Conjoined Twins has Been Reported in Some Newspapers and on the Television News Essay

Explore, analyse and comment on the way the story of the conjoined twins has been reported in some newspapers and on the television news. In modern day society, the media has considerable command and influence over the public. It can be powerful in both positive and negative ways. Although the media is to be embraced, it is also to be treated with utmost care. The way the media is able to manipulate and shape our ideas is paramount to its power; sometimes to the extent where it does not give us a chance to rationalise our opinions. In my opinion the media has a very important function and has a crucial purpose in society. It can be educational, informative, interesting and entertaining yet, at the same time, the media can be biased, derogatory and sensational. Too often, people take notice, [and are influenced by], only one form of media. This can lead to a polarised point of view and therefore a narrow-minded outlook. These people are totally oblivious to the clever devices certain areas of the media will use to ‘con and deceive’ them in order to manipulate their train of thought. In this analysis, I will be exploring exactly how the media does this in both newspaper and television broadcast form. I consider both television broadcasts and newspapers to be equally effective overall in their use of presentational devices. There are, however, fundamental differences in the way this is achieved. Television has the upper hand in terms of sheer versatility; for example, it can use moving diagrams and images to display its ideas whereas the newspapers do not have that ability. In comparison, newspapers are able to make an impact within their limited scope and can be just as effective as a television broadcast. Remember, depending upon the context, a short sharp caption / headline can be far more effective than a moving image. To begin with, I feel that each report is slightly or more heavily biased in one way or another. In my view, there are two clearly different ways in which to summarise the consequences of the failed operation. Firstly, the negative approach. The slant taken here is of a sensationalised tragedy, evoking sympathy and focusing on the twins and their struggling desire to be independent and how they, ‘fell at the last hurdle’. Both The Sun and the ITN news favour this type of report. Secondly, the positive approach. The Independent and the BBC news are much more inclined to portray the twins as happy smiling individuals who fulfilled their dream of separation – if only for a matter of hours. It is very difficult to ignore the deliberately blatant sensational devices that are used by The Sun. There is no doubt in my mind that the emboldened headline: â€Å"Glorious Failure OR a Lethal Gamble?† is attempting to initiate a scandal and is evidently ‘tabloidese’. Nevertheless, considering what the, [stereotypical], characteristics of a, [stereotypical], tabloid reader are, it is a very effective headline for it is scandalous and sensationalised. This is exactly it’s aim. It immediately involves the reader for it is a rhetorical question and therefore a very good non-fiction hook. From the outset of the ITN report, ethical questions are raised upon whether the operation should have been attempted or not. â€Å"the surgeons are†¦trying to explain why it didn’t work. They create a portrayal of the twins making a wrong decision and also they place an element of blame upon the shoulders of the medical team. The opening images of the twins are of them looking anxious, whereas more informative reports clearly indicate that the twins were fully confident that the decision to go ahead with the operation was solely theirs. They are seen to be in a dilema, yet they were totally committed. The subsequent images told of the girls’ life in society. However, rather than focusing upon the positive aspects of their life, [such as the fact that Laleh had helped her sister realise her dream of attaining a law degree], they emphasised their struggle and the hardship they had suffered. The portrayal was as if their whole life was a dramatic tragedy, whereas this was certainly not the case. Similarly, the images shown in The Sun are just as negative. The choice of images are classic for a tabloid on this sort of topic. No scientific diagrams here! They are all downbeat just as though everything was a complete failure. A picture of Dr. Goh is particularly emotional with his head held in his hands. This was also true of the captions, â€Å"Battling in vain†¦Ã¢â‚¬  unarguably negative. I feel that The Sun has blown the event out of all proportion and has missed the point somewhat. It is clear to me that Laden and Laleh Bijani knew the risks and were willing to accept the consequences, however bad they may turn out to be. Therefore, there is no scandal. The use of the â€Å"What do you think?