X-Factor Ordeal (Background to Unjust Exit)

 

Alexandra Burke won “The X Factor” crown on Saturday the 13th of December’08, landing a one-million-pound recording contract and a possible path to stardom.

 

The 20-year-old singer from north London could barely speak after beating group JLS, who came second.

 

Her version of the winner’s song, “Hallelujah”, is now a clearly tipped to become the Christmas number one and was released for download on Sunday the 14^th of December.

 

The X-Factor host said on ITV, a record breaking eight million viewers voted in the showpiece final and according to bookmakers ,Saturday’s final was the biggest reality television betting event they had witnessed.

 

Burke was in the last 21 of the same show three years ago but was booted out of the contest by judge Louis Walsh.

 

However, she could now follow in the footsteps of 2006 winner Leona Lewis, who has gone on to become an international star.

 

X-Factor

 

 

The X-Factor is one of the most popular music talent show in the UK and one of the biggest talent competitions in Europe .

 

It is produced by Fermantle Media’s Talkback Thames and Simon Cowell’s production company SYCOtv.

 

Every year there are public auditions to participate in this programme. But only few make it to the top list to perform on stage and only one of them wins.

 

The winner gets a prize of £1 million recording contract with Sony BMG and SYCO.

 

This show has been running for five consecutive years and has given many refined singers to the music industry like Steve Broostein, Shayne Ward, Leona Lewis, Leon Jackson and now Alexandra Burke.

 

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National debate on assisted suicide:background story to Right to Die?

By Johnny

 

“Live with dignity, die with dignity” — the slogan of Dignitas (cited in BBC)

 

 

  

According to Wikipedia, Dinitas is an assisted suicide (euthanasia) group, based in Zurich, Swiss. A Swiss lawyer, Ludwig Minelli founded it in 1998 as a non-profit organisation.

 

It helps people who have incurable physical and mental illnesses to commit suicide by providing the aid of doctors and nurses.

 

On 10^th December a documentary about the suicide of Craig Ewert, a motor neurone disease sufferer assisted by Dignitas aired on Sky Real Lives. It has stirred up a national controversy to the charity.

 

 

Criticism

• Gordon Brown, UK prime minister rejects to change suicide law in UK because, “I believe that it’s necessary to ensure that there is a never a case in the country where a sick or elderly person feels under pressure to agree to an assisted death or somehow feels it’s the expected thing to do.” (click here to Brown’s speech) (The Times)

• Baroness Finlay, professor of palliative care, believes the documentary will encourage people to commit suicide.“Assisted suicide is not straightforward anyway. Sometimes it doesn’t work, sometimes people wake up again. What we need is good care for everybody who is dying.”(BBC)

• Dr Peter Saunders, director of the campaign group Care Not Killing, said the show was a “cynical attempt to boost television ratings”.(BBC)

• According to Washingtonpost, Dignitas charges its patients €4,000 (£3,182) for preparation and suicide assistance, and €7,000 (£5,568) in case of taking over family duties, including funerals, medical costs and official fees. And it has repeatedly refused to open its finances to the public. (Wikipedia)

• Andreas Brunner, Zurich’s chief public prosecutor brand it suicide tourism. As he said, 91 foreigners died last year at Dignitas. At least five Britons are known to have died with the assistance of the clinic and more than 500 are reported to have registered on the group’s books. (Telegraph)

 

Supports and defence

• Craig Ewert, the incurable illness sufferer said, to receive the euthanasia is completely of his own motion, in a letter he wrote to his two adult children, who feature in the programme, he said: “This is a journey I must make.” (BBC)

• Mary Ewert, the wife of the deceased, believes the documentary is in favour of helping people to “face their fears” about death. (BBC)

• Barbara Gibbon, Head of Sky Real Lives, says assisted suicide is an issue that more and more people are confronting. And the documentary is “an informative, articulate and educated insight into the decisions some people have to make”. (BBC)

• Ludwig Minelli, the founder of Dignitas believes all their acts are friendly enough, and they “have never had a problem with police.” (BBC)

 

 

(click here to main story)

 

 

 

Playboy

Much more than a men’s magazine, Playboy is an archetype.

