Danish Cartoons

The third lecture was an interesting delve into the media world with questions of censorship, control and ownership of the media.There were some interesting articles discussed including the controversial danish cartoons which have recently stirred up trouble in the Muslim world. Click here to see the cartoons.

Personally I believe the cartoons were insensitive but they highlight the gulf that there is between the Western secular view and the highly religious Middle East. Some people have said that it is important to uphold free-speech, but free-speech needs to come with responsibility. The European press needs to act with every European in mind and Muslims are very much a part of European culture. In todays Guardian I was amused to see the explaination the police gave in London for taking a light-handed approach to the protesters: "Don't worry, we're taking photographs of them."

The cartoon debate threw up interesting questions about censorship which links nicely to an article I found about the struggles reporters often have in conveying the truth. Click here. Also mentioned was the influence James Murdoch has on policymakers. Click here. The story involves shady briefcases, secret documents, high class lunches with Britain's most powerful men, it's like a plot from a James Bond Movie. Almost.

As for the coursework, I've still not come to a final decision and time is against me. I've booked another meeting with the tutor and will possibly email everyone on the course to see if they like the video idea. Personally my favourite idea is the band demo, but we'll see.