First edition of the Winchester News Online, 5th October 2010

Our Weekely bulletin is off, our news team as well as the Features will be producing some great journalism for you  - do not miss out on Features in the channels just on the side of the Bulletin window, different sections to suit your different interest.

There will be weekely chat show - where our Journalists and the editor will be interviewing interesting guests and ask questions that matter to our students. You, as a student of The University of Winchester have a chance to have your voice heard! Send us the questions that you would like to ask our next guest and we will deffinitely do it! Just watch us - we are not afraid to ask anything to anyone!

Next week's studio discussion will be touching issue of Facebook culture!

We are also starting a new competition : For Best story of an adventure of this summer!
Please send us your story from the summer with pictures attached, the best story will be made into fantastic feature article or even Photoessay if you send us a lots of pictures it will all be published on our WINOL website: www.winol.co.uk
We will make a video profile of you - you'll be on internet! Woop Woop and many more!

For more info please email: veronicafrydel@hotmail.co.uk

Our News Bulletin can be viewed below:

FEATURES TEAM (contact details) Winchester News Online

Magazine Editor: Chanin Lloyd - 07897694409


Features Editor: Veronica Frydel - 07899664333, veronicafrydel@hotmail.co.uk

Investigations: Stuart Appleby- 07511849527, stuart23fc@hotmail.co.uk

Comment/ Reader response: Thomas Hobbs - 07879263565

Feature Writers/VJ:

Hanna Keegan: +107955041165, hana204@hotmail.co.uk,

Jake Gable: 07971121864, jakegable@hotmail.hotmail.co.uk  

Claire Lomas - 07951058726, clairyell@btinternet.com  

Katie Rowles

Justyna Czlad - 07598923614, justina-cee@hotmail.com

Features, final deadlines and latest on our work in week 2

Preparing for Wednesday’s Editorial Conference 6th October
WINOL DOCUMENTS AND IMPORTANT INFO - CLICK HERE!

• NEW Deadlines:

Features for Wednesday
12am:
Freshers Fashion
Campus navigation guide (Article done and sent for sub-editing, video still being edited)
Staff Spending - Tues (article done and sent for sub-editing)
Students and alcohol
Studio Interview with Seb and Jaz
2pm:
Should English students study abroad?

Features for Thursday 3pm (possibly Wednesday end of the day)
Course Review: Media: Interview with Paul Manning and Marcus from Media Course

• Listed features for week 2 of Winchester News Online:

1. Staff Spending (Stu Appleby)
Format: Written
Deadline: Tues (done, sent for sub-editing)

2. Freshers Fashion (Justyna Chlad/Hannah Keegan)
Format: Written/Video
Deadline: Wed, 12pm

3. Campus navigation guide (Jake Gable)
Format: Written/video
Deadline: Wednesday, 12pm

4. Students and alcohol (Thomas Hobbs).
Format: Article
Deadline: Tues 12pm (have to be redone - news deadline: Wednesday 12am
*Fees. Analysing student fee increase and possible rise. (Thomas Hobbs) - Not happening anymore
Format: Article
instead:
5. Should English students study abroad. Comment
Format: Article
Deadline: Wednesday 2pm

6. Studio Interview with Seb and Jaz from SU, (me) Response (students ask...)
Format: Studio Interview
Deadline: Wednesday 12am

7. Course Review: Interview with Paul M. and Marcus from Media Course (Justyna Chlad/Hannah Keegan)
Format: Written/video,
Deadline: Thurs, 3pm

• Plans For week 3:

1. Happy lady from the Food hall (Tom Hobbs)
– interviewing on Thursday in week 2
Profile
Format: Article and Video
Deadline: Monday

2. Facebook impacts on today’s culture (Tom)
Comment
Format: Article
Deadline: to be established

3. Two sisters campaign – has there been enough to save their father (Stu Appleby)
Investigative
Format: Article and Video
Deadline: Wednesday 12am

4. Fashion of the season
Fashion
Format: Article and Video
Deadline: Wednesday 12am

5. Make up make-over with the make up Artist Nikki (she is free on Tuesday)
Fashion
Format: Article and Video
Deadline: to be confirmed

6. Staff Profiles
Profiles
Format: Article and Video
Deadline: Wednesday 12am

7. Navigating around Winchester
Guide for students to get to places
Format: Article and Video

8. Course Review
Product Review
Format: Article and Video
Deadline: Wednesday 12am

*9. Disabled Girl at the University – appointed to Tom may appoint someone else to it as well
Investigative
Format: Article and Video
Deadline: to be confirmed

Feature Formats: NEWS FEATURES (backgrounders)

"Bringing you the news behind the news..."

These are longer "wrap up articles" printed on or around the news pages of a newspaper or during a scheduled news bulletin to fill out the details left out of a fast breaking news story. 

News features are the main feature format used in news bulletins and outside the designated "features" sections of newspapers and magazines.

Style is similar to normal news writing, but may have a multi-point "washing line" introduction instead of simple summary WHO-WHERE-WHAT-WHEN introduction.

Normally written by the news-desk, ften have a heavy emphasis on graphics. 

Examples can be found in any national newspaper. Also BBC News Online; Sunday Times News Review section; Time magazine; Newsweek magazine; The Economist; The Spectator; The New Statesman. Trade press – any major B2B title. Consumer press, not so much. They tend to be too far off the news agenda (partic. Monthlies). 

Writing depends heavily on access to "press clippings" - the archive of articles previously published on the subject.

The classic example would be a train crash. The crash is the news, but the news feature would be a "wrap up" of all train crashes in the recent (and maybe distant) past to give the reader a full briefing.

The approach is the same on radio and TV where the anchor will introduce "our transport correspondent Sid X..." to do the wrap up, perhaps with archive sound or pictures.

The TV equivalent to the newspaper "news feature" is the 3 min "package" mini-feature on the Today programme; on Newsnight (they love them) or on Channel Four news. If the package/mini-feature is related to the news we say it is "pegged" to the news. Almost all news features have to be pegged in some way. But this can be tangential - eg a big thing on Global Warming to mark the official arrival of winter; or something about rising transfer fees for footballers to mark the start of a new football season, etc, etc.  

Because of the reliance on press clippings, these types of features are often known as "clippings jobs".  The method is essentially to assemble all the press clips and write up an account. Probably there will be a similar "clipping job" from last time the same sort of event happened. The job then is to put a new "top" on the story. When printed it too will go in the clipping library (or less likely, but possible, an electronic storage system for radio and TV output. Then when it happens again it will be dusted off and so on forever. 

The best funded news organisations have MASSIVE clippings libraries (eg Press Association; Wapping; BBC) which makes this types of work quick and easy. At the BBC you can call up as many clips as you like on an electronic archive called NEON (try it, if and when you are on attachment there). You can't have access as a freelance. PA allows you to do it but charges around £50 an hour. But you name a subject or a person and you will get absolutely everything printed about the subject in every paper in tabloids and broadsheets going back for 50 years.