† box at the bottom of the page indicates a distinct lack of sensitivity on what is a clearly a very sensitive story. What right do everyday people have to make a judgement on an event they have been ill informed on? It is The Sun after all! Admittedly, this use of direct appeal is effective for The Sun’s ultimate aim: to sell as many copies as possible for, as with the headline, it involves the reader. In comparison, The Independent has far less emotive pictures. They are reflective yet still touching. The page is dominated by a large portrait of the two twins; happy and smiling, optimistic. The other two smaller pictures are of Dr. Goh and a friend who, unlike in The Sun are pictured showing their obvious disappointment as opposed to their despair. I think it is important to note the facial expression of the twins in the images chosen by each of the papers. They are apparently anxious in The Sun and hopeful and optimistic in The Independent. The pictures from The Independent are the way in which I think the twins would want to be seen by the global community. I feel that the ITN news was rather contradictory in places as â€Å"impossible to imagine what life was like† – and yet they questioned whether the operation should ever have been attempted. If they truly empathised with the twins, they would have realised how desperate they were and that it was solely their decision to proceed. Unquestionably, the ITN news is more tactful in its approach in comparison with The Sun for it does not try to consider alternative options to separation and is ultimately less scandalous. After the initial report, there are video images and archive film of other pairs of conjoined twins to illustrate the fact that there have always been these unfair stereotypical views towards this particular disability. Before the condition was truly understood, these people, real human people, were treated like animals, forced to perform in freak shows. It is therefore understandable that Laleh and Laleh Bijani went to these lengths to achieve their dream. This feature is subsequently followed by a simple but very clear three-dimensional animation describing the medical procedure that the twins went through. Although the ITN news is informative to an extent, compared to the BBC, it lacks depth and scientific details. Incidentally though, ITN is the more entertaining of the two news reports. Despite this, the BBC news has, in my opinion, a far more rounded report that simply informs the reader. Unsurprisingly, both reports have the same bare facts but the BBC elaborates on these aspects with a greater depth of detail. For example, the BBC is the only report out of all four reports that has evidence from the twins themselves. They give a press interview where they state their fearlessness. In addition, the way in which the BBC presents how the operation was performed is not as aesthetically pleasing as that of ITN but is realistic and actually refers to scientific principals, whereas the ITN news does not. I think the BBC have done this because the type of people who would watch their broadcast are considered to be genuinely interested in the scientific aspects of the procedure. Perhaps IT N did not go into so much depth because they might want to appeal to a more general audience. I feel that all four of the articles and reports use language effectively and successfully to achieve their aim. What is instantly striking about The Sun regarding its use of language is that it is pure emotion from the outset. In any newspaper, the first thing that grabs your attention is either the banner headline at the top, (which here is white text against a black background for added visibility), or the main headline, (which is underlined for the same reason). I think phrases such as â€Å"DADS FURY† in the banner headline, sets the tone for the rest of the article. The headline of The Sun, as mentioned before, instantly raises a debate rather than just to tell a story. This is very useful because rhetorical questions always get the readership involved in one way or another. Strangely enough, the headline in The Independent is, on one level, similar to that of The Sun. Doubtlessly, both headlines raise some sort of debate regarding the operation. However, The Independent is significantly more conservative and handles the article in a refrained fashion. There is just one caption in The Independent and is predictably informative and is more of a statement than the three used in The Sun. The Sun has an emotive statement followed by an ellipsis to create emotion, for instance, â€Å"Heartbreak†¦Ã¢â‚¬  These emotive statements are then followed by a short description of who is in the picture. The Independent uses no hint of colloquialism to appeal to a wider, more general audience. However, The Sun does this on a couple of occasions. â€Å"and a pal of the twins† as if to make the reader empathise as well as sympathise