Historical Origins of Press/Media freedom

Press/Media Freedom, also known as "Freedom of the press", can be defined as, "the liberty to print or to otherwise disseminate information, as in print, by broadcasting, or through electronic media, without prior restraints such as licensing requirements or content review and without punishment for what is said"-factmonster

Freedom of the press has developed since the 1500’s, when the press and media were restricted from publishing certain things that may create hostility towards the authorities and censored the material they were allowed to publish.

Restriction of the information that citizens of the Christian world were allowed to publish was introduced in 1501 by Pope Alexander VI, not long after the invention of the printing press. There were two kinds of restriction; Censorship, by the government in advance of the publication, and the punishment for printed material that would cause division between communities. Penalties for bypassing or ignoring the censors included fines and excommunication (being excluded from a religious group or banished from a church).

The struggle for Freedom of the press first began in England in where the appearance of unauthorized publications resulted in a royal proclamation in 1534 requiring prepublication licensing. Censorship came to be applied shortly after that and then both the licensing and censorship laws were abolished in 1695.

Restrictions of the press continued in the form of libel laws, these allowed the government to arrest and punish any printer who published material in any way critical of the goverment. By the 18th Century, the printing of parliamentary debates had to be disguised as debates between classical figures. At this time, both true and false critisism of the goverment was considered libel.

With the development in England and following the American Revolution, the United States began to provide freedom of the press to several of their states and the first ammendment in 1791 to the US constitution declared that "Congress shall make no law... abridging the freedom of speech or of the press".

Wartime situations often presented challenges to the legal limits of press and media freedom. What was looked upon as irresponsible reporting during the Civil War led to attempts by civil and military authorities to impose restrictions upon the press. The War Department appealed to publishers to voluntarily suppress news that was strategic to the war and were largely ineffective.

During World War I, near panic over the possibility of sabotage led the Congress to pass the Espionage Acts in 1917 and the Sedition Act in 1918. These acts limited freedom of the press to such an extent that there was censorship exercised against pro-German publications.
In the late 1960s and early 70s, there were frequent charges and countercharges between journalists and government officials concerning the withholding of information on the Vietnam War by the government.

The First Amendment has not been extended to the gathering as well as the publication of news. The experience of the Vietnam War led the U.S. government to restrict the access of reporters in combat areas in subsequent military encounters.

Break Down Of My Article. :)

In my article, I am exploring the new phenomenon known as Citizen Journalism and researching how it is beginning to take over the media industry.
It is becoming increasingly popular on the internet and is easy to access which is appealing for readers.

This form of reporting is appealing and I’m investigating the positives of the growing phenomenon. It seems to be more positive because Citizen Journalists have the reputation of being more honest then a professional journalist. People are more interested in reading stories that the writer didn’t get paid to write but wrote to express their opinion.

Citizen Journalism is also very popular because the reader is able to understand the perspective of the writer and can often relate whereas with a professional journalist, they are told what to write and the angle to come from, and lack the perspective factor. I think this is what lets them down.

The Most Useful Questions In Journalism
In an interview, the interveiwer is normally trying to find out who, where, when, how and why of things. There are alot of good and bad ways to get these answers out of your subject.
Things that you should try and stear clear of are lengthy questions and cliche enquiries (e.g. "How do you feel?").
Try and focus on questions like "and then what happened..?", "how do you know that?", "do you know anyone who can confirm that?" and "whats it like?". This will put the pressure on the subject to ellaborate on their answer and give you some more information.

Questioning an uneasy source
When questioning uneasy sources, try not to be intimidating, try and connect with your subject in any way you can whether it be the clothes your wearing or finding a common interest between the both of you.
A way of persauding a source to talk is to be lighthearted and friendly, this will make the subject feel more comfortable talking to you and will benefit the interveiw.

Think carefully about where and how to speak to them, make sure you dress appropriatly and hold the interview in a comfortable environment for the subject, somewhere they feel non-threatened.

