Just like the story line out of a spy movie this story reads like one of those classic scripts. The story written by Cordon on ninemsn.com.au on the 26th August 2010 (http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=7951327) is about the writer Wolf Mankowitz of James Bond fame. Mankowitz wrote the screenplay for the first Bond movie and helping bring James Bond to the big screen. Similarly the story was also covered by Malvern for The Australian on the same day. (http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/james-bond-movie-screenplay-writer-suspected-of-spying-for-soviets/story-e6frg6so-1225910530269).
The story is about secret files that have been made public that the MI5 had on the writer. It was alleged that Mankowitz and his wife- who was a member of the British Communist party during the 1940’s, were under cover secret agents for the Russians. Due to a letter that was intercepted by the MI5, the couple was under surveillance for over a decade 1944-58. The story then goes on to describe how the Mankowitz joined the army, then left and tried to get a job in the Government Central Office of Information. It also states that the MI5’s suspicion of him was later dropped after he cancelled a return trip to the World Youth Fair in Moscow.
Both the stories are written well explaining why the couple was under investigation and rely mainly on the files that were found for their source of information. However both Cordon and Malvern could have sought further comment on the files from Mankowitz’z family or other sources that knew him. It is a soft news story that has news values of oddity and controversy, that presents itself as an interesting entertainment story. The Story reported in The Australian, however goes into more detail about why the suspicions against Mankowitz were dropped.
The oddity of the story is that the writer for the screenplay of the famous secret agent 007 working for MI5 was linked by MI5 to being a secret agent for the Russians himself. The controversy of the story is that again, like the oddity it has, this was during a period in history that saw anyone with an affiliation to socialist sentiments or origins was under suspicion.
The articles are good because they reflect the sentiments and suspicions of intelligence agencies during the period after the Second World War. They illustrate how little things that Mankowitz did seemed to be suspicious to Britain’s intelligence agency. The story is also a good example of how art imitates life.
Friday, August 27, 2010
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Wyclef Jean's campaign ends.
This story in the world of entertainment is a follow up to Wyclef Jeans’s campaign to become Haiti’s president.
There are two stories that I found interesting on the topic. The first story was written for the Observer on the 22nd of august 2010 by Harris. The story gave a run down of the fact that Jean had been pulled out of the race for presidency. It also said that there were unclear reasons for why this had happened. But stated that Jean thought it was because he was not a resident of Haiti. It states that there were concerns of death threats and security concerns. The article has used Wyclef jean as a source of information, but has not covered any comments on how Haitians have felt or by any other source and has made the singer/songwriter look as though he had no real political campaign.The article also suggests that there were concerns about riots due to the decision but there is no source to backup that concern.
On the other hand the story written by Damien Cave for the New York Times, has given the clear explanation of why Jean has been declined the chance to run for presidency. The story which was written on the 21st August 2010 clearly identifies that the reason behind the decision that prevented him from running was that he had to have lived in Haiti for five consecutive years prior to the November 28 2010 election.
Cave has also included comment from local business people about their thoughts and has also given an insight to how the supporters of Jean have responded to the news. There is more of an overall picture that this story presents on the outcome of the decision not to allow him to run. Again as with Harris’s story there were mentions of supposed unrest of Jeans supporters but, again, there was no source to back up the statement.
So both stories lacked the information needed to explain statements of supporter unrest yet Cave’s story gave more of an overall picture on how Jean dealt with the news and how ordinary Haitians felt about the country’s elections officials and their decision to end his campaign.
Harris : http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/22/wyclef-jean-haiti-presidential-election
Cave: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/22/world/americas/22haiti.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss
There are two stories that I found interesting on the topic. The first story was written for the Observer on the 22nd of august 2010 by Harris. The story gave a run down of the fact that Jean had been pulled out of the race for presidency. It also said that there were unclear reasons for why this had happened. But stated that Jean thought it was because he was not a resident of Haiti. It states that there were concerns of death threats and security concerns. The article has used Wyclef jean as a source of information, but has not covered any comments on how Haitians have felt or by any other source and has made the singer/songwriter look as though he had no real political campaign.The article also suggests that there were concerns about riots due to the decision but there is no source to backup that concern.