Getting press clippings ("the clips") for students to practice on used to be an absolute nightmare. But now you can use the fully searchable story archive at ELECTRONIC TELEGRAPH (put "electronic telegraph uk" in Google. You need to register the first time you use it)  and also search the archive at BBC NEWS ONLINE. Both go back to the mid-90s.

Writing/presenting style for this type of feature is basically secondary to understanding the format. 

Good example if this feature would be the classic is the Sunday Times black-ink; numbered boxes of a plane crash, etc, done as a cartoon strip. You can see these every week in the Sunday Times news review section, part of your job when writing or "packaging" a news feature is briefing picture researchers and graphics people. A news feature without pictures is not much good to anyone, now we are in a mainly visual TV-led news environment.

*From notes of Chris Horrie

Feature Formats: OBSERVATIONAL/REPORTAGE JOURNALISM:

"Painting with words" 

This is part of the features package which involves writing a "word picture" for the reader/listener. It is the high point of feature-writing, where it comes close to being an art, and where there are overlaps with serious "literature".

It is an area of journalism where the GONZO approach does work, especially if something genuinely extraordinary is happening to you .

    Masters of observational/reportage Journalism include:

Tom Wolfe, New Journalism anthology
Ryszard Kapuscinski,
"People watching" – Peter York
Picture Post tradition, ‘Color Writing’
Gonzo Journalism, Fly on the Wall type of Journalism
Reportage – an old tradition – the Penguin book of reportage; The Faber book of Reportage
Current Pulitzer winner in this genre. 

About  New Orleans Mardi Gras which is a slight mixture of styles; but basically observational.

* From Chris Horrie's notes

Feature formats: CONFESSIONAL INTERVIEWS

 "My true story..." 

This format is a great favourite especially of the popular women's magazines who pay a great deal of money for best sort of material.

The key to the format is a person "confessing" about some aspect of their private lives. It does NOT mean (necessarily) confessing in the sense of owning up to a crime or wrong-doing. It is just somebody relating their personal experience.

"Pegged" confessional pieces would involve a person talking about their personal experience of some great news event. Recently there were hundreds of pieces like this with people talking about how they survived the WTC attack; or how they reacted to the death of a loved one.

General "human interest" confessionals are not pegged to anything. Typically they involve health problems - the classics being "my battle wwith cancer" or "my battle with alcoholism" or marriage break up or some other trauma.

We would call this "pure human interest". 

Normally a "confessional" piece is "ghosted" - meaning that the subject has been interviewed by a journalist, sometimes at enormous length. The story is then written up by the journalist, but is put in the victim's voice. Sometimes the newspaper/magazine will add "as told to X" in the small type at the bottom. The tabloids like to use the phrase "opened her heart to". But the format only really works if the subject is speaking directly to the reader. There are no ethical problems with this, so long as the subject has seen the piece and agrees it is a fair summary of his/her story.

Confessional type journalism is thought to be even stronger if the person comes through their difficulties and is somehow better off as a result. These stories are generically known as "TRIUMPH OVER TRAGEDY" of "TOTs". 

Obviously if a celebrity is involved the material will appeal to TV watching audience (the tabloids, the down market women's weeklies).  Although the "best" confessionals are now a matter of chequebook journalism and therefore beyond your resources as a student you can still do "confessionals" appropriate to less lucrative markets.

METHOD

Research a particular social issue or medical victims group (eg the homeless, racial attack victims; support groups victims of some particular illness or other). Internet USE GROUPS are especially useful for this. They will normally have a list of sufferers who are willing to talk to the press (even students). 

You then do the interview wit him/her for radio or for transcription into print. You then edit the sound material or write up the story and show it to them. Do NOT give "copy approval". You show it to them so they can point out any factual errors or to hear if they violently object to the way you've told their story. But YOU are writing the story and must take responsibility (which is to your readers/listeners - remember them? - and NOT to the person you are interviewing. 

It can also be used, however, as part of a "suite" of features pegged to a news story. So if there's a train crash there's the news about the crash itself, the news feature about train crashes over the years, graphic journalism with maps of the disaster area, and the confessional article from a survivor - all "packaged" together within a sophisticated newspaper layout or radio/TV segment. 

YOU MUST NORMALLY AVOID WRITING ABOUT PEOPLE WHO YOU KNOW - BECAUSE OF THE DANGER OF MALICE and/or VESTED INTEREST.

* From notes of Chris Horrie

Feature formats: Fashion, Photojournalism and Photography

The photos of the Vietnam War:

Images of  assassination of President Kennedy in 1963 

Pictures of ‘The first moon landing in 1969’  

Various images of Princess Diana  

Images of the Twin Towers in 9/11 bombings 

More recently, amateur pictures by US and British soldiers torturing Iraqi POWs that emerged shocked the world and again emphasised the powerful impact of still images   

PHOTOJOURNALISM and its key concepts by Karin Stowe

A fantastic example of a photojournalism can be found on a website: http://www.mediastorm.com/

Example of a Photoessay on youtube here

Photojournalism: Qualities of the image: Advanced Visual language 

The Photojournalism image must convey meaning to an audience.
 
The Attributes within a photojournalism image are:
1) Emotional content i.e. does the image make an audience respond to the imagery emotional and cause a personal reaction. 

2) Relative context i.e. does the image carry icons, visuals or recognisable attributes that an audience can relate to and deconstruct and understand.
Cornell Capa whose existentialism beliefs reflected Ernest Hemingway’s own ideals, Capa predominantly a war photographer but has been subject to controversial attacks on his work. Some saying death scenes from the Spanish civil war may gain greater impact. Thus again throwing into questions what is shown and believed.  

3) Create Empathy and Create In Quizzical thoughts and emotions.
An image that corresponds a specific moment in history i.e. dying creates an emotion in an audience that they relate to and can compare their experiences to.   Thus making them react to the image, thus manipulating them.    

Robert Haeberle “people about to be shot 1969”, taking during the “My Lai” massacre where families were killed by US troops.  The photographer caught the moment before the deaths of the villages, women, children and the old.  The greatest dichotomy for the photographer who is part of the killing but by using his camera to shoot the moment before the moment is shot, are they helping others or should they help those actually there at the moment?  Some would say this work puts all other use of the camera into perspective, a medium for exacting truth, and informing that. 

4) Shock and Expectation.
The strongest visual language, will linger in the thoughts of the audience.  The image that creates shock and outrage create the greatest reactions.  The moment before death, grieving fear, and injustice generate anger, empathy and desire to make a change or understand in an audience.     

5) The Voyeur image.
Photojournalism images that record they events of the everyday, but seem as if they are showing the audience a moment in time or event that is secretive or seems like a investgive photograph.  

6) The Surreal Photo-essay document.
The photographs that capture the surreal worlds, individuals and events that the general audience does not have contact with.  Thus stimulating interest via the safety of the image.  A form of visual investigation so that minorities and socially deemed alternatives reach wider audiences.  