to think what it would be like if you lost a â€Å"pal†. The BBC is similar to The Independent for they both use a higher standard of vocabulary and specialist scientific language throughout their report. In comparison the ITN news has a range of vocabulary, including idiom, to make the report more accessible. The Sun is considered to be an â€Å"easy† read so it is of no surprise that both the vocabulary and the sentence structure are relatively simple. The general feeling that I get whilst reading The Independent is that it initially firstly focuses upon the debate in question and secondly comes round to what actually happened. Whether this is deliberate or not remains to be seen but I think it is in this order because it is simply more interesting. Evidence to support this argument lies in the topic sentence. â€Å"the death†¦twins†¦raises questions†¦should have been allowed† Unlike The Sun’s leading sentence, The Independent leads into an evenly supported discussion whereas The Sun’s article is more biased in favour of a negative way. There are two occasions on which italics are used to emphasise a paragraph in The Sun. Its use in the fourth paragraph of the story acts as a sub-heading and I feel that it is in Italics because special notice should be taken of it. It mentions the twins’ father and the following half dozen paragraphs elaborate on the initial focus of the father’s anger. The second instance of Italics is â€Å"Laleh and Laden won the hearts of millions.† Again, this acts as a sub-heading because it leads into a brief description of their personal lives. In the second column, the reporter emboldens one word to initiate discussion, â€Å"to give the women a new life WAS morally justified† The journalist used this to reinforce the theme of dispute into the minds of the reader. However, in my opinion, the readers knew that it was in fact morally justified and so it also used as a connective to link the first part of the story into evidence given by interviewees in the second part of the story. In all four reports, expert opinion and interviews are used to great effect. The interviews within The Independent are taken from people who are genuinely qualified to give an honest and rounded opinion. However, The Sun uses people emotionally connected to the twins and thus their rationality may be clouded and their emotions are more evidently expressed in the evidence given. For instance, a medical ethics expert would be the best person to comment on the medical ethics of the operation, whereas, the man who raised the twins would not be. Alizera Saifain, (the girls adopted father), said: â€Å"I knew they would bring back their bodies. They took them there and killed them† This is an extremely emotive statement. Any parent who witnesses their children die would be traumatised. Equally, the television broadcasts contrast in a similar way. For instance, the BBC World Affairs Correspondent uses a hint of unnecessary repetition on how â€Å"crushed† the medics were regarding the operation. However, some may say that the BBC gives credit to the doctors and surgeons because of the vast amount of time and effort they invested into the twin’s case. Even though it is such a tragic story, the BBC still continues in a positive frame of mind during an interview with an Iranian doctor who stresses how courageous and optimistic the twins were. This demonstrates a personal approach that balances the scientific with the emotional aspects. Furthermore, a neurosurgeon explaining the risks of the operation uses specialist scientific vocabulary and idiom to ensure that his views are accessible to a wide audience including the scientific community. As with The Independent, the BBC also utilises a medical ethics expert from the British Medical Association. The surgeon who is interviewed by ITN news changes the whole mood and the tone of the interview by using the word â€Å"alas†, because this shows that he is, or wants to be, seen as emotionally involved with the twins. Another admirable touch from ITN is that they mention that the relatives of the deceased place no blame upon the doctors. In both sets of interviews, the comments made on the medical teams in particular are relatively complimentary. In addition to this evidence, a German specialist is interviewed and claims that he advised against the operation. He is not able to speak English therefore a voice over translation has been used. This raises questions over its authenticity. Although the main thrust would still be the same, ITN could, potentially, make some subtle changes to emphasise certain points. In conclusion, I think it is quite clear that the each of the four reports fulfil their purpose in every way. They know their target audience and have written their articles and scripts in accordance with this. The purpose of any media is to leave some sort of message with the audience and all four of these do exactly that.

