My forth media essay was written for a unit called 'Advanced Media Research', and was based around journalistic practices. In this unit we each got put into groups, and given a question each. Each group did the same questions and one person from each group was randomly assigned a question. In answering these questions in the form of a 1000 word essay, each group put their essays in as a complete portfolio, which made up 4000 words covering all four questions. Using the research that we wrote our essays with, as a separate part of the assessment, as a group, we had to find a news story and apply our research, according to our individual question within the group, to that real life news story.
The questions were quite vague, and mine was simply 'Does the Press Behave in the Public Interest? It was completely up to us how to interpret the question that we were given, and we weren't given much guidance or help.
Without going into too much detail, I essentially tried throughout the writing process of this essay, to always present both sides of the argument and to never be too biased. I'm paraphrasing here, but I eventually came to the conclusion that, weather the truth is considered to be within the public interest or not, depends on the nature of the situation that the press may find themselves reporting on. For example, if it's a natural disaster local to the area, then it is definitely in everyone's interest to know about it, whereas I think celebrity news isn't necessarily always in the public interest, just for example.
Remaining unbiased throughout my essay seems to have paid off, considering that I received 64 out of 100. I am proud of that mark, and I really do feel but I know more about UK press operation after researching, writing and submitting this essay.
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University of Portsmouth: First Year Diary
Non-FictionThe documentation of my journey through the first year of my English and Media Studies degree at Portsmouth University.