*From notes of Karin Stowe

Documentaries, by Chris Chorie

Radio and television documentaries generally follow the generic forms of magazine and newspaper feature writing, and there are examples of TV or radio equivalents of well known newspaper or magazine features. There are hybrid forms as well, and the internet permits new types of production. 

*From notes of Chris Horrie

A picture may be worth more than a thousand words, sometimes a picture can capture the character and personality of an individual, or the spirit and essence of a situation better than even the most talented writer. 

Words have limits, pictures don’t this is how much more can you be creative with Photography than with written work. Photography is more attention grabbing than articles as it is quicker to be processed by our ‘split second’ interest than reading a word. It is more expressive and more effective. The big difference is how we process the information, reading an article we leave room for visual image illustrating of the story through reader’s imagination. Seeing the story leaves the room for interpretation and visual memory for the impact of the reader.
Photojournalism is a key feature of  print journalism and refers to the craft of employing photographic storytelling to document these aspects of life and life itself. Consisting mainly of photographs to convey the meaning of an article with supplementary written copy, photojournalism attempts to document the important political and social issues that affect our world.
Photojournalists seek to show these images to a wide audience and to influence our awareness and understanding of events, most often through news media and periodicals. 

Over the years pictures have revealed truths and changed the public’s perception of war and conflict, as with  girl in the photo’ depicting the Vietnam War.   

Images of assassination of President Kennedy in 1963

Pictures of the first moon landing in 1969’   

Feature formats: Consumer Reviews

The style is the same as for arts reviews:

(1) WHAT IS IT/ WHAT DOES IT DO?

(2) IS IT ANY GOOD

Consumer journalism is dominated by the extraordinary growth and success of WHICH magazine and in the wake of the crusading "consumer's rights" movement pioneered in the United States by journalist  Ralph Nadar ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Nader).

Consumer review format works by comparing ALL the available products within a consumer section (eg car insurance, university courses) and MUST provide valuable information which, if followed, will actually save readers money when making purchases.

Avoid the consumer magazine product reviews where, again, somebody just says "I like this" as it is simply not objective, this feature format is all about comparing facts and taking conclusions out of the research and creating an advise based on the research.. It might work in a (low value, no pay) freesheet, or as an adjunct to a fashion magazine purchased because of the quality of pictures. But it is no good in the trade press or in serious "consumer" journalism - which is where all the quality and the work for journalists is to be owed.

The same approach can be applied to all areas of consumption - travel, personal finance, housing, cars, fashion and clothes, consumer electronics etc. 

There is a massive consumer press devoted to computers. All of these titles are bought because they are genuinely useful in saving money and avoiding making mistakes on major purchases.

TV equivalent: Watchdog.
Radio: You and Yours.


*From Chris Horie's notes

Feature formats: Reader Response (emails, blog, comments and competitions)

"A friend dropping in" 

Reader Response is a big part of the work of the features department. It has grown out of readers letters (they are a feature in their own right, written up and edited by feature writers).

This format of features has become more important in recent years thanks to making the readers more involved and influential. Classical phrase to use when describing a very effective method to attract the reader/audience is to get "WIN" and "FREE" on the front cover or opening sequence of the video. In print, it really sets the tone for the paper, magazine or radio show and builds reader loyalty.
Reader response hides its biggest potential in the internet. Instant response through e-mail and attached "have your say" reply forms on pages are the easiest and most popular forms of keeping the reader connected.

Everything from horoscope and agony aunt to newspaper bingo and cash prizes is part of the Reader Response format of features.
Note different ideas that this format used in:
Reader Letters/ Letters to Editor
Agony Aunts
Free Advice (eg medical/dietary/ cookery/ holidays)
"How To"... from experts
Health and beauty advice
Fantasy Football league (Daily Telegraph)
Crossword, quizzes and other "coffee break" fillers
Prize Competitions and give awaya (WINOL from last two years : Date with Fate)
Horoscopes.

*From Chris Horrie's notes

Feature formats: INVESTIGATIVE FEATURES

"J'Accuse! - We name the guilty men! " 

To start of, a journalist has initiated the story - as oppose to the normal method of simply following what is happening in the courts, council, parliament, scheduled meetings (etc - the news agenda) or responding to some unscheduled disaster or crisis.

It therefore overlaps with GONZO journalism. The original humdinger investigative piece J'ACCUSE was initiated by the writer and journalist Emile Zola ( http://www.online-literature.com/emile-zola/). He formed the view that the French army officer Dreyfus (sent to Devil's Island had been scapegoated and framed. he went over the court case and proved this was the case, got Dreyfus out of jail and caused the Government to fall and the French state to be modernised and reformed.

In more recent times the Washington Post team of Woodward and Bernstein exposed the Nixon Watergate scandal. Granada's World in Action TV show (now defunct) managed to get the framed "Birmingham Six" out of jail.

The most common types of investigative pieces involve reviewing miscarriages of justice; exposing consumer fraud and it involves working with the police when they can't get a conviction. 

The closest example of the investigative work is The University of Winchester’s new project. The university has become a member of the Innocence Network UK (  http://www.innocencenetwork.org.uk/) which in “overall aim is to improve the criminal justice system by overturning and preventing the wrongful conviction of the innocent.”  The INUK has provided casework referral service for our university and helped us to link eligible applicants with member innocence projects to undertake independent, objective investigations into claims of factual innocence by alleged victims of wrongful convictions. 


*From Chris Horrie's notes and other sources 

Feature Formats: Arts Reviews

Review writing is based on a basic idea: "What is it? Is it any good?"

Reviewing a CD, a book, a work of art, live performance (or anything else) is to tell the readers/listeners about an objective experiences of with a specific piece of art from a person that is a specialist in the area. “Readers want a SERVICE and do not really care what you think of whatever it is.”

The question in the reader's mind is "does it do what it says on the tin?"
Unfortunately GONZO (which is good in its place) has crept into reviewing, with many reviewers using it as yet another opportunity to show off in a way. These sometimes does not go beyond the reviewers own personal preferences and reaction to the work. This is no good for professional journalism.
Contrast with the highly professional reviews in Sight and Sound magazine (British Film Institute). This magazine is written for an expert audience. The magazine reviews every new release. The review style here is absolutely classic as you can see from this typical and unexceptional example. The magazine actually separates the "what is it" from "is it any good" typographically. It starts with a summary of what the film is about (synopsis) - who the actors are, how long it is and so on. It then goes on to pass a (balance and informed) opinion on whether the film achieves what it has apparently set out to do.
Another elaboration on this basic format is the FEATURE REVIEW which involves reviewing a clutch of products under a single heading - eg young British film-makers; eg - all recent productions of the Magic Flute around the world. This sort of "Feature Review" - supposedly detecting a new trend in culture" can be played very big in the arts/culture sections of newspapers and magazines.