Unit 12 Btec P1 – Task P1A

P1 – Describe the role internet marketing has in a modern marketing context using selected organisations as examples Internet marketing has played an important role as a means of advertising. All types of businesses have benefited from internet marketing when it comes to cost, relationship building and sales. Instantly millions of people can have access to a company, its products or services, and this can be done at any time anywhere in the world. Usually communication is done via e-mail reducing costs in telephone calls as well. And this benefits not only businesses which do not need to spend large sums of money on traditional ways of advertising but also benefits consumers who do not need to make telephone calls to know more about a company and its products or services; it is possible to find out everything with a few clicks. Internet marketing is also used to close deals which make the process easier and cheaper for the business and the customer. Even a mobile phone contract deal can be done via internet nowadays. Internet marketing also helps targeting overseas clients as products or services easily reach customers anywhere in the world through internet marketing. Relationship building is also one of the reasons why businesses use internet marketing; this can be done through e-mails received to update customers with latest products, services or news; another way to build good relationship with customers is by offering them services that can be done online without the hassle of going out to resolve an issue. One example is online banking where banks offer customers the facility of cancelling direct debits, make payments or transfers within minutes.

Developing the management skills

Irrespective of the cadre one is employed in, a modest behavior with one another, at all times is essential to not to give rise to behavior problems which in turn require an exercise of motivation tool by the management. However, problems set to arise when different mindsets come together for the purpose of work and solutions are always available for every problem of behavior in an organization. Appreciably EL, a professional organization, has appointed a consultant, an outsider to analyze the behavior of its employees to enable a crystal clear picture of employees behavioral and motivational problem.EL behavioral and motivational guidelines are excellent in setting a pattern of standards for employees. As it appears, engineers who form 88 per cent, are predominantly important for the operations whereas on this basis, the other employees are in some ways are encountering behavioral problems with engineers. There are no weaknesses for EL whereas the company has the ability to manage p eople well except to the fact that complete decision making is under the guidance of company’s President.As for the President of EL, the high priority task would be to allow an open discussion forum of both engineers and administrative employees and consider written proposals for handling behavioral problems and after a thorough analysis of paper work, consider a motivational workshop wherein both engineers and administrative staff are encouraged to maintain harmony in workplace without giving cause to indifferent attitudes in work place. Per se, salaries, turnover, office and facilities are perfect and employees also have the support of consultant to discuss and put forth the issues that are causing concern.ConclusionScotland workshop on motivation considers that   FUN = ENERGY = MOTIVATION = FOCUS = RESULTS.   Individual performance as well teamwork is important for organizations to deliver quality work.   In order to train employees for total quality management   ( TQM) awareness workshops must be conducted to encourage employees to exercise sharpening of skills,   explore individual strengths and lacunae areas. Finally, perfect and appropriate communication   solves half of the problems as a powerful motivational tool.References Motivated to succeedAccessed on 8 April 2007http://www.scotlandis.com/content_files/downloads/wet%20loth%20it.pdfBlaire Palmer (2005), Optimum Newsletter – Manager vs leaderAccessed 8 April 2007http://www.optimum-coaching.co.uk/news/motivation_newsletter_apr05.htm

Writing Bad News Messages Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Writing Bad News Messages - Essay Example The problem is of the present incapacity of Quality Constructions as almost all of the work force is engaged in the ongoing projects. The organization is currently dealing with several pipeline projects and it is not in a position to participate in any new nonprofit projects. What I can assure is that our organization can definitely accommodate such programs like yours in the future. It is just the matter of time as we will be able to engage in such collaborative projects. It is our company’s policy that we do not take on additional projects until and unless our current projects are in their conclusion phase. We do what we can do right and for that reason I would suggest you to wait for some time, until our organization is well prepared to acquire Collaborative Peace. I will write to you shortly to inform you of our teams’ availability. I would like to reiterate my gratitude for your interest to work with us on the project. I assure that I will be working on Collaborative Peace to get it partnered to Quality Construction

Financial statements and accounting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Financial statements and accounting - Essay Example Financial statements and accounting Firms may also prepare other types of statements such as the statement of retained earnings. Financial statements are required to be audited by authorized government agencies so as to ensure the accuracy maintained in the statements for tax purposes. Auditing helps to estimate whether the table revenue has been correctly been identified by the firms. Audited financial statements are also referred by different other firms, banks and individuals for taking decisions regarding investments. It is important that organizations follow all existing norms are regulations established by the regulatory authorities while preparing such statements. The financial statements are prepared by referring the detailed records maintained in the journal, ledger, trail balance and other books and statements of primary and secondary entry. These records are then presented in the financial statements in a summarized manner. Entries which have earlier not been passed in the primary and secondary books of acco unts are recorded in the final statements by preparing an adjusted journal proper. Such entries have their impact upon both in the income statements as well as the balance sheet. Accounting statements are generally prepared using the U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) in most nations across the world. Many nations are also seen to follow the IFRS principles. More and more nations across the worlds are adopting the IFRS principles. At present, approximately 110 nations of the world adhere to the IFRS principles.