Founded in the 1950s by lifestyle entrepreneur Hugh Hefner, Playboy has become one of the world’s best-known brands, and is still the largest selling top shelf magazine after 55 years.

“Hefner is one of the smartest people I ever met and a genuine romantic. For him, the glass is not only half full, it’s completely full.” says Steven Watts, author of Hefner’s latest biography ‘Mr. Playboy: Hugh Hefner and the American Dream’ (2008).

According to Watts Hefner has played a leading role in reshaping America’s social values.

He created a magazine with naked women in a time when sexuality was not even appropriate to talk about.

The beginning

It was 1953, World War II had passed the baton to the Cold War, Korean War just ended, Stalin was dead and the first U.S. hydrogen bomb was being detonated.

For the first time since the Great Depression of 1929 America was not in crisis, and Americans were ready to discover the economic boom.

Hugh Hefner, on the table of his kitchen in South Side Chicago, assembled the first issue of Playboy: an old nude photo of Marilyn Monroe, bought for $600, stuck at the centre of the mag was going to be the first centrefold, with the title “Sweetheart of the month”.

In two weeks over 50,000 copies were sold out and within a year Playboy was able to afford its own photography.

The calendar girls were swept aside in favor of the ‘girls next door’: the photographer caught the models as they were climbing out of the bath or getting dressed, marking the 1950s pin-up style.

Instead of showing celebrities, Playboy created celebrities.

“I read it for the articles”

Besides pin-ups, Playboy has always been famous for hosting on its pages serious journalists and high-quality writers.

The novel Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, was serialized in the March, April, and May 1954 issues of Playboy magazine.

Kingsley Amis, PG Wodehouse, Norman Mailer, Joseph Heller and John Updike all wrote on Playboy.

A major part of the magazine for much of its existence has been the Playboy Interview: an extensive (usually several thousand-word) Q&A-style discussion between a notable individual and an interviewer.

Figures such as President Jimmy Carter, Fidel Castro, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King and John Lennon are some of the big names.

The joke became, “I only read Playboy for the articles”.

Carrying on a libertarian point of view, Playboy dealt with political and social issues, advocating economic opportunity, social equality and abortion rights for women.

Today

Fifty-five years later Hugh Hefner, 82, is a millionaire and an icon, living in his Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles surrounded by beautiful women and has a star on the Hollywood walk of fame.

Playboy is an international multimedia company and the magazine circulates more than three million copies in the U.S. and 4.5 million worldwide.

related news feature: Bettie Page R.I.P.

Background to “Professional support needed for mentally ill people to work”

 

Since 27 October 2008, the government’s Incapacity Benefit and Income Support has been replaced by Employment and Support Allowance, encouraging more people get back to work.

 

 

According to a research released by Rethink, one of the leading mentally ill organizations, mental illness actually has the highest “want to work” rate of all disabled people.

 

But the statistics also show that more than 75% employers don’t want to hire people with mentally illness. The discrimination is quite serious in reality.

 

The work and pensions secretary, James Purnell said to the Guardian, “it was vital to help people keep their jobs, as work is generally good for wellbeing. Mental health problems cost the British economy more than £40bn a year.”

 

 

Welfare reform

 

The support policy for mentally ill people is part of government’s welfare reform. In July 2008, the government published the Green Paper No one written off: reforming welfare to reward responsibility, which promised to ensure the work opportunity for everyone in the society. The Green Paper consultation closed on 22 October 2008.

 

The whole transferring from existing incapacity benefits to Employment and Support Allowance will be finished by 2013.

 

According to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), the principle of Employment and Support Allowance is that “everyone should have the opportunity to work and that people with an illness or disability should get the support they need to engage in appropriate work, if they are able.”

 

Over 2.6 million people depend on incapacity benefits, and yet nine out of ten new customers say that they want to return to work.

 

Four leading mental health organisations released a joint paper, urging the government to give more professional support for mental illness people. It pointed out that without expert advisers trained to access the employment needs of people with mental illness, the government will fall to keep its promise.

 

Lost generation

 

In the joint statement of the four organisations – Royal College of Psychiatrists, Mind, Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health (SCMH) and Rethink, the experts asks for more support to mentally ill people during economic recession, which they think is the most vulnerable group affected by financial downturn.