Many reviewers are freelancers or experts in their own field who are doing the reviews in their spare time. 

CONSUMER REVIEWS are another type of Reviews- they evaluate products for readers and follow the same sort of format to Art Review. 

Feature formats: PROFILE WRITING

"People in the news"

"Man in the news/ Women in the news" (written your voice, but often anonymous). You can find many examples in newspapers, weeklies, trade press or consumer press. It is very often pegged to the news agenda for a particular set of readers/listeners.

These are "pen portraits" which concentrate on WHO the subject is (not what they think, especially) and HOW they got to be who they are.

How is it that somebody as patently ordinary as Geri Halliwell became so rich and famous. Where was she born, where did she go to school, what were the turning points in her career, who helped her, who are her enemies... etc. You don't need to interview her (though you SHOULD interview people who know/knew her). But much is already on the public record and in the press clipping.

DO NOT confuse with either "confessional" or "feature interview" (gonzo). 

This format is Classic of Sunday newspaper journalism. Like an obituary - strictly factual and NOT based on an interview (in the first place) with the subject.

You can study the writing style by reading profiles as done by professional media. They all follow the same sort of structure and often have a feature cartoon/ caricature rather than a picture. This underlines the fact that the reader is getting a "portrait" of the subject and not an interview.

METHOD

Assemble press clips. Rough out the life story as it already known.

Check your word length. In features it is always essential to write to an exact length; edit sound to an exact time. These are given in advance, since in features you are filling up a pre-determined editorial "mould" for the newspaper or magazine. The FIXED LENGTH means you can use a more sophisticated story structure.

From the clips track down associates who are mentioned – school friends, people they work with, or work out/find out who these people are. (For legal reasons, however, avoid talking to close relatives or people like doctors. Basically you can't really use what they say anyway - law of confidentiality).

Speak to as many people who know the subject as possible - and as time allows. 

There is little point in speaking to the subject themselves. They are not able to be impartial! If you have got an interview with the subject you really have a different format - the (gonzo) feature interview, and this is when you may mix the styles up.

But you MUST interview them once you have basically written the piece - to check facts and make sure everything is as fair and full as possible and maybe get one or two more good anecdotes and details. Sometimes they will not speak to you. This does NOT mean you can not still write the piece (if you have done a proper job from clips and secondary sources). But you MUST give them the chance to comment.

WRITING STYLE

You will see that the "classic profile" tends to have the following format:

1. Tell anecdote/ funny story which sums up your fair opinion about the person
2. (But DON'T COMMENT in your voice - just tell the facts)
3. Break into straight chronological summary. S/he was born... date, place, parents...
4. Balance is essential
5. Stick to facts – either this person is interesting to your readers or not (agenda).  Comment from you, amateur psychoanalysis.

There’re few examples of the Profile in The Financial Times in section "People in the News"   
Sometimes profiles are done as "rogue’s gallery" set of mini-profiles. 

TV equivalent: "This is your life". Or a single documentary - "The life of..."

*From notes of Chris Horrie

Feature formats: Comment & Analysis

"We say...”

The reporter who is appointed to be a specialist in certain area, like for example finances or Community/social relations expresses an opinion (eg. ‘Voice of the newspaper’, eg The Sun Says...or ‘a reporter’s name’ says…) through analysis of the subject.
This type of a feature is usually in Comment or letter from the editor section; it is often linked to reader response/letter (especially online, because of e-mail).

In this way the paper or video presents a separation of comment and fact and in this way defines type of feature.
It can present a viewpoint. It can be a ‘by-lined piece by somebody well known or interested’, for example Daily Mail – "Talking Point Journalism".
To video examples belong:

Part of "War View" series (Afghanistan):  

Washington Post’s (famous) OP/ED pages. NB – feature cartoons (also comment on Op/Ed pages)  

Feature cartoon (an art in its own right, the political cartoon)
Satire, Parliamentary Sketch, London Life… etc – lightweight journalist essay.

*From Chris Horrie's notes

Feature formats: FEATURE INTERVIEW

"Your chance to meet the real..." 

Most entertainment radio and TV use a type of feature - interview approach - eg Paxman - it is all about the presenter/writer being wonderfully clever and interesting.

It also includes GONZO JOURNALISM type of Journalism – Video, Fly on the Wall (eg.Day of life of) 

One of the main practitioners in print is Lynn Barber - who does her journalism in the Observer  she writes about her experience during and interview with Rachel Cusk; wrote about how Rachel behaved when asked questions connecting it with showing lots of knowledge about Rachel’s work analysing it at the same time; she tells Rachel’s life story n connection to when she wrote her books, about what kind of writer she is and where her inspiration comes from and even her childhood (muddling the style with a profile) etc.  

Almost inevitably the "interview" is in fact an account of the great Lynn Barber having lunch with Graham Norton. She chucks in a few facts about Norton - thus muddling the style with a profile. It is entertaining writing but - as is normal with this style - we end up knowing more about Lynn than the subject.

The origins of this type of format was the "New Journalism" movement in New York in the '60s and was especially associated with Andy Warhol's "underground" magazine INTERVIEW in the 1970s.

More about The New Journalism in here

Tom Wolfe, my personal favourite authors of The New Journalism described the style this way: “In contrast to a conventional journalistic striving for objectivity, subjective journalism allows for the writer’s opinion, ideas or involvement (…). Another version of subjectivism in reporting is sometimes called participatory reporting. Robert Stein, in Media Power, defines New Journalism as “A form of participatory reporting that evolved in parallel with participatory politics…” Tom Wolfe

More about Tom Wolfe’s book The New Journalism here

Another fantastic practitioner of The New Journalism (Gonzo) Hunter S Thompson, for example, once famously interviewed President Nixon and spoke only about American football, beer and things like that... and this was at the height of the Vietnam war.

So it is all very fashionable in both approach and content. It is entertaining, and therefore has its place. The important thing is not to mix this style with profile writing just because you have seen it on the telly.

TV equivalents: Live 'n' Kickin'; Mrs Merton; Parkinson... and Graham Norton.

*From Chris Horrie's notes

Practical Magazine Features and documentary Forms

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN NEWS AND FEATURES

NEWS                                            FEATURES/ DOCUMENTARIES

Telling                                            Seeing (incl "word pictures" on radio)
Brief/Summary                              Lengthy/ detailed (eg.500w)
Aimed at whole audience            Aimed - sections of the readership 
Length varies (importance)         Length fixed by editorial structure/TV radio /news agenda
Defined styles                                Many styles/ generic types
Pictures useful                               Pictures essential/ graphics
Published instantly                        Published according to schedule
Done by staff reporters                 Done by production staff/ freelancers
Event-led ("the news agenda")    Production-led (fitting schedule/structure of mag/newspaper

It is often said of newspapers that "people come for the news, but stay for the features". 

Features is FACTUAL but it is not NEWS (in the sense of happened immediately).