LMX Theory Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

LMX Theory - Essay Example He or she may have a quality relationship with other subordinates of the group that could be characterized by warmth, trusting and open that could make followers group and could also have poor relationship with others that could characterized by coldness and suspicion which makes the followers hold back. It is the leader who initiates the relationship and through this exchange, could influence the degree of a subordinate’s relationship that could make them an in-group or an out-group. Leaders have close subordinates and are considered the in-group and their role in the group can be elevated to the degree of â€Å"trusted lieutenant† (Lunenburg, 2010 pg. 2). In effect, in-groups would be able to have greater latitude and influence in the process of decision making and enjoys the open communication from the leader. He or she may be given bigger responsibilities and more benefits to enjoy. The out-group members on the other hand are supervised according to the formality of their employment. The leader exercise his or her leadership not through the quality of relationship as enjoyed by those in the in-group but rather by the implicit relationship between a leader and a subordinate and exercises leadership as dictated by job function and does not extend beyond what is stated in the formalities of employment contracts. In sum, out-group members are treated as regular employees and only do what they are supposed to do as employees. The Leader-Member Exchange posits that relationships between leaders and subordinates go through the stages of role-taking, role making to routinization. Role-taking is the first stage when the manager’s first assesses the new member’s skills and other abilities as he or she joins the group. Role-making then follows where the leader assigns the new member either as part of in-group or out group. The members of the in-group are the trusted lieutenants of the leader whose relationships are characteristically positi ve. Often, they have the similar or share same personality with their manager. Out-group are those members who is outside the grace of the leader and whose job are not as rewarding as those who are in the in-group. The leader also deems those in the out-group as less capable. Finally, relationships are established in the routinization stage where the categorization of roles becomes self-fulfilling. In-group continues to work to maintain their status in the group where the managers delegates more responsibilities and groomed to advance in the corporate ladder while the out-groups receive casual treatment from the manager. II. Provide the results of your complemented questionnaire Score: 22 Low LMX: 20-24 III. Describe what you learned that you can apply to you leadership practice The exercise made me realized that my relationship with my leader falls into the category of low LMX. Our interconnectedness or dyad of relationship falls in the neutral and therefore, can be taken as based on the contractual nature of my employment. My leader is neither warm nor cold to me, nor trust or distrust me not initiates grand action that will make me believe him. It is basically grounded on the principle that if I do my job, I will be okay. Basically, my relationship to him is based on my job and falls on the out-group of LMX. This explains why I am not attached to the leader and to the organization because I felt that I am just an employee there whose

Experiencing the Worlds Religions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Experiencing the Worlds Religions - Essay Example All religions regardless of their origin and beliefs, recognize a transcendent Law, Truth, or Principle. These three are believed to govern the universe and the human affairs. In traditions such as Christianity, theistic Hinduism, and Islam, God conceives the Law and makes it the measure for his creation. These traditions have long been the premise on which a particular question has been posed many times to theologians- is God bound by the laws he makes, or does He have the discretion to contravene them? In other traditions, the law is viewed as a property of samsaric existence which must be transcended. This is in reference to mostly the Hindu and the law of karma and its Buddhist doctrines. Similarly, in Christianity, Paul at one point criticises the law claiming it to be a form of slavery. From the above writings, it is clear that different religions recognize a transcendent law or truth. Regardless of all these differences between religions, they share a certain respect for the L aw which human beings ought not to violate and they do so at their own peril. The universe is fundamentally moral. In this chapter, we focus on the specific manifestations of evil. There are various ways through which evil deeds can be classified: sins of the mind, mouth, and the body. However, the majority of evil deeds can be classified into four major sins: murder, stealing, sexual immorality and lastly, lying. Most if not all religions are almost unanimous in their condemnation of the aforementioned sins. Anthology of Word Scriptures: Chapter 11- The Founder This chapter focuses on the life and work those who founded various religions. These are the people who were first to discover that the truth leads to salvation and therefore offered their whole lives in order to enlighten and save others. Some of these people with great souls include; Jesus, Muhammad, the Buddha, the ancient Hindu rishis, and Confucius among others. It is important to note that each of these founders of rel igion was unique in their own manner. For the Christian, the religion itself is based on the saving work of Christ. Similarly, in the Islamic faith, Muhammad is the beareer of the message. The many Faces of Sanatana Dharma The word Dharma originates from the Sanskrit root dhri. It means to sustain. Upon translation, Dharma is seen to mean either, religion, duty