Orwell and Newspeak

This is a video I had to do for my Journalism course at University. In it, I talk about Orwellian language that we have today and examples of it.

It was going to be longer and more in-depth, but because of YouTube's video time limit I had to severely cut it down.

Kid torturers aren't a sign of Cameron's "Broken Britain", just a sign that people aren't saints.

The locking up of two children responsible for the torture of two other children has caused outrage amongst the public and has been seized by the Tories as being a clear sign that Britain is "Broken". In my humble opinion this is sheer nonsense.

The attack by these two children is horrific for sure, but to say it's symptomatic of a wider problem is the sort of politicking that's become expected of the Conservatives and of David Cameron. To seize upon one incident and use it to your own ends is sick and twisted.Of course these things should be talked about and action should be taken to try and prevent them from happening again, but they've always happened and unfortunately always will.

It's not a sign that Britain has degenerated to some Mad Max style free for all, just that the media like to stoke up shock stories like this. It's the current news bogeyman; the terror on Britain streets, with hoodies and feral pre-teens fed on a diet of drugs, Grand Theft Auto and blue Smarties.

The death of Jamie Bulger was almost a twenty years ago. Is society any worse now than then? No, of course not. It's much the same as it was and as it has been for decades previously. And if Cameron hasn't forgotten, who was in charge when Jamie Bulger was killed? Oh yeah, the Tories.

It's no failing of any political party or of society as a whole. It's just an unwelcome reminder we live in a nasty, violent, horrible world.

We shouldn't forsake our humanity just to make the most of a story.

The Haitian earthquake has been dominating the headlines recently, with hope and misery and life and death all taking up column inches of the paper as bodies and survivors are pulled from the rubble. With most of the worlds media focused on the small Caribbean island, many journalists have flown over to report on the disaster.

CNN's Anderson Cooper is one of these. While there, he saved the life of a small boy who'd been hit on the head with a cinder block. This has raised the question over journalistic interference in Haiti by providing help to locals.

Now, this to me is a simple question to answer. As someone who's training to be a journalist and as someone who's first aid trained, if I saw someone in need of help I'd provide that help, journalism be damned! Yes journalists have a duty to be impartial, but this is a natural disaster and one of the worst on record. It's not like it's a general election where we can be accused of being partial to one party or another, it's a disaster where thousands of people have died. Do we all want to end up like Kevin Carter, visiting places and exploiting them for the news values and doing nothing to help?

I see that video of Anderson Cooper and I feel proud that there are people in my chosen profession who are willing to forsake and rules they may have been taught in order to go and do what's right. It's important to remember that beyond our duties as journalists, we have duties as human beings.