Products like monthly magazines must consist almost entirely of feature material.
A rolling TV or radio news schedule, on the other hand, is selling entirely on having the latest news and therefore has relatively little features. Newspapers, have a mixture of news and features. The same is true of scheduled/formatted news shows on radio and TV (eg The Today Programme; Newsnight; Channel Four News) which mix genuine news with mini-features.

Features are also very important in setting the "tone" for newspapers. Basically the news is the news (particularly when there's a clear news story like the World Trade Center attack) and there is little for the consumer to choose between one title and another. This all important "differentiation" is achieved by feature material. 
For all these reasons the features content of newspapers has increased in recent years - "featurisation" - so that newspapers increasing work like daily magazines aimed at particular markets. Note the way in which broadsheet newspapers, now run feature "puffs" above the title; ‘puffs’ show what potential purchasers see.
  

Examples of fantastic Feature writers and VJs:

Laura Barton, feature writer for the Guardian: 
- she does interviews and writes interview features
- really good in observational style, ‘the view from abroad’
- she also writes arts reviews, ‘music reviews’
- her observational feature video about the canals is almost like a poem, very artistic and effective
Laura’s videos

H.L. Mencken, 
An American journalist, very good in opinion pieces as well as very controversial, he was fantastic in provoking, he wrote for the spike attracting his readers.
A.A. Gill, 
A feature writer who followed footsteps of H.L. Mencken, the style is similar and equally controversial. He also writes Consumer Reviews – He has become a food critic more in the Gourmet Traveller online magazine.

Julie Burchill, controversial columnist, writes for the Guardian:   

Richard Littlejohn, Mail Online

Film making: Pennebaker, and also a very interesting style of feature creation is also a Koyanisqatsi style (Philip Glass).

Useful website to use: http://www.bbc.co.uk/journalism/

FEATURE WRITING
bbc journalism skills site

“If you are writing a feature, rather than a hard news story, try to grab the reader early on with a vivid thought or idea”.

“Feature stories don’t need to start with the most important information (…) but you still need to hook the reader early on”, Rob Liddle

“Aim to write a first paragraph that invites the reader to keep reading”

PICTURES TO GO WITH THE STORY


“Pictures can bring a web story to life, but you need to know which picture is most suitable to a particular job”

“It’s all about the context. You’ll use one kind of pictures on the front page, another in the body of the story (…) “

“Pictures on the front page are all about the impact “ – they need to be cropped to a desired size and draw reader’s eye to the story. On the other hand, pictures are used in the body of a piece to illustrate the story as extra information.

When choosing a picture it is important to think about how serious is your piece, “is it light-hearted you can be slightly more relaxed in your choice of image”

UNDERSTANDING FEATURE "FORMATS"
There is no such thing as "a feature" or "a documentary" as such. The key to feature writing is to understand the various FORMATS (in other words types): News Features; Confessional interview; Observational/Reportage Journalism; Consumer reviews; Reader response (emails, blogs, comments, competitions); Art reviews; Profiles, Investigations; Fashion (Photojournalism and Pictures), Comment & Analysis and Documentaries. 

The definition of these formats varies from journalism school to journalism school and between editors and professional feature-writers. In many ways SUBJECT MATTER is secondary to the format. Think about a TV schedule(/format). The Parkinson show is a format - is always the chat show. Likewise the Today programme always has a feature interview. The format/schedule of the programme always has to be one for its better recognition. 

Likewise a newspaper will always have a profile on page X; a comment piece on page Y; a news feature over the first few pages after the proper news pages; a feature interview with a sports star on the cover of the sports supplement and so on. 

Magazines are even more heavily formatted (advertising is sold to be included next to a particular type of feature). All of this is also true of the trade press; and specialist consumer magazines. 

If you want to freelance as a feature writer the first step is to understand the formats used by the title you want to write for; mastering the style of that format and then obtaining the subject matter for that format/section of the newspaper or magazine.

With experience you will be able to spot these formats across a variety of newspapers and magazine, TV and radio shows and see how similar they are. As with most things in journalism the difference between titles is more about the AGENDA than the style and format. So both Bella magazine and the Financial Times might have a regular PROFILE FORMAT type piece (in the FT it is called "People in the News"). The main difference is that in Bella it would be a TV star and for the FT it would be the chief executive of some company.

To understand more read about the different types of feature format described in these pages. Compare the formats to feature articles as they appear in newspapers and magazines until you understand them.http://veronicafryd.blogspot.com/2010/10/confessional-interviews.html

*based on notes of Chris Horrie and other sources

First day in the last year of Journalism BA degree - WINOL

The last year of being a student at The University of Winchester and a new challenge came upon- Feature Editor of The Winchester News Online Features department.

The last year and our last chance to gain as much time building our profile and skills and practice online Journalism during editions of Winchester New Online before going into the profession next year.

It is time for us to train new second year reporters to work within News/Features team in pressurised working environment and  gain skills helpful to prepare for the future profession.

Now when our sources have been improved, our computers and ENPS program. We will be refreshed on latest edition of Final Cut pro to improve our editing skills. We will be thought on masterclass level on sound and lighting.

All the possible problems and issues should be solved at the level of our Winol's editors, our lectures should be our critical resort to turn to if need.

Our new guest editors  visiting our weekly Winol and available for advise and feedback of our work will be great persons like Graham Bell, Rob Kirk or even Maria Melano from The Install magazine and Laura Barton, my personal idol of the feature writing.

We are now aiming for more BJTC awards and also guardian awards. Since we have already received a BJTC award for innovation for WINOL and our Election coverage why should we stop there, we will be aiming fore more! In order to do that we ought to focus on what is so different about us, why are we unique and why should our audience read our work. We have to be able to recognise our targeted audience  and understand well what are they interested in to capture their readership  and keep it. We must show we know we can get to them. In terms of Winchester News Online readership, our targeted audience is students society and we also spread to local news for Winchester town. The population of SU is important, on the campus as well as living in Winchester.

I would like my team of feature writers, head of comment/reader response , investigations as well as magazine editor with myself as the features editor work together towards hitting our targeted audience, we will be aiming at 300 readers and hopefully try to aim even higher. Working hard all together and communicating as well as respecting our main objectives as a team is very important and having such a fantastic team, I believe there is nothing to stop us reaching our objectives.

Our features will be calm, be of good quality and we will have the feature stories lined up for each week, these are the main characteristics that make a good quality feature work, and I can not see a single reason why we should not meet these requirements and be proud of our work.

Link to our PRODUCTION SCHEDULE FOR WINOL is here  it is important we are all aware of it.

Essential to remember is that everyone has to obey the Fatal Error System as long as we do we have our indemnity, reporters have to obey the editors and editors have to obey publisher's orders, that is the only way to keep our indemnity. If we don't we loose it and will be taking a full responsibility for any fatal errors we have committed.

After today's introductory session for WINOL, I will work on making a weekly plan for our Features team and try to fit it best around  for best effects for our Features Magazine.