Adapting to your subject is important. This allows them to feel relaxed and helpful and means not intimidating them or annoying them. You may have to adapt your appearance or behaviour a little. Just make sure that the way you dress and act will not offend your subject.

Make a judgement about your subject. Think of a way to get them to want to talk to you. Whether it be throough flattery, Friendliness, Jokes or serious talk. Take an interest in their life.

If you have time, try the life story ploy. Try asking questions about their life story. This will make them want to help you and make them feel more confident about themselves.

Assessment Event #1

Interviewing Techniques, Principles and Practices:

Below is a list of helpful interviewing techniques, Principles and Practices an individual should take into account before performing one of the following types of interviews.

Print Media:

• Make sure the subject is aware and is willing to have their story, answers or quotes published.



• Talk in simple terms, using as little technical jargon as you possibly can to make it easy for your subject to interpret the question and give you a good answer.



• Be confident and speak clearly so that your subject understands exactly what you are asking them.



• For a phone interview, you may want to have brief notes prepared on the major points that you want to address and good everyday. However, do not read directly from your notes.
  

Internet:

• Allow for extra time or a longer deadline as the subject may not go online as quickly as you would like.



• Make sure you have a reliable email address or Messenger service and the correct contact details of the subject being questioned.



• Type simple questions so that your subject will not misinterpret what your actually asking them.



• Set out your questions simply, in order for a quick, clear, easy interview.



• Make your subject aware that their information may be used for a story or published in the future.
  

Radio:

• Before having them on your show/station, talk to the sunject before, find out if they are a good talker, do they know what they are talking about? etc.



• Know why you are interviewing the subject, make sure you have a broad knowledge of the topic in question in case you are put on the spot for any reason.



• Use the technique known as "Focusing". This involves being clear about what your asking so you get a clear answer about exactly what you need for your interview.



• Make sure your subject is aware if the interview is live.
  Plan your on air questions before the interview and if you want to avoid silence, you may like to show your subject the questions so they can prepare their answers.



• On air, Make sure sure you are calm and organised, this will help to relax the subject and give a good radio interview.



• Use the 5 W's & 1 H (Who, Where, When, Why, What, How).
  

Television:

• Try to stick to asking open ended questions to generate more of a conversational vibe.



• Look at your subject when you are interviewing them, it creates a more relaxed and open atmosphere and will allow the subject to become more comfortable speaking to you and answering your questions.



• Only as important questions to stay on topic because you may only have a set amount of time for the interview.
  

Qu3$+!0n!Ng sK!LLz- week 3

Don’t let them bullshit you

To avoid being mislead, ask for all jargon to be explained because sometimes people in industries use euphemisms disguise reality. They sometimes use euphamisms to describe bad things to make something seem better then it is. To get a clear idea of what they are talking about, Unban them, and openly ask what they mean.

Listen to the answers

It is so easy to be concerned with rattling of the next question or getting down an answer that you may not realise exactly what the interviewee have said.
You need to make sure you understand the inportance of the answer that they have given.

Dare to ask the cheeky question

Don’t pop out an outrageous comment at the start, build up to it.
There is much profit in asking a blunt or personal question spontaneously, it may create an interesting outburst, take the risk.

Stop people rambling

To stop people rambling in an interveiw about irrrelevent things, you can tell them you are short of time and need to ask other questions. Although it is better to interrupt them with something trivial like something you see in the room, or the weather. Once they have responded, ask another question you want answered.

Review answers at end

If you have time at the end of an interview, go over notes, check figures and check answers.
This is an opportunity to see if you can discover holes or 'information gaps' in there story.
See if you can squeeze a bit more information out of them or ask if there is someone else who can verify or support their contentions.

Never make promises to sources about how the story will be treated

To avoid making promises about how the story will be treated, just tell them you are 'just a reporter' and give them your editors’ name and phone number.

:)