt to price wars and e-readers such as kindle, but after that there should be an increase again.

Report from BBC News 04/03/10

Possible local feature?

Journalism 101 Newsroom

"It is better to print a boring, truthful story than an exciting lie". 

So with this in mind I sent off an article and photographs to the Western Morning News and The Advertiser in Newton Abbot. Neither have picked up the story. 

But here it is with one photo:

ARTICLE: 

[START]: Shocked Newton Abbot residents woke to find metre deep holes in a walkway joining their area to Milber Trading Estate. Although Police cordoned off the danger, local workers are concerned to see a fire hydrant and six drain covers still missing. 

Matthew Sharland, a local office worker said: “This is ridiculous, the covers were taken in the middle of the night, they are right on a walkway and we’re lucky no-one has fallen down and killed themselves”.

This incident is the second theft of metal drain covers in just over two weeks. The first being from behind a pub in North Hill, Plymouth, fifty miles away.

Drain smuggling in Devon hit the news three years ago when local Church Bells were also stolen from a restoration shop in Tavistock. The following year four inscribed plaques and 500 Devon road signs joined the increasing list of metal-related crime in Devon.

Rising metal prices (£640 a tonne) have encouraged thieves worldwide to join in what has been inaccurately described as a ‘victimless crime’.  With 60% of recovered metal being exported legally from the United Kingdom, according to Police Review, it is one of the fastest growing crimes.

Anyone with information about the two thefts should call police on 08452 777444 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111. [STOP]

How did I do it: 

I'm always talking to friends and contacts about what's going on and encouraging them to pass me articles. An old health and safety contact text me and said had I heard about what had happened. It wasn't until I started looking into why the drain covers would be taken that I realised it was the second time in two weeks drain covers had been stolen. Newton Abbot is fifty miles away from the other incident in Plymouth. So I emailed the story to the Western Morning News first as they cover the geographical area and the Advertiser which covers Newton Abbot wouldn't be interested in the fact there was another theft in Plymouth. I didn't hear anything from WMN, I emailed the same email to the newsdesk instead of just the Editor, heard nothing. So I emailed the story and photo's to The Advertiser, but as yet have also heard nothing. Possibly they've already covered it, possibly they will re-investigate it themselves and write the story, possibly it's just not interesting enough. 

I was happy with myself, as I received the information about 3pm and I'd got photo's and the article researched and written by 1am, ready for the morning paper should it be necessary. In terms of the industry, the amount of time it took to get photo's etc. I can see why a lot of journalists are office bound. In the time it took to complete this article I could have researched and written possibly ten articles received from PR/wire services.