Shadowing the the production team during the recording of a Breakfast show - The World Cup coverage experience

The Gallery experience from 29th June 2010

As I had few mornings of it was an irresistible opportunity to have a closer look into work in the gallery during Breakfast shows during the World Cup.

To begin with, our producer for the morning show was Simon, he explained to me that he would usually make sure of the right headlines and speak to presenters before the show and also keep them informed during the show, check the VTs and OBs waiting on his signal to be their turn to speak. He would be the one to queue hi/her for the show. He would usually suggest the next topic of the conversation during the show if needed and he would tell the director what to drop if needed. He would always have to hold hard with his decisions and be in full authority over the show.

Martin Coates was directing this morning, I allowed myself for a lots of questions and shadowing every single person in the gallery trying to learn as much as possible about their individual roles in the production of the show.

The director of this morning, Martin emphasised that it is important to communicate with all members of the production team, he said he would always make sure he spoke to presenters, make sure that the scripts are prepared and presenters are familiarised with them; he would check up whether the studio is well prepared (set, cameras, lights etc). Martin explained that it is important to have the sets of the prepared well before every show as well as keeping an eye on the rights angle and framing of the cameras from the gallery. He also said that important role of the director is also thinking ahead of the producer, the director must know what's the worst case scenario if things went wrong, "what if I need to drop something from the script, and what will I do next, think always of the plan B".

The questions for the interview would be prepared by presenters and the producer and topics of the show thoroughly discussed with the producer.

Duncan Walkinshaw was vision-mixing this morning, he would be also directing other shows. While being sat next to Duncan, I realised how fascinating his role is. He would always emphasise that being focused and always ready for the next step is important while vision mixing. He would always remind me of the rule of thirds while framing the shot and making sure of sufficient looking room on the presenters and guests. He would always say that in football everything happens like "snap snap snap" of the fingers, vision mixing for football programs is all about quick "cuts" and a lot less "wipes". While observing him I could see what a perfectionist he was, he was always listening very carefully to conversations in the studio and follow the rule of importance of catching the reaction of the person. If the interview would focus longer on the quest talking he would go for wider shots or moving shots from the JIB. If action-reaction situation involved need of seeing all the people in the studio, the wide shot of three or four was necessary.

Important were good framing, head room, looking space and quick reactions from the single camera operator to work well with good vision mixing. He told me about function of each screen he would have to be looking at while vision mixing and how important it is to be aware what is happening on every single one of them.

EVS screens were on the left hand site of the wall, middle screens were the cameras, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and the JIB(cam6). He would always listen carefully which camera was the most relevant to be shown in vision according to the conversation. If the conversation was going more intimate or personal the close ups were ideal and "always look for reaction" as well as pay attention on the movement on the JIB. It is important to choose different pace of vision mixing to different moods of the show and read the body language of the presenters and guests in the studio, he said that "the eyes are often a motivation for the cut".

After the show finished I could practice on switching and cutting to the cameras and was told that it is also always important to save every set up we have prepared for ourselves for particular show.

Rami Mohammed was our EVS operator and Francesca Daisy Gray-Walkinshaw was the PA. She Helped to prepare the script and running order made sure everyone had a copy, she would also help to write links and operate the Autocue.

Another crew member operating EVS, Josh Keys also emphasised that the team work is crucial he said that "preparation and being focused and organised is the most important thing". Josh was also the one editing the packages, queuing the up on EVS.

Invention of God- questioning the need for metaphysical power

Lets take that God does not exist, and was only created to give moral values more importance and respect for the given rules of The ten commandments for example. Also quite possibly, taking humans nature, idea of guilt, being observed and punished for breaking the rules is quite an intelligent basic idea to be used in order to keep the idea respectable and well remembered, to have the rules kept. Rules bring idea of safety and protection as well as higher purpose than keeping basic instincts satisfied. Creating a holly importance to ideas like love, respect, loyalty, peace, trust, faith and hope have brought these ideas significant importance and higher purpose of life.
Quite simply, they keep world's peace and harmony making humanity a way forward to keep the human kind living with each other in peace and mutual respect.

So yes, it is helpful that religion has been invented and given a name but that is also what makes it also questionable to be a metaphysical it seems to be simply a humans invention. What also makes the concept of God's existence questionable is what history shows...

Wars for many countries' independence and land, world wars, Holocaust, Vietnam War, 9/11 bombing, terrorism... and so many more other human tragedies that were pure evil, now, if God as he or she is described would these tragedies have happened? Some would say that we are all part of God's plan and will be all punished or rewarded in afterlife, and if one suffers, innocently, the place in heaven will be prepared for him or her. All that, comforting enough for some, is enough to justify cruelty and hate amongst people. For some it is enough to have a hope for happiness in life after life for eternity when we are no more than metaphysical soul, yes, foe some this gives a reason for a belief in higher purpose of life being happiness after death... What a life that is someone would ask, well catholics believe that suffering can be a blessing, and suffering and sacrifice is an enormous part of humans life. Polish people have even this saying, after being through two wars, invaded, murdered and robbed country in Europe, one of the famous polish writers calls Poland, "The Christ of the nations" as its people are bound to suffer considerable amount before the nation will rise and become happy and blessed.

Among catholics, it is believed that who believes in God, father of Jesus Christ, is given strength and comfort of being looked after taking risks and going through difficulties of life taking them as parts of God's plan, forgiving and never wanting a revenge for bad things that happen in life... And those who don't believe in his existence are band to be doomed and have a weakness and lower aim of life.

Now, let's take that God as a higher power overlooking the good rules and morals in humans' life, had never been invented, would men be equally determined and strong in believing in doing good and higher purpose in life than satisfying basic human instincts. Would they manage to protect moral values and mutual respect among men knowing that the only award for it is good relationship with people and if we steal something from someone there will be no feeling of guilt or punishment for breaking moral values; and that the punishment would be going to prison and then getting out and then why not doing it again.

Would believing in ourselves and our own equally good values and keeping them as important and making life meaningful be the same as believing in higher power that would give strength to keep the importance of the values. The values that would equal the Ten Commandments, or Decalogue, "a list of religious and moral imperatives that, according to the Hebrew Bible, were spoken by God to the people of Israel from the mountain referred to as Mount Sinai or Horeb, and later authored by God and given to or written by Moses in the form of two stone tablets. They are recognized as a moral foundation in Judaism and Christianity, and their substance also figures in Islam."(Ref.2)

The phrase "Ten Commandments" is generally used to refer to similar passages in Exodus and Deuteronomy The passages in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5, traditionally divided into fourteen or fifteen verses, are each identified in the biblical text as containing ten elements. These passages declare the Lord, who brought the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt, to be their God; prohibit worship of other gods before the Lord, and the making or worshiping idols; threaten punishment for those who reject the Lord and promise love for those who love him; forbid misuse of the Lord's name; mandate observance of the Sabbath and honoring one's parents; and finally prohibit murder, adultery, theft, false testimony, and coveting of one's neighbor's goods. Various religions and denominations translate and interpret the Commandments in different ways." (Ref.2)

If we didn't say that these ten commandments were given from God but created by a wise and thoughtful person who believed that people would interpret the commandments for a benefit of human kind.

