As part of a BBC writing test, we had to write an OOV of a fictional news story in real time, as updates were coming in.
Unfortunately, the vast majority of the group made a colossal cock-up, as we wrote that a member of a rock band had been arrested as it had been on commercial radio. Since we were not informed via the police, it was unconfirmed and therefore libellous. If the police had confirmed it. we would have been right to report it, only if we make sure to say that the investigation was ongoing, and if we did not create any contempt of court.
If you're curious about these writing tests check out this link and make sure not to make the same mistake!
Showing posts with label BBC News. Show all posts
Showing posts with label BBC News. Show all posts
Wednesday, 25 January 2012
Wednesday, 13 April 2011
Thoughts from the Gap
Well the weather I so enjoyed the other week has disappeared, I was going to go for a run but the rain shoved a spanner in that. And so I find myself stuck inside, watching my cat show off his ability to sleep whenever he pleases. So I thought I'd write a blog post.
Most of you probably know my drill by now: search through the BBC's website, maybe the guardian or some other papers, and find a couple of stories I can playfully mock. But today, for some reason, I came up empty. Maybe there is simply nothing interesting, maybe the rain has made me apathetic. Either way I'm doing nothing more productive than spinning round on my chair and looking aimlessly around my clutter-ridden room, with the urge to play The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time becoming more pronounced by the second.
Tthis got me to thinking. Not about Zelda, but about my clutter. The vast majority of the mess in my room is made up of DVDs, books, CDs and video games. Not to mention all the controllers and dust jackets that come with them. Now, technology is becoming more and more sophisticated, that's a given, and this essentially means we are needing less "stuff." e.g. Current gen. consoles allow you to download games directly onto their hard drives, you can download or stream movies directly onto your computer without the need of a hard copy, and tablets like the iPad and the Kindle (does the Kindle count as a tablet?) make buying individual books almost obsolete.
The point I am trying to make is that pretty soon, my clutter wont exist in a physical form, it will all be a part of the ether. Think of it like this. it's 100 years from now, there are flying cars, clothes come in pill form, and everyone has been gene-spliced into atanomical perfection (Except for the poor, they will still be smelly and ugly). What is going to be in their houses? digital picture frames maybe, a pair of sunglasses that allow you to play games and watch television on them. Hell maybe they'll wear those things all the time and it'll be like the matrix whilst everyone is really asleep in a pod filled with the liquefied dead!
Perhaps the occasional 'eccentric' will own some of the 'quaint' prehistoric technology like an iPod or a mammogram machine. but otherwise, any music they could want can live in an earpiece, movies can live in specs, and, if games involving the future are anything to go by, everything will be white (I'm not being racist by the way, I'm thinking along the lines of Mirror's Edge). So what will make their homes untidy? NickNacks? Dirty plates won't exist because everyone subsists on that Willy Wonka gum that contains a three course meal. All I can think of is furniture. From the meanest beggar to the grandest monarch, everyone enjoys a good sit.
I've forgotten the point of this post but I think it had something to do with the evolution of technology, and how pretty soon, there'll be much more space for me to spin round on my chair without bashing my knee against my chest-of -drawers.
Most of you probably know my drill by now: search through the BBC's website, maybe the guardian or some other papers, and find a couple of stories I can playfully mock. But today, for some reason, I came up empty. Maybe there is simply nothing interesting, maybe the rain has made me apathetic. Either way I'm doing nothing more productive than spinning round on my chair and looking aimlessly around my clutter-ridden room, with the urge to play The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time becoming more pronounced by the second.
Tthis got me to thinking. Not about Zelda, but about my clutter. The vast majority of the mess in my room is made up of DVDs, books, CDs and video games. Not to mention all the controllers and dust jackets that come with them. Now, technology is becoming more and more sophisticated, that's a given, and this essentially means we are needing less "stuff." e.g. Current gen. consoles allow you to download games directly onto their hard drives, you can download or stream movies directly onto your computer without the need of a hard copy, and tablets like the iPad and the Kindle (does the Kindle count as a tablet?) make buying individual books almost obsolete.