On the other hand the story written by Damien Cave for the New York Times, has given the clear explanation of why Jean has been declined the chance to run for presidency. The story which was written on the 21st August 2010 clearly identifies that the reason behind the decision that prevented him from running was that he had to have lived in Haiti for five consecutive years prior to the November 28 2010 election.
Cave has also included comment from local business people about their thoughts and has also given an insight to how the supporters of Jean have responded to the news. There is more of an overall picture that this story presents on the outcome of the decision not to allow him to run. Again as with Harris’s story there were mentions of supposed unrest of Jeans supporters but, again, there was no source to back up the statement.
So both stories lacked the information needed to explain statements of supporter unrest yet Cave’s story gave more of an overall picture on how Jean dealt with the news and how ordinary Haitians felt about the country’s elections officials and their decision to end his campaign.
Harris : http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/22/wyclef-jean-haiti-presidential-election
Cave: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/22/world/americas/22haiti.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Campbell- Taylor. They said she said.
Nothing captivates the entertainment industry more than a scandal involving a supermodel and a political figure. The Naomi Campbell –Charles Taylor saga has been on of the entertainment industries main stories. The story goes that Naomi Campbell allegedly received a blood diamond as a gift from ex- leader of Liberia Charles Taylor. Taylor who is currently on trial in The Hague has been accused giving the supermodel a large diamond after he met her at a dinner with Nelson Mandela in 1997.
Naomi Campbell has said that the gems she received were donated to a charity run by Nelson Mandela, she said she assumed they were from Taylor but wasn’t sure. But there have been conflicting statements from her former agent Carole White and actress Mia Farrow who claim she did receive the diamond, claiming she gushed about it to them. Further to this Campbell said that her statement that appearing at The Hague was an inconvenience.
Reeves story published on the nine.msn website on the 11th August 2010, has clearly explained what the situation is and what was said by both White and Farrow against Campbell. It illustrates what the conflicting evidence Campbell gave to what the others have said is. Further to this, Reeves explains how this testimony falls into the whole Charles Taylor trial and why Campbell said it was an inconvenience for her to appear at The Hague.
The story is a good example of a well written story as it exposes that there are other stories/motives within the main story about the trial. It exposes the rift between Campbell and White, also Campbell’s concerns about her safety once she knew about Taylor and his atrocities, showing without explaining in too much detail that there are multiple layers to what has unfolded in court against Campbell herself. The story draws on a few sources such as the testimony given by Campbell, White and Farrow as well as Taylor’s lawyer.
However the majority of the information from sources has come from Taylor’s lawyer and can be seen to be perhaps a biased to the story as it can be seen as defending Taylor and attacking anyone that seems to discredit Naomi Campbell’s testimony that she gave away the stones she received to a charity, and she wasn’t sure they were from Taylor.
Story: http://news.ninemsn.com.au/world/7943056/naomi-knew-gift-was-diamonds-ex-agent
Naomi Campbell has said that the gems she received were donated to a charity run by Nelson Mandela, she said she assumed they were from Taylor but wasn’t sure. But there have been conflicting statements from her former agent Carole White and actress Mia Farrow who claim she did receive the diamond, claiming she gushed about it to them. Further to this Campbell said that her statement that appearing at The Hague was an inconvenience.
Reeves story published on the nine.msn website on the 11th August 2010, has clearly explained what the situation is and what was said by both White and Farrow against Campbell. It illustrates what the conflicting evidence Campbell gave to what the others have said is. Further to this, Reeves explains how this testimony falls into the whole Charles Taylor trial and why Campbell said it was an inconvenience for her to appear at The Hague.