1. "prohibit worship of other gods before the Lord" -could be translated into believing that these ideas are rightful,
"the making or worshiping idols" - inventing of other values like for example, opposite ones, evil ones would be a bad thing,
"threaten punishment for those who reject the Lord and promise love for those who love him" - punish ones who break the values, these who steel, kill etc
(* all above count into the first commandment in catholic interpretation of the Bible)
2. "forbid misuse of the Lord's name" - would be quite metaphysical to add more mysticism to the idea
3. "mandate observance of the Sabbath" - cherish and respect saint days which would teach us respect for tradition and culture
4. "honoring one's parents" - quite a direct interpretation, showing respect for parents and love in family
5. "prohibit murder"
6. "prohibit adultery"
7." prohibit theft"
8. "prohibit false testimony"
9. * (not mentioned in here but it is included in the Catholic version of the ten commandments) -     "prohibit desire for neighbor's wife"
10. and "prohibit coveting of one's neighbor's goods" - [5-10] - prohibit doing, saying or meaning any harm or hurtful intention to other person or yourself"

If we took this commandments as given by a wise philosopher would that be enough for human kind to obey these rules? Perhaps at the time when they were invented there was no other way to keep them respected but to say they are from God and if not obeyed, the punish will come?

What ever reason they were named to come from God if interpreted in this basic way I showed above they should only serve good and making life better creating overall respect for life and others. There is no doubt they are one of the greatest inventions of all. The question is was there really a need to name them to come from God? Would our humns' power, self believe and mutual respect be enough to make this values survive till these days or was it so well thought of one day thousands years ago with one man with name of Moses who decided that humans' strength is faulty and their nature is hesitantly questionable that it was safer for the human kind and more likely for them to survive with God looking over them and guarding these values.

References:
1. The Bible
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_ten_commandments
3. Paulo Coelho, I sat by the Piedra river and I cried (inspiration for the research and thoughts)

Can God be a woman, inspired by Paulo Coelho's book

Continuation of a spiritual research and thought inspired by Paulo Coelho's book,
Second part of an article: Paulo Coelho, I sat by the Piedra river and I cried.

Let's take for example Catholic story of the Bible about bringing up Jesus from Nazareth talks about St Maria to have no other children, especially no sisters. Now, in times of Jesus in Jewish family's the culture was of having many children and yet, there is no record, at least shown to the public of any other children in Josef and Maria's family than Jesus. Then there was no record of more than 20 years of Jesus Christ's life, no record of the time when he was a healthy growing man till the age of his thirties... or no record of his siblings. Making Jesus the only child of St Maria while she loved and was very close to her husband with no source of preventing pregnancy is rather unlikely. It is more likely that Jesus was living among a family in Nazareth with his brothers and sisters and even having his own woman. He was a grown man, died in the age of 32 and there was no record of him and women even though he was a healthy young man... is that likely? Answer it yourself. Why was the fact of having women in his life hidden or having any siblings, sisters perhaps, hidden? Is that because that would make a possibility of little goddesses being born after him or even before him? Is it to hide the fact that he might have had a child himself? And that child could have been a little baby girl what would make her a next God, pardon me, a Goddess?

Now, If he had a son, do you think that it would be written? Well, it was more likely that the story of a male baby of Jesus Christ, the next God to be born to rule the world was kept and carried on as a story of Gods. If it was a girl it would be hidden taking into consideration the type of society the story was happening at. Men dominated society, kings ruling the country, Parliament filled with male represent ants only, women having no political voice and a law role in the hierarchy of the society... in these times the country Jesus came from was " Palestine(...)a conventional name used, among others, to describe a geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands." (Ref.11) It's "geographic term, can refer to "ancient Palestine," an area that today includes Israel and the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories, as well as part of Jordan, and some of both Lebanon and Syria. In classical or contemporary terms, it is also the common name for the area west of the Jordan River." (Ref.11)

Looking back to times of Old Testament period (Hebrew Bible), c.830s BCE, "Kingdom of Judah Kingdom of Israel Philistine city-states Phoenician states Kingdom of Ammon Kingdom of Edom Kingdom of Aram-Damascus Aramean tribes Arubu tribes Nabatu tribes Assyrian Empire Kingdom of Moab."(Ref.12) All of which are male rulers of the area. Let's have a look little bit further before Jesus was born. Ancient Israel, "according to Biblical tradition, the United Kingdom of Israel was established by the Israelite tribes with Saul as its first king in 1020 BCE. In 1000 BCE, Jerusalem was made the capital of King David's kingdom and it is believed that the First Temple was constructed in this period by King Solomon. By 930 BCE, the united kingdom split to form the northern Kingdom of Israel, and the southern Kingdom of Judah. " (Ref.12)

"(...) While in the past, the Bible story was seen historical truth, "a growing number of archaeological scholars, particularly those of the minimalist school, are now insisting that Kings David and Solomon are 'no more real than King Arthur,' citing the lack of archaeological evidence attesting to the existence of the United Kingdom of Israel, and the unreliability of biblical texts, due to their being composed in a much later period." (ref.12) The socio-political system in 10th century BCE, was characterized by "local patrons fighting other local patrons, lasting until around the mid-9th century BCE when some local chieftains were able to create large political structures that exceeded the boundaries of those present in the Late Bronze Age Levant. Archaeological findings from this era include, among others, the Mesha Stele, from c. 850 BCE, which recounts the conquering of Moab, located East of the Dead Sea, by king Omri, and the successful revolt of Moabian king Mesha against Omri's son, presumably King Ahab (and French scholar André Lemaire reported that line 31 of the Stele bears the phrase "the house of David"(...) and the Kurkh Monolith, dated c. 835 BCE, describing King Shalmaneser III of Assyria's Battle of Qarqar, where he fought alongside the contingents of several kings, among them King Ahab and King Gindibu." (Ref.12)

Kings, kings, kings... men.