The point I am trying to make is that pretty soon, my clutter wont exist in a physical form, it will all be a part of the ether. Think of it like this. it's 100 years from now, there are flying cars, clothes come in pill form, and everyone has been gene-spliced into atanomical perfection (Except for the poor, they will still be smelly and ugly). What is going to be in their houses? digital picture frames maybe, a pair of sunglasses that allow you to play games and watch television on them. Hell maybe they'll wear those things all the time and it'll be like the matrix whilst everyone is really asleep in a pod filled with the liquefied dead!
Perhaps the occasional 'eccentric' will own some of the 'quaint' prehistoric technology like an iPod or a mammogram machine. but otherwise, any music they could want can live in an earpiece, movies can live in specs, and, if games involving the future are anything to go by, everything will be white (I'm not being racist by the way, I'm thinking along the lines of Mirror's Edge). So what will make their homes untidy? NickNacks? Dirty plates won't exist because everyone subsists on that Willy Wonka gum that contains a three course meal. All I can think of is furniture. From the meanest beggar to the grandest monarch, everyone enjoys a good sit.
I've forgotten the point of this post but I think it had something to do with the evolution of technology, and how pretty soon, there'll be much more space for me to spin round on my chair without bashing my knee against my chest-of -drawers.
Thursday, 31 March 2011
A Sad Day for the Boys in Green.
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| Keep on truckin' |
I would imagine many of you have played some variation of the game 'who can see the seaside?' where you may be driving to the beach and the first person to shout 'I can see the seaside' won a Werther's Original, or what have you. Well, whenever my family would go to visit my relatives elsewhere in the country, we would always play the game 'who can see an Eddie Stobart lorry first.' I have a feeling that the game started because my grandad (who loves models and Airfix etc.) was a member of the Stobart Fan Club, I don't know that for sure, but he certainly has a few models of the distinctive lorries scattered around the house.
It's a bit of a random post I know, but I felt like it wouldn't have been right not to mention it.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cumbria-12923203
Monday, 21 February 2011
Local News 101
Having been in Hampshire for about five months now (excluding a month at home for Christmas), I think it's really starting to feel more and more like home. I'm not much of a city person, in the sense of feeling choked with fumes, and surrounded the homeless. And Winchester doesn't count as a city in my book, it's basically just a bigger version of my hometown in Devon, only flatter.
It was only in reading reading an article on the BBC news website for Hampshire that I found myself truly integrating. The article is as simple as it is amazing. It is entitled: Pies and sausages taken in Hampshire garden centre raid. Apparently, a group of daring thieves made of with nearly 50 savoury pies, as well as 18 pieces of cod and a box of jumbo sausages! This credit crunch has forced people to become criminal masterminds!
But the reason I'm relating this story to you is that it struck a chord with my Devon roots, this kind of story would be page one news in my local Gazette. Indeed, there was a story back in January about a man in police custody which said (and I'm quoting from memory here, so this almost certainly won't be verbatim): "The offender then went on to vandalise his cell - with a pasty." If journalism really is turning information into money, I think they struck gold with this. But wait! it gets better: "Apparently [they wrote] he was given a pasty for lunch, and took exception to the fact that it was not heated, and smeared it onto the walls." This is about the extent of crime in the South Hams.
I honestly can't put into words how happy this story made me, and I was elated to read about the Hampshire crooks taking it up a notch. I truly am in Home, Sweet Home.
And they say nothing happens in the Country...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-12524295
It was only in reading reading an article on the BBC news website for Hampshire that I found myself truly integrating. The article is as simple as it is amazing. It is entitled: Pies and sausages taken in Hampshire garden centre raid. Apparently, a group of daring thieves made of with nearly 50 savoury pies, as well as 18 pieces of cod and a box of jumbo sausages! This credit crunch has forced people to become criminal masterminds!
But the reason I'm relating this story to you is that it struck a chord with my Devon roots, this kind of story would be page one news in my local Gazette. Indeed, there was a story back in January about a man in police custody which said (and I'm quoting from memory here, so this almost certainly won't be verbatim): "The offender then went on to vandalise his cell - with a pasty." If journalism really is turning information into money, I think they struck gold with this. But wait! it gets better: "Apparently [they wrote] he was given a pasty for lunch, and took exception to the fact that it was not heated, and smeared it onto the walls." This is about the extent of crime in the South Hams.
I honestly can't put into words how happy this story made me, and I was elated to read about the Hampshire crooks taking it up a notch. I truly am in Home, Sweet Home.
And they say nothing happens in the Country...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-12524295
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