The story is a good example of a well written story as it exposes that there are other stories/motives within the main story about the trial. It exposes the rift between Campbell and White, also Campbell’s concerns about her safety once she knew about Taylor and his atrocities, showing without explaining in too much detail that there are multiple layers to what has unfolded in court against Campbell herself. The story draws on a few sources such as the testimony given by Campbell, White and Farrow as well as Taylor’s lawyer.
However the majority of the information from sources has come from Taylor’s lawyer and can be seen to be perhaps a biased to the story as it can be seen as defending Taylor and attacking anyone that seems to discredit Naomi Campbell’s testimony that she gave away the stones she received to a charity, and she wasn’t sure they were from Taylor.
Story: http://news.ninemsn.com.au/world/7943056/naomi-knew-gift-was-diamonds-ex-agent
Friday, August 6, 2010
Wyclef for President
The article I’ve found interesting this week is about former Fugees member Wyclef Jean. The article titled: Wyclef Jean running for Haitian President, published on the 6th August 2010, focuses on the singer-songwriter’s bid to run for the presidency of Haiti and what he believes the country’s issues are and the need to rebuild.
The article talks about how the singer is running for the presidency of Haiti and how he is looking to go about fixing the countries infrastructure amongst other issues including gang violence that the country is having. But it doesn’t go into detail on how he plans to combat the issues. The article states that there are several problems that the country is facing but fails to ask the singer/songwriter how he plans to stop gang violence.
The article uses various sources such as The Wall Street Journal and the Time and credits their material. The article has incorporated the views of opposing politicians, and locals on what they think about his decision. However, in one instance the article does say that Wyclef’s decision has drawn sneers from politicians in the country but hasn’t backed up the statement with a source.
The writer has also shown support in Wyclef’s decision and has also shed some light on the efforts he has made in rebuilding Haiti after the earthquake touching on his charity. But here at the end of the article he also touches upon how Wyclef’s charity Yele Haiti “faced widespread allegations of financial mismanagement”, but fails to source the statement and could have perhaps explained what the out come of the allegations was.
Overall the story is interesting as it incorporates Wyclef’s musical achievements and political interests and briefly illustrates Haiti’s political status informing us that the current president can’t re-run and how many people are currently running for the presidency. What would have made this story stronger is a comment from the president or his representative on what he thinks of Wyclef’s campaign and decision to run, as he had named Wyclef Haiti goodwill ambassador in 2007.
Story: http://news.ninemsn.com.au/entertainment/7940928/Wyclef-Jean-running-for-Haitian-president
The article talks about how the singer is running for the presidency of Haiti and how he is looking to go about fixing the countries infrastructure amongst other issues including gang violence that the country is having. But it doesn’t go into detail on how he plans to combat the issues. The article states that there are several problems that the country is facing but fails to ask the singer/songwriter how he plans to stop gang violence.
The article uses various sources such as The Wall Street Journal and the Time and credits their material. The article has incorporated the views of opposing politicians, and locals on what they think about his decision. However, in one instance the article does say that Wyclef’s decision has drawn sneers from politicians in the country but hasn’t backed up the statement with a source.
The writer has also shown support in Wyclef’s decision and has also shed some light on the efforts he has made in rebuilding Haiti after the earthquake touching on his charity. But here at the end of the article he also touches upon how Wyclef’s charity Yele Haiti “faced widespread allegations of financial mismanagement”, but fails to source the statement and could have perhaps explained what the out come of the allegations was.
Overall the story is interesting as it incorporates Wyclef’s musical achievements and political interests and briefly illustrates Haiti’s political status informing us that the current president can’t re-run and how many people are currently running for the presidency. What would have made this story stronger is a comment from the president or his representative on what he thinks of Wyclef’s campaign and decision to run, as he had named Wyclef Haiti goodwill ambassador in 2007.
Story: http://news.ninemsn.com.au/entertainment/7940928/Wyclef-Jean-running-for-Haitian-president
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