Between 722 and 720 BCE, the northern Kingdom of Israel was destroyed by the Assyrian Empire and the Israelite tribes – thereafter known as the Lost Tribes – were exiled. The most important finding from the southern Kingdom of Judah is the Siloam Inscription, dated c. 700 BCE, which celebrates the successful encounter of diggers, digging from both sides of the Jerusalem wall to create the Hezekiah water tunnel and water pool, mentioned in the Bible, in 2Kings. In 586 BCE, Judah was conquered by the Babylonians and Jerusalem and the First Temple destroyed. Most of the surviving Jews, and much of the other local population, were deported to Babylonia." (ref.12) Then, Persian rule, no women mentioned; Hellenistic rule when "the Persian Empire fell to Greek forces of the Macedonian general Alexander the Great. After his death, with the absence of heirs, his conquests were divided amongst his generals, while the region of the Jews ("Judah" or Judea as it became known) was first part of the Ptolemaic dynasty." (Ref.12) "The Jewish population in Judea was allowed limited autonomy in religion and administration." (Ref.12) Then Hesmonean dynasty and Roman rule coming down to 62 BCE, 5th century CE: Byzantine provinces of Palestine I and Palestine II. Emperor Constantine is conversion to Christianity around 330 CE made Christianity the official religion of Palestine. After his mother Empress Helena identified the spot she believed to be where Christ was crucified, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher was built in Jerusalem.[96] The Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem and the Church of the Ascension in Jerusalem were also built during Constantine's reign.(...) Galilee was brutally suppressed. Imperial patronage for Christian cults and immigration was strong(...). In 536 CE, Justinian I (...) believed that the elevation of the governor was appropriate because he was responsible for "the province in which our Lord Jesus Christ... appeared on earth". This was also the principal factor explaining why Palestine prospered under the Christian Empire. The cities of Palestine, such as Caesarea Maritima, Jerusalem, Scythopolis, Neapolis, and Gaza reached their peak population in the late Roman period and produced notable Christian scholars in the disciplines of rhetoric, historiography, Eusebian ecclesiastical history, classicizing history and hagiography."(Ref.12) The record also shows an Islamic period between 630-1918 CE. The Islamic prophet Muhammad established a new unified political polity in the Arabian peninsula at the beginning of the 7th century. The subsequent (...) rapid expansion of Arab power well beyond the Arabian peninsula in the form of a vast Muslim Arab Empire. In the 630s this empire conquered Palestine and it remained under the control of Islamic Empires for most of the next 1300 years." (Ref12) Arab rule and Muslim predominant took over the Arabian peninsula till these days.

Having a religion that grew among this history, roots of Islam, Christianity and Catholicism have women's importance put significantly into the shadow of men throughout the history. Reading through the sources describing the history of the country were Jesus was born, it supports very well my theory of need of men's ego to have power over women and discriminating their significance, hence leaving no chance to allow Woman to be more important than a man, God to be cherished as a male not a Goddess.

Religion become a perfect tool to keep role and importance, treating women unequally throughout centuries. Men tried to built their prestige and importance while they could never equal women's power to give a new life.

God is thought to have given a beginning of life and it is no one else to have the same power than women, have men had a complex because of that and felt less important than women too? Was that the reason why men's ego to have the highest power pushed them to manipulating minds of next generations through scholars and historical texts to that creation of religions would favour male part of the world? That seems possible and quite a logical explanation to the way psychology of mens' ego works.

Paulo Coelho writes in his book a story of St Teresa, born many centuries after Jesus. She was a beautiful woman who was put to a monastery by her father so that she could gain wide education. At some point of her life, it is believed that she was able to speak with Jesus. When she noticed that her monastery began to be no more than a house of pleasures she decided to set her own monastery following the rules set by Jesus only. She not only had to fight to stay strong and loyal to the rules she set to herself but also with the rules of the century she lived in, the Church and the state.

There was many people having the same or similar destiny of live, missions who they believed were given them from God. Their aim of life was to live their dreams led by God. But so that could happen there always had to be someone to sacrifice something. Church was burning the witches, Romans gave Christians to be eaten by lions and later on Christian crusades were filled with man's slaughter and desire to conquer other nations and cultures.

One day a woman called Maria Jesus from Grenada, lasted three days without food or water by Teresa's monastery door to speak to St Teresa. When Maria was a young nun, was able to see Jesus mother, St Maria, who told her to build another monastery following old rules, just like St Teresa did. The same day young nun Maria and St Teresa met and Maria decided to go to Rome with bare feet. It took her two years. She slept without the shelter, suffered cold and heat and lived of people's charity. It was seen as a miracle that she managed to get to Rome, and pope Pius IV allowed her for a visit. Through her sacrifices, she fulfilled her destiny following God's will.

St Bernadette living in 19 century wasn't aware about Vatican's decision about her spiritual revelations, "she reported 18 apparitions of "a small young lady." Despite initial scepticism from the Catholic Church, these claims were eventually declared to be worthy of belief after a canonical investigation, and the apparition is known as Our Lady of Lourdes. After her death, Bernadette's body has remained in corrupt, and the shrine at Lourdes went on to become a major site for pilgrimage, attracting millions of Christians of all denominations each year. On 8 December 1933, she was canonized as a saint by the Catholic Church(...). She has been considered a Christian mystic (Christian mysticism)." (Ref.14) Among her reported" visions of Jesus and Mary the impact of her visions can be viewed as being proportionally of a high level of significance. Her request to the local priest to build a chapel at the site of her visions eventually gave rise to a number of chapels and churches at Lourdes. The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes is now one of the major Catholic pilgrimage sites in the world." (Ref.14)

The world has probably heard more of Alexander the Great Conquering the world than St Bernadette, who if she wasn't at first taken with so much scepticism she could have changed and done a lot more things if only listen to and believed that she should have a power at the time. Instead of just building churches she should have been taken as a woman of great power being able to pass a vision, if not for her modesty and women's lack of confidence in having a power she could have done a lot more and be better remembered and respected.

All these women have followed, as they believed, God's will, they were all never taken seriously at the beginning of their spiritual pathways but at the end their strength and dedication payed of with their biggest award of being able to serve people, follow their dream and destiny, be happy and make others happy, spread love and good among the people not conquer them or have power over them. They were truth to their beliefs and truth to people they reached the core of their religion and happiness without self confidence and law self esteem dictated and enforced by the society that was men orientated. Would they be seen as more significant during their life if they were men?

Yes, they would.

Could God be a woman, of course it Could. If God is a woman, will it be tried to be refused and hidden to keep men's prestige and power in the world?

Dispute carried out in this article suggests the answer to that question.

Paulo Coelho's book inspired this article, throughout other ideas in his books everyone can find the way of life or inspiration for spiritual research.

Always question things, find your way and be open for new ideas. Be a journalist investigating your own life as well as historical and contemporary influences that made your life the way it is. Find your way and find yourself, find wisdom and share it with others.


References:
1. 'I sat by the river Piedra and I cried' by Paulo Coelho (inspiration for this article and research)
2. Official website of Paulo Coelho: http://www.paulocoelho.com.br/engl/bio.shtml
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atman_(Hinduism)
4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinduism#Concept_of_God
5. http://www.sanatansociety.org/hindu_gods_and_goddesses.htm
6. http://www.saigan.com/heritage/gods/gods.htm
7. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_India
8. Asian Tribune, http://www.asiantribune.com/index.php?q=node/1763
9. BBC News Online, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/5058840.stm
10. Visbo onlne magazine, http://visboo.com/child-marriages-in-india.html
11. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestine
12. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestine#Hebrew_Bible.2FOld_Testament_period
13. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revelation
14. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernadette_Soubirous