 

It’s said in the last recession, many people with mental health problems were written off as unemployable when they lost their jobs.

 

Andy Bell, the communication officer in SCMH said, “It’s good that the government realize it and make some change now, a balanced approach is needed here. Certainly in the last 1980s and early 1990s, a lot of people were put back to incapability benefits in the areas with particularly low employment. A very large number of people receive incapability benefit for a very long period of time. It’s damaging to people that just take away any kind of support, encouragement and motivation to get back to work. We are also being aware that people can not being forced to work that does not exist.”

 

 

 

 click here to the news story

Critique: Daily Star (Lebanese Newspaper)

By Eliana Maakaroun

For my personal critique, I chose a Lebanese website: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/

The Daily Star is the only Lebanese daily newspaper that is in English. My critique will be based on the design of the website, rather than on the content, as the newspaper belongs to a certain political party in Lebanon, and tends to give biased news.

First Impression

The website has a distinct and recognizable purpose, which is to give the news; and throughout the website, that purpose is reinforced. Furthermore, it is clear that the intention is not to make money, but to inform citizens. The URL logical is simple and easy to remember, it is the name of the newspaper, followed by the website code of Lebanon (.com.lb). It is easy to spell and not long, therefore making it easy to remember, especially that it does not contain dashes or underscores, which make it harder for the user to remember.

The website does not require flash or other viewers, so visitors can always view the page and it does not prevent the website from being indexed by search engines spiders. Additionally, if the viewer does not have the URL address, it is easy to find using Google search engine.

On another note, the website takes ages to upload, the colors suggest that the website may be american (white, red and blue). The blue is however dominant, as it is the political color of the political group.

Also, on the upper right side, there is a note that says how many visitors are currently viewing the website, which is quite interesting.

Writing

The writings are not centered, and there is a huge white gap on the right side of the page. The font is very small, making it difficult for people who have vision problems (such as myself) to read. Jakob Nielsen’s rules are therefore not followed. The paragraph are rather long, contradicting once again, Jakob Nielsen’s rules. There are no sub-headings, no words in bold that are emphasized, and there is no criteria in the presentation of the news.

Also, the menu does not scroll down, so users have to click on the category to view the sub categories.

Not all articles are supported with pictures, and there are no videos on the website. However, there is the possibility to view live TV.

Moreover, all items are archived, so one can easily have access to older articles, either if the latter is a member, or by contacting the website and asking for a copy.

Also, there is an option to listen to the article, for those who cannot or prefer not the read it.

Navigation

The website is easily navigated and not too deep (one mustn’t click on too many links to get to the desired page).

Content

As mentioned afore, the news are biased and one-sided.

There are no links in the articles, and no backgrounds.

“Shoe-ing” the U.S. President?

By Eliana Maakaroun

An anti-war protester and journalist, Muntadhar al Zeidi threw a shoe at President Bush, as a way to insult him.

The incident took place during a press conference, where Bush had arrived as a surprise to Bagdad.

Security took down the journalist, while Bush stood behind the desk, calmily. Later on, the latter joked about the incident, saying the shoe was a “size 10″.

Muntahdhar al Zeidi will face trial in a couple of weeks.

BUSH ATTACKED BY SHOES

Last press conference of US President George W. Bush in Bagdad, Iraq, has been unusually interrupted by a Iraqi journalist.

The journalist has thrown both of his shoes to Bush while he shouted: “Get your goodbye kiss, you dog!” Calling someone ‘dog’ is seen a really bad insult in the Arabic world.

Bush was talking to the journalists behind Nuri al Maliki, Iraq’s Prime Minister when everything happened.

The aggressor, a TV reporter stand up suddenly during the conference and thrown one of his shoe towards President Bush, who avoided the impact with a fast dodge.

Immediately after, the reporter has thrown the second shoe, which also hasn’t impacted against any of the politicians.

Mr Bush has smiled quickly and has explained that he never felt threatened at anytime. He also said that the incident hasn’t bothered him.

Other Iraqi journalists and colleagues of the shoe thrower have said sorry in name of his partner.

Bush is in Iraq doing his last official visit, as in January will be replaced by President-Elect Barack Obama.