Racism at its Best

On the website for The Sun newspaper, I found an article about fashion designer John Galliano being convicted of using anti-Semitic and racist language. As I read further into the story, I found a video of Galliano using these racial slurs while drunk and on valium at a bar in Paris. The story clearly states that he had been drinking champagne and taking valium pills “like they were candy”.  Later in the story, the newspaper quotes some of the racist comments he made toward people. Now, in an American newspaper or news website, you would not find these quotes, because they are racist and they include curse words. The UK papers do not seem to mind including these words in their column. I guess that is because they are the words of the man convicted and not the words of the journalist who wrote the story.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3803175/Galliano-guilty-br-of-racist-rant.html

Grammatical Differences

There are many differences in the way the British newspapers are written and American newspapers are written. One of the main differences I’ve noticed that jumps out at me as a typo every time I see it is the fact that titles such as Mr. or Mrs. are not followed by a period. After seeing this in many different newspapers many different times, I know that this is not a typo, probably more of a cultural difference. Another difference I can’t help but notice is when a time is printed in the paper, a period is used instead of a colon. 8:30 is printed 8.30. I kind of like it, but at the same time, I sometimes wonder if they are printing it as a time of day or a date of the year. Another difference I’ve noticed, which is a big no-no in the broadcast script writing world is that they use the degree sign instead of spelling out the word degrees when talking about temperature. Some of these differences are slightly annoying to me, but at the same time, I’m sure they are annoying to them as well. 

The Page 3 Girl

Here in America you are supposed be 18 or older to look at pornographic images. You must be 18 to order a subscription to a pornographic magazine, rent pornographic movies or visit a pornographic website. Of course there are ways around this but it is a way to try to keep these images out of the hands of young children. In the United Kingdom though, there doesn’t seem to be an age limit. You can simply walk to the nearest newsstand and pick up the daily copy of The Sun. Each copy of The Sun includes what is known as the page 3 girl. She is usually, but not always, topless. Every day a different girl is featured, almost always gorgeous, and almost always topless. The models that are wearing clothes are wearing sexy lingerie or some type of skimpy bikini barely covering their private parts. They all have a story to tell, some aspiring to be models, others living a normal life with a normal job. Why they choose to be featured naked in a daily tabloid is beyond me. I guess it’s for the attention. From the time they are featured, they are known as that girl on page 3 of The Sun. What a thing to be known for! 

Trust Issues

In light of the News of the World hacking scandal, it has become apparent that some journalists and news organizations cannot be trusted. Many of the reporters for the News of the World got the information for their stories illegally through having peoples cell phones hacked. This raised many issues with and questions from the public. Because of the hacking scandal, the News of the World has shut down and quit publishing their Sunday paper. Rupert Murdoch is under a lot of scrutiny. Many people now do not trust the journalists of the UK and question others around the world. It’s not the stories the people don’t trust; it is the source of the story. People are skeptical of the stories because they wonder if the information was obtained through hacking or obtained through the hard work that reporters are expected to do. This goes to show that 1. Some people cannot be trusted, and 2. Reporters will do anything to get a story.

The Truth About the War

Everyone is aware that the United States is involved in The War on Terror in the Middle East. We also all know that there are soldiers being killed almost daily fighting in this war. What people don’t want to believe is that these soldiers are being brutally murdered, many dying slow and painful deaths. The news coverage turns a blind eye to this fact, almost pretending that it isn’t happening. There are never any pictures of these soldiers in the papers, especially not wounded soldiers fighting for their lives after being shot, or hit by a bomb. I found one UK paper that had a picture of one soldier completely covered in blood, obviously in a lot of pain. This surprised me because you would never see such a picture in a US paper. The UK is not afraid to show their people what is really happening. Though these pictures are disturbing, they show the truth about what happens to soldiers in the war. Americans don’t want to see this, but it is really happening, though not in our own country, it is happening to our men and women fighting to keep us safe. 

Are Americans Too Sensitive?

One question I have been asking myself in comparing the way news is written in the UK and the US is are Americans too sensitive? It seems to me that they are. I found a website that agrees with what I think. “Political correctness is a deliberate attack on free speech. Because something may offend somebody doesn’t mean it isn’t true or shouldn’t be said… Americans have become too sensitive. By this I mean that they are too easily offended.” Reporters and journalists will leave details or pictures out of an article because the information may be offensive to some. So, is it right to only tell part of the story to save sensitive Americans from being offended? The journalists in the UK don’t seem to think so. They will include every detail of a murder that is available, or put a picture of a bloody wounded soldier in a paper. I believe American journalists don’t include the whole truth because Americans don’t want to have to admit or believe that it is the truth. Americans don’t want to know all the gruesome details of a murder because if they don’t know them, they can think what they want about what really happened, instead of being told what really happened. To Americans, ignorance is bliss.

http://americaswatchtower.com/2008/01/21/have-americans-become-too-sensitive/

#@%&*$

In my introductory blog I mentioned that a UK paper had included the f-word in an article it printed. This would never be okay in an American paper. Even if the writer included it, the editor would definitely edit it out. This is funny to me because every American over the age of 13 has heard the word and most of them use it. I know many of the people I hang around use it in their everyday language. It is simply just another word. It is an adjective used to emphasize or describe something, a verb used to explain a sexual act, and in some cases even a noun to talk about someone. Even though I am one of those people who use or at least hear the word every day, I was still shocked when I read it in the UK paper. They are much more free to print whatever they feel in their papers and I believe that American papers and journalists should be more like those in the UK.

I tell you what to think.

In an article in the Sun newspaper titled "Dead lad theft grief", it became apparent to me that it is okay for the journalists in the UK to call people names. Instead of simply calling the person by their given name, they take it as far as to call him thug Jake Farhi. I understand that this "thug" murdered another person but I feel that calling him names in the paper is a bit too much. It automatically paints a picture to the reader and doesn't give them much of an opportunity to come to their own conclusions about the kid. And what about the family and friends of Jake? I'm sure that they don't appreciate seeing that sort of stuff in print going out for thousands to read.

British Newspapers

On the first day of class in London, our teacher handed out copies of some of the daily newspapers here in London. I was shocked to find the “f” word printed in one of them. A guy in our class was looking through a different newspaper than I was and on page 3, he found a picture of a topless model. The whole class was stunned that such a thing would be in a newspaper.

It was very obvious to all of us on that first day that British newspapers have very different standards than those in America. You would never find a picture of a topless model in any American newspaper. Those types of images are saved for Playboy magazine. Also, very rarely will you find a curse word in an American newspaper, and if you do, it will most definitely NOT be the “f” word.

The rules for British newspapers are very lax, there doesn’t seem to be much that they can’t print. And as we are all finding out during this News of the World phone hacking scandal, there isn’t much they won’t do